From its inception, American culture was tempered and enriched by ethnic pluralism. The first English colonists—homogeneous as they were—still had to learn to coexist with the Indians in the feral American wilderness. More than a century later, in 1680, the colonies would begin experiencing successive waves of immigrants from the countries of northwestern Europe and the arrival of African slaves, and the cultural and demographical impact would be enormous.

While some European immigrant groups lacked adequate numbers to avoid English assimilation (the Huguenots), others came to America in sufficient numbers to retai

Indeed, the wealthy alone possessed the resources and reputations to achieve positions within the Lower Assemblies. However, their actions proved neither malicious to the commons nor self-serving, and instead, their efforts empowered the Lower Assemblies and established the nuclei of independent American government. The first such action was the creation of an Assembly Speaker post in each Lower Assembly. The position “brought cohesion to the assemblies” and gave them the necessary direction and unity to originate and complete political initiatives and to challenge the authority of the Governors. Later, the assemblies also formed committees to manage legislative concerns within a particular field (a practice that continues in today’s national and state-level legislatures). As a result, the assemblies became far more competent and efficient in the handling of government. The empowerment of the Lower Assemblies led to their eventual conflicts with the Governors leading up to the American Revolution, events that attracted public interest to colonial politics.

Yet the experience of African slaves and the Native American Indians starkly contrasts with that of the European immigrant groups, and describes a second, darker facet to American culture that still exists today. Beginning around 1680, the practice of slavery became increasingly widespread in the American colonies. Largely, this was due to a shortage of European indentured servants, an end to the Royal African Company’s monopoly over the slave trade (competition among slave traders led to a decrease in slave prices), and a realization among the colonists that slaveholding was far more profitable than the employment of indentured servants. The years from 1700-1750 saw a dramatic rise in the African slave population, with more than 250,000 being forcibly transplanted to the American continent. The demographic impact cannot be overstated: southern colonies that were almost completely devoid of Africans in 1680 were 30-40% slaves by 1770. Even in northern colonies, where slavery was rare, slaves constituted anywhere from 5-15% of the population by the end of the period. Indians, on the other hand, experienced a dramatic depopulation during the same period as a result of disease, warfare with both whites and between tribes, and the destruction of the natural wilderness by white farmers and subsequent depletion of game. From 1680-1770, the overall east coast Indian population declined 50-75%, with many tribes disappearing altogether.

The first attempts to revive faith among the colonists were made by the two oldest and most dominant Christian sects: the Puritans and the Anglicans. Sensing a resistance to the rigid, centralized organization of their faith, the Puritans restructured themselves to allow greater autonomy among individual parishes. The Anglican church responded to declining interest by strengthening its connections to colonial governments, reforming hiring practices of priests and initiating a massive church construction effort throughout the colonies that would last into the 1720’s. But the efforts and successes of these established sects were dwarfed by the growth of new Protestant sects. Between 1685-1710, denominational headquarters for Baptists, Calvinists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Quakers were established in Philadelphia. This furious growth of the Protestants throughout the colonies resulted from a series of religious

Some topics in this essay:
Indeed Butler, Jon Butler, Americans Needless, African Company’s, Africans Indians, Assembly Voter, American Revolution, America Changes, Anglicanism Puritanism, Anglicans Sensing, american culture, late colonial, period 1680-1770, late colonial era, political systems, modern american, colonial era, colonial governments, lower assemblies, colonial politics, european immigrant, modern american culture,