Complexities of Colonial America
The story of early colonial America is one of great complexity. It was an enigmatic time and place, filled to the brim with variety and contradiction. The public memory of such an era is often rooted in misconceptions. In the following post, I will detail the diversity of colonial America in the case of many different subjects. Throughout our journey through early America, I will chronicle the life of Thomas Brattle (1658 – 1713), astronomer and architect.
The ones who packed onto the great wooden ships that would carry them to a new life were not the weak, the sick, and the poor, as many believe, but a proud English middle and lower-middle class in search of opportunity. Perhaps it is the fault of the English crown that our memory of the first arrival is tainted; studies indicate that the mayors of many English towns would report that it was only the dregs of society that would have any reason to leave England. While it is certain that some criminals were exiled to America in these early times, it was an exception rather than a rule. Some came for wealth, which the London Company promised; others came due to England’s social, political, and religious pressures. Whatever the reason, the average person was most likely unprepared for what he would encounter after his arduous trip over the Atlantic.
Though American terrain brought great things (more wood than you could cut, huge plots of land, and numerous streams of running water) most settlers were not farmers by trade and were therefore left wholly unprepared to utilize the land that had, for many years before, been cultivated by Native Indians . In order to survive, many settlers were forced to learn the art of farming, either from Indians or their own kind. Of course, farming was not simple to learn anywhere, but it was especially difficult in the colonies of the Chesapeake.
Terrain and environment may have been the single most influential factor in the life of the average immigrant. In some cases, New England and the Chesapeake were similar; for instance, women were a hot commodity in both areas. In most cases, the difference between colonies was similar to the difference between European countries. On one hand, the average New England settler could expect a standard of health better than that of most English counties, a somewhat tight-knit community, and a safe way of life. On another hand, Chesapeake colonies at first had an 80% mortality rate, a largely spread-out inhabitance, and a much more hazardous way of life.
The Chesapeake colonies were a ruthless test for any colonist. While the land was plentiful and good for logging, most of it was unfit for planting and the weather made all kinds of living arrangements difficult. Politics and religion were in some ways lost and corrupted; cruel and unusual punishments were not uncommon in the Chesapeake colonies, and because of proximity sermons and churches were rare, at best. It were these factors that might have later led to the growing of cash crops (like tobacco) in order to buy food, and therefore the rise of slavery in the South.
In contrast, New England was a place where land could be owned, plots could be farmed, businesses could be opened, and families could live. By modern standards, it was not the quintessential place to be, but it was a place where learning and farming could happen simultaneously and where religion and law could be practiced together. It was a place where one Thomas Brattle could grow and thrive.
Thomas Brattle, like most people who were important enough to have a biography written about them in this era, was a white male born to one of the wealthiest families in Boston, Massachusetts. Brattle would grow up fascinated by mathematics and the sciences and attend Harvard College. (As an aside, this opportunity was not exactly common in New England, but was vastly more likely to happen to somebody in New England than one in the Chesapeake, where learning to a back seat to hunting and farming in most cases.) When Brattle received his Bachelors, he began pursued higher education in London because, “no one was able to teach him much mathematics at Harvard” and he “relied on whatever books were available.” Before leaving for London, Brattle worked with scientifically inclined locals, resulting in his astronomical work being given mention in Isaac Newton’s Principia. In London, Brattle became of disciple of Robert Boyle, whom he would model the rest of his life after. After finishing his education and returning to Boston, Brattle did what most prominent men did in colonial society, take up civic duties. These duties would include architecture and teaching. In the end, Brattle had great success in importing scientific and architectural knowledge to a colonial America that was willing to learn, if not ready.
However, not every New England story was as successful as Brattle’s. The town of Salem, Massachusetts would provide for a far more grueling tale. In the 1690’s Salem was overcome with a witchcraft epidemic. Of course, this epidemic did not truly consist of witchcraft, but became a deadly game of false accusations. A group of young girls from prominent New England families began to point fingers and accuse middle and lower-middle class citizens of witchcraft. Although their motives were unclear, it is possible that they began naming people they, plainly, did not like as witches and let everything spiral out from there. Because the girls had upper class roots, they were believed and, for the most part, immune from accusations themselves. In the end, over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned and up to 33 people were killed as a result of the Salem Witch Trials. The story goes to show that politics and recreation were needed in the colonies (even if only to provide a diversion from every -day life), for lack of these things could have very dangerous results, especially for those in the lower class.
Politics in the colonies were something to behold. The best example of politics in the colonies is probably provided by the House of Burgesses in Virginia. Voting there was as much a social activity as it was a political one. In a time and place where no vote was anonymous and was only provided by a man who held land, the main reason to vote for a candidate might have been the amount of liquor he provided for you or the debt you owed him. While it was still almost exclusively the rich and prominent that held office, it provided colonial America with a backbone that would one day evolve to involve all Americans in the political process.
However, not every inhabitant of American land was considered “American”. (In fact, even the people who lived there at the time did not, for the most part, identify as American, they would have described themselves as British, German, Dutch, etc.) There was a sect of society that did not quite have the privileges many people of the colonies enjoyed; this marginalized group consisted of Indians, blacks, and indentured servants. In the case of Indians, geographic area was the key. In some areas of the colonies, settlers had good intentions for Indians, trading with and working alongside them (in the case of farming, in the beginning), while in other areas they were viewed as war-mongering barbarians. Blacks, at this time being kept as slaves by well-to-do whites in both the North and South colonies, would be considered lowest on the totem pole of social status. In their case, environment was key. Each slave received a different level of treatment depending solely on what his or her master felt like providing. Indentured servants, in this sense, were similar to slaves. Although they had chosen to sign over a certain amount of years of service, most did not know what exactly they were getting themselves in to. When they arrived, they were relegated to the status of slave in everything but name. These marginal groups had little positive outlook in the 17th century.
In contrast to marginalization, the rise to the status of gentleman was something that could actually take place in the colonies. Because there was so much land and so many resources in America, and land meant status, a man could make his way up the societal ladder easier than he could in England, where land was scarce and protected by strong family lines.
In a new land filled with such hazardous opportunity, it is easy to see exactly why colonial America was so complex. In a time when 1000 miles could be the difference between 25 years of life expectancy and the difference between learning to spell and learning to plow, it is not impossible to understand why historians can divide colonies the same way we divide countries. Through these complexities, America would begin to develop a culture all its own; this culture of the “melting pot” is what colonists would carry into the 18th century.
Sources Include:
Everyday Life in Early America by David Freeman Hawke
American National Biography – Thomas Brattle
Salem Witch Trials - ukmc.edu