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11-16-2021 Colonial Culture and the Great Awakening cloned 11/15/2021

Last updated about 4 years ago
23 questions
Note from the author:
Reading Passages on Colonial Culture

Society in Colonial Times

For the most part, colonists enjoyed more social equality than people in England, where a person’s opportunities in life were largely determined by birth. Still, class differences existed. Like Europeans, colonial Americans thought it was only natural that some people rank more highly than others. A person’s birth and wealth still determined his or her social status.
The Upper and Middle Social Classes At the top of society stood the gentry. The gentry included wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, successful lawyers, and royal officials. They could afford to dress in the latest fashions from London.
Below the gentry were the middle class. The middle class included farmers who worked their own land, skilled craft workers, and some tradespeople. Nearly three quarters of all white colonists belonged to the middle class. They prospered because land in the colonies was plentiful and easy to buy and because skilled work was in high demand and paid relatively well.
The Lower Social Classes The lower social classes included hired farmhands and indentured servants. Far below them in status were enslaved Africans and African Americans. Indentured servants signed contracts to work without wages for a period of four to seven years for anyone who would pay their ocean passage to the Americas. When their term of service was completed, indentured servants received “freedom dues”: a set of clothes, tools, and 50 acres of land. Because there were so few European women in the colonies, female indentured servants often shortened their terms of service by marrying.
Thousands of men, women, and children came to North America as indentured servants. After completing their terms, some became successful and rose into the middle class.
Working Life in the Countryside From New Hampshire to Georgia, most colonists survived by farming. Men worked long hours planting crops, tending the fields, and raising livestock—pigs, cows, and other farm animals. Anything beyond what the family needed to live was taken to markets to sell. Families also traded crops and livestock with their neighbors for additional goods.
While men typically did much of the agricultural work, women often worked within the home. They worked hard taking care of the household and the family. By the kitchen fire, they cooked the family’s meals. They milked cows, tended chickens and a vegetable garden, watched the children, cleaned, did laundry by hand, and made candles, cheese, and clothes.
Life was different in the backcountry, out beyond more settled lands. Life was difficult, and wives and husbands often worked side by side in the fields at harvest time. With so much to be done, no one worried whether harvesting was proper “woman’s work.” One surprised visitor described a backcountry woman’s activities: “She will carry a gunn in the woods and kill deer, turkeys &c., shoot down wild cattle, catch and tye hoggs, knock down [cattle] with an ax, and perform the most manfull Exercises as well as most men.”
Working Life in Cities In cities, women sometimes worked outside the home. A young single woman from a poorer family might work for one of the gentry as a maid, a cook, or a nurse. Other women were midwives, who delivered babies. Still others sewed fine hats or dresses to be sold to women who could afford them. Learning such skills often required years of training.
Some women learned trades from their fathers, brothers, or husbands. They worked as butchers, shoemakers, or silversmiths. Quite a few women became printers. A woman might take over her husband’s business when he died.
Men often worked in trades, for example as coopers (who made and repaired wooden barrels), blacksmiths, and silversmiths. Most large towns in the colonies were seaports, where merchants and traders brought goods to and from Europe. As this trade grew, more men also took on jobs as bankers, lawyers, and businessmen.
Some educated men in the colonies became politicians. Others were pamphleteers, who wrote and distributed small booklets informing people on a subject. There were many doctors in the colonies, where illness was common. However, medical training varied. A surgeon might be a barber with little real medical training.
African Influences in the Colonies By the mid-1700s, the culture of Africans and African Americans in the colonies varied greatly. On rice plantations in South Carolina, enslaved Africans used methods from West Africa for growing and harvesting rice. For example, flat baskets holding the grains were shaken in the wind to separate the grains from leaves and other particles. Then a wooden mortar and pestle were used to clean the grains.
Language is another area where African influences were strong. In some coastal areas, enslaved Africans spoke a distinctive combination of English and West African languages known as Gullah (gull uh). Parents often chose African names for their children, such as Quosh or Juba or Cuff.
In Charleston and other South Carolina port towns, some Africans worked along the dock, making rope or barrels or helping to build ships. Skilled craftsworkers made fine wooden cabinets or silver plates and utensils. Many of their designs reflected African artistic styles. Although most Africans in these towns were enslaved, many opened their own shops or stalls in the market. Some used their earnings to buy their own and their family’s freedom.
In the Middle Colonies and New England, the African and African American population increased during the 1700s. Africans and African Americans in the northern colonies included both free and enslaved people. Their numbers were much lower than in the Southern Colonies. However, they were still an important part of the population.
In some of the Middle Colonies, such as New York, there were even plantations that relied on slave labor. Often, these plantations produced grains and meat for sale to feed enslaved workers in the Southern Colonies or the West Indies.
1

The wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, successful lawyers, and royal officials who
were at the top of colonial society were called the ________.

1

Which of the following were members of the middle class

1

Why was the middle class the largest among white colonists?

1

During colonial times men typically did much of the agricultural work, women often worked within the home.

1

Some enslaved Africans spoke a distinctive combination of English and West African languages known as ___________.

Colonial Art, Literature, and Music

Colonists brought with them the artistic traditions of their homelands. New artistic styles also developed that reflected colonial society. Wealthy gentry decorated their homes with paintings of landscapes and religious art. Furniture, houses, and clothing were often decorated with intricate carvings or designs.
Art Reflects Colonial Society Paintings that celebrated important people of the time were especially popular works of art. Those who could afford it hired artists to paint portraits of their family members. These portraits showed off the family's importance and provided a valuable keepsake to be passed on for generations to come. Portraits also honored famous individuals and key events. One of the oldest surviving colonial portraits is of New Netherland Governor Peter Stuyvesant, painted in the 1660s.
Prints were also popular in colonial families. These were small engravings scratched into metal or carved into wood. Printmakers used the metal or wood with ink, paper, and a press to make a picture that could be easily reproduced. Many people had prints of famous figures, such as politicians or clergymen.
Many artists were self-taught. Few became wealthy from their work. They often traveled from town to town in search of people who wanted portraits done. The paintings they left behind are like time capsules. Much like photographs do today, they show how people dressed, what their tastes were like, and how their families lived.
American Literature Emerges Literature also developed in the colonies. The first colonial printing press was built in Massachusetts in 1640. It printed religious books and books for Harvard College. With the spread of printing, more colonists began to read.
Colonists read reprints of European books and books by American writers. One of the most popular—and particularly American—types of stories was the captivity tale. In these stories, a white settler was captured by Native Americans and had to overcome hardships in order to escape.
Colonial Music Music was another popular art form in the colonies. Colonists brought popular folk music from Europe. They sang and danced at weddings and other celebrations. Enslaved Africans brought musical traditions with them from Africa. These traditions combined with European traditions in musical forms such as work songs and spirituals, or religious songs.
Music was closely tied to religious life for many colonists. New organs appeared in churches. The hymns people sang grew especially popular during the Great Awakening.
1

Which development encouraged more Americans to read?

1

One of the oldest surviving colonial portraits is of New Netherland Governor ________________, painted in the 1660s.

1

Enslaved Africans brought musical traditions with them from Africa.

Colonial Architecture

The colonists were starting from scratch. They were only able to bring over a limited amount of building supplies from England, and there was no place to buy more once they arrived here.

There were plenty of natural resources - trees, rock, clay, etc. - but it would take time to turn these resources into building materials. In the meantime, the colonists built temporary structures with the materials at hand. Their first buildings were designed only to provide shelter and safety. More permanent buildings would come later.

Some of the earliest settlers built tent-like structures from poles with branches or pieces of fabric for a covering. Some built cave-like structures against the sides of hills. Others built walls called palisades from pointed stakes set in the ground side by side.

The original fort at Jamestown was a palisade fort. The palisade was intended to provide protection for the colonists inside. Inside the palisade, they built their homes, a storehouse, a guardhouse, and their church.

Early colonial homes were built of timber, probably split logs, not smooth sawn boards. A typical house might have one or two rooms downstairs. This would include the kitchen, living and working space, and space for the parents to sleep. A ladder would lead to a loft upstairs where the children slept.

Soon, the colonists began to build more permanent houses and public buildings. American styles began to develop. Different styles developed in the North and South.

In the North, many of the people lived on small family farms or in towns. Gradually, the frontier style of log cabin gave way to a style of home more like the homes that the settlers had known back in England. Eventually, the Cape Cod and the saltbox became recognized as New England styles.

Cape Cod houses were one-story homes with high, steeply pitched roofs. Each house had a large chimney in the center. Early Cape Cods had only two main rooms but there was also space for sleeping or for storage up in the roof area. Later Cape Cods added on more rooms.

Saltboxes were high-roofed cottages with a room added on the back. This added-on room gave the house its recognizable salt box shape.

In the towns, the number of houses, shops, churches, and meeting houses grew as the population of colonists grew.

In the South, the development of large plantations led to a different style of architecture. There, planters and wealthy merchants built large, stately homes. Members of this new leisure class had the time and money to entertain and to travel, and their homes included large dining rooms, rooms for large parties, and extra bedrooms for guests to stay over.

Southern estate homes were modeled after English styles, just as New England homes were. The Georgian style from England was adopted here and became known as Colonial Georgian in America.

During this time period, slaves and other workers continued to live in simple, poor accommodations.

At the same time that home architecture was developing in America, so was the design of public buildings and public places. Williamsburg, Virginia, was planned with its main street 99 feet wide to make it an inviting public place. The capital building stood at one end of the street, and the College of William and Mary stood at the other end. Along the main street and the other streets of the city were a variety of shops and elegant homes.

By the 1700s, the American colonies had changed from settlements of crude shelters to established urban and rural areas with distinctive architecture that is still admired today.
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The first homes built by the colonists were ______.

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The first colonists built ______ to live in and for protection.

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The two styles of architecture that developed in the American colonies were located in the ______.

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Colonial American styles of architecture were based on ______ styles.

1

The style of house known as Cape Cod was developed in ______.

1

The loft in a colonial cabin was the place where ______.

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A large, elegant party with many guests traveling from far away and staying at the house for many days would most likely have occurred in a ______.

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Georgian architecture was a style popular in ______.

A New Religious Movement

In the 1730s and 1740s, a religious revival, or movement, known as the Great Awakening swept through the colonies. It is sometimes also known as the First Great Awakening to distinguish it from later religious revivals. Its drama and emotion touched women and men of all races, ethnic backgrounds, and classes.
Enthusiastic Preachers A New England preacher, Jonathan Edwards, helped set off the Great Awakening. In powerful sermons, Edwards called on colonists, especially young people, to examine their lives.

He preached of the sweetness and beauty of God. At the same time, he warned listeners to heed the Bible’s teachings. Otherwise, they would be “sinners in the hands of an angry God,” headed for the fiery torments of hell. The powerful sermons of preachers such as Edwards were one of the main causes of the Great Awakening.
In 1739, when an English minister named George Whitefield arrived in the colonies, the movement spread like wildfire. Whitefield drew huge crowds to outdoor meetings. An enthusiastic and energetic preacher, his voice would ring with feeling as he called on sinners to repent. After hearing Whitefield speak, Jonathan Edwards’s wife reported, “I have seen upwards of a thousand people hang on his words with breathless silence, broken only by an occasional half-suppressed sob.”
The Great Awakening's Impact The colonies were made up of many different religious groups. There were Quakers, Puritans, Catholics, Presbyterians, and more. Each group had its own ideas about the proper relationship with God.

Some groups, like the Anglicans, disagreed strongly with Whitefield. Others, like the Baptists and Methodists, found new opportunities to expand during the Great Awakening as people revisited their faith.
The Great Awakening aroused bitter debate. People who supported the movement often split away from their old churches to form new ones. Opponents warned that the movement was too emotional. Still, the growth of so many new churches forced colonists to become more tolerant of people with different beliefs. Also, because the Great Awakening appealed to people in all of the colonies, from different classes and ethnic backgrounds, it brought colonists together for the first time. Ties formed during the Great Awakening helped form the groundwork for future bonds among the colonies.
In the colonies, members of most churches controlled their parishes. The role parishes played in local communities made people think about the importance of self-rule—a key factor in the development of American democracy.

The Great Awakening contributed in another way to the spread of democratic feelings in the colonies. Many of the new preachers were not as well educated as most ministers. They argued that formal training was less important than a heart filled with the holy spirit. Such teachings encouraged a spirit of independence. Many believers felt more free to challenge authority when their liberties were at stake. People began to think differently about their political rights and their governments. They felt if they could figure out how to worship on their own and how to run their own churches, then they could govern themselves with those same virtues. Eventually, many of these colonists would challenge the authority of colonial governors and the English king.
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The Great Awakening refers to...

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Jonathan Edwards warned listeners to heed the Bible’s teachings. Otherwise, they would be “sinners in the hands of an angry God,” headed for the fiery torments of hell.

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How did parishes help spread democratic feelings in the colonies?

Colonial Schools and Colleges

Among the colonists, New Englanders were the most concerned about education. Puritans taught that all people had a duty to study the Bible. If colonists did not learn to read, how would they fulfill this duty?
Public Schools in New England In 1642, the Massachusetts assembly passed a law ordering all parents to teach their children “to read and understand the principles of religion.” They also required all towns with 50 or more families to hire a schoolteacher. Towns with 100 or more families also had to set up a grammar school to prepare boys for college.
In this way, Massachusetts set up the first public schools, or schools supported by taxes. Public schools allowed both rich and poor children to receive an education.
The first New England schools had only one room for students of all ages. Parents paid the schoolteacher with corn, peas, or other foods. Each child was expected to bring a share of wood to burn in the stove. Students who forgot would find themselves seated in the coldest corner of the room!
Private Education in Other Colonies In the Middle Colonies, churches and individual families set up private schools. Because pupils paid to attend, only wealthy families could afford to educate their children.
In the Southern Colonies, people often lived too far from one another to bring children together in one school building. Some planters hired tutors, or private teachers. The wealthiest planters sent their sons to school in England. As a rule, enslaved African Americans were denied education of any kind.
Apprenticeships and Dame Schools Boys whose parents wished them to learn a trade or craft served as apprentices (uh pren tis ez). An apprentice worked for a master to learn a trade or a craft.
For example, when a boy reached the age of 12 or 13, his parents might apprentice him to a master glassmaker. The young apprentice lived in the glassmaker’s home for six or seven years while learning the craft. The glassmaker gave the boy food and clothing. He was also supposed to teach his apprentice how to read and write and provide him with religious training.
In return, the apprentice worked without pay in the glassmaker’s shop and learned the skills he needed to set up his own shop. Boys were apprenticed in many trades, including papermaking, printing, and tanning (making leather).
In New England, most schools accepted only boys. However, some girls attended dame schools, or private schools run by women in their own homes. Other girls, though, usually learned skills from their mothers, who taught them to cook, make soap and candles, spin wool, weave, sew, and embroider. A few learned to read and write.
The Growth of Colleges In 1633, Puritan John Eliot spoke of the need for Massachusetts to establish an official college. Institutions of higher learning were held up as a way to promote European culture in the Americas. As Eliot cautioned, “if we no[u]rish not L[e]arning both church & common wealth will sinke.”
Harvard College opened in 1638 with 10 students. The goal of the college was to educate future ministers. It was modeled after English schools, where students studied six days a week in Latin and Greek. It was open only to men.
By the late 1600s, however, Harvard graduates were moving away from the ministry. Some became physicians, public servants, or teachers. The College of William and Mary opened in Virginia to prepare men for the Anglican ministry. Yale College in Connecticut aimed to educate clergymen. Gradually, however, nine colleges opened over the following century and expanded their areas of study. Students could learn other subjects, such as medicine and law.
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What was common in New England but not in other colonies?

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Boys who worked with a master to learn a trade were called ____________________.

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There were no schools of any kind for girls.

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Harvard College opened in 1638 with the goal of the college being to educate future ministers.