In Becoming America: The Revolution Before 1776, Jon Butler argues that aremarkable, yet overlooked, transformation took place in the American coloniesbetween 1680 and 1760. This transformation manifested itself in almost everyaspect of colonial life, and changed the socioeconomic makeup of America forever.This gradual revolution included an ethnic and racial diversity, an increasinglymodernized economy, a growing display of power that would form the foundation of the political system and reveal its elf in the colonists’ material lives, and a display of religious pluralism that is not seen even today in some societies. Butler not onlygives an excellent summary of matters such as immigration and indigenous religion,but also gives credible and convincing reasoning that it was the middle years of thecolonial period that would define America
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not the victories and defeats of therevolutionary war. In the years between 1680 and 1760, America had becomemodern (aside from technological advancements that would appear throughout the19 th century.)In
Peoples …show more content…
This population enlargement resulted in a diverse ethnicand racial society. In 1650, the total population of the colonies was roughly 50,000.By 1700 it had reached over 250,000. In 1770, the population exceeded two million.Prior to 1680, the colonial population was primarily that of English settlers, whocomposed approximately 80-90% of immigrants. In the years that followed,however, there was a massive flux of immigration from not only the forcedshipment of Africans to the colonies to be used as slaves, but also the arrival of numerous Huguenots, Jews, Germans, Scots, Irish, and French. By 1703,