Rivalry between France and England—forts/Indians vs. population

Albany Plan of Union—jealousy, taxing

rights overcame sense of uniting colonies under “one general government”

The Mosaic of Eighteenth Century America Fort Duquesne, on the

confluence of three rivers at what became

present-day Pittsburgh, was a thorn in British

colonists’ sides.

Franklin’s appeal to colonial unity (left) in face of

French presence in the backcountry represented by

soldiers flying the Fleur de Lys

(right).

Forces of Division (ethnicity, religion, distance, seaboard/country)

• High Birthrate in the colonies—3x’s today’s—fueled diversity

• Isolation of the backcountry—shacks, continual movement, transportation woes

• Frontier women—did man’s and woman’s work

• The Paxton Boys—Pennsylvania east/west conflict over frontier protection—

took matters into own hands until Franklin mediates

• Regulation movements—Vigilantes in

Carolinas—Battle of Alamance/hostility endures

• Ethnic conflicts—English on the coast,

Germans and Scots/Irish interior

Colonial women were hard put keeping up with five to eight children and everything else they had to do. Men, like the

one on the left, had it tough, too.

• Green Mountain Boys—Vermont land dispute (common?)

with New York (Yorkers)—jurisdiction

important for property rights

• Commercial classes—seaport

merchants tapped wealth of

surrounding countryside—gained political

power; “Negro Election Day”

• Women in cities—rich and poor

• Urban diversions and hazards—life more interesting in cities: balls,

concerts, plays, social clubs, rough activities

Flag carried by Ethan Allen (pictured above right) and his Green Mountain Boys.

Some seaport cities, like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston, began taking on

a more substantial, settled look.

Slave societies in the Eighteenth Century South

• The Chesapeake versus the Lower South— “task system” vs. “gang labor”; small vs. large plantations

• African slaves versus American-born slaves—competition

• Natchez revolt—Indians/slaves

combine: 200 French planters dead;

freedom for some blacks

• Greater freedom for blacks in Louisiana—price: help in defense;

Maroon communities

• The Stono Rebellion—largest of

colonial period

*The African Response toEnslavement—overt and

covert resistanceEnd of Reading

Constant concern of slaveholders and part of the psychological price for slavery were

revolts such as Stono (top) and the massive uprising in Haiti (right).

Enlightenment and Awakening in AmericaRational versus traditional Christianity—The Enlightenment; The

first Great Awakening; Jonathan Edwards (fire and brimstone), George Whitefield (emotional religious theatre)

Religious divisions—“Awakening” creates more dissension—why?

Evangelicalism on the frontier—less education, more emotional appeals

Colonial diversity: a summary—religion, education, ethnic and racial origins, interior vs. coast

—what’s good/

bad about this?

The oftentimes severe Jonathan Edwards who

preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and the theatrical George

Whitefield (far right).

Anglo –American Worlds of the Eighteenth Century

• “Consumer Revolution”—manufacturers fulfilling desires

• Class distinctions—Britain vs. colonies

• Ambivalent Americans—House of Lords, House of Commons, Oxford, Cambridge, Inns of Court

• England’s balanced constitution—really “balanced”?

• Tools for “managing” Parliament—Royal patronage,

“rotten boroughs”

• Colonial governments—some similarities but

generally more democratic

• The benefits of “benignneglect”—triangular trade

Oxford, one of the

admired English

institutions where

wealthy Americans

sent their sons.

Toward the Seven Years’ War

• Washington at Fort Necessity• The Ambitions of William Pitt

Fort Duquesne, the object of young George Washington’s ill-fated trek into the backwoods wilderness that would help start a world war.

William Pitt, the elder.

Recreation of Fort Necessity (above) and the short siege.