Bangladesh

Chapter 5 Notes
I. Conquest by the Cradle
  1. By 1775, Great Britain ruled 32 colonies in North America.
  * Only 13 of them revolted (the ones in what’s today the U.S.).
  2. By 1775, the population numbered 2.5 million people.
  3. The average age was 16 years old (due mainly to having several children).
  4. Most of the population (95%) was densely cooped up east of the Alleghenies, though by 1775, some had slowly trickled into Tennessee and Kentucky.
  5. About 90% of the people lived in rural areas and were therefore farmers.
II. The Structure of the Colonial Society
  1. In contrast to contemporary Europe, America was a land of opportunity.
  * Anyone who was willing to work hard could possibly go from rags to riches, and poverty was scorned.
  * Class differences did emerge, as a small group of aristocrats (made up of the rich farmers, merchants, officials, clergymen) had much of the power.
  2. Also, armed conflicts in the 1690s and 1700s enriched a number of merchants in the New England and middle colonies.
  3. War also created many widows and orphans who eventually had to turn to charity.
  4. In the South, a firm social pyramid emerged containing…
      * The immensely rich plantation owners (“planters”) had many slaves (though these were few).
      * “Yeoman” farmers, or small farmers. They owned their land and, maybe, a few slaves.
      * Landless whites who owned no land and either worked for a landowner or rented land to farm.
      * Indentured servants of America were the paupers and the criminals sent to the New World. Some of them were actually unfortunate victims of Britain’s unfair laws and did become respectable citizens. This group was dwindling though by the 1700s, thanks to Bacon’s Rebellion and the move away from indentured servant labor and toward
slavery.
ll. Workaday America
  1. Agriculture was the leading industry (by a huge margin), since farmers could seem to grow anything.
      * In Maryland...