Ch. 4

Sec. 1: Colonial Government

Magna Carta

• 1215: “Great Charter” signed by Eng King John

• Placed restrictions on pwr of ruler– Needed nobles’ permission to levy taxes– Protected right to own private property– Right to trial by jury

Parliament

• Br legislature (law-making body)

• 2 houses (bicameral): House of Lords (by title) & House of Commons (elected)

• Right to approve taxes – “pwr of the purse”

• Other 2-house legislatures:– Congress: Senate, House of Reps– NY State Leg: State Senate, Assembly

English Bill of Rights• Glorious Revolution (1688): King James

was removed from power & replaced by William & Mary

• Bill of rights: written list of freedoms gov’t promises to protect– trial by jury– Habeas corpus: to be held in prison, must

be charged w/ crime– Free elections– Freedom of speech & debate in Parliament

Colonial Legislatures

• 1619: House of Burgesses est in VA

• Made laws for Jamestown (& eventually all of VA)

• 1629: General Court (MA legislature)

• 1701: General Assembly (PA legislature)

Right to Vote in Colonies

• 50-75 % white males could vote

• In some col had to own property &/or belong to specific church

• Women, Nat Am, Afr Am couldn’t vote

Freedom of the Press

• 1735: Zenger Trial• John Peter Zenger—

newspaper publisher in NY

• Printed articles criticizing gov

• Charged w/ libel (publishing of statements that damage a person’s reputation)

• Slander—spoken false statements

• Zenger’s lawyer—Andrew Hamilton—argued that Zenger didn’t commit libel if the statements were true

• Jury agreed

• Showed col valued freedom of the press (right of journalists to publish the truth w/o restriction or penalty)

Regulating Trade

• Mercantilism: colonies exist to serve the econ needs of their parent country

• 1651: Navigation Acts– Shipments from Eur to col had to go through

Eng 1st

– Had to use Br ships– Col could sell key products only to Eng

• Created jobs for Eng workers

Benefits of Navigation Acts

• Col had a guaranteed market for their goods

• Helped develop ship-building industry in New England

Disadvantages• Felt laws favored Br.

merchants• Col couldn’t sell

directly to foreign markets

• Led to smuggling (illegal trading)

Sec 2: Colonial Society

Colonial Farm

• Where most col lived• Having a large family was an advantage—

needed many hands to do work• Self-sufficient• Raise crops, tend animals, maintenance• Farmhouses made of wood, had few rms• Fireplace—only source of heat• In towns, single ppl expected to live w/ a

family as a servant or boarder

Men

• Carpenters, wheelwrights, coopers, butchers, tanners, shoemakers, chandlers

• Ctrled income & property

• Held authority in families

• Voters, officeholders

• Represented family in public

Women

• Couldn’t choose husband—families arranged marriages

• Cooked, did laundry, made cloth, tended garden & animals, churned butter, preserved food, cared for children, etc

• Little or no role in public life

• Couldn’t own property

• Could teach in dame schools

Children

• Beg work @ 7 yrs• Did household or farm chores• Fetched water & wood• Helped in kitchen• Boys worked in fields• Girls helped mothers• Apprentice: someone who learns a trade

by working for someone in that trade for a period of X

Social Classes• Eur—land was measure of wealth

• America offered immigrants chance to own land

• Eur—prospects determined by birth

• Amer-more social equality

• Gentry– Upper class– Wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, royal

officials– Most powerful– Public office (only ones who could afford to)

• Middle Class– Majority of col– Sm planters, artisans, independent farmers– Could vote but few held office– Mostly white, 1 % Afr Am– Opportunity to move up social scale

• Indentured Servants– Signed contract to work 4 – 10 yrs in

exchange for passage to America– Had few rights– @ end of service, received clothes, tools, land

• Free Afr Amer– Allowed to own property– Some actually purchased slaves who were

relatives & set them free– Couldn’t vote or sit on juries

Sec 3: Slavery in Colonies

Atlantic Slave Trade

• Posts set up along coast of Africa

• Africans sold other Africans to Eur

• 10 million+ transported to America

Middle Passage• Captives traded for guns & goods• Loaded on slave ships & transported

across Atlantic on brutal voyage known as Middle Passage

• Cramped onto boats, no light or air• Olaudah Equiano-slave who desc

conditions• 15-20% died or committed suicide along

way• Auctioned upon arrival in America• Families separated

Triangular Trade

• 3-way trade between colonies, Caribbean (West Indies), & Africa

• New Eng sent fish, lumber, & goods to Caribbean for sugar & molasses (for rum)

• New Eng sent goods to Afr in exchange for slaves (which were sent to W. Indies)

• Africa sent slaves to W Indies for $ & molasses

Slavery in Colonies

• Dev b/c of plantation system• Needed workers • Preferable to servants (slavery permanent)• S. econ depended on it• Children of slaves were also slaves• Linked to racism b/c only Afr were slaves

in America• Racism: belief that 1 race is superior to

others

Resistance

• Wrote slave codes to prevent rebellions

• Slave codes – laws that restricted rights & activities of slaves– Slaves can’t meet in large #s– Illegal to tch slave to rd or write– Masters who killed slaves couldn’t be tried for

murder

African Cultural Influences

• Spoke Gullah (combined lang of W Afr w/ S dialect)

• crafts—ie woven baskets

• Music—ie banjo

• Folk tales

Sec 4: Spread of New Ideas

Puritans

• Laws said children & servants had to be taught to rd

• Towns w/ 50 families had to have an elem school

• 100 families had to have grammar school (like H.S.)

• Public school: school supported by taxes

Colonial Schools

• Taught rel, rd, writing, math

• S had private tutors

• Plantations too far apart

• Dame schools: young women taught very young children to rd & write

• Most schools not open to Afr Am

• Some ppl taught slaves in secret

Upper Levels

• Grammar schools taught Greek, Latin, geography, math, composition

• Like prep schools

• Universities incl Harvard, William & Mary

American Colonial Poetry

• Anne Bradstreet—wrote about joys & hardships of Puritan life

• Phillis Wheatley—slave in Boston

Ben Franklin• Own newspaper• Poor Richard’s

Almanack• Businessman, leader,

scientist, inventor, diplomat

• Founded library & fire dept

• Disc about electricity• Bifocals, stove• Founding Father

Great Awakening

• 1730s & 1740s—religious revival in col

• Emotion-packed Christian movement

• Reaction to decline of rel zeal in col

• Led by preachers like Jonathan Edwards who called on ppl to examine lives & commit selves to God

• Also warned sinners to change ways

Impact of Great Awakening

• Rise of new churches (Methodists, Baptists)

• Split in other churches (Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, Congregationalist)

• More religious toleration

• Reinforced democratic ideas

Enlightenment

• Change in way ppl thought—many no longer relied on faith to find answers to difficult questions

• Believed all problems could be solved by human reason

• “natural laws” governed society, religion, & politics

John Locke

• Natural rights: rts that belong to every human from birth– Life, liberty, property– Rights inalienable (can’t be taken away)

• Challenged idea of divine right (belief that monarchs get their authority to rule directly from God)

• Natural rights come from God

Social Contract• Ppl set up gov’t to

protect rights• Give up some

individual freedoms to safeguard rights of community

• Leader can only rule as long as ppl approve

• If monarch violates rule, ppl can overthrow him

Montesquieu

• Pwrs of gov’t should be clearly defined• Separation of powers: div of pwr of gov’t

into separate branches• Keeps any one person from getting too

much power• 3 branches

– Legislative: law-making body– Executive: carries out laws– Judicial: interprets laws