IBHOA Unit 1A Review

Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange

The two-way exchange of goods, plants, animals, diseases, ideas, and people between the Americas and Europe/Africa

Mercantilism

• Economic policy under which a nation accumulates wealth by exporting more goods than it imports

• Based on the idea that centralized control of the economy was essential to a country’s wealth

• Belief that the best way to become a stronger nation was to acquire the most wealth

Navigation Acts

• British trade laws enacted by Parliament during the mid-1700s that regulated colonial commerce.

• Kept colonies from competing with mother country

• 3 criteria:

  • All goods shipped to or from North America had to travel on English ships

  • Any imported goods from Europe had to be processed through an English port

  • Most colonial resources could only be exported to England

Triangular Trade

Three-way pattern of trade that involved England, English colonies in the Americas, and West Africa.

What was America like before 1492?

• About 10-20 million Native Americans

• Hundreds of distinctive cultures with a variety of lifestyles finetuned to the geographical features of the region

• Natural world was transformed by thousands of years of human habitation

• Colonists encountered communities with deep roots who viewed Europeans as invaders and called upon tradition to defend their homelands

What was Europe like before 1492?

• Mostly agricultural —> Feudalism

• Mostly under Roman Catholic Church —> religious persecution

• Black Death (14th c.) shrunk population by 1/3 —> shrinking economy

• Monarchs emerged as seat of power —> supported by a rise in the merchant class

• Commerce and trade continued to expand during the Renaissance

What drove exploration and colonization?

Guns, God, Gold, Glory, and Germs

Age of Exploration (15th to mid-17th century)

• Portuguese explorers

  • New inventions: caravel, astrolabe

  • Established the Atlantic Slave Trade

• Christopher Columbus

  • Start of Spanish conquests and Columbian Exchange

  • Destruction of Taino society

• Amerigo Vespucci

  • Coined term Mundus Novus or New World

Spanish Colonies

• Contacts between Spanish and Native people based on conquest

• Encomienda system

• Drastic reduction of population

• Autonomy, local decision-making

• Intermarriage

• Mixed-ancestry groups - development of race-based caste system

Encomienda system

Forced labor of Native people

Spanish colony social structure

1. Peninsulares

2. Creoles

3. Mestizos and Mulattoes

4. Natives and Africans

French Colonies

• Contact between French and Native people based on commerce

• Jacques Cartier

• North Atlantic fishing, hunting, and fur trade

• Coureurs de bois

• Best relationship with Native Americans (comparatively)

Jacques Cartier

• Commissioned to find Northwest passage

• Claimed Canada for France

Coureurs de bois

Fur traders

Dutch Colonies

• Contact between French and Native people based on commerce

• Netherlands (Holland) —> highly commercial and urban

• Dutch East India Company

• Henry Hudson 1609

• Commercial alliance with the Iroquoi Confederacy

Henry Hudson 1609

• Settlement of Manhattan island

• New Amsterdam

• Hudson Bay

English Colonies

• Contact with Natives based on dominating and conquering

• Colonists and American Indians lived in strictly separate societies

Frontiers of Inclusion

Allowed the mixing of colonial and native cultures: Spanish and French

Frontiers of Exclusion

Excluded Native Americans from society because they were no longer needed: English and Dutch

English reasons for colonization

• Religious, political, and economic opportunity

• Changes in the English economy (economic depression)

• Social changes/religious conflict

• Competition with Spain and France

English colonies would offer

• Bases to raid Spanish ports

• Markets for English goods

• Freedom from reliance on Asian trade

• Relief from overcrowding in English cities

• Resources that could be extracted for manufacturing

Mercantilism effects

• Government imposes very strict controls on a colonial economy

• Individuals free to buy from any country

• Government does not control the economy but does regulate to make sure everyone participates fairly

• Individual is free to produce whatever they want

• Encouragement to buy goods from the mother country

• Trade with other countries is restricted

• Free Trade

Middle Passage

The forced transport of enslaved Africans from West Africa to the Americas

Salutary Neglect

British policy in early 1700s which allowed the colonies virtual self-rule as long as Great Britain was gaining economically

Join-stock company

A company run by a group of investors that raised capital by selling shares

Proprietary colony

All land belonged to 1 person/group of people

Royal colony

Colony administered by a royal governor appointed by the crown

Headright system

Large plantations given to wealthy colonists in return for transporting labor

Indentured servitude

Contracted to serve 4-7 years in return for passage to America

House of Burgesses

1st representative colonial assembly in Virginia; early example of colonial self-government

Bacon’s Rebellion

Rebellion against Virginia governor by frontier colonists; led to increased reliance on African slave labor

Puritans

Disagreed with Anglican Church’s use of Catholic rituals and traditions; Separatists and non-separatists

Pilgrims

Puritan dissenters that believed English church was so corrupt they had to separate; settled in Plymouth colony

Mayflower Compact

1st document of self-government in English North America

King Philip’s War

Conflict between Wampanoags, Naragansetts, and other Indian peoples against English settlers

Society of Friends

Also known as the Quakers, they believed in religious tolerance and pacifism

Mid-Atlantic Colonies

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware

New York

• Formerly Dutch colony of New Netherlands

• Governor Peter Stuyvesant negotiated transfer to English control, 1664

• Proprietary colony —> Charles II isued charter to brother, Duke of York

• Significant cultural and religious diversity

• Leading trade center

New Jersey

• Split off from the New York colony in 1665

Pennsylvania

• Established by William Penn in 1682

• Proprietary colony

• Quakers

• “Holy Experiment”

• Frame of Government (1682)

  • Religious freedom

  • Civil liberties

  • Elected representation

• Philidelphia —> became an important colonial port

Delaware

• Originally New Sweden

• Swedish and Finnish settlers

• Split off Pennsylvania in 1704

New England colonies

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut

New England colonial geography

• Poor, thin, rocky soil

• Short growing season

• Forested areas

• Coasts and harbors

Puritans

• English Reformation

• Disagreed with Anglican Church’s use of Catholic rituals and traditions

• Not religiously tolerant

• Emphasis on enterprise

• King James I (1603-25)

• Separatists and Non-Separatists

King James I

Abandoned religious tolerance (Puritans repressed, persecuted by English government)

Separatists

Pilgrims; planned to organize “separate” church

Non-Separatists

Non-Separatists wanted to “purify” church from within

Plymouth Colony

• Pilgrims (Separatists)

  • Puritan dissenters that believed English church was so corrupt they had to separate

  • Moved to Holland 1609 —> too tolerant

  • Set sail from Plymouth, England on the Mayflower in 1620

• “Strangers” (1/2 of the group)

  • Secular colonists

  • Merchants, skilled workers, indentured servants, adventurers, and several young orphans

• Mayflower Compact

• America

Mayflower Compact

• Pledge by the colonists to govern themselves through majority rule

  • 1st document of self-government in English North

Plymouth Relationship with the Wampanoags

• Massasoit, the Wampanoag leader, offered assistance

• Squanto, a translator, taught Plymouth community how to find food

• Peace agreement —> First Thanksgiving

Massachusetts Bay Colony

• Wealthy non-Separatist Puritans granted royal charter to settle Massachusetts Bay

  • Salem - 1st settlement

  • John Winthrop - 1st governor

    • “Model of Christian Charity” (City upon a hill) speech

• Diversified economy

• Expansion

Puritan Life

• Strict Puritan rules

• Work ethic

• Town meetings - male members of the church could vote

• High levels of literacy

  • Public schools

• Role of women: subordinate to men

  • Salem Witch Trials (1692) - reflected social tensions and cultural mistrust of women

  • Anne Hutchinson - banished for criticizing Boston ministers for lack of piety

Rhode Island

• Roger Williams - banished from Massachusetts for radical teachings

  • Founded settlement of Providence (1636)

• True religious tolerance

• American Indians paid for land

Connecticut

• Founded by Puritans who considered Massachusetts government too restrictive

• Hartford - 1st settlement

• North America’s first written constitution, The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)

New Hampshire

• Founded 1679

• Broke off Massachusetts Bay colony

• More religiously diverse

What was the conflict with the decline of the Puritan Church?

• Puritans wanted to simply the church from within

• Puritans required all residents to become members of the church

• Church and state were not separated, so the church controlled what the government did as well as the everyday lives of the citizens in the colony

• By the late 17th century, the church feared its citizens were drifting away from the church and becoming more focused on worldly posessions

• Since the church was losing its control over the people, the church was losing its control in the colonial government

Outcome of the decline of the Puritan Church

• Half-Way Covenant

  • This allowed citizens of the colonies to become partial members of the church

  • As a result, these “half-way” church members were allowed the opportunity to participate in the governance of the colony

What was the conflict between Indians and colonists that challenged Colonial America?

• The growth of the colonies was a sense of pride to the colonists

• At first, both sides got along well; however, King Phillip saw the seizing of more and more of Indian land being a threat to their survival

• The Natives in New England began to fear that they would face the same situation that the tribes in the South (Virginia) had faced

What were the outcomes of conflicts between colonists and Indians?

• King Phillip’s War:

  • After nearly a year of fighting, Metacom was killed (his head was put on a stake) and Indian resistances end in New England forever

  • Highlights the constant conflict between English settlers and Indians

What was the relationship between Natives and colonists?

• King Phillip’s (Metacom’s) War (1675-1676)

  • Conflict between Wampanoags, Naragansetts, and other Indian peoples against English settlers

  • Reaction to Puritan community spreading from Boston

  • Results: heavy loss of life for Wampanoag; large areas open for English settlement

What was the conflict with the Salem Witch Trials?

• The colonies of New England were governed by Theocracy….government enforces God’s laws

• In 1672, a small group of families created Salem Village because they wanted to form their own church

• Several members of the church were diagnosed with being under “the Evil Hand”

• Trials were held for those who were thought to be witches which lead to more people being accused of witchery, many times as a way to settle family fueds

Outcomes of the Salem Witch Trials

• Shows weakness in the process of Theocracy

• Created mass hysteria among the colonists who feared being accused and afflicted

• Highlighted the growing conflict between church and state

• 20 people hanged

Bacon’s Rebellion

• A turning point in the shift away from indentured servitude

• Jamestown, Virginia, 1676

• Nathanial Bacon: wealthy landowner, led a rebellion of former indentured servants, free Africans, and slaves against Virginia Governor

• Effects: fear of uprising of more indentured servants; Indian tribes pushed further west; planters turned more to African slavery; race-based slave code; cultivation of cash-crops in the South

Slavery in North American colonies

• Tobacco colonies of the Chesapeake vs. the Lower South

• Slavery in the northern colonies

• Frequent rebellions (ex: Stono Rebellion)

Emergence of African American culture

• Enslaved people maintained aspects of their African cultures and resisted their enslavement at every turn

• Daily life

• Family structures and marriage

  • Slave codes that denied rights

• Religion —> Shift to Christianity with the Great Awakening (1760s)

• Music and dance

• Dialects (ex: Gullah)

• 2-way acculturation