11. The Pennsylvania Germans

The other great group of immigrants who concentrated in Pennsylvania were the Germans. In contrast to the earlier German migration of Quakers and other pietist sects, the mid-eighteenth-century German influx was either Lutheran or Reformed (Calvinist). These people came to America to escape feudalism, exorbitant taxes, and the pillaging endemic in wartime. The German migration began around 1720, started in earnest in the late 1730s, and reached its peak in the early 1750s, ending rather abruptly with the French and Indian War of the late 50s. By the end of the colonial era, one-third of the Pennsylvanians were Germans, or “Dutch” as they were often called. The Germans followed the same route as the Ulster Scots, westward down the Susquehanna and Cumberland valleys. They too were valley farmers, and German and Scotch-Irish settlements alternated down the valley route. The two groups had very little contact with each other: their differences were too great—in language, religion, and character. Not only did the Germans keep to themselves; they were also sober, hard-working, thrifty and highly productive farmers. They treated the Indians justly and peacefully.

The Germans, then, followed the great valley route, down the Shenandoah and into the Carolina Piedmont, where they founded such settlements as Orangeburg, South Carolina—but to a much lesser degree than did the Ulster Scots. The Germans were largely content to remain in Pennsylvania, especially in Lancaster County, where they could work their farms productively and profitably. In addition to being superb farmers, the Germans proved highly adept at establishing glass factories and ironworks. The Germans produced the first iron stoves and long rifles in America, as well as the first Conestoga wagons.

While the great bulk of Pennsylvania Germans were Lutherans or Reformed, a small but influential group of Moravians, or United Brethren, a pacifist pietist sect, came to Pennsylvania in the 1740s. Founding such towns as Bethlehem and Nazareth, the Moravians furnished many missionaries to the Indians, as well as virtually introducing choral music and establishing numerous schools and ladies’ seminaries in Pennsylvania.

The mid-eighteenth century, indeed, saw a considerable expansion of higher education in America. The Southern gentlemen had William and Mary College, the liberal Puritans had Harvard, and the rigidly orthodox, Yale. Now several influential new colleges were founded in the colonies. The Presbyterians founded the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1746. Although Princeton was founded by English and mainland Scots rather than by Ulstermen, the college provided the indispensable source for training new ministers for the Scotch-Irish and for educating their leading citizens. In Philadelphia, the Reverend William Smith and Benjamin Franklin organized in 1755 a new liberal nonsectarian college, the Academy, which later became the University of Pennsylvania. And in New York City, King’s College (later Columbia) was founded in 1754. Organized by Anglicans, it nonetheless included on its board men of various religious persuasions, and hence soon emerged as a liberal and secular institution.