Thirty-Second Week Seventh Grade History Essay

          This week I learned about the culture in the Thirteen Colonies. I learned about the government, cities, occupations, homes, some furniture, and children in the colonies. There were many things I liked, but there were also things that I am so happy we do not have or do today. Read on to go deeper into these topics and see what I mean.

          First was the government of the colonies. Each of the Thirteen Colonies had two branches of government. The first branch was the Governor’s council. This contained the colony’s own governor, who was set up by the king of England, and his council. The other branch was the Assembly, which was run by the representatives of each colony.

          There were two main reasons that cities were established in the colonies. The largest city during the time of the Revolutionary War was Philadelphia. They were either a harbor town or a seat of government. Usually, the first building built in a city was the church. There were more built, and there were normally several churches in each city.

          City streets were arranged in grid like patterns. They usually went North to South and East to West. Some of the streets were numbered, while others had names.

          An important part of a city was the market area. The market area was a place for people to come trade and sell their goods. Markets were usually built close to the harbor, so that goods from England did not have to be transported too long of a distance.

          Next, I learned about occupations in the colonies. There were many, many different jobs in the colonies, most of which still exist today. Of course, some of them have different names though.

          To begin with the jobs of the colonists, there was the barber. The barber was supposed to do what it does today; to cut hair and shave. They also had another job that I bet you did not know they had. Barbers were also responsible for bloodletting. The barbers would hang bloody bandages outside their shop so that people knew where the barber’s shop was. This is where the modern day barber pole came from. The red represents the blood and the white represents the bandages.

          Then there was the blacksmith. Blacksmithing was a hard and dangerous job, but it was very necessary in any city. Blacksmiths worked with iron. They made everything from horseshoes to keys and beyond. Blacksmiths were also the town dentists, but not many people wanted to go to the dentist because the only way a blacksmith knew how to cure a toothache was to rip the tooth out. People still do not like going to the dentist, but at least dentistry today is much more advanced. The cabinetmaker was also an important job. As you might guess, cabinetmakers made cabinets, but they also made shelves, desks, tables, beds, dressers, clock cases, and more. They made pretty much any wooden furniture. They even made small toys for children!

          The clockmaker obviously made and fixed clocks. Shoes were made by a cobbler. One interesting fact about shoes was that they did not have left and right; they were all the same. The cooper actually had a very difficult and important job. Coopers made barrels. They had to make sure they were good quality and strong so that wherever was in the barrel would preserve and not leak. This was very hard work.

          The doctor and the farmer were two occupations that are the same today and that have the same name. However, the doctor also served as its own pharmacist. Another job will still have today was the grocer or the victualler. During this time, the grocer would also bring the item the person wanted to that person. A hatter made hats, and a miller would grind flour and corn into wheat and cornmeal. Farmers would pay the miller to do this for them.

          A sailor’s job was to work on ships. They would clean and mend the ships when they were at sea. A silversmith was the same thing as a blacksmith, except they worked with silver. They made jewelry and many other things. There was also a goldsmith, but people usually went to the silversmith or blacksmith because gold was heavier and much more expensive.

          Tailors’ jobs were to make clothes. However, these clothes were very nice and expensive, so only rich people could buy from the tailor. Most mothers used a spinning wheel and a loom to make fabric from wool, then they made their own clothes for their families.

          Tanners made everything out of leather and some wood products. They made mugs, saddles, buckets, some clothing articles, et cetera. Finally, a wigmaker made wigs. Wigs were actually very common during this time and were considered cool and fashionable. This made a wigmaker a necessary job for the colonies.

          I also learned about homes in the colonies. Building homes and living in them during this time was much more difficult because they had no plumbing or electricity. Since there was no plumbing, most families did not have restrooms in their house. Instead they had outhouses. Most homes only had one room. If they were lucky, they had an attic where some of their children could sleep. This main room was called the keeping room. Eventually, they started to add a portion onto the back of the house. This new design was called the saltbox house, and it was called this because of its saltbox-looking shape.

          Rich people normally had large, square houses. These houses were made of brick or stone, unlike the regular houses, which were built of wood. Also, these houses were symmetrical. They had the windows on the top floor which were directly on top of the windows on the first floor, and they were the same size. The chimneys were in the same spot on either side of the roof. Usually, every room in a house had its own fireplace. If there was a third chimney, they would put it in the middle of the roof.

          Colonial furniture was around the same as it is today, except, we have electricity and other tools that we use to make the furniture. Beds were made with a wooden frame. They had rope woven through holes in the wood on either side of the frame to hold up the mattress. The mattress was usually made of straw, but if you were lucky or you lived on a farm, it was made of feathers. I know I definitely would not want to sleep on one of these beds.

          A standard colonial diet consisted of corn, squashes, fruits, vegetables, and bean porridge. They usually ate whatever the farmers grew, which was all of this. If they wanted meat or fish, they would have to go get it themselves. Sometimes they would have bread. They drank water, milk, cider, and beer. That is right, even the children drank beer, and it was no problem. They would even have beer for breakfast sometimes!

           In the colonies, children would cease to be considered babies at age six. Until then, they did not have to go to school or do work, and they had to wear a pudding. A pudding was basically a pillow that lay under a child’s shirt, on their belly, and it kept them from getting too hurt when they fell.

          When they turned six years old, they were now a “big kid”. They lost the pudding and they had to do chores and go to a dame school. A dame school was a school that taught children how to read. They graduated when they did this. It was called a dame school because it was taught by a woman. Once they graduated, boys could go to college and learn more.

          Some of the chores children had to do are the same things we have to do today. This included taking care of the animals or pets, cleaning, and doing the dishes. However, they also had to go get water and shake the mattresses. Children would often help with whatever their parents did too.

          The kids in colonial times played games like kids today do too! Some of the common games they played were hoop and stick, checkers, nine pins, and jacks.

          For colonial girls, they became women when they got married and moved out of their parent’s house to start their own family, which was usually around age fifteen. Boys were considered men when they could take care of themselves. This would normally be from ages thirteen to twenty. An exception was if they went to college and continued to learn. Young boys could also become an apprentice, and learn a trade from someone else. Once the person they are learning from decides to retire, they would normally take over the business.

          This has been a very exciting week. I love learning about the culture of our ancestors. There are so many differences in how we live today and how the colonists lived. I honestly and very glad we have the technology and knowledge today to survive without doing much. I am amazed at how the colonists lived in such hard conditions without the things we have today!