Knaack 1

Gavin Knaack
Brenton
Early A.M. history
6 October 2016
What Was Life Like In America In Colonial Times?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in an unexplored land? This is exactly
what the people who lived in the American Colonies got to do. They had to be strategic, smart,
and strong just to survive, it was anything but easy for the colonist. Although there were many
different lives to live in the colonies, In this essay I will be discussing three main lifestyles, the
simple but not easy lives of the Native Americans, the difficult lives of the Slaves, and the strict
lives of the colonial women to answer the question, What was life like in America in Colonial
Times?
Life for the native Americans was not too complex, They lived in simple structures, they
hunted to feed and clothe themselves, And had small basic gardens for food. If you were a native
american you did not go to work, instead you would hunt if male and garden and weave if
woman there was no money, just trade for goods and services. Government wasnt complex
either, just a chief who led the village usually continued by bloodline. Children were pretty much
free to do what they wanted to but, parents would teach their children how to hunt if a boy and
how to weave and garden if female. Children also had toys to play with like corn husk dolls and

a small bow and arrows.Children were also married at a young age, from 13-10 yrs. old.
Life(English online) for a native

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American was a lot different from the english way of life, which was a lot more organized. Not
all tribes had the same traditions either, life for a west coast native was a lot different from an
east coast native
Life for slaves was probably one of the most miserable lives to have in the new colonies, they
were treated like they were worthless and not capable of doing any recreational activities. They
always had to be working for her or his master and have to be ready for any crazy task their
master had to offer them.
Jobs that slaves had included Field worker, Housemaid, Personal servant, and Cook, etc. and you
were expected to complete your job no matter what. If you were a field worker you would have
grown rice, tobacco, and cotton mostly. Although there was slaves in every colony they were
mostly concentrated in the south were 40 percent of the population of people were slaves. If you
were an African American in colonial America it pretty much meant you were a slave, because
only 8 percent of African Americans were free to do what they wanted.(Toppin, Edgar A.) Being a
slave was probably the most difficult life to live in the colonies.
Life for a woman in the colonies was one of the most easy lives to live in the colonies, even
though no one's life was exactly in the colonies. Although women were treated poorly because
they were thought of as inferior to men. Most women would cook, clean, do laundry, garden, and

wash dishes, that is of course if you did not have slaves if you had slaves your life would be a
little easier. Also a married woman had practically no rights whatsoever they couldnt even write
a will without their husbands approval. However a widow or unmarried woman had a lot of
rights compared to a married

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one and they could own things for themselves, something a married woman could not do. All
women were expected to follow a long list of rules regarding etiquette, something men did not
have to do. It
was also required for all women to marry by age 20 and for widows to remarry quickly, because
it was greatly shunned to be a single woman.(Alchin,linda)
Life was certainly not easy no matter if you were a Native American, Slave, or a colonial
woman
It was not a place to be for anyone who wasnt up to the extreme challenge. It was difficult for
everyone who lived there because you always had to be working to survive. Even though there
was not as many rules in the colonies as there was in england you still had to follow what rules
there was. So, for anyone who was looking for a cheap place to live without any laws or
struggles, the colonies were not for them.

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Sources

1. "English Online." Native Americans. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

2. [Edgar A. Toppin. "Blacks in the American Revolution" (published essay, Virginia State University,
1976), p. 1]

3. Statement, By Linda AlchinPrivacy. "Colonial Women." ***. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.