1 Describe the structure of colonial society in the eighteenth century What developments tended to make society less equal and more hierarchical?

Answer 1

Most white Americans, and some free blacks were farmers and had a modest income. In cities a small class of skilled artisans existed as well as some unskilled day laborers. The colonial social ladder was very open for it's time, one can move up in society, a feature that was very uncommon in the Old World. The wars in the 1690s and early 1700s had enriched a number of merchant princes in the New England and middle colonies, these princes made society less equal as they lived in the lap of luxury. By mid-century the richest 10% of Bostonians and Philadelphians owned nearly two-thirds of the taxable wealth in their cities. The war also left widows and orphans who depended on charity for their survival thus children in this class had less financial aide to support their ascend through the classes. In the south riches from the slave population were not distributed evenly, wealth was concentrated in the hands of the largest slave owners, creating a large gap between the rich and poor. Those "poor whites" where more likely to become tenant farmers. Blacks however did not even dream of moving up in society for they were not equal to whites.