Regional distinctions in 17th and 18 century colonial society Essay

Regional distinctions in 17th and 18 century colonial society - Essay Example Regional distinctions in 17th and 18 century colonial society There are major differences between the 17th and the 18th centuries, in various fronts. A similarity in the economic front between the centuries is that the economy was agriculture dependent. The labor force in the 7th century was mainly indentured servitude comprising of white servants while this changed in the 18th century to slave labor, with African who were imported. In the social stratification front, the Southern planters were on the top of social class with large crop farms and the small farmers with less land coming in second. The Europeans were at the top of the social cadre, with the Native Americans and the Africans following in that order. The wealthy whites could hire the poor Europeans for indentured servitude, while the Africans belonged predominantly to the slave class. Colonies were formed based on religious beliefs, with the growth in religious freedom being higher in the 18th century than it was in the 17th century. The regions of New England and the Middle coloni es were less economically prosperous compared to the Chesapeake Bay Colonies and the Lower South. Organization of the labor force was such that there was more freedom for laborers in the New England and the Middle colonies, as opposed to the other two regions. This labor force freedom was more in the 18th century more than in the 17th century. 2. How Tobacco cultivation shaped the maturation of colonial society in the Chesapeake 1620-1775. The introduction of tobacco as a stable crop occurred in 1613. The decision to cultivate Tobacco as a staple food shaped the maturation of the colonies by introducing slave labor to replace the indentured servitude that was being utilized before in cotton farming (Eric, 107). Tobacco became the basis of the southern economy, since the introduction of became more economical than the contraction of the white to work for a fixed period. This saw the enactment of slavery law of 1641, which allowed the farmers to own slaves. Social stratification was t he basis of production of indentured servants, since they would come from overpopulated European areas with poor people. The rich lived in spacious tracts of land, where they could hire the poor whites to work on their farms. However, servants were more economical to use since it was cheaper than the cost of obtaining slaves. Therefore, the labor force was made of more indenture servants and a few slaves. The demography had less indentured servants because they died more, creating an allowance to own more slaves who were overworked to death in some regions such as the Caribbean, while those on the American colonies were bred to perpetuate the slave population. The economy of the south later changed from depending more on tobacco to relying on cotton, rice and indigo (Eric, 92). Slaves replaced the indentured servants by the end of 17th century and early 18th century, as the indentured servants became more and more scarce. 3. Major differences in British North America, between17th an d 18th centuries. There are major differences observed in British North America, between the 17th and the 18th century. Accessibility of slave is one of such differences. While in the 17th century the accessibility of slaves was a tough task for the British colonialist in the North America, it became quite easy in the 18th century (Eric, 22). This changed the use of slaves where the most used Indian slaves in the 17th century were replaced by the African slaves who became the major source of labor in the 18th century. Another major difference between the centuries is the racial attitudes. In the 17th century, racial attitudes were more flexible as compared to the 18th century (Eric, 283). In the 17th century, the African slaves