Life in the Colonies

1. Life in the Colonies
What class differences existed in colonial society?
Social Classes
Gentry
• wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, successful lawyers, royal officials
Middle Class
• farmers, skilled crafts workers, some tradespeople
Lower Class
• farmhands, indentured servants—people who signed contracts to work without wages in return for their ocean
passage—and slaves
How did the Great Awakening affect the colonies?
• In the 1730s and 1740s, a religious movement known as the Great Awakening swept through the colonies.
• The Great Awakening began with powerful ministers.
• It led many people to split from their old churches and start new ones.
• The growth of so many churches forced people to be more tolerant of different beliefs.
• New preachers argued that formal training was less important than a heart filled with the holy spirit.
• This thinking encouraged a spirit of independence. If people could learn to worship on their own, they could govern
themselves. People felt freer to challenge political authority.
How did the colonists educate their children?
New England Massachusetts required all parents to teach their children “to read and understand the
principles of religion.”
Massachusetts set up the first public schools, or schools supported by taxes.
The earliest schools had one room for students of all ages.
Middle Churches and families set up private schools. Only wealthy families could educate their
children.
Southern Some planters hired tutors, or private teachers. Sons of the very wealthy went to
school in England. Slaves were usually denied education.
Apprenticeships Boys might serve as apprentices to learn a trade or craft by living with a master and
working for free in return for training.
How were the colonies affected by the spread of new ideas?
The Enlightenment was a movement started in Europe by thinkers who applied reason and logic instead of
superstition to understand the world.
• English philosopher John Locke wrote that people could gain knowledge by observing and experimenting.
• Benjamin Franklin demonstrated the spirit of the Enlightenment. He used reason to invent useful devices
and improve his world.
• City life encouraged the development of cultural events, such as the theater and the growth of the
newspaper.
• The growth of colonial newspapers led to a dispute over freedom of the press.
• Newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger was tried for libel—the act of publishing a statement that may
unjustly damage a person’s reputation. The jury agreed that since the stories were true, Zenger had not
committed libel—a step toward freedom of the press.
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