The Great Awakening

Salutary Neglect

The period of "salutary neglect" was a time of prosperity in the colonies during which England did not enforce many rules or laws against the colonies. Instead, England let the colonies do as they pleased in the hope that freedom and minimal taxation would stimulate business growth.

This approach of "salutary neglect" was very successful. It lasted from the late 1600s (just after all the colonies were established) until about 1760, when conflicts began and Britain changed its "hands off" policy.

During this period, colonies differed in many ways from each other, but businesses flourished and the wealth of the colonies grew.

The Zenger Trial

Freedom began to cause problems in the colony of New York when the governor disliked criticism that appeared in a newspaper. John Peter Zenger printed something embarrassing about the governor, and the governor decided to silence him by charging him with "seditious libel." He demanded that Zenger be prosecuted and thrown in jail for criticizing him.

Zenger was then put on trial in 1735. On the first day of the trial, Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia, one of the best known attorneys in colonies, surprisingly showed up and agreed to defend Zenger for free. Hamilton argued that it should not be a crime to print something that is true, even though it may embarrass the governor. In other words, Zenger's attorney thought that someone should have a right to tell the truth, no matter how embarrassing it may be. It also established that truth is a perfect defense against a charge of libel.

The judge instructed the jury that, under the law, publishing the truth about someone can be a crime (the crime of "libel"). But the jury ignored this law and held in favor of Zenger: "not guilty." This case established a unique new American right: the right of freedom of the press. To this day we have that right in America, while those in England still do not.

This important case also helped convince Americans of the importance of the right to a jury trial, which was later written into our Constitution.

The trial established one additional right: the power of the jury to ignore the law and hold in favor of a defendant even though the law says he is guilty. This is known as "jury nullification," and it also exists to this day. Juries may "nullify" the law to find a defendant "not guilty," but defense attorneys are not allowed to inform a jury of this power during a specific trial. Jurors can only decide to do it on their own, without suggestion by the defense attorney.

The Great Awakening

In the 1700s, the English colonies grew in size, reaching 2 million in population compared to only 100,000 in the French settlements.

But note that the citizens of the English colonies were not exclusively English. Germans came here, African slaves came here involuntarily, and Scotch-Irish immigrated to the back country of the Middle Colonies and settled in Appalachia, where they remain a key voting bloc in support of the right to bear arms (own guns) today. The Middle Colonies were New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and consisted of many diverse ethnic groups and religions; prejudice existed between the groups but they were peaceful towards each other. William Penn even advertised for immigrants to come to Pennsylvania. Harvard was founded in 1636; the College of William & Mary in 1693; and Yale in 1701.

Not all was well for everyone in the colonies during the Great Awakening. During this time South Carolina had grown heavily dependent on slavery to pick its crops and sustain its economy. By the late 1730s South Carolina had twice as many slaves as free Europeans. In 1739 tensions between the slaves and their masters reached a boiling point in the Stono Rebellion in Charleston. This insurgency by the slaves was brutally suppressed, and then South Carolina passed harsh laws (codes) to exert even more control over the slaves. More so than any other colony (and later, more than any other state), South Carolina was determined to keep and use slavery.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 774