Cours n°2

The Commonwealth Of Oliver Cromwell 1649 1660

Oliver Cromwell: 1599 1658

B) Puritanism and it’s effects on the community

Appears at the Time of Elisabeth the 1st
Puritans believe in simple form of church ceremony and strict moral behavior. Most of them were Calvinists. Thez wanted to purify the Church Of England. They were associated with the parlementary party during the time of Cromwell’s Commonwealth. They were badly treated at the time when monarchy came back. A lot of them left to the New World. There were five tenit to define puritanism:
1) Original Depravity=>original sin
2) Unconditionnal election=>redeption was reserved to those who were predestined to receive it. The Spirit of God would work only for those who are elected
3) Irresistible grace=> If you are chosen, you don’t have to ask. One cannot refuse or question God’s will
4) Limited atonement (atone: racheter)=> Only a few will be forgiven
5) Perseverance of the Saints=> The elect must relentlessly further God’s work in the world and to overcome the consequences of man’s original depravity

Not all the newcomers were puritans but puritan’s leader had the authority and it lead them to construct New England
All the puritans were looking for freedom of worship (especially in Massassuchetts) but you weren’t able to get this freedom of worship if you weren’t a puritan. They were closed minded.
The puritans wanted a government which in the religious leaders would hold the power. Women wouldn’t be able to vote and men would if they were members of the puritan community.
The puritans did not make room for people who hadn’t the same ideas. Many people try to leave Massachussets to find more freedom and settled in Connecticut.
The puritans thought that it was incumbent on them to dirve out of the country people who disagreed to their ideas. Their close mindedness weakened their ideal society.
If they had been more open, it would have been a really positive society, which values were frugality, work, discipline, vertuous life, material success which was a sign of God and last but not least, puritanism layed the emphasis on education.
Example:
Manchester School Law, 17th century: Any town which had 50 families must have a school.



C) Southern Colonies

Norhtern Carolina
Southern Carolina
Maryland
Virginia
Georgia
a) Economy:
Large coast and rivers, deep enough to allow ships to sail on them. The soils were very rich. It was called the tidewater. Travel on the rivers wasn’t always easy but the area between the mountains and the waterfalls was really rich. Staple crop was tobacco, but it exhausted the soils rapidly. Tobacco producers tended to get more and more land to replace the used soils. Planters were asked to let the land lie follow (laisser en jachère) Indigo was used to make the color of the army’s uniforms and was one of the main product. Because of the swampy lands, rice grow easily in South Carolina and Georgia. Devellopment of slavery is linked to the fact that many workers were necessary in the plantations, which were often near creeks.

b) Slaves and servants
It was hard to find servants because people prefered to work for themselves. They found a solution with indentured servants, who had no money to go to america and sold their manpower to a settler who buy their travel and then work for the settler for 1 to 7 year to pay back the price of the ticket. It occured often in Virginia and Georgia. But it wasn’t enough and the plantation owners started buying black slaves. Around 25000 black slaves in 1700 throughout America. But the rise of rice and tobacco economy makes the Southern States keep it 400000 in 1760 in the Southern Colonies. The cost of housing and feeding a slave was nothing compared to a wage. Apart from several masters, most slaves owners weren’t really ill treating their slaves , because it would have been a loss of their propetry.
The Southern Colonies had an aristocratic community. Rich planters were the upper class. The middle class owned only a few slaves. The tenant farmers were those who didn’t work on their own land. They couldn’t vote, weren’t educated. They were the third class. Native Americans weren’t considered as american citizens until 1924. The Slave population was more important than the White population at the end of 18th century.

E) The Back Country.

They stopped to settle. Forest were cleared. They built hutts. There was not any clear class system;