s. history us history us history - Embassy of the United States

CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIODOUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORYthe New York region long after thefall of New Netherland and theirintegration into the British colonialsystem. Their sharp-stepped gableroofs became a permanent part ofthe city’s architecture, and theirmerchants gave Manhattan muchof its original bustling, commercialatmosphere.THE SOUTHERN COLONIESIn contrast to New England andthe middle colonies, the Southerncolonies were predominantly ruralsettlements.By the late 17th century, Virginia’sand Maryland’s economic andsocial structure rested on the greatplanters and the yeoman farmers.The planters of the Tidewater region,supported by slave labor, held mostof the political power and the bestland. They built great houses, adoptedan aristocratic way of life, andkept in touch as best they could withthe world of culture overseas.The yeoman farmers, who workedsmaller tracts, sat in popular assembliesand found their way into politicaloffice. Their outspoken independencewas a constant warning to theoligarchy of planters not to encroachtoo far upon the rights of free men.The settlers of the Carolinasquickly learned to combine agricultureand commerce, and themarketplace became a major sourceof prosperity. Dense forests broughtrevenue: Lumber, tar, and resinfrom the longleaf pine providedsome of the best shipbuilding materialsin the world. Not bound toa single crop as was Virginia, Northand South Carolina also producedand exported rice and indigo, a bluedye obtained from native plants thatwas used in coloring fabric. By 1750more than 100,000 people lived inthe two colonies of North and SouthCarolina. Charleston, South Carolina,was the region’s leading port andtrading center.In the southernmost colonies, aseverywhere else, population growthin the backcountry had special significance.German immigrants andScots-Irish, unwilling to live inthe original Tidewater settlementswhere English influence was strong,pushed inland. Those who could notsecure fertile land along the coast, orwho had exhausted the lands theyheld, found the hills farther westa bountiful refuge. Although theirhardships were enormous, restlesssettlers kept coming; by the 1730sthey were pouring into the ShenandoahValley of Virginia. Soon theinterior was dotted with farms.Living on the edge of NativeAmerican country, frontier familiesbuilt cabins, cleared the wilderness,and cultivated maize and wheat.The men wore leather made fromthe skin of deer or sheep, knownas buckskin; the women wore garmentsof cloth they spun at home.Their food consisted of venison,wild turkey, and fish. They had theirown amusements: great barbecues,dances, housewarmings for newlymarried couples, shooting matches,and contests for making quiltedblankets. Quilt-making remains anAmerican tradition today.SOCIETY, SCHOOLS, ANDCULTUREA significant factor deterring theemergence of a powerful aristocraticor gentry class in the colonies wasthe ability of anyone in an establishedcolony to find a new homeon the frontier. Time after time,dominant Tidewater figures wereobliged to liberalize political policies,land-grant requirements, andreligious practices by the threat of amass exodus to the frontier.Of equal significance for thefuture were the foundations ofAmerican education and cultureestablished during the colonial period.Harvard College was foundedin 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Near the end of the century,the College of William and Marywas established in Virginia. A fewyears later, the Collegiate School ofConnecticut, later to become YaleUniversity, was chartered.Even more noteworthy was thegrowth of a school system maintainedby governmental authority.The Puritan emphasis on readingdirectly from the Scriptures underscoredthe importance of literacy. In1647 the Massachusetts Bay Colonyenacted the “ye olde deluder Satan”Act, requiring every town havingmore than 50 families to establisha grammar school (a Latin schoolto prepare students for college).Shortly thereafter, all the other NewEngland colonies, except for RhodeIsland, followed its example.The Pilgrims and Puritans hadbrought their own little librariesand continued to import booksfrom London. And as early as the1680s, Boston booksellers were doinga thriving business in works ofclassical literature, history, politics,philosophy, science, theology, andbelles-lettres. In 1638 the first printingpress in the English colonies andthe second in North America wasinstalled at Harvard College.The first school in Pennsylvaniawas begun in 1683. It taught reading,writing, and keeping of accounts.Thereafter, in some fashion, everyQuaker community provided for theelementary teaching of its children.More advanced training — in classicallanguages, history, and literature— was offered at the Friends PublicSchool, which still operates in Philadelphiaas the William Penn CharterSchool. The school was free to thepoor, but parents were required topay tuition if they were able.In Philadelphia, numerous privateschools with no religious affiliationtaught languages, mathematics,and natural science; there werealso night schools for adults. Womenwere not entirely overlooked, buttheir educational opportunities werelimited to training in activities thatcould be conducted in the home.Private teachers instructed thedaughters of prosperous Philadelphiansin French, music, dancing,painting, singing, grammar, andsometimes bookkeeping.2627