KS+Chapter+5+Notes

Chapter 5 · Britain ruled thirty two colonies by 1775. · 2.5 million people lived in the colonies, and about half of those people were black. About 90 percent of people lived in rural areas because the plantations held most of the population. · Colonial America was a melting pot and had been from the beginning. · There were numerous foreign groups, even though most of them spoke English. · About 6 percent or roughly 150,000 of the population was German. · One third of Pennsylvania was German, so they put street sign in both English and German. · About 5 percent of the population was other European. · The South held about 90 percent of the slaves in North America. · Most white Americans and even a handful of blacks were small farmers. · The cities contained a small class of skilled artisans, shopkeepers, trades people, and some unskilled laborers. · In poor families younger sons and daughters were forced to hire out as wage laborers. · “Poor whites” were a lot more likely to become tenant farmers. · Paupers and convicts were involuntarily shipped to America. About fifty thousand of these people were dumped on the colonies by the London authorities. This crowd included robbers, rapists, and murderers, but most of the people there were unfortunate victims of circumstances and of a viciously unfair English penal code that included about two hundred capital crimes. Some of these people came to be highly respectable citizens. · The least fortunate of all were the black slaves. They didn’t have a chance of being as equal to the other whites, and knew that they never would have an opportunity to be equal. The white colonists feared that the black rebellion would occur. · The most honored people were the Christian ministry. It was an occupation of very high prestige. The physicians were poorly trained, and not seen highly. The field of Law was not favorably regarded. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">About 90 percent of the people worked in agriculture. The crops included wheat, rice, tobacco, and corn. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Fishing, ranking below agriculture was very rewarding. They would export shiploads of cod. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">If your skills are essential, you are above the law. For example, a Virginia carpenter who had committed murder was freed because his woodworking skills were needed. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Lumbering was the single most important manufacturing activity. The lumber was needed for shipbuilders. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The fast growing population of America needed more and more British products and the slow growing population of Britain slowed down their demand for items. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The tobacco industry was bombing in Europe, and much was exported there. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Roadways weren’t used very often until the 1700’s. In 1776 it took twenty-nine days for the news of Independence Day from Philadelphia to Charleston. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The rousing religious revival is known as the Great Awakening. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Whitefield was a preacher that gave his message of human helplessness and divine authority. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Education was mostly meant for boys. Wealthy families relied heavily on private tutors. Most of the education was on religion, and the languages Latin and Greek. College was meant to prepare men for the ministry. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Architecture was largely imported from the Old World, and changed to fit the needs of the New World. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The Americans were generally too poor to buy large quantities of books, and didn’t have the time to read them. Hand-operated printing presses made pamphlets, journals, and leaflets. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The colonists might not have known much about natural or physical science, but they where noteworthy of political science. By 1775 eight colonies had royal governors who were appointed by the King. In the South there were town meetings predominated by the government. In the Middle Colonies it was between government run and democratically run. In the North it was predominated by democratic. · <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Winter sports were common in the North and dancing was popular in the South.