The Look of America (1750-1800)

Uses still photography and motion picture footage to present a comparison of the dominant lifestyles of early America. Contrast the austere Puritan settlements of New England with the luxury of plantation life in Virginia and the Carolinas. The early colonies of Jamestown and Plymouth enjoyed some commercial success, which spawned other colonies and settlements. The Carolinas thrived on crops of indigo and rice, and later cotton. Virginia was the cultural and social center with a lifestyle made possible by slave labor. Pennsylvania was established on the principle of religious freedom, and by 1750 Philadelphia had grown into a thriving, cultural city. To the west, pioneers were expanding our borders into the wilderness and establishing new states.