HSTY2666 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: British America, Puritans, Protestantism
5 May 2018
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HSTY2666 Lecture 2 – Background: Early 18th Century America
Key ideas/themes
• The thirteen colonies are very diverse and different.
• Colonists strongly identify as British, not American during this period of early colonial
America.
• During the 18th century there was a rapid growth in population. As the population
grows, several diverse groups form and not all are treated equally thus causing
conflict.
• Cities were not big urban hubs yet. There were still lots of farms.
• There had already been a long and complicated history of trade with the Native
Americans.
The North American continent and its diverse inhabitants
• There were around 1mil Native American tribes on the North American continent.
There were 500+ tribes in North Mexico. These tribes all had complex internal
alliances and inhabited the land in very different ways.
• The Spanish conquest: Ruthless by nature. They had smaller outposts in Arizona,
New Mexico, and Texas. Primarily defensive as Indian tribes continued to dominate
these areas.
• There was a growing influence of British and French culture in the early 18th century.
This is partly due to them having much better trade goods than the Spanish.
• In the Northern regions (Canada), the French and Indians developed mutual
understanding due to positive trade relations. Additionally, the French colonial
settlements in those regions were relatively small and relied on the fur trade to
survive the cold climate.
• British colonies in the West Indies participated enormously in the slave trade. 1.5
million slaves in the early 18th century.
• Slave plantations were a very lucrative part of the British empire.
o This fact is the reason for this particular tension point of the revolutionary
war.
The British American Colonies
• Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina were predominantly populated by black
slaves. The ratio was 2 blacks to one white. This resulted in harsh environment
where the white slave holders resorted to violence and poor treatments of slaves in
order to suppress any slave revolts.
• Each of the southern states have a particular good that is their main trading
commodity.
o Virginia and Maryland: Tobacco.
▪ Large slave pop approx. 40% of the population.
o Up north in states such as New York, Delaware, and New Jersey slavery is not
as common, however still lots of farms. Many inhabitants are primarily of
British descent and protestant.
o New England, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts are puritan colonies and have
very few slaves. This is mainly the case as there are not a whole lot of
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Document Summary
Hsty2666 lecture 2 background: early 18th century america. Key ideas/themes: the thirteen colonies are very diverse and different, colonists strongly identify as british, not american during this period of early colonial. America: during the 18th century there was a rapid growth in population. As the population grows, several diverse groups form and not all are treated equally thus causing conflict: cities were not big urban hubs yet. There were still lots of farms: there had already been a long and complicated history of trade with the native. The north american continent and its diverse inhabitants: there were around 1mil native american tribes on the north american continent. These tribes all had complex internal alliances and inhabited the land in very different ways: the spanish conquest: ruthless by nature. Primarily defensive as indian tribes continued to dominate these areas: there was a growing influence of british and french culture in the early 18th century.
