Notes Chapter 4 Ap Us History
A. Conquest by the Cradle
1. The common term thirteen original colonies is misleading as Britain ruled thirty-two colonies in North America, including the Caribbean Islands by 1775 but only thirteen of them staked a rebellion
2. Among the distinguishing characteristics that the eventually rebellious settlements shared was lusty population growth; in 1700 they contained fewer than 300,00 people; by 1775, there were about 2.5 million people
a. Of the 2.5 million people, about half a million were black and white immigrants made up nearly 400,000 of the increased number, and black “forced immigrants” accounted for almost as many again
b. But most of the spurt stemmed from the remarkable natural fertility of all Americans, white and black; to the amazement and dismay of Europeans, the colonists were doubling every twenty-five years
c. The population boom had political consequences; in 1700 there were twenty English subjects for each American colonist but by 1775 the English advantage in numbers had fallen to three to one—setting the stage for a momentous shift in the balance of power
d. The bulk of the population was up east of the Alleghenies, although by 1775 groups of pioneers were in the clearings of Tennessee and Kentucky (the most populous colonies in 1775 were Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Maryland
3. Only four communities could properly be called cities: Philadelphia (34,000 residents), trailed by New York, Boston, and Charleston; still, 90 percent of the people lived in rural areas in the country
B. A Mingling of the Races
1. Colonial America was a melting pot and had been from the outset; the population was picturesquely mottled with numerous foreign groups
a. Germans constituted about 6 percent of the total population, or 150,000, by 1775; fleeing religious persecution, economic oppression, and war, they had flocked to America in early 1700s and settled chiefly in Pennsylvania
1. The common term thirteen original colonies is misleading as Britain ruled thirty-two colonies in North America, including the Caribbean Islands by 1775 but only thirteen of them staked a rebellion
2. Among the distinguishing characteristics that the eventually rebellious settlements shared was lusty population growth; in 1700 they contained fewer than 300,00 people; by 1775, there were about 2.5 million people
a. Of the 2.5 million people, about half a million were black and white immigrants made up nearly 400,000 of the increased number, and black “forced immigrants” accounted for almost as many again
b. But most of the spurt stemmed from the remarkable natural fertility of all Americans, white and black; to the amazement and dismay of Europeans, the colonists were doubling every twenty-five years
c. The population boom had political consequences; in 1700 there were twenty English subjects for each American colonist but by 1775 the English advantage in numbers had fallen to three to one—setting the stage for a momentous shift in the balance of power
d. The bulk of the population was up east of the Alleghenies, although by 1775 groups of pioneers were in the clearings of Tennessee and Kentucky (the most populous colonies in 1775 were Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Maryland
3. Only four communities could properly be called cities: Philadelphia (34,000 residents), trailed by New York, Boston, and Charleston; still, 90 percent of the people lived in rural areas in the country
B. A Mingling of the Races
1. Colonial America was a melting pot and had been from the outset; the population was picturesquely mottled with numerous foreign groups
a. Germans constituted about 6 percent of the total population, or 150,000, by 1775; fleeing religious persecution, economic oppression, and war, they had flocked to America in early 1700s and settled chiefly in Pennsylvania