Download CHAPTER 4 Experience of Empire: Eighteenth-Century

CHAPTER 4
Experience of an Empire
Eighteenth-Century America
Fun Facts
• In 1938, Time Magazine chose Adolf Hitler for man of the
year.
• The average human with a full head of hair contains
between 85,000 to 150,000 hairs.
• You can give change for a dollar in 293 different coin
variations.
• Snails can sleep for up to 3 years.
• Only one state in the United States contains only one
syllable,
– Maine
Distribution of European and African Immigrants
in the Thirteen Colonies
Growth and Diversity
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1700-1750—colonial population rose from
250,000 to over two million
Much growth through natural increase
Large influx of non-English Europeans
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Scots-Irish Flee English Oppression
Germans Search for a Better Life
Convict Settlers
Native Americans Stake Out a Middle
Ground
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Disease and European settled agricultural
practices made it difficult for Europeans and
Natives to coexist
Many eastern Indians moved into transAppalachian region (Middle Ground)
Native Americans continued to trade with
Europeans for metal goods and weapons
 Play English and French against each other
The Spanish Borderlands,
ca. 1770
Economic Transformation
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Long-term period of economic and population
growth
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Economies were geared to commerce, not
manufacturing
Trade was mainly with England and West Indies (West
Indies provided merchants with profits that offset their
British debts)
English mass-production of consumer goods
stimulated rise in colonial imports
– Inhabitants emulated English culture
Trade between colonies increased
The Great Wagon Road
American Enlightenment
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Intellectual movement that swept Europe with new,
radical ideas
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The Enlightenment’s basic assumptions
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Age of Reason
Searching for useful, practical knowledge
Optimistic view of human nature
God set up the universe and human society to operate by
natural laws
Mixed reception in America
Religious Revivals
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The Great Awakening
– Spontaneous, evangelical revivals that weakened old
colonial religions (old lights vs new lights)
– To rededicate themselves to God, join organized churches,
founded colleges, and question authority
• Jonathan Edwards emphasized the Calvinistic teachings
of the Puritans and of an omnipotent God and
predestination
• George Whitefield sustained the revivals
– The Awakening promoted a democratic, religious union of
national scope
Clash of Political Cultures
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Colonists attempted to emulate British political
institutions
Effort led to discovery of how different they were
from English people
Example: Royal governors
– More powers than King in England
– Veto legislation
– Dismiss judges
– Command provincial military
– Could NOT tax
Colonial Assemblies/Legislatures
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“Middle-class democracies”
Primary function was to prevent the encroachments on the
people’s rights
Assemblies controlled colony’s finances
No incentive for assembly to cooperate with governors
(sometimes even hostile toward them)
Exercised extreme vigilance against the spread of privileged
power
These assemblies brought Americans a greater awareness of
each other
North America, 1750
A Century of Conflict: Major Wars,
1689–1763
Century of Imperial War
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Britain’s conflicts with continental rivals like
France spilled over to colonies
Security threats from these conflicts forced
colonists into more military and political
cooperation
British colonies had an overwhelming
militarily force to New France but yet it was
often ineffective
Albany Congress
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Albany Congress, 1754
Benjamin Franklin’s idea of
central colonial government
– Elected representatives
decide on matters of defense,
western expansion, and
relations with Native
Americans
– Could levy taxes to support its
operations
Albany Plan failed, disliked by
English and Americans
Seven Years’ War/French and Indian
War 1756-1763
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Wars fought for control of the Mississippi River and Ohio River
Valley
Minister William Pitt shifted strategy to focus on North
America (reason for victory)
Peace of Paris 1763: France lost
– British got all North America east of Mississippi
– French retained two Caribbean Islands
This particular war had the greatest impact on the colonies
politically and economically
North America after 1763
Perceptions of War
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Made colonists aware of their land
Created trained officer corps that knew British
vulnerabilities
Colonists saw themselves as “junior partners”
to British
British felt colonists ungrateful and not willing
to bear their fair share of burden