America in 1776: Holland and Boston

The Northern cities were usually built of brick or of stone, and many of the farm-houses were of the latter material. The former had been imported from Holland for the first New York buildings; and even Schenectady, a frontier town, was so purely Dutch as to have been early decorated with Holland brick. In the country stone was easily gathered from the abundant quarries on the Hudson or along the New England hills. Many large, low stone houses, with lofty roofs and massive windows, may still be seen in the rich valleys opening upon the Hudson, almost in the same condition in which they were left by their Huguenot or Dutch builders, and apparently capable of enduring the storms of another century. Brick-making was soon introduced into the colonies, and the abundant forests supplied all the materials for the mechanic.. A general equality in condition was nearly reached. Not five men, we are told, in New York and Philadelphia expended ten thousand dollars a year upon their families. The manners of the people were simple; their expenses moderate. Yet nowhere was labor so well rewarded or poverty so rare.. Wines and liquors were freely consumed by our ancestors, and even. New England had as yet no high repute for temperance. Rum was taken as a common restorative. The liquor-shops of New York had long been a public annoyance. In the far-southern colonies, we are told, the planter began his day with a strong glass of spirits, and closed it by carousing, gambling, or talking politics in the village tavern. Our ancestors were extraordinarily fond of money, if we may trust the judgment of Washington, who seems to have found too many of them willing to improve their fortunes from the resources of the impoverished community. But in general it must be inferred that the standard of public morals was not low [as compared with the Europe of that day]

Intellectually the colonists made much progress, and statesmen, writers, and scientists appeared who vied with those of Europe. Schools for the general population were considerably more numerous than in England and France, while several colleges, of a some-what high standard, were established, though they were as yet but poorly attended. Several newspapers had been started, the earliest, The News Letter of Boston, being founded in 1704. In 1775 four papers were printed in each of the cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Books were not wanting. One Boston house had ten thousand volumes on its shelves. A public library had been founded by Franklin in Philadelphia in 1742. Medical schools and other institutions were in operation, and the first steps in most of the great enterprises of later days had been taken at the opening of the Revolution.