Hi,
So, I know there are obvious limitations to my question but I'm looking for a variety of statistics, even if they're estimates on the realities of live during the 17th and 18th century British Colonies in North America. Pre-Revolutionary British Colonies on the East Coast. For example, average lifespan, infant mortality, most frequent cause of death, most frequent disease, living conditions, etc. This is for a U.S. History high school class that I teach. Often, every year I portray it as brutal but I'd like to make a case that is more concrete and something that will shock your average teenager and make them take note or give them pause and cause them to see things with greater alarm than is so often the case. I'm aware of incidents of course, cannibalism in Jamestown, and general accounts of misery but I'd like to deliver a more comprehensive picture given what is currently understood to be the facts, broadly. Any ideas or resources you can pass along? Thanks.
There are a few places to look. My first recommendation would be to check the two relevant chapters in Haines and Steckel,m A Population History of North America. The chapters give a decent overview of white and black populations to 1790 in the area that would become the US. Another good secondary work is Wells, Population of the British Colonies in America before 1776: A Survey of the Census Data. Wells covers all the existing censuses by colony/state in the colonial era.
The best modern set of colonial statistics for population is in Volume 5 of Historical Statistics of the United States, Millennial Edition, pages 627-772. They give decennial estimates of the population of each colony, some statistics on cities and trade. The introduction and bibliography of the Historical Statistics is quiet extensive, so it should give you a lot of material to chew on.