Chapter 3: Society and Culture in Provincial America Flashcards
Indenture System
Brinkley 70-71
The system of temporary servitude in the New World. Young men and women bound themselves to masters, usually 4-5 years, in return gaining a free pass to the New World.
Upon completion of their terms of service, male indentures were supposed to be given benefits such as food and clothing. In Chesapeake, 1 in 4 indentures were women who received no benefits after servitude. The Indenture system was popular in the colonies because it took care of the large labor shortage in the New World.
Birth and Death Rates
After the 1650s natural increase was the most important source of population.
Natural increase was a result of improvement of the boy:girl ratio in the 17th century
New England: In the 2nd half of the 17th century the population quadrupled because of reproduction.
Life expectancy was about 70 years (longer than both England and the south).
The South: Average life expectancy was about 40 years.
1/4 of children died as infants and 1/2 died before age 20.
Scots-Irish
1) Immigrants from Scotland and southern Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries to the New World.
2) Scottish Highlanders (some Roman Catholics), Presbyterian Lowlanders, and Catholic Irish.
3) a) Scottish Highlanders, who had been defeated in rebellions in 1715 & 1745, immigrated into several colonies, especially N. Carolina.
b) Presbyterian Lowlanders immigrated because of high rents and unemployment, leaving in large numbers right before the American Revolution, joining other Scots.
c) Catholic Irish migrated steadily over a long period of time, becoming almost as numerous as the Scots. Many abandoned their Roman Catholic religion and ethnic identity with it.
4) Significance: Increase in population of New World by tenfold. Presbyterian Lowlanders became a significant influence in NJ and PA and helped establish Presbyterianism as an important religion.
Palatinate Germans
- ) 18th century Germany/America
- ) Group of Germans located on the edge of the border between Germany and France
- ) After war between Germany and France, and long winter of 1708, Palatinate Germans moved to England, and subsequently America
- ) Originally tried to settle in Mohawk valley, but were kicked out; most traveled to Pennsylvania which shortly became the common destination for all Germans
- ) Other Palatinate Germans also traveled to North Carolina
Huguenots
who,what,where,when,why,sig
Triangular Trade
The Triangular Trade took place from 1450-1750 between England, West Africa, and the New England Colonies.England traded goods for African slaves in Africa, then went to the New England Colonies and traded slaves for fresh crops. This was significant for these three locations because they all traded for something they needed and was expensive, as well as scarce in their location.
Catholics
- Mostly Irish immigrating to the New World as a result of both tension with the Scottish Presbyterians and the increase of rents in Ireland
- Migrated in the mid 18th century to the western Southern regions (Virginia, North Carolina)
- Irish eventually abandoned their Roman Catholic roots, suggesting that the colonists were further diverging from their European contemporaries’ ways of life and beliefs
Patriarchal Society
- Patriarchal: The family is dominated by the head male.
- Women lost power as the sex ratio equaled. Due to their loss of power, the traditional patterns of male authority revived.
- Women were less often put in roles independent of their husbands.
- Puritanism reinforced the idea of absolute male authority and female weakness.
Colonial Agriculture
- The English colonists in Southern and Northern America
- They south grew Rice and Tobacco successfully because of the specific climates and fertile soil while the north was developing on craftsmen and artisans who practiced blacksmithing, rifle-making, cabinete-making and printing.
- In the south, South Carolina and Georgia and in the north, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
- Early 1700’s
- These colonies grew crops and learned specific crafts for one goal, Economic success.
- Began the early development of industrial enterprises and commerce in Colonial America.
Iron Act of 1750
- English parliamentary act int the 1750’s that restricted metal processing in the colonies.(83)
- Similar prohibitions banned the manufacturing of woolens, hats, and other goods.(83)
- Although the biggest problems with industrializing America were “inadequate labor supply, a small domestic market, and inadequate transportation facilities and energy supplies”.(83)
- However, by 1764 metal works had become a important part of colonial economy.
- The largest industrial enterprise found anywhere in English North America was an ironworks company started by a German named Peter Hanclever in Northern New Jersey.
- He used British capital to employ several hundred workers.
Royal African Company of England
Brinkley pg 76-77
- Trade company which had a monopoly on trade in the mainland colonies and managed to keep prices high and supplies low as a result
- Helped to import slaves directly from Africa to North America
- Monopoly broken in the mid-1690. Afterward, prices for slaves fell and the slave population rapidly increased
Consumerism
Brinkley 86-87
1) 18th Century, Colonial America and Europe
2) Consumerism was “a preoccupation with the consumption of material goods–and of the association of possessions with social status.” (How many goods you posses determines your social status.)
3) Consumerism grew out of the rise of industry in England, making goods more affordable for large markets in the Colonies.
4) Consumerism formed social standards and made once luxury goods simple necessities.
Slave Codes
- Slave codes were laws in each US state, which defined the status of slaves and the rights of masters. These codes gave slave-owners absolute power over the Black slaves.
- The masters were even able to murder their slaves without any penalty.
- Each state deferred in their laws, but most gave masters absolute power.
Slave Codes
- Slave codes were laws in each US state, which defined the status of slaves and the rights of masters. These codes gave slave-owners absolute power over the Black slaves.
- The masters were even able to murder their slaves without any penalty.
- Each state deferred in their laws, but most gave masters absolute power.
Midwives
- Assisted women in childbirth and dispensed medical advice (herbs and natural remedies)
- Were often friends of the people they treated (neighbors)
- Derived medical assumptions from the theory of humoralism, which involved the removing of bodily fluids from patients.
- There were more midwives than physicians.
- Midwives were often wives and mothers of townspeople.
- Required little formal medical education.
- Relied on ancient techniques, which exemplified the rejection of the scientific method and the scientific revolution.
- Were common during the 16th and 17th centuries in America.
