British North America

SSUSH2 The student will trace the ways that the economy and society of British North America developed.

a. Explain the development of mercantilism and the trans-Atlantic trade.

b. Describe the Middle Passage, growth of the African population, and African-American culture.

c. Identify Benjamin Franklin as a symbol of social mobility and individualism.

d. Explain the significance of the Great Awakening.

Mercantilism

a. Explain the development of mercantilism and the trans-

Atlantic trade.

Mercantilism

• Economic System

• Colonies exist for the good of the mother country

• English colonies can only trade with England.

England

America

Mercantilism

• Major goal:– Acquisition of gold and silver through

favorable balance of trade

• How?– Colonies exist to provide raw materials &

markets– Import vs. Export

Trans-Atlantic Trade

• Controlled by British

• Navigation Acts (1660 & 1696):– Required colonists to buy British goods only– Raw materials were to be sold only to Britain– Manufacturing items in colonies was banned

The “Middle Passage”

b. Describe the Middle Passage, growth of the African population, and African-American culture.

Triangle Trade

• Trade between Europe, Africa and the Americas

• What was traded?– Europe → Africa Finished Goods– Africa → Americas Slaves– Americas → Europe Raw Materials

“Middle Passage”

Growth of African Population

• Grew quickly

• Why?

1. English had taken over slave trade

2. No economic benefit to indentured servants

3. Easier to control

Remember…

African-American Culture

• Different in each region

• Some Common Themes:– Christianity

• Encouraged by the Great Awakening

– Music → Gospel– Unique languages: Gullah, Pidgin English

• Merging of African & European cultures

Benjamin Franklin

c. Identify Benjamin Franklin as a symbol of social mobility and

individualism.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

• Distinctly American

• Symbol of social mobility & individualism

"In Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the

Enlightenment without its heat.“

-Henry Steele Commager (American Historian, 1902-1998)

Benjamin Franklin

• Scientist

• Inventor

• Statesman

• Printer

• Philosopher

• Economist

Electricity

Charted the Gulf Stream

Bifocals

Lightning Rod

Franklin Stove“Founding Father”

Signed: Declaration, Constitution

Pennsylvania Gazette

Poor Richard's Almanack

1st Public Library in America

Hard Work → wealth

Quotes

Sayings

“American Dream”

Hard work

Franklin as a symbol…

• Of Social Mobility– Born in Boston in 1706, 15th of 17 children– Age 12 – apprentice to brother (James) a printer– Ran away to Philadelphia– Worked odd jobs as printer/clerk– Founded a literary society– Founded Pennsylvania Gazette in 1728– Founded Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1733

Born poor

Becomes successful!

Franklin as a symbol…

• Of individualism– WHY?

How did Franklin become successful?

The Great Awakening

d. Explain the significance of the Great Awakening.

The Great Awakening

• Series of religious revivals that swept through America in the mid-1700’s

• Major Figures:– Jonathan Edwards– George Whitefield

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

• Preacher in Northampton, Massachusetts

• “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”– One of the most famous sermons

in American history

Excerpt from Sinners……Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock…

…And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has flung the door of mercy wide open, and stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God; many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are in now an happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him that has loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing!

George Whitefield (1714-1770)

• The “Great Itinerant”– Precursor to circuit riders

• Early Methodist

"Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven? Any Episcopalians? No! Any Presbyterians? No! Any Independents or Methodists? No, No No! Whom have you there? We don't

know those names here. All who are here are Christians...Oh, is this the case? Then God help us to forget your party names and

to become Christians in deed and truth."

Whitefield Preaching. Woodcut.

The Great Awakening

• Major Emphasis:

– Free will > Predestination

– Democracy > Monarchy

Significance

• Growth of Baptist and Methodist churches in America -- Why?

• Expanded education by the founding of new colleges, Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth.

• Democratized religion

More emotional than Puritan/Anglican services Appealed to poor/slaves

• Destroyed religious theocracy