18th Century Colonial Society

18th Century colonial society became much more complex and hierarchal, more ethnically and religiously diverse, and more politically and economically developed compared to 17th century society. This is due to population growth in the colonies, european immigrants coming into the New World, and the importance of trade and agriculture.
First, colonial society became more complex, and hierarchical because of the huge population increase within the 18th century. In the 18th century the population increase was caused by the increase use of slaves, the natural increase of the colonists already there, and the immigrants settling in the colonies. To start, the workload increased within the colonies, and the colonists could not keep up with this labor, …show more content…
To start off, the european settlers brought their customs and religion with them when coming over to the New World. These customs and religion will spread throughout the colonies creating a more diverse society. Also, the population will grow with these different types of ethnicities. Next, these european immigrants are coming to the new world with hopes of a different form of government then the monarchy. This leads to American society forming a self government, which will be a democracy. Resulting in freedom of religion, and a more tolerable society, meaning that these european settlers can practice the religion they are used to, and even try and spread that religion to others in the New World. Also the elect that was greatly important in the 17th century, was not of great importance in the 18th century. Finally, in the 18th century religious movements became very popular such as the Great Awakening, and the Enlightenment. These religious movements started in europe and came over to the New World. Both of these religious movements became very popular and highly supported. The religion that was preached was much different than the previous religion in the colonies. The Great Awakening and the Enlightenment created religious diversity upon colonist in the 18th century, opposed to the 17th …show more content…
To begin, colonial land was perfect to run an agricultural society on, it was fertile and great for cash crops, besides the New England colonies which had rocky soil and wasn't great for agriculture, so the New England colonies depended more on trade, and shipbuilding. With this great soil, cash crops can be produced efficiently, and these crops can be traded for money or other valuables. The quickest way to wealth in the colonies is through land, meaning selling land or producing crops on this land for trade. Additionally, the 18th century people started to specialize in certain skills rather than doing all forms of labor like in the 17th century. The specialization of skills caused many people to focus on farming and get really good at producing crops, and other people would focus on specializing in other forms of work. Next, trading was huge for the economy. Trading led to wealth for many people, also trading led people to go and settle new lands for the resources the land provided. All these colonists are going to collect new resources which will be valuable in trade. To end, the 17th century government was more of a monarchy from across the ocean, Americans were tired of being controlled by people the monarch selected from across the ocean. Americans wanted a more fair government or everyone so they