U.S. Technology: History

Lesson 2: Colonial Husbandry and Artisans

Technological Changes and Conclusion

There were two routes by which someone in the Colonies was able to enter into the crafts system; these were by immigration and apprenticeship. European artisans were well paid and, except for those who were suffering from religious persecution, most of them did not feel the need to immigrate to the Colonies. Most of those who did in the 1700’s became farmers and never had the opportunity to practice their crafts.

The colonies needed the artisans desperately. There was a shortage of people who could work the print shops and operate sawmills, make shoes, and all the other crafts that were so necessary to a thriving colonial existence. Because of this colonies began to offer special inducements to get people to learn and practice these arts. The town of Scituate, Massachusetts in 1656 offered a free mill site and free use of their common lumber to anyone who would build and operate the first sawmill there. In the 1730's the government of North Carolina offered 175 pounds to anyone who would start a print shop and newspaper in Charleston. Almost all the colonies would offer some similar inducement for various artisans to learn and practice their crafts.

By the end of the 1700’s most artisans were native colonists who had learned their crafts through apprenticeships or were giving new artisans a chance by offering apprenticeships. Apprenticeships could be informal, often times unpaid servants, or formal where a contract was signed, and the act was more of an indentured servant deal, where the apprentice signed on for a set period of time. Either way the master usually provided food and shelter for the apprentice.

The colonial apprentices attempted to build guilds like the ones that had been in Europe, but with little success. A guild is a cross between a modern day union and a trade association. The colonial ones did not work very well because the European guilds did not have any authority in the colonies. There were also not enough masters in the colonies to underwrite the expenses of the guild.

Apprentices were extremely important to the organization of the work that was done in a craft shop. They provided cheap and necessary manual labor. However, they were very scarce in the colonies because most parents did not feel the need to send their children off to apprenticeships, or they needed them on their farms. No matter what methods the masters used to try and get apprentices they never had enough of them. The young people just had other opportunities due to the ease of getting land, unless they had a real interest in the craft they wanted to learn, they often did not feel it was necessary to learn it.

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