THE MIDDLE COLONIES
Least English of all the North
American colonies
Most tolerant of religious and ethnic diversity
Demonstrated features that
would later characterize
American society as a
whole Included New
York,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and
NEW NETHERLANDS
• Claimed by Dutch– Began to settle area in 1624
– Named it “New Netherlands”
• Collection of fortified trading posts to engage in fur trade with Indians
– Plan never worked well
– By 1640 the colony only held 5000 discontented settlers
• Angry at sloppy and
haphazard administration
• Angry at having most of their profits siphoned off by
merchants headquartered in New Amsterdam
– At the same time, English settlers from New England
ENGLISH TAKE OVER
• English government recognized problems in
New Netherlands and exploited situation
BIRTH OF NEW YORK
• King Charles II gives
entire colony to his
brother, James, Duke of
York
– A “proprietary colony
”
• Owned by a single
individual
– Colony renamed New
York
– New Amsterdam
renamed New York City
DIVERSITY AND TOLERATION
• Because colony included Dutch settlers, English authorities were forced to tolerate ethnic and
religious differences right from the start
• Policy of toleration made colony somewhat
attractive to dissatisfied people from other colonies and from various foreign countries in addition to England
NEW YORK GENTRY
• Duke of York gave huge tracts of land to friends
– 12 friends received 2 million acres each in the 1690s
– Created powerful
aristocratic class in colony
– Made it difficult for ordinary people to buy land and
become independent small farmers
• Had to rent land from gentry and become tenant farmers
• This fact restricted immigration to New York despite its other attractions
PENNSYLVANIA
• Became haven for persecuted religious group in England
– The Quakers
• Founded in 1640s by George Fox
– Real name was Society of Friends
• Most democratic Protestant denomination of the time
– No church government at all – Women treated as equals
– Did not recognize superior social status
– Refused to take oaths and were pacifists
– Intense evangelicals
• Suffered great deal of persecution
– Fines for refusing to attend Church of England
WILLIAM PENN
• Son a famous admiral, wealthy landowner, and friend of King Charles II
• Wrangled an extraordinary gift from the king in 1680
– In exchange for canceling the king’s huge debt to him, Penn was given a huge chunk of
territory in the New World • Modern day states of
Pennsylvania and Delaware
• Planned to use this colony as a haven for persecuted Quakers from England
Charles II
AN INSTANT SUCCESS STORY
• 4000 Quakers moved to the colony in 1681
– 20 years later population was 21,000
– By 1750, population was 120,000
• Reasons for success
– Rich farmland offered to settlers on generous terms
• Any man who brought his family over received 500 acres of land
– Only had to pay small quitrent to Penn every year
– Complete religious freedom was guaranteed to all
PENNSYLVANIAN DIVERSITY
• Some settlers were
from other colonies
or England
– But the majority
were non-English
inhabitants of the
British Isles
• Scots, Welsh,
and
Scotch-Irish
SCOTCH-IRISH
• Descendants of Scottish
Presbyterians who had settled in northern Ireland in the 1500s
– Militarily beat down native Irish and took their land
• Created religious and ethnic hatred that still plagues Ireland today
• England did not treat them well and, following a series of
harvest failures in the 1720s, thousands left for North
America
– Their favorite destination was Pennsylvania
GERMANS
• Most came from small states along the Rhine River
– Some were Mennonites and Amish who suffered religious periodic
persecution
– Others came to escape heavy taxes and poor harvests
• By 1776, over 100,000 had come to America
– Favorite destination
were Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey
A MIXED BLESSING
• Scotch-Irish were mean and cantankerous,
hated the English, had no respect for authority, and were difficult to
keep in line
• Germans also did not like the English,
resisted English
THE FRONTIER
• Both groups tended to settle on the frontier, in clusters of their own kind, squatting on vacant land
– Often responded with violence when
authorities challenged their claims
• Scotch-Irish were
especially hostile towards Indians
– Caused headaches for Quaker officials in
REASONS
• Immigration cannot explain all this growth
– One historian has estimated that if immigration
had been the only reason for population growth,
the total population in 1776 would have been
400,000—not 2.5 million
• Natural Increase was the most important source
for the American population explosion
LARGER FAMILIES
• Americans had larger families than their
counterparts back home
– Colonial women married at a younger age than European women
• Increased potential child-bearing years of women
– Death rate was lower • Probably due to low
density of settlement
• Also Americans had better and more
COLONIAL DRINKING
• Colonists were heavy drinkers
– Average white male colonist over the age of 15 drank the equivalent of one quart of 80-proof whiskey a week
– Believed alcohol was nutritious and healthy
• Even Puritans drank
DRUNKENESS AND
TEMPERANCE
• Most alcohol consumed in small amounts over the entire day
– Usually with food
• Actual drunkenness was relatively rare
– But did become more common in the 1700s
– Caused some to view it as serious problem
• Some doctors argued it was a poison
• Quakers and Methodists
objected on religious grounds
• Temperance movement had little impact on drinking habits of
HECTOR ST. JEAN DE
CRÈVECOEUR
• “American society is not composed, as in Europe, of great lords who possess everything, and of a herd of people who had nothing. A pleasing uniformity of
decent competence
appears throughout their habitations. They have no princes for whom they toil, starve, and bleed. They
have the most perfect
AMERICAN SOCIETY I
• Although Crèvecoeur exaggerated, the
American colonies were a different society from Europe
– Vast majority of colonists were
independent farmers, working land that
they owned
AMERICAN SOCIETY II
• Some historians argue that American colonies were becoming more like Europe as time went on
• A wealthy elite did develop, but that did not necessarily mean that opportunities were closing down for
PLANTER ELITE OF THE SOUTH
• Owners of the greatplantations were among the richest and most powerful men in the colonies
– Elegant estates like Mount Vernon and Monticello
rivaled the mansions of the English aristocracy
• As time went on, it became increasing difficult for
ordinary men to break into this privileged circle
– Planter elite therefore
became more narrow and exclusive and took on
many characteristics of an aristocracy
NORTHERN SOCIETY
• Wealthy class also
developed in the north – Mainly merchants
involved in international trade
• But it was less wealthy than southern planter elite
• It was also easier to enter – Hardworking craftsman
or shopkeeper could do it with a little luck, the right contacts, and a lot of
THE FRONTIER
• Although heavily forested, claimed by Indians, and far from protection of colonial governments, it provided the chance to many to become an independent farmer
• Major reason why the
colonies did not become carbon copies of European society
– Provided a “critical safety valve” for the
discontented and dissastified
– Created American
