Colonial+Life


 * 1600s - Colonial Religion**


 * Puritans**

Puritans were a group of people who disagreed with the [|Church of England]. They agreed with the writings and ideas of one of the Reformation leaders, John Calvin. Puritans believed that the Bible was God's true law and it served as a plan for living. They took away traditional trappings and formalities. They wanted to "purify" their lives and the church. Religious exclusiveness was the most important principle, and the New Testament was their model. People who did not agree with the theological views had to leave the community.

Puritans believed in conversion not repression. //Conversion is the rejection of " worldliness".// They believed the " //God could forgive everything, but man could forgive only by seeing a change in behavior."// Hard work was blessed by God and would be rewarded later on. If you didn't follow the normal laws of puritans you would be disciplined. There was no room for wrong.The devil was blamed for every evil deed. The community would do anything to get rid of all evil in the village. Life as a Puritan was very hard and very strict to follow.


 * Early 1700s - Colonial Families**

[|Today we think of families as parents], and children. But, in the early 1700s they considered family as grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, parents, children, and step-children.

Mostly it was because of all the work like cleaning the house, and preparing the food. Men and women in the colonies usually got married in their mid-20s or earlier. If you were and indentured servant you would not be able to get married until you received freedom. For a young married woman with children, life was much harder than being an indentured servant, like gardening, and caring for family, preparing food, etc. On top of everything the woman also had to watch the children wherever they go.

Families in the colonies usually were very large. Ranging between seven to ten children. How many kids would depend on the mother and father’s religion and cultural background. Married women gave birth multiple times, but almost half of them die before they are adults. Children, and adults died from diseases, mostly of malaria. Men and woman would remarry very fast after the death of their partner. Colonists have their live focused on family. Family was most important.

The regular Colonial Family was usually a hard working household. The fathers and sons usually got up earlier in the mornings to fetch the eggs and milk the cows. The Mothers would then make breakfast, the children helping oftentimes. They would eat. Then the father would go off to work. If it was school time, the children would go to school and fill their brains with knowledge. The mothers would stay home and sew and do household work, such as getting lunch or dinner ready. Then the children would come home, do their homework, chores, and go play until supper. After that the father would already be home and they would sit down to a nice dinner, go to sleep, and start it all over again.


 * Early 1700 - Colonial Jobs**

Today, there are jobs like Lawyers, Financial Help, and many others. In the early 1700s, the colonists didn’t have jobs like that. They had no financial help when they were broke and they definitely didn’t have flood insurance. Back then, the colonists had very different jobs. Some of common jobs for the colonists included barbers who made wigs and blacksmiths who made horseshoes and was the dentist. Those were very common jobs, but not for today.


 * Early 1700's - Colonial Houses**

Today, we picture houses as nice and elegant. Inside most houses we have stained wooden floors, or smooth soft carpet. About everyone has a laundry room and kitchens and maybe even a living room. Colonial houses did differ a little bit.

If you lived in the governor’s house you would have what we would use as a table cloth and put it on the floor in your home. Most people put this “rug” in front of their door. In doing so if you had any guests they would notice it and compliment you on your living style. Colonial houses weren’t very complex. They weren’t complex because the colonists were just focused on moving in and developing to gain more land.


 * Early 1700's - Colonial Clothing**

Clothing worn in the early 1700s was obviously very different from what we wear today. The clothing was hard to make. As a result wealthy people were usually the only ones who could afford to buy it. Poorer people usually made their own, generally out of wool. Children’s were made to fit loosely so they could grow into them.

Boys and Girls would dress the same until age five or six. That’s when boys received their first set of breeches (pants) and boots. Men wore suits made up of different types of clothing. Women wore very long dresses, with layers of petticoats underneath. They may have looked good, but they were very uncomfortable. Most women had two sets of clothes, one for weekdays and one for Sunday. Back then small waists were the style so the women would were corsets that were so tight that they could hardly breath.


 * Early 1700's - Colonial Food**

The colonial people where very proud of how they ate. Sometimes they would prepare their meals for days at a time. If the family was poor, they would eat breakfast in the morning but if the family was rich they would sleep in late and eat lavishly. This meal would consist of eggs, milk, and bacon. In mid-morning (at our lunch time) they would call their meal dinner and it would be the largest meal of the day. There would be sweet corn, pie, all types of meat, bread, sweets, and many more. The last meal of the day would be called supper and would be a pretty light meal ( more so a bedtime snack) and would consist of corn meal and gruel ( left over dinner.)


 * Early 1700's - Colonial Games**

Colonial games were an important part of the colonist’s life. The colonial games helped the children learn skills that would come into use later in life. These skills would help them to learn the jobs of farmers and parents. The Colonial games also taught children how to aim and throw, how to solve problems and do things with their hands. But most importantly it taught them how to obey rules and directions.

Colonial games included Bilboque Catcher, Jacks, Marbles, [|Ninepins,] Dominoes, Bowl and Dice, [|Shuttlecock,] Jack Straws (or pick-up sticks), Backgammon, Checkers, Chess, Nine Men's Morrice, Mancala, and Playing Cards ECT. Colonial games changed the ways kids would grow up.


 * Middle 1700's - African American life in Colonial Times**

Thirteen colonies were of the African American decent. The practice of having African Americans as slaves is practiced in almost every colony. The majority of the African Americans in Chesapeake worked on tobacco plantations, which is extremely hard labor. For the farm labors it was a little less labor than the tobacco labors had to do. The farm labors jobs consist of foods and the livestock, which kept them busy through out the whole year.


 * 1700's** - **Colonial Drinks**

You would mostly think that the colonists drank tea and water, but there was more than that. They had imports of rum from Barbadso,and in New England. Other times they would send them stuff that was mixed with rum like, toddy, sling, and grog. Calibogus was another popular drink that was mixed with rum and beer. Then mimbo was a combination of water, rum, and a loaf sugar. The things they had in America would be cider, beer, water, and tea. That was the common drink they normally had.


 * Colonial Education**

The colonial children's education is very important. The boys and girls are not taught the same things. The upper class children got taught reading writing easy math. Also poems and they were taught many prayers. The didn’t have a lot of paper back then so the students memorized there lessons. The sons of the planters were taught the just of everything at home. Boys started school seven in the morning breakfast from nine am. They get breaks during the day. The boys studied higher math, Greek, Latin, science, celestial navigation. It is different for the girls. They learned a lot of reading, writing, arithmetic to be able to read their Bibles and be able to record household expenses and survive in everyday life. There teachers are the governess they usually come from England and they are kind of educated. They studied art and music and French, needle work and spinning, cooking. All things a young lady needs to know.