Becoming America: The Revolution Before 1776 Fr... May 2026

This era saw a shift toward the materialistic and commercial values that remain central to American life. 3. Religious Pluralism (With a Catch)

Colonists imported European and Asian goods—from silver communion plates to velvet seat cushions—to define their social status. Becoming America: The Revolution before 1776 fr...

Forget the image of the simple, self-sufficient pioneer. Butler reveals a colonial economy that was aggressive, profit-driven, and tied to international markets. This era saw a shift toward the materialistic

The "Hidden" Revolution: How America Became Modern Before 1776 Forget the image of the simple, self-sufficient pioneer

In 1680, most European settlers were English. By 1770, the colonies had become a "polyglot" society. Waves of Scots, Germans, Dutch, Swiss, and French Huguenots joined a landscape already inhabited by Native Americans and a rapidly growing population of enslaved Africans. This "unprecedented jumble of peoples" created a unique ethnic and racial diversity that we still recognize as fundamentally American today. 2. The Birth of Global Consumerism