Ch 5 Part 2 Notes
Dominant Denominations
There were 2 “Established” (forcibly tax supported) denominations in the Colonies; The Anglican (Church of England, called Episcopal today) in part of NY and all 5 Southern Colonies) and the Congregational (Puritan church, in Mass., Conn., & N.H.). 4 Colonies did not have any “established” churches…RI, NJ, DE, & Penn) According to the Chart on p.95 …74% of the colonists were members of a church, yet the text claims that most colonists were not religious ???
-The Anglican Church (COE) was the established church in England and it served as the church for British Officials and had Kingly authority.
-The Congregational Church was formerly established in all of the New England Colonies except Rhode Island.
-Presbyterians were the 3rd largest Christian denomination in 1775 mostly found in the frontier.
-The Presb. and Cong. churches, as revolution grew near were the 2 most associated with the rebels…Anglicans naturally supported the King.
-There were appx. 25k Roman Catholics in the British Colonies in 1775, a very small #...and they were discriminated against in most colonies. (watch the change here…by 1860 they become the largest denomination and still are today J
THE First GREAT AWAKENING****** huge*****CHANGE OVER TIME J
- CAUSES: By the 1700’s or 18th century religious zeal had calmed in all colonial churches…even in Mass. (Half-Way covenant for ex.)
-Fear…of death in the wilderness, surely an early motivation, subsides.
-LIBERAL IDEAS began to challenge the churches doctrine of Predestination…such as those of Jacob Arminius – who preached that individual FREE WILL determined a person’s eternal fate…. (common today)
-These twin trends towards clerical intellectualism (boring sermons) and Liberalism (free will) were changing American Christianity…
RELIGIOUS REVIVAL- The First GREAT AWAKENING…was the outcome of this conflict.
Beginning in the 1730’s, this swept across ALL OF THE COLONIES… and HAD MANY -LASTING EFFECTS; it’s emphasis on direct, emotive spirituality undermined the older clergy, it split many churches (schisms) increasing the # of denominations and competitiveness, encouraged missionaries among Indians and black slaves, it founded “new light” Universities [Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth], it broke down denominational lines and regional differences, and was the 1ST SPONTANEOUS MASS MOVEMENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE- CONTRIBUTING TO THE GROWING SENSE THAT AMERICANS HAD A COMMON HISTORY AND SHARED EXPERIENCES.*****
The Great Awakening was led by many, but two preachers were conspicuous. Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.
-The Awakening was 1st ignited in Mass. By Jonathan Edwards…he proclaimed with burning righteousness the folly of believing in salvation through good works (a liberal idea becoming popular) He painted a lurid picture of HELL. His sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” mentions that the path to hell was “paved by the skulls of unbaptized children.” Intellectual, yet his sermons provide a spark and provoked a reaction among his parishioners…
-George Whitefield was different…seen as the 1st EVANGELICAL PREACHER. An orator of rare gifts… touring the colonies in REVIVAL MEETINGS with an electrifying style… His message was of human helplessness and divine omnipotence… HE SHOOK ENORMOUS OUTSIDE AUDIENCES WITH EMOTIONAL APPEALS. His efforts touched off a conflagration that REVOLUTIONIZED THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE COLONIES….and inspired countless imitators.
-In these “open field” revivals, with enormous audiences, countless sinners professed conversion, many groaning-shrieking-rolling on the ground from religious excitation J
- Orthodox clergymen were deeply skeptical of the emotionalism and theatrics of the revivalists… and were known as “OLD LIGHT” MINISTERS.
- The new emotional ministers were known as, “NEW LIGHT” MINISTERS and defended their emotionalism and its role in revitalizing American Religion.
- Congregationalists and Presbyterians SPLIT (schism) over this issue…and many of the believers in this new style… changed to Baptist and Methodist, denominations that encourage that emotive spirituality.
Schools and Colleges
-The English regarded education as a blessing reserved for the Aristocratic few. Education should be for leadership, not citizenship, and primarily for MALES.
New England, for religious reasons, was more zealously interested in education, FOR BOYS, than any other region… it stressed the need to read the Bible for the individual- to make good Christians. NE had an impressive # of college graduates and established primary and secondary schools.
In the middle colonies and the south… some elementary schools were tax supported and others privately operated. The South, due to the population spread across great distances, was severely handicapped by logistics to create an effective school system. Most wealthy families hired private tutors and to colleges in England.
Most schools placed an emphasis on religion and Latin/Greek. The focus was on religious doctrine and independence of thinking was discouraged. Discipline was quite severe… students were ”birched” (whipped) and teachers could even be whipped for their failures.
9 local colleges were established during the colonial era…(see chart p. 98). Student enrollments were small and all boys. Curriculum was focused on Theology and “Dead” languages…
As the 1700’s develop a SECULAR (non-religious) approach began to become evident…with curriculum’s turning to “Live” languages and other Modern subjects. Ben Franklin was part of a group to launch the University of Pennsylvania, in 1751, the 1st American College free of Religious Control.
A Provincial Culture
PAINTERS -The 13 colonies focused their tastes on Europe… a few artists were spawned however in the colonies; John Trumbull, painter, Charles Wilson Peale, painter (GW), Benjamin West, painter, and John Singleton Copley, painter. They were forced to travel to England/Europe to train and to pursue their ambitions… only abroad could they find subjects that had the leisure to sit for portraits and had the $$$ to pay for them.
ARCHITECTURE – inspired by the Old World (Europe) and modified to meet climatic conditions in the new world… Log Cabin, from Sweden, the Red Bricked style was introduced in the 1720’s (Williamsburg, Va.)
LITERATURE – generally undistinguished….for many of the same reasons as painting… however, exceptions were… Thomas Paine’s, “Common Sense,” William Bradford’s, “OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION,” Equiano’s Autobiography, PHYLLIS WEATLEY’S poems ( a slave girl brought to Boston at 8 then taken to England at 20… AMAZING STORY –X CREDIT!, …Ben Franklin’s autobiography and his POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC, with its witticisms, was well known in Europe and more widely read in America than anything other than the Bible J “Fish an Visitors stink in 3 days.” This had an incalculable influence in shaping the American Character.
SCIENCE –progress above superstition… Botanists, Mathematicians, and Astronomers…Ben Franklin was perhaps the ONLY 1ST RANK scientist produced in the American Colonies. The Lightning Rod-electricity, Bifocals, and the Franklin stove…were among his pursuits…SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION… ENLIGHTENMENT…
Pioneer Presses
Newspapers are the chief measure of an established CULTURE****…Newspapers proved to be a powerful agency for airing colonial grievances and rallying opposition to British control. DEVELOPING A “PUBLIC OPINION!”
Too poor and too busy to buy and read books… a few private libraries existed (the Byrd Family in Va. had the largest collection in the colonies – 4000 volumes)
Ben Franklin established the 1st privately supported circulating library in America in Philadelphia…and by 1776 there were 50 public libraries supported by subscription.
Printing Presses cranked out pamphlets, leaflets, and journals (common sense – Thomas Paine)
On the eve of the revolution 40 NEWSPAPERS, most published weekly existed in the colonies… often written with pseudonyms to name authors… Philosophicus…for ex.
News often lagged weeks behind the events… especially overseas news… BEN FRANKLIN’S FENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE
A celebrated legal case, ZENGER V. NEW YORK, 1734-35****HUGE a newspaper printer, John Peter Zenger, criticized the Corrupt Royal Governor of New York. He was charged with seditious libel. In court he was defended by the distinguished lawyer Andrew (not alexander) Hamilton… Zenger argued that he printed the TRUTH… but the judge instructed the jury not to consider the TRUTH…the mere FACT of printing the statements that criticized the government (whether true or not) was enough to convict him based on the law at that time… Hamilton argued that the “liberty of BOTH exposing and opposing arbitrary power” was at stake… the jurors, all colonists, rejected the judge and daringly returned a verdict of NOT GUILTY J
THIS DESCISION WAS A BANNER ACHIEVEMENT FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS and the health of democracy… it opened the way for a free discussion required by a diverse democratic society that all America was to become… IT HELPED ESTABLISH THE DOCTRINE THAT TRUE STATEMENTS ABOUT PUBLIC OFFICIALS COULD NOT BE PROSECUTED AS LIBEL…THUS NEWSPAPERS EVENTUALLY WERE FREE TO PRINT RESPONSIBLE CRITICISMS OF POWERFUL OFFICIALS…
The Great Game of Politics
As St. John states in his 3rd letter…Americans were making noteworthy contributions to political science…
-The 13 colonial gov’ts took a variety of forms by 1775; 8 had Royal Gov’s who were appt. by the King, 3 were proprietorships (My, Penn, De) who themselves chose Gov’s, and 2 elected their own governors under self-governing charters (conn RI).
- most used a two-house legislature, except for Pennsylvania and Georgia…the Upper House [THE COUNCIL] appt. by the crown or proprietor or voters. The Lower House – the popular branch – was elected by the “people”…property qualifying white males….
- IN Several colonies BACKCOUNTRY folks were seriously underrepresented and they hated the ruling EASTERN ELITE ,,,maybe even more than the king. (Bacons, Paxton, Regulators for ex.)
-The Lower Houses voted for such TAXES for the necessary expenses OF THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT…SELF-TAXATION THROUGH REPRESENTATION WAS A PRIVILEGE THAT AMERICANS CAME TO CHERISH ABOVE MOST OTHERS.
- Colonial legislatures found various ways to manipulate the sometimes-inept British and assert their independence and authority… such as POWER OF THE PURSE….**** They paid the Gov’s Salary… so they would often withhold payment until the Gov bent to their wishes… one NC GOV died after not being paid for 11 YEARS J
- In the SOUTH – County Gov’t was the norm…In NE, Town Meetings, the norm… in the Middle Colonies they had a mixture of both…
TOWN MEETINGS –DIRECT DEMOCRACY, with open discussion and voting functioned as the BEST…
-VOTING, was not a birthright, Religious or Property restrictions and even more to hold office… existed in all of the colonies by 1775. Perhaps ½ of adult white males could vote…due to the ease of acquiring land in most colonies (South excluded)
-DEFERENCE- The concept of allowing your “betters” to control and make decisions was still commonplace in most colonies, esp. in the South…
By 1775, AMERICA was NOT yet a TRUE DEMOCRACY… SOCIALLY, ECONOMICALLY, OR POLITICALLY…BUT…it WAS FAR MORE DEMOCRATIC THAN ANY EUROPEAN COUNTRY INCLUDING ENGLAND… especially the concepts of; tolerance, education, ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY (by 1775 why most people came to the 13******), freedom of speech/press/assembly, and representative gov’t.
Colonial Folkways
For most labor was from “can’t see to can’t see.” Food was plentiful…Americans ate more meat than any people in the Old World…. Comforts were few…not a single bathtub in all of the colonies J P U… Holidays were everywhere celebrated…but Christmas was frowned upon in NE as a reminder of POPERY (Catholicism).
By the mid-18th century, Britain’s several North American colonies, despite their differences, had some striking similarities..
All were basically English in language and customs, Protestant in Religion with some toleration everywhere (least in NE), afforded economic opportunity-social mobility, some self-gov’t. BY 1775 THEY LOOKED LIKE A PATCHWORK QUILT…EACH PART SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT, BUT STITCHED TOGETHER BY COMMON ORIGINS, COMMON WAYS OF LIFE, AND ABOVE ALL SELF-RULE. ALL WERE SEPARATED FROM IMPERIAL AUTHORITY (MOTHER BRITAIN) BY A VAST OCEAN (60 DAYS TRAVEL) SOME 3000 MILES WIDE…
Shared History, Shared Culture, and Shared Geography set the stage for the Colonists struggle to unite as an independent people.
Some additional information from Chapter 6, which needs to be included due to the information about the French Colonization effort and the Wars for control of the North American Continent, that begins to have a significant effect on the colonies J WE WILL COVER THIS ON TUESDAY-REVIEW DAY J