Chapters 4-5: Colonial Society and the French and Indian War Flashcards
What was the significance of the colonial population boom?
It led to a shift in the balance of political and military power away from Britain and toward America.
What was the ratio of Britons to Americans in 1700?
What was the ratio in 1775?
20: 1
3: 1
Between the years of 1700 and 1775, the population in the thirteen colonies increased of ____%, from _______ to ________.
800%
300,000
2,500,000
What caused the colonial population boom from 1700 to 1775?
Immigration and the practice of having large families
What was the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason?
A period in which reason and observation of nature began to replace revelation, reliance on tradition or traditional authority, and inward illumination as the dominant means of acquiring knowledge and understanding the world.
What were the four effects of the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason?
- RESISTANCE
European Enlightenment thinkers, especially John Locke, encouraged colonists to consider resistance to British control. - SOCIAL MOBILITY
European Enlightenment ideas inspired many American political thinkers to emphasize individual talent over hereditary privilege, thus promoting more social mobility in America. - DEISM
In religion, the ideas of the Enlightenment promoted deism, a variety of Christianity that holds that God exists, that He created the universe, but does not intervene in the affairs of humankind. It was an effort to reconcile the existence of God with newly surfacing scientific discoveries and belief in the existence of free will. - REPUBLICAN MOTHERHOOD
Enlightenment ideas were also one source of republican motherhood, which called on women to teach republican values within the family and granted women a new importance in American society.
Resistance, Social mobility, Deism, Republican motherhood
RSDR
Rested Scientists Design Robots
What was Anglicization?
The process of the American colonies gradually adopting more British values and customs over time.
What were three examples of Anglicization?
- Colonial Governments - Governor instead of king, an upper house or council instead of the House of Lords, and a lower house or assembly instead of the House of Commons
- Frequent contact with Britain through newspapers and books sent by England to the colonies - spread British ideas
- Protestant Evangelicalism - Geore Whitefield, John Wesley, and others from England traveled across to colonies to spread religious ideas
Who were the Paxton Boys?
Scots-Irish immigrants were noted for their violent conflicts with Native Americans over control of land. In Paxton, Pennsylvania, the Scots-Irish community felt its requests for aid against the Indians were being ignored by colonial legislators, many of whom were Quakers and pacifists.
Explain the conflict that the Paxton Boys caused and how it was resolved.
1763
When a group from Paxton responded to Indian conflicts by killing a tribe of peaceful Indians, the governor issued warrants for their arrest and offered protection to a group of Christianized Indians.
Angered that the government would side with Native Americans, the Paxton Boys marched on the capital. Benjamin Franklin and others were able to arrange a peaceful meeting between officials and the Paxton boys, allowing the frontiersmen to air their grievances.
What was the significance of the Paxton Boys conflict?
It was one of a series of conflicts between the colonial elite to the east and the poorer settlers on the western frontier.
What was the largest colonial group?
What was their significance?
Yeoman farmers - individuals who owned their own land, but who owned no slaves and could not afford to hire farm hands.
Jefferson argued that this group of independent farmers formed the basis for democracy.
What percentage of colonial society did slaves make up in 1750?
20%
What were the colonial motivations for banning the international slave trade?
Concerns over slave rebellions and the injustice of slavery
How did British authorities respond to the colonies’ request to ban the slave trade?
King George III blocked the colonial efforts to end it due to the mercantilist mindset.
Explain the Triangle Trade.
A Skipper would leave New England with rum.
It would go to Africa and trade the rum for slaves.
Then it would sail to the West Indies and trade the slaves for sugar and molasses.
This would go back to New England to be distilled into rum.
Define established churches.
Official state churches supported by tax dollars
What was the established church in New England?
The Puritan Church
What was the established church in the southern colonies and the New York City area?
The Anglican Church (Church of England)
What made the bonds between the Anglicans in America and the King of England weak?
The Anglican Church in the colonies had no bishop, so prospective ministers had to travel to England to be ordained.
American ministers had to report to and be guided by their superiors in England, but distance made that difficult. American Anglican clergymen found that wealthy planters (who paid their salaries) expected the ministers to be controlled by the planters instead of the Church in Britain.
By 1672 more than 90% of Virginia parishes lacked ordained clergymen.
The services (according to English critics) were very informal and omitted parts of the service.
Why did the Anglican Church not establish an American bishop?
The colonies resisted this as an extension of kingly authority.
When was William and Mary established and who did it train?
1693
Anglican ministers
When was Harvard established and who did it teach?
1636
Puritan ministers
Which state was the last to strip tax support from the official church? When did this state do this?
Massachusetts in 1833
Who was Jonathan Edwards?
Congregationalist minister who set off a religious revival known as the First Great Awakening in 1734
He proclaimed the folly of believing in salvation through good works and affirmed the need for complete dependence on God’s grace.
What was the First Great Awakening and when did it take place?
A religious revival
1734-1740s
Which sermon was Jonathan Edwards most famous for?
“Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God”
Who was George Whitefield?
A powerful preacher and the other leading figure of the Great Awakening
Relied on emotional appeals and effective oratory to convert sinners
Listeners often cried out, rolled on the ground, and fainted as he described the terrors of hell.
What was the significance of the First Great Awakening?
It was the first mass movement of the American people.
It broke down sectional boundaries and denominational lines, creating greater religious diversity.
It contributed to a growing sense of Americans as a single people. It called on people to decide things on their individual consciences rather than on the authority of the powerful.
Step towards the American Revolution!
What were Old Lights?
Orthodox clergymen who were deeply skeptical of the emotionalism and theatrical antics of the Great Awakening revivalists
What were New Lights?
Ministers who defended the Great Awakening for its role in revitalizing American religion
Who was John Peter Zenger?
A newspaper publisher who criticized the corrupt governor of New York and was charged with seditious libel
Who defended John Peter Zenger when he was in trial?
Andrew (not Alexander) Hamilton
What event established the doctrine of freedom of the press?
The trial of John Peter Zenger. Since what he published was true, Andrew Hamilton argued that he should not be punished and the jury acquitted him.
Explain the structure of colonial government.
Governor - appointed by king or proprietor
Council - made up of colonial elite, appointed by governor
Lower house or assembly - elected by merchants and farmers and landowners
Whom did the council favor in decision-making?
The Governor
Whom did the lower house favor in decision-making?
Merchants and farmers
Explain the governor’s plight.
Difference of King and colonists opinions put the governor in a tricky spot. He was paid by the colonists but was supposed to represent the King.
What were the three political classifications of colonies?
Royal Colonies
Proprietary Colonies
Self-Governing Colonies
What percentage of the total American population could vote?
10-20%
What factors led many colonists to desire more self-government and to resist English authority?
Distance from England
Dispersed population in the colonies
Belief that local self-government protected liberty while distant, concentrated authority tended toward tyranny
What was the Regulator Movement and when did it take place?
1768-1771
Frontiersmen in North Carolina felt that the colonial elite was not representing their interests. They formed armed bands to halt foreclosures, etc., but were eventually defeated by the state militia.
Why did many of the former Regulators become Loyalists during the Revolution?
They saw the colonial elite as their main enemy instead of England
What and when was the Molasses Act?
1733
To discourage trade with French West Indies, Parliament levied duties on molasses, sugar, and rum imported to the colonies from non-British sources.
New England, especially, protested. When Parliament did not budge, the colonists proceeded to ignore the law and engage in wholesale smuggling.
What and when was the Treaty of Utrecht?
1713
This treaty ended Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713); France gave Britain Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay region.
Why was the Treaty of Utrecht significant?
This treaty ushered in a generation of peace during which Britain engaged in the policy of salutary neglect, allowing the colonies to develop a degree of independence.
Which five states and one city were Anglican?
Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia New York City
Which three states were Congregational?
Massachusetts
Connecticut
New Hampshire
Which states were nondenominational?
Rhode Island
New Jersey
Delaware
Pennsylvania
How did America’s high population growth rate cause a trade problem with Britain?
The colonists produced too many goods for Britain. They began to smuggle because the Brits wouldn’t buy their stuff.
What was the French colonial policy?
To ensure the loyalty of French colonists, they limited emigration to Catholics (France was a predominantly Catholic country).
Why did French peasants lack an incentive to emigrate to the New World?
French peasants generally owned their own land in France (unlike the English).
Why was the population of the French colonies of North America less than that of English colonies?
1) English settlers were farmers that were incentivized to move overseas.
2) The French restricted settlers to those of only Roman Catholic faith.
3) The French government valued the sugar islands of the West Indies more than Canada.
Who were the Huguenots?
A group of French Protestants who were persecuted in France
Why were the Huguenots barred entrance to New France (Canada)?
They were Protestant and France only allowed Catholics
Why did the French colony in New France grow slowly?
1) The Huguenots were barred entrance
2) Many emigrants from France settled in New York (New Netherland)
Who were the Acadians?
The original French settlers of the seaboard area that is now Nova Scotia.
When was the seaboard area (Nova Scotia) ceded to Britain?
1713
When and why did the Britons drive the Acadians out of their home by force?
1755
They weren’t swearing allegiance to Britain
Where did the Acadians flee?
Why did they flee there?
Louisiana; it was a French colony at the time
What were the Acadians called when they moved to Louisiana?
Cajuns
When were the Beaver Wars?
1640-1701
What were the Beaver Wars?
This was a series of wars in which the powerful Iroquois tribes from upper New York, having hunted out the beaver in their territory, expanded their control into the Old Northwest defeating the Hurons and Algonquins (allies of the French).
What was the major cause of the Beaver Wars?
The desire of the Iroquois Confederacy to expand their territory and to monopolize control of the fur trade with Europeans
What were the results of the Beaver Wars?
- The disruption of Huron and Algonquin culture
- The replacement of the French by the English as the dominant European power in the fur trade.
The French and English used their Indian allies to raid each other’s settlements, and the English based their claims to the Ohio Valley in part on their agreements with the Iroquois.
What were praying towns?
Communities of Christianized Indians in Massachusetts
When did praying towns exist?
1650-1675
What did the Puritans hope that the praying towns would do?
Puritans hoped that these communities would lead the Indians to give up native ways, including their hunter-gatherer economy. In return, the Indians received education and material support.
What was the result of praying towns?
Puritan distrust of Indians and removal of Indians from their land
When King Philip’s War came in 1675, the praying Indians were not trusted by the whites even though many fought with the English, and many were removed from their lands.
When was King Philip’s War?
1675
When was the Albany Congress?
1754
What were the short-term and long-term goals of the Albany Congress?
Short-Term: Keep the Iroquois tribes loyal to British in the French and Indian War
Long-Term: Achieve greater colonial unity and bolster common defense against France
Why was Benjamin Franklin’s scheme for colonial home rule rejected by both the colonists and the British authorities at the Albany Congress?
The colonies believed that the plan did not grant enough independence, but the British thought that it granted too much.
Why did the French erect a series of forts in the Ohio Valley?
To link their holdings in Canada and the lower Mississippi Valley
Where was Fort Duquesne?
present-day Pittsburgh
What event started the French and Indian War?
Twenty-one-year-old George Washington was sent by Virginia into the Ohio Valley to protect Virginia’s claims to the region. Approaching Fort Duquesne, he encountered a French force, hastily built Fort Necessity, and was defeated.
When was General Edward Braddock’s defeat?
1755
What happened in General Edward Braddock’s defeat?
The British sent General Edward Braddock and a strong British force, along with Virginia militiamen, to capture Fort Duquesne. He was ambushed by a smaller French and Indian force; Braddock was killed and his forces soundly defeated.
What was the result of General Edward Braddock’s defeat?
It opened Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey to Indian raids
Who was William Pitt and when did he come to power?
A great and popular British leader, called “Organizer of Victory”
His leadership helped win the French and Indian War
Came to power in 1757
What was William Pitt’s policy?
He opposed the King’s stubborn policies against the colonists but never favored complete independence.
He thought that attacking the French in the New World was the key to winning the French and Indian War.
When was the Battle of Quebec?
1759
What happened in the Battle of Quebec?
British General Wolfe, appointed by Pitt, defeated the French General Montcalm by sending his troops up a cliff under cover of darkness.
When was the Treaty of Paris?
1763
What did the Treaty of Paris do?
It ended the French and Indian War and removed France from the North American mainland.
Why was the Treaty of Paris significant?
The treaty ended the threat posed by the French.
It also strengthened them because Native Americans could no longer play the French and British against each other in an attempt to limit the encroachment of colonists on Indian lands.
What were the six effect of the French and Indian War?
- Military Experience
- Colonial Unity
- Eliminated the French
- Increased tensions between the colonists and Britons
- British debt
- Reenforcement of the Navigation Acts
When was Pontiac’s Rebellion?
1763
What was Pontiac’s Rebellion?
With their French allies gone, Pontiac led Indians in an attempt to push the British out of the Ohio Valley. His forces killed 2,000 soldiers and settlers and captured eight British forts.
The British responded with military force and smallpox-infected blankets, crushing the rebellion.
Why was Pontiac’s Rebellion significant?
This uprising convinced the British of the necessity of stabilizing relations with Native Americans and of maintaining a large military presence in the colonies, a force the colonists would have to pay for.
What did the Proclamation of 1763 state?
Indian land west of the Appalachian Mountains was not open for English settlement.
Why did the Britons put the Proclamation of 1763 into place?
To prevent another Indian uprising
What was the result of the Proclamation of 1763?
It angered the colonists who felt that their sacrifices in the recent was entitled them to land west of the Appalachian Mountains.
