What would it be like to be a British Colonist in the Mid-18th Century?

You would…

…most likely live along the shoreline, near the Atlantic;

(for trade, shipping, communication, fear of the wilderness)

…most likely own land and would probably be an artisan or a merchant;

(60% of white male colonists owned land, 20% in England)

…worry about all the newcomers;

(The population in 1700 was about 200,000 and in 1770 was about 2 million)

…live amongst many other colonies and often deal with inter-colonial affairs;

…most likely see England as the height of all civilization;

…feel reverence for the King;

(Dr. B. Rush, looking at the throne, “I felt as though I were on sacred ground”)

…feel more English than colonial. You would speak often of your pride at being British and would have deep affection for your country, and would feel lucky to be a part of the nation that, you thought, gave more liberty than any other nation;

…share some assumptions and basic beliefs with those in England. You would be respectful to those above you, and you would expect respect from those below;

...be aware that there was no titled aristocracy and no permanent entrenched peasant class. That would mean that you would be in a great “middling” society. You would be aware that the lines of class were less strict in America;

…be nervous about your status, worried about how you rated in comparison with others in the British empire. Since everything seemed more sophisticated in England, and since the English would often remind you of how uncouth and poorly dressed and bad mannered you were, you would have an inferiority complex.

How would you be different if you were American in the 18^th century?

      …character…a distinctive person migrated to the colonies (risk takers);

…conditions of life in British North America…(more land ownership, more

independent lifestyle);

…more political participation…election was like a fair, the candidates would

be leading the party(pouring the drinks), more politically independent;

         …more social fluidity…contrast between classes nowhere near as extreme

…diminishing personal ties to England…colonial leaders have fewer and

fewer real connections to England;

         …more religiosity in colonies (due to Great Awakening).

        

SOURCE: Prof. Joanne B. Freeman, Yale University