The growth and diversification of the colonial population
The expansion and diversification of the colonial economy to meet the needs of this rapidly growing population.
The rise of slavery as the labor system of choice in British North America.
The social and political life of English colonists in the various colonies.
The emergence of a particularly American "mind and spirit" in literature, philosophy, science, education, and law.
A thorough study of Chapter Three should enable the student to understand:
The sources of colonial labor, including indentured servants, women, and imported Africans.
The reasons behind the gradual shift from indentured servitude to African slavery.
How patterns of birth and death influenced and reflected cultural development in the colonies
The nature of colonial medicine and its impact on women of the seventeenth century.
The social and familial roles of women in both the Chesapeake and New England.
The historical dispute over the origins of slavery.
The origins and social contours of slavery and racial discrimination in English America.
The changing sources of European immigration throughout the seventeenth century.
The ways in which factors of soil and climate determined the commercial and agricultural development of the colonies, despite crown attempts to influence production.
The importance, extent, and early limits of technology in the colonial economic system.
The beginnings of colonial commerce and consumerism, and the early attempts at regulation by Parliament.
The emergence of the plantation system, and its impact on Southern society.
The New England witchcraft episode as a reflection of Puritan society.
The rise and importance of cities in the colonial system.
The reasons for the appearance of a variety of religious sects in the colonies, and the effect of the Great Awakening on the colonists.
The ways in which colonial literature, education, science, law, and justice began to diverge from their English antecedents.
