Topic #2 Life in the Colonies

RAP Why should we study the British colonies in North

America?

Why Learn About the Colonies????• Learning about how people lived in the British colonies in the

1770’s can help us to understand why they developed their ideas about government.

• People living in the 1770’s held certain beliefs about good government that still affect our lives today.

Colonies in North America• By 1770 Great Britain had established 13 colonies in

North America.

• The colonies were officially ruled by the King of England who was King George III.

• Despite the rule of the king, local governments were established in the colonies .

• The term government means people and institutions with authority to make and enforce laws and manage disputes about laws.

Class Differences Back in Europe there was very little opportunity to

improve one’s situation… Regular citizens were not allowed to participate in

government. If you were born poor, most likely you would die poor. People who owned land were wealthy. However, the only

way to own land is to be given it by the king.

These things were not true in the colonies in America! In America, a person could become wealthy by using

knowledge, skills and opportunities! Regular people in America could participate in government!

Why Leave Europe?

Colonist were searching for:

• Religious Freedom

• Opportunity

LIMITED OPPORTUNITY IN THE COLONIES

Not all people shared the same opportunities to gain wealth or participate in government.

• Women

• Slaves

• Native Americans

• People who did not own land

• People who were not members of the church could not vote

Indentured Servants Developed by the Virginia Company

Vital to the colonial economy Passage to the Colonies

Contract labor Worked between four and seven years Received passage, room, board, lodging, and freedom dues Extension of contract for

Breaking the law

Running away

For female servants – pregnancy Life after contract better than new immigrants

Contract could include

25 acres of land, a year's worth of corn, arms, a cow and new clothes.

The rights colonists valued FREEDOM !!!!!!!!!

• By 1641, colonists in Massachusetts had the following rights:

1) right to trial by jury

2) free elections

3) right of free men to own property

• In the years before the Revolution, colonists were very sensitive to any attempts by the British to limit their rights.

• After the Revolution, colonists were eager to protect the rights that they had just fought for.

The Founders of the United States Founders – political leaders of the colonies who led the fight for independence from Great Britain• These Founders had developed their own ideas about what the best form of

government should be.• Their ideas were formed from their own experience and from research into

governments of the past.• After the Revolution, these Founders helped establish state governments and

their ideas influenced the writing of the constitution.• Founders: 1) George Washington

2) John & Abigail Adams3) Benjamin Franklin4) Patrick Henry 5) Thomas Jefferson6) James Madison7) Mercy Otis Warren

WIO- Student Choice: Using the picture on page 6, compare Life in the Colonies and Life today using two columns. Create an advertisement for life in the colonies. Imagine that you just moved to a Colony in North America and you are writing your family, back in Britain, a letter letting them know how life in the colony is going. Discuss your daily routine and how the colony differs from life back home in Britain. Provide three rights that colonist valued and draw a picture illustrating each right.