HIST-H 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: First Continental Congress, Parliamentary Sovereignty, Navigation Acts
Document Summary
Structure of colonial society: intro summary. 2. 5 million people in 13 colonies, black and white. Huge ethnic diversity- americans no longer identified as british- mixed lineage. Population very young- nearly 60% under 21: those who fought in revolutionary war were not born before. Postwar (seven years" war) americans prosperous events that provoked it. Ship workers and sailors vulnerable to layoffs. Quality of material life not much lower than english. Per capita (whites and blacks) exceeded many developing countries today. Typical white family of 5 could afford decent food, clothes, housing with money left over to buy consumer goods. Even poorest benefitted from rising quality of life. Large regional variations: southern colonies- highest personal wealth, explained partly by slave industry, middle colonies- did well, new england- lagged significantly- inability to produce large, breakdown of political trust amounts of exports. George iii ultimately responsible for preserving empire. Praised in public, not in private- contemporaries in ruling class expressed grave concern.
