Rationalism (1750-1800): The American Revolution

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Rationalism (1750-1800)The American Revolution

• Fran Bullington

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During the Colonial Period, New England was
populated primarily by Puritans, but the
Mid-Atlantic and the South saw rapid Growth and
the influx of different peoples, religions, and
ways of life.
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By the time of the American Revolution, the
colonies had achieved a great deal of the social
diversity that we consider distinctively American.
In 1650, the total population of the colonies was
almost 60,000 by the 1790s, that number had
grown to 3,500,000.
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The colonies were required to provide supplies
and soldiers for English wars and to help pay for
those wars afterward. The people of the
colonies were growing tired of subservience to
distant England.
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In 1763 England imposed the Stamp Act, the first
in a series of heavy taxes that would prove
unpopular and serve as a focal point of colonial
resentment.
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The colonists began boycotting British goods,
forcing the British to repeal the Stamp
Act. Then, in March 1770, British soldiers and
colonial citizens skirmished in
Boston, resulting in the deaths of five
colonists. This skirmish became known as the
Boston Massacre.
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In 1773, England imposed a new tax on tea and the
colonists responded by dumping tea from the
British ships into Boston Harbor. This act
became known as the Boston Tea Party.
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Britain then imposed severe restrictions on the
self-government of Massachusetts, known as the
Intolerable Acts. In response, representatives
from the colonies met in Philadelphia in 1774 for
the First Continental Congress. There they
vented their outrage in letters of protest to
King George, asked citizens to boycott British
goods,and called for the organization of
militia to defend against British aggression
throughout the colonies.
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The Second Continental Congress met in
Philadelphia in May 1775 and organized an army
under General George Washington.
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In June, after the Battle of Bunker Hill
near Boston, King George officially declared the
colonies in rebellion against the crown.
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In June of 1776, the Continental Congress voted
in favor of independence and appointed a
committee which included Thomas Jefferson,
Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams to draft a
Declaration of Independence.
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Jefferson wrote a draft of that declaration,
which with some changes, was adopted on July 4,
thereafter known in the United States as
Independence Day.
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As the population of the young country grew,
standards of living climbed. Literacy increased
dramatically. By the end of the 18th century,
most of the white population could read, and
literacy was blossoming among the free African
Americans in the population.
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Colonial Schoolhouse
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Hornbooks Paper was once pretty expensive so to
save on cost, a sheet would be glued to a wooden
paddle and covered with a very thin piece of a
cows horn.
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Hornbooks
Children used hornbooks to learn a variety of
things.
The paper usually had the alphabet, some pairs
of letters, and a religious verse, often the
Lord's Prayer on it.
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Colonial Clothing
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Colonial Housing
Thomas Everard House, Williamsburg, Virginia
slave quarters
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Governors Mansion, Williamsburg,
Virginia completed in 1722
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Colonial Dining
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Trades in Colonial America
basketweaver
apothecary
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Trades in Colonial America
milliner
blacksmith
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brickmaker
printer
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shoemaker
wheelwright
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Bibliography
Skiba, Laurie, ed. The American Tradition. St.
Paul EMC/Paradigm Publishing, 2001.
Official Web Site of Colonial Williamsburg. 12
Sept 2004. ltwww.history.orggt