UNITED STATES HISTORY NOTES: GRADE 5

 

CHAPTER 6: LIFE IN THE ENGLISH COLONIES

 

LESSON 1: WORKING AND TRADING

 

I.           LIFE FOR YOUNG WORKERS (page 203)

 

-An apprentice is a young person who learns a skill from a more experienced person. Apprentices could expect to work long hours—often more than twelve hours a day. They had very little free time and rarely got a day off.

 

-In spite of the hardships, becoming an apprentice could be a great opportunity. For many young people in the colonies, this was the only way to become an artisan.

 

-An artisan is a skilled worker—such as a rope maker, blacksmith, or carpenter—who makes things by hand.

 

-Young surgeons also learned their job by working as apprentices. As a surgeon’s apprentice, you would help carry medical instruments and observe the doctor at work. You also had the important responsibility of holding patients down during painful operations.

 

-As the colonial economy grew during the early and mid-1700s, there was a growing need for artisans. This created opportunities for thousands of young apprentices.

 

-Most were boys, but girls also worked as apprentices. Young girls learned trades like cooking and sewing.

 

-Not all young people in colonial times worked as apprentices. Most children grew up on farms where they had just as much work to do as apprentices in towns and cities. From a very young age, children were given jobs like gathering wood for fires, serving food, and helping in the garden.

 

-As they grew older, boys hunted, chopped firewood, and joined their fathers at work in the fields. Girls helped their mothers make household products such as soap, candles, clothing, and food for the family.

 

-These jobs were hard. Candles, for example, were made from the fat of sheep or cows. First the candle maker melted the chunks of fat in an iron kettle. Then she dipped a candle wick into the fat and let it harden. She did this over and over again until she had a thick candle.

 

-These candles gave off plenty of light, but they gave off something else too—a bad smell. Colonists were very happy when they discovered that they could make candles out of pleasant-smelling wax from wild berries.

 

 

II.        COLONIAL ECONOMIES (page 205)

 

-You have already read that different parts of the 13 Colonies were rich in different natural resources. So it makes sense that the New England, Southern, and Middle Colonies developed a different type of economy.

 

-The New England economy was based on products from the forest and the sea. Timber was a valuable export—especially to England, where most of the forests had already been cut down.

 

-Trees from the New England forests were also used to build houses, ships, and barrels. Barrels were needed to store everything from wine to wheat to dried fish.

 

-Once colonists had their own ships, they could fish in the rich waters off the New England coast. Fishing and whaling quickly became important industries.

 

-The economy of the Middle Colonies was based on farm products and valuable minerals such as iron. Middle Colony farmers grew so much wheat, the region became known as “the breadbasket of the colonies.”

 

-Mills were built to grind grain into flour. The mills were powered by running water or wind. From the mills, flour was shipped to other colonies and exported to other countries.

 

-The Southern Colonies had rich soil, warm weather, and plenty of rain, and they developed an economy based on farming. Farms ranged in size from small family farms to large plantations powered by the work of slaves. Cash crops included tobacco, rice, and indigo, a plant used to make blue dye.

 

 

 

III.     COLONIAL TRADE ROUTES (pages 206-207)

 

-As the colonial economy grew, cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charlestown became thriving trade centers. An important part of colonial trade was the slave trade.

 

-In this type of trade, ships brought captive Africans to the colonies, where they were sold and then forced to work as slaves.

 

-Some trade routes became known as triangular trade routes. These routes were called “triangular” because they were shaped like giant triangles.

 

-On one common triangular trade route, ships began in New England. They carried guns and other goods to ports on the coast of West Africa. Here, they traded these goods for gold and captive Africans.

 

-The ship then sailed for the West Indies. Because it was the second leg of the voyage, this was known as the Middle Passage. Captive Africans suffered terribly during the Middle Passage. Many died as a result of hunger, thirst, disease, or cruel treatment.

 

-A West African boy named Olaudah Equiano was probably brought to North America on a trading ship in about 1756. He later wrote a book about the Middle Passage, writing that people were “so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself…many died.”

 

-In the West Indies, the ships exchanged captive Africans and gold for sugar and molasses, a syrup made from sugar cane. The ships completed the triangle by carrying the sugar and molasses back to colonial ports.

 

-The molasses was used to make rum. And with this rum, trading ships set sail for Africa, beginning the triangular route over again. Many Africans were enslaved in the West Indies, where they were forced to work on sugar plantations. Others were brought north to the 13 colonies. 

 

 

LESSON 2: CITIES, TOWNS, AND FARMS

 

I.           CITY LIFE (Page 211)

 

-Ben Franklin arrived in Philadelphia in 1723. He found a growing city with a diverse population. There were people of different ethnic backgrounds and religions. There was a busy port on the Delaware River. And most importantly for Franklin, there was a printer who gave him a job.

 

-By the middle of the 1700s, Philadelphia was the largest city in the English colonies. Benjamin Franklin had a lot to do with the success of the city. He founded the city’s first newspaper.

 

-He established the city’s first public library and first hospital. To help fight dangerous fires, he started the first volunteer fire department in the 13 Colonies.

 

 

II.        COLONIAL TOWNS (Page 212)

 

-The Puritans began building towns in Massachusetts in the 1630s. Throughout colonial times, similar small towns were established all over New England.

 

-Many New England towns were self-sufficient, meaning they relied on themselves for most of what they needed. The food came from fields surrounding the town. Families who lived in town owned small plots of land, where they grew crops and raised animals.

-Other work was done in town. Workshops belonging to the blacksmith, cooper, and shoemaker were often found around the town common. The town common was an open space where cattle and sheep could graze.

 

-The meeting house was the most important building in town. Here ordinary citizens could help make decisions at town meetings and attend church on Sunday.  

 

-The Middle Colonies also had many small towns. Here towns often served as busy market places. Farmers came to sell their crops and buy things like clothing and tools.

 

-The town’s general store might also have imported goods, such as tea and sugar. Like New England towns, many Middle Colony towns had workshops and a mill where grain could be turned into flour. 

 

 

 

III.     SOUTHERN PLANTATIONS  (Page 213)

 

-While there were many small farms in the Southern Colonies, this region was also home to a different kind of farm—the plantation. Southern plantations were large farms where cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo were grown.

 

-Most of the work on plantations was done by enslaved Africans. Like small towns, plantations were largely self-sufficient.

 

-Plantations were owned by wealthy landowners known as planters. Planters were usually men, though women also ran plantations. One example was Eliza Lucas Pinckney. Pinckney began managing plantations in South Carolina when she was still a teenager. In 1744, she became the first person in the 13 Colonies to raise a successful crop of indigo.

 

-The day-to-day work on a plantation was directed by the plantation manager, known as the overseer. The overseer gave the slaves orders. Slaves could be beaten as punishment for not doing what they were told.

 

-Many slaves had to work from morning to night planting and harvesting crops. Others, often women and children, cooked and cleaned in the planter’s house. Enslaved people also worked in blacksmith and carpentry workshops, smokehouses, bakeries, laundry buildings, and stables.

 

 

IV.       FARMING FAMILIES (Page 214)

 

-From New Hampshire to Georgia, most colonists, free and slave, lived on small family farms. No matter where they lived, all farming families had one thing in common—hard work.

 

-Read these lines from a poem by a woman named Ruth Belknap.

 

-“Up in the morning I must rise

Before I’ve had time to rub my eyes.

But, Oh! It makes my heart to ache,

I have no bread till I can bake,

And then, alas! It makes me sputter,

For I must churn or have no butter.”

 

Ruth Belknap lived and worked on a small farm in New Hampshire in the 1700s. As her poem illustrates, farming families had to make or grow most of what they needed.   

 

 

 

 

 

LESSON 3: EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE COLONIES

 

I.           STUDYING AND PLAYING (Page 217)

 

-Education was very important to early settlers in New England. In 1647, the leaders of Massachusetts passed a law requiring towns to establish free public schools. For most colonists this was a new idea. Free schools did not exist in Europe at this time.

 

-In the years that followed, small public schools were built throughout the colonies. Schools in colonial times were very different than schools today. Most schools had just one room. Students of different ages sat together. They learned the basics—reading, writing, and arithmetic.

 

-Students also learned rules of polite behavior. When George Washington was a young student in Virginia, he copied lists of rules into his notebook. He wrote down rules such as: “Every action done in company, ought to be with some sign of respect, to those that are present.” “Be careful to keep your promises.”

 

-Most students did not stay in school for as many years as children do today. When they reached their early teens, many boys and girls started working full time on the family farms.  Other began apprenticeships.

 

-Only a small percentage of students went to college. Harvard, established near Boston, Massachusetts, in 1636, is the oldest college in the United States. The next was the College of William and Mary, which opened in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1693.  

 

-When children were not at school, they spent a lot of time doing chores around their family’s house or farm. Most young people had less free time than they do today. But children still found time for games and sports.

 

-They danced, played hide-and-seek, and invented a wide variety of games of tag. They climbed trees, went swimming, and flew kites. In the winter,  children enjoyed ice skating and sledding.

 

 

 

II.        RELIGION IN THE COLONIES (Page 218)

 

-Religion was an important part of life in all regions of the English Colonies. You know that several of the colonies were founded as places where people could enjoy religious freedom. Some colonies continued to be refuges for religious groups that faced persecution in Europe.

 

-For example, many Jews came to the 13 Colonies. They settled in Rhode Island, New York, and South Carolina. In 1763, Jews in Newport, Rhode Island, built what today is the oldest synagogue in the United States.

 

-Among Christians, an important religious movement known as the Great Awakening began in the 1730s. This movement “awakened” or revived many colonists’ interest in religion.

 

-The Great Awakening was led by Protestants. Protestant preachers traveled from town to town, giving sermons that were fiery and emotional. Services were often held outside, because churches could not hold all the people who wanted to attend.

 

-Many new churches were built during the Great Awakening. New colleges were also established to train ministers. The Great Awakening also inspired people to help others.

 

-One of the leaders of the Great Awakening, George Whitefield, traveled throughout the colonies collecting money to build an orphanage in Georgia. When Whitefield was in Philadelphia in 1739, Benjamin Franklin went to hear him preach.

 

-Franklin was so impressed with Whitefield’s sermon, he decided to contribute all the money he had with him to the orphanage. “I emptied my pocket wholly into the collector’s dish, gold and all,” Franklin later wrote.   

 

 

 

 

 

III.     READING (Page 219)

 

-A colonist walking down the streets of Boston on April 24, 1704, could have bought the edition of the Boston News-Letter. This became the first newspaper in the 13 Colonies to be published on a regular basis.

 

-By the 1770s, there were dozens of newspapers in the colonies. Sometimes, however, printing a newspaper could be a dangerous job. In 1734, a printer named John Peter Zenger was thrown in a New York City jail for printing his political opinions in the New-York Weekly Journal.

 

-Reading was an important form of entertainment in the colonies. When the day’s work was done, families often sat together and listened as one as one family member read aloud from a book.

 

-Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack was one of the most popular books in the 13 Colonies. Only the Bible sold more copies during this time. An almanac is a reference book with facts and figures.

 

-Letter writing was another important activity for colonists. Letters were folded and sealed with melted wax. Envelopes were not used because they were considered a waste of paper, which was expensive and hard to make. Letters helped colonist living far apart to stay in touch.   

 

 

IV.       COLONIAL MEALS (Page 220)

 

-As you know, early colonists learned to grow corn from Native Americans. Colonists used corn to make breads, puddings, and pancakes that were then served with maple syrup. Colonists also cooked stew in large iron pots. Stews were made of fish or meat with vegetables, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

 

-Many desserts were common in the colonies, including ice cream, donuts, and a variety of fruit pies. Desserts were not always tasty, though. In 1758, a Swedish traveler wrote home about an apple pie he ate in Delaware. The pie was “made of apples neither peeled nor freed from their cores, and its crust is not broken if a wagon wheel goes over it.”

 

 

 

LESSON 4: SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES

 

I.           SLAVERY, NORTH AND SOUTH (Page 225)

 

-Venture Smith told the story of his life in a book that was published in 1798. Smith was one of thousands of Africans who were enslaved in the 13 Colonies during the 1700s.

 

-Some of the Africans enslaved in the North, --the New England and Middle Colonies—worked on farms. Most, however, worked in towns and cities. They worked in stores, inns, and as skilled artisans. They worked in people’s houses as cooks or personal servants. 

 

-In the North, slaves usually had more opportunities to improve their lives than did slaves in the South. For example, some enslaved people in the North were able to earn money by taking on extra jobs at night and on weekends. Venture Smith wrote that he earned money “by catching muskrats and minks, raising potatoes and carrots…and by fishing in the night.”

 

-Some enslaved people saved enough money to purchase their freedom. This was a long and difficult process, though. It took Venture Smith many years to save the money needed to buy his freedom.

 

-Strict laws limited the rights of enslaved people in most northern colonies. Slaves could not travel or go onto a ship without written permission. Colonists passed these laws to make it more difficult for enslaved people to escape.   

 

 

 

  

II.        SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH (Page 226)

 

-The enslaved population of the Southern Colonies grew quickly during the 1700s. Some enslaved people were held on small farms or in cities. But most were forced to work on large plantations. Sometimes hundreds of slaves worked on a single huge plantation.

 

-Enslaved people brought a variety of skills to Southern plantations. Some West Africans, for example, had experience growing rice. In the Carolinas they showed planters how to raise this valuable crop.

 

-Other enslaved people were expert carpenters, blacksmiths, or tailors. No matter what types of skills enslaved people had, their work lasted all day, and sometimes the night.

 

-Facing the harsh conditions of plantation life, enslaved people struggled to preserve their families. Slave owners could sell family members and break up families. Still, family members tried to get together whenever they could.

 

-Enslaved people kept African culture alive. They made drums, banjos, and other instruments similar to the ones they knew from Africa. Some of the Southern Colonies banned the use of these instruments. Plantation owners were afraid that enslaved people were using instruments to send secret messages to each other.

 

 

III.     RESISTING SLAVERY (Page 227)

 

-In Lesson 1 of this chapter, you read about Olaudah Equiano, who was enslaved as young boy. Equiano later gained his freedom and wrote a book about his life. Published in 1789, his book demanded that readers think about the evils of slavery:

 

-“Surely this…violates that first natural right of mankind, equality and independency.”

 

-Enslaved people found many ways to resist slavery. They tried to trick owners and overseers by working slowly, breaking tools, or pretending to be sick. Many attempted to escape. Free African men and women, as well as whites, often helped escaping slaves by hiding them or giving them money.

 

-Armed rebellions also occurred. In the bloody Stono Rebellion, a group of enslaved people fought with slave owners near the Stono River in South Carolina in 1739. About 25 white colonists were killed before the slaves were captured and executed.