History and Social Science, Part 12

Question 1: Discuss and describe the life expectancy and education in the Southern colonies.

Answer 1: The average man in the Southern colonies could expect to live 35 years. This was in part due to disease; stagnant water and unfamiliar heat helped the spread of many contagions throughout the population, and malaria was a constant danger. Because of the high mortality rate, most families were very large. Also, education was not a high priority in the colonies in those days. One problem was that the population was too scattered for a central public school to be possible. Wealthy plantation owners would hire a tutor for their children, who might later be sent off to William and Mary or one of the new schools up North: Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. For the less affluent, however, it was more likely that any education would be received as an apprentice of an experienced craftsman.

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Question 2: Discuss and describe religious and political life in the Southern colonies.

Answer 2: In all of the Southern colonies, the Anglican Church was supported by taxes. Anyone who wanted to enter politics would have to be a member of the Church, though the majority of the colonists were not. In general, the Southern colonies had the greatest degree of religious toleration. Politics during this period were largely controlled by the planter aristocracy. Each Southern colony had a governor (chosen by the colony’s English sponsor), a governor’s council, and an assembly to represent the people. During the 1700s, these assemblies took more and more power away from the governors. In order to run for office, a man had to be a member of the Anglican Church; many people, including Thomas Jefferson, would acquire membership in the Church and then never set foot inside it again.

Question 3: Discuss and describe the beginning of the slave trade in the Southern colonies.

Answer 3: After periods in which Native Americans or indentured servants from England were used as laborers, most of the labor in the Southern British North American colonies was performed by African slaves. These slaves were taken in wars between African chieftains, and then sold to European traders. Oftentimes, the African leaders would trade slaves for guns in order to protect themselves from other slave traders. Several African states, most notably the Yoruba and the Dahomey, became wealthy from this trade. The journey from West Africa to the West Indies was dangerous and depressing, and many slaves died en route. Before they were sold into the American colonies, slaves first worked in the brutal heat of the sugar plantations of the British West Indies. Only about half would survive long enough to see America.

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