Gabriella Authier Mercogliano
1 Nov. 2013
Kreifels
APUSH Theme
American Diversity: The diversity of the American people and the relationships among different groups. The role of race, class, ethnicity, and gender in the history of the United States.
(Early 1600’s) Fall in revenue in English cloth trades
Due to the slow birth rates and expense required to own slaves, indentured servitude became all the rage. The lack of jobs in England made many men desperate, so with the promise of “freedom dues” hundreds upon thousands of young men emigrated to the U.S greatly fluxing the social classes.
(1662) Half- Way Covenant
This idea in the Puritan church modified the rule that only the ‘elect’ could attend services. Instead the rule now stood that anyone was welcome to come to their church creating new relationships resulting in deteriorating class divisions and surprisingly an increase in female attendance and decrease in male.
(1676) Bacon’s Rebellion
The uprising led by 29 year old Nathaniel Bacon, caused a crazy amount of chaos which is important because it made landowners weary about whether or not to keep employing indentured servants. By losing their “freedom dues” in the switch to slavery a whole new social class was installed full of bitter unemployed young men.
(1692) Witch Hunts
The witch hunt accusations and murders are important because those accused tended to be woman in a place of power. Whether the women where independent property owners of born with a silver spoon. The witch trials resulted in social stratification between the higher and lower classes because most accusers tended to be small lower class farmers.
(1696) Carolina’s adoption of modified Barbados slave code
The role of the Barbados slave code moving from the West Indies to the United States was tremendous. By adopting these slave codes it paved the way for harsh racism in America that is still present today. These codes caused harsh divides in social structure, politics, and nationalism in the years 1600-1800.
(1744) King George’s War
This war was fought because of Jenkins’s Ear in part. The fighting between colonists and the French led to victory than a later returning of Louisburg by colonists. The colonists outraged by the return started to understand the social gap between them and the British. This further mounted to colonial agitation towards the British.
(1759) Battle of Quebec
Through the installment of more troops in America, friction developed. The friction resulted between the “raw colonial ‘boors’” and the “condescending snobs”. This is important because colonial militia couldn’t reach above the rank of Captain because of the class differences that the British had put into effect.
(1764) Scots Irish and Paxton Boys
The Scots Irish and the rest of their gang, not agreeing with the Quakers, marched to Philly to destroy the colonist’s relations with Indians. The Paxton Boys ruined Indian towns and much of the Quakers as well. This event made many tribes anti-white man and made a very big race problem even bigger.
(1776) Deceleration of Independence
This letter severely strained relationships between colonists. While the richer elites tended to be Loyalists, the lower classes tended to be neutral or Patriots. By placing these classes against each other the social placement of Patriots would make it harder to gain funds and resources to push their movement forward.
(1780’s) Federalist vs. Antifederalist press
Due to the class of Federalists they monopolized the newspaper sending out their propaganda and having more opportunities to sway people’s opinion. In the wake of hundreds of Federalist prints in the 1780’s there was only 12 Antifederalist.