Unit 1 | The Colonial Era

Common practices and spiritual values of the native tribes

Hopi tribe:

• Tawa = Sun God (controlled magic “above”)

• Spider Woman = Earth Goddess (controlled magic “below”)

• Kivas = room for religious rituals underground

• Valued animals, represent different clans

• Family descends through women

• Gender roles are more flexible

Early native American groups origin

Scholars believe the first Americans originated from Asia

Iroquois location

Northeast (east coast)

Pequot location

New England Colonies (Connecticut)

Powhatan location

Virginia (Jamestown)

Powhatan Conflict

Powhatan’s tribe vs. Starving colonists

English captured Pocahontas + converted her to Christianity + made her marry John Rolfe

Powhatan death —> Opechancanough = new chief

Algonkian location

Northeast (east coast)

Cahokia (mound builders) location

Near Illinois/Mississippi

Reasons for Exploration in Europe

• Extreme wealth/extreme poverty

• Competition w/ other monarchs

• New ideas from Renaissance about individualism + spread of info about new/unknown regions

• Wanted to trade but Ottomans (Muslim) controlled trade to Asia

• Religious conflict

  • Protestantism vs. Catholicism, who can spread their beliefs first/more

Order of European Countries Colonizing/Exploring

Spain, Portugal, France, England, Dutch

Spanish Reasons for Colonization

• Spread Christianity

• Spread Spanish culture

• Conquerer as much land as possible

• Wanted $ —> mining silver/gold

Spanish Explorers/Locations Settled

• Conquistadors

• Americas, New Spain (Mexico, Central America, Caribbean), Peru

Spanish Method of Colonization

• Conquered territories in already established colonies

• Social Hierarchy = Caste System

  • Peninsulares, Creoles, Mestizos, Indians, Mulattoes, Slaves

• Encomienda System

• Friars = spread religion

• Island Hopping

Spanish Relationship w/ Natives

• Treated harshly

  • Forced labor + enslaved to mine for gold/silver

Why New Spain wasn’t as Successful

Caste System in New Spain isn’t appealing to immigrants b/c only a small % of settlers have good rights, and likely had better rights in Spain

French Reasons for Colonization

• Not interested in colonizing

• Sought to find Northern Passage

  • (water route to Asia through waters of present-day Canada)

• Spread religion (catholic)

  • Jesuit missionaries

French Important Explorers/Locations Settled

• St. Lawrence River

• Giovanni de Verranzo + Jaques cartier

• Quebec = 1st European settlement in Canada

  • Founded by Samuel de Champlain

  • Trading post

French Methods of Colonization

• Traded metal items/weaponry that was valuable to indians

• Less forceful (typically)

• Spread religion (but tolerant) —> spread influence

• Couldn’t afford enslaving Indians, needed hunters/suppliers

• Only took a little land —> lessened conflict w/ natives

French Relationship w/ Natives

• Friendly trading

• Champlain attacked Iroquois camp w/ guns —> Indians switching from mass formations to hit-and-run tactics (used trees as cover)

• Couldn’t afford enslaving Indians, needed hunters/suppliers

• Only took a little land —> lessened conflict w/ natives

Why French Colonies weren’t Successful

• Weren’t aggressive, didn’t focus on colonizing/making money

English Reasons for Colonization

• Compete with other European countries for power, wealth, glory

• Be self-sufficient (mercantilism)

  • More exports, less imports

• Wanted raw materials

• + England had issues:

  • Religious conflict + too large population

English Explorers/Location Settled

• John Smith = leader of Jamestown Colony

• Sir Francis Drake = burned Augustine (Spanish Ship)

• Virginia/Jamestown

English Methods of Colonization

• Charter issued by King James to colonized

• Allowed everyone to settle (poor, persecuted, etc)

• VA Company funded colonization

  • lots of rich investors instead of 1 king

  • shared/mutual interest in colonizing

English Relationship w/ Natives

• Treated harshly/hostility at first

• Natives offered food/hospitality —> colonies becoming more dependent

• John Smith wanted to make Natives laborers (like Spain)

• After learning Native tips, turned on them + burned crops/villages, forced them out of land, etc.

Dutch (Netherlands) Reasons for Colonization

• Find path to Asia

  • Instead: New Netherlands (NY)

• Set up for trade

Dutch (Netherlands) Explorers/Locations Settled

• Henry Hudson explored Hudson River

• Peter Minuet bought Mannhattan from Natives

Dutch (Netherlands) Methods for Colonization/Patroonship

• Patroonship system encouraged immigration

  • Stockholders in Dutch West Indian Company were promised more land if they brought more immigrants within 4 yrs

• Immigrants became farmers (similar to feudal system)

  • Social hierarchy based on agriculture

Why the Dutch (Netherlands) Weren’t Successful

• Didn’t get enough immigrants b/c feudal system was worse than life in Netherlands

  • no reason to leave

Dutch (Netherlands) Relationship with Natives

• Peaceful @ first for trade

• Later greedy + destroyed/disrupted Native land

Early slave trade

• 1619 first Africans brought to Americas

• Originally indentured servants

• Life expectancy increase in slaves —> increase purchasing of slaves b/c they had lifelong servitude

  • 1 time purchase, cheaper than European indentured servants

Columbus

• Sailed for Spain (conquistador)

• Wanted to find an alternate route to China

Conquistadors

• Spanish and Portuguese soldiers/explorers who carried out conquests and explorations

• Sailed beyond the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas, Oceania, Africa and Asia, to est. colonies + trade routes

St. Augustine

Quebec

• Founded by Samuel de Champlain

• 1st European settlement in Canada

• Fortified trading post

  • Created b/c they wanted to trade w/ Natives for fur

New France

• Canada

• initially by St. Lawrence River, Newfoundland, Acadia (Nova Scotia)

  • later included Great Lakes region

“big river”

• Mississippi river

• carried trade/goods: furs, corn, wheat, cotton, sugar, tobacco, etc.

  • trade —> distinct cultures

encomienda system

• form of forced and unpaid labor used by Spanish colonies

  • laborers were given military protection and the opportunity to be converted to Christianity

  • Spanish colonial rulers were supposed to provide protection + conversion to Christianity of Natives in exchange for their labor, however in practice the native population suffered immensely at the hands of the Spanish rulers.

mestizos

Spanish and Native descent

mulattoes

Spanish and African descent

peninsulares

FULL Spanish descent, AND born in Europe

creoles

FULL Spanish descent, NOT born in Europe

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade/Triangular Trade

• intentional trade across Atlantic ocean

England: exported manufactured goods

Americas: exported natural resources

Africa: exported enslaved laborers

Columbian exchange

• Natural exchange, less intentional

• Exchange of foods, crops, diseases, animals/livestock between the New and Old Worlds

Roanoke

• Attempted to colonize 2x, led by Sir Walter Raleigh

• Infertile soil → poor crop yield

• Difficult to land ships in harbor

• (Group 1 abandoned, Group 2 disappeared)

• Near SC not VA

Sir Walter Raleigh

• English aristocrat

• Failed 2x to create permanent settlement @ Roanoke

  (Group 1 abandoned, Group 2 disappeared)

• Infertile soil → poor crop yield

• Difficult to land ships in harbor

Queen Elizabeth I

• Queen of England

King James I

• King of England

proprietary colonies

• Belonged to powerful individuals/companies

  • think “property”

royal colonies

• Belonged to the crown

  • “royal”

Virginia Company

• Joint-stock company

• Funded colonization

• Obtained charter from the crown to colonize VA

Jamestown

• First settlement in VA

• est. 1607

• Fertile land, good harbors, settled by James River

• safe from Spanish ships, but vulnerable to interior Natives

• Didn’t enslave Natives because they died from European diseases (weren’t immune)

starving time

• winter of 1609-1610, when food shortages, fractured leadership, and a siege by Powhatan Indian warriors killed 2/3 colonists at James Fort

• from the beginning, the colony struggled to maintain a food supply

• ¾ colonists died from starvation related deaths

John Smith

• English soldier, explorer, colonial governor

• Helped establish Jamestown

• Viewed NA land as “overgrown/wild” and insisted on improving it into profitable land

• (basically just wanted NA land)

John Rolfe

• Forced Pocahontas to marry him

• Taught colonists how to farm tobacco 1616

tobacco

• VA’s main cash crop

Pocahontas

• Chief Powhatan’s favorite daughter

• Captured by English, and was converted to Christianity

• Forced to marry John Rolfe

Chief Powhatan

• Spoke Algonquian

• Leader of the Powhatan

• Didn’t confront colonists in fear of casualty, wanted to use colonists against his enemies (Natives of the interior)

• English were impressed with his dignity, intelligence, build

1619

• HOB is est.

• Slavery introduced to American colonies

House of Burgesses

• First representative body in US colonies

• Present day VA General Assembly

• Representative gov.

• rich, free, white, landowning, “oath of supremacy” to kings James, men

• HOB limited power/representation to lower classes, catered to wealthiest class —> bacon’s rebellion

headright system

• 1619

• VA Co. offered 50 acres of land to anyone who paid passage/another persons passage

• Wealthy colonists acquire large plantations

• helped increase importing workers from England —> rise in population in VA

indentured servants

• Agreed to 4-7 years of servitude in exchange for paid passage in Jamestown

• After servitude, they are free and can buy/own land

  • Opportunity to increase social standing

Plymouth

• 1620

• Separatists

• Mayflower Compact

Mayflower Compact

• Agreement to abide by their own gov.

• Anglican Church: King hold power over the church + ppl = too much power

  • Ppl want freedom/democracy

Puritans

• Wanted to PURIFY Anglican Church, NOT separate from it

• MA Bay Colony

Separatists

• Wanted to SEPARATE from the Anglican Church

• Mayflower/Plymouth

Quakers

• Radical Protestants

• Distrusted the rich

• Tolerated other faiths

• Middle class (no clergy)

• Believed all people were spiritually equal (men/women)

• “Inner light”

• Individual relationship with God

• Pacifists

mercantilism

More exports than imports = more $$

decline of indentured servitude, slave boom, emergence of chattel slavery

• enslaved African laborers began to rise in popularity b/c of increase in lifespan —> less buying of indentured servants

• indentured servants served limited amt of time, slaves served for their life and were permanently denied their freedom

• chattel slavery: having ownership of multiple slaves

New England colonies

Massachusetts (Plymouth + territory in Maine), Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire (MA, CT, RI, NH)

• Long winters, rocky land —> poor/no large scale farming

  • Trees/forests, lots of fruit

• Turkey, cattle, quails, pigeons, partridges, etc.

• Great Lakes

  • Fish, water birds, beavers, otters

• Main export = dry fish + whale oil

• Society = ideal for permanent settlement

  • Settlers brought family, roughly = amt of men/women, wide range of ages, many different jobs (skilled workers)

• Negative relationship w/ natives

  • Disapproved of their culture, wanted to control + christianize them

    • Pequot war —> praying towns

    • King Philips war

• Salem Witch Trials

Massachusetts Bay Colony

• 1630 est

• John Winthrop = founder

• STRICTLY puritan

• MA = trading hub

  • Shipbuilding/shipbuilders, leather makers, rum makers, etc.

• GOAL = pure society/model society

• “city upon a hill”

• Executed ppl who believed in individual choice in religion

John Winthrop

• Founder of MA Bay colony

• “city upon a hill”

• strictly puritan

“City Upon a Hill”

model society/something for people to look up too

Anne Hutchinson

• From MA colony

• Puritan, but believed heaven was attainable to anyone who worshiped God even through personal connection + believed that MA hadn’t done enough to differentiate from Anglican ways

• Woman = contradicted Puritan beliefs that only men should have public influence —> banished

Roger Williams

• Banned from MA colony for radical views

• Created Rhode island = safe religious haven

Pequot War

• 1630s

• Puritans accused Pequots of an Englishmen’s death, denied accusation —> war

• Treaty of Hartford ended the war, but still major loss to Pequot population

• Began in CONNECTICUT, spread across New England colonies

• Led to Praying Towns

covenant

a sacred agreement or mutual promise between God and a person or a group of people

town meetings

• Direct Democracy

• est. New England colonies

• Typically all church goers (men) are able to attend

Metacom

• Chief of Wampanoag Indians

• Known as “King Phillip” to colonists

• Killed by a NA from a praying-town who served w/ colonists

King Phillips’s War

• Massachusetts

• Huge NA rebellion

• Metacom attacked Plymouth towns —> war

• NA’s were winning with guns, but later starved from colonial attacks on crops

  • also ran out of ammunition

• Ended when Metacom died

• NA’s lost most land

  • Survived on the small amt of land left

  • Fled to French colonies in Canada

    • Fought w/ French against Eng. in later wars

Salem witchcraft trials

• New England colonies prosecuted suspected witches

• Children/cattle died = evil magic

• “victims” of magic blamed neighbors who bore them “ill will”

• Salem, MA authorities tired, convicted, executed 19 witches

• When accusations reached governor's wife, judges dropped trials

praying towns

• 1674

• converted NA’s to Christianity + watched over by missionaries

  • forced to abandon tradition + wear Eng. clothes

• Missionaries forced traditional gender roles:

  • Men = stop hunting/fishing —> farming

  • Women = stop cornfields —> tend homes, weave

• Minority of NA’s joined praying towns, b/c they wanted to keep their land w/out having war (failed)

Connecticut colony

• Thomas Hooker

• Also disagreed w/ MA colony’s strict rules

• Est. for religious tolerance

New Hampshire Colony

• Originally est. to be a fishing colony

• est. by English fishermen

Middle Colonies

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware (NY, PA, NJ, DE)

• Many rivers —> settling nearby

• Mild climate + good soil = good agriculture

  • Grain/wheat = main export

• Society = diverse

  • Variety of nationalities, many different religious sub-groups, skilled workers

  • more tolerant, religious freedom

  • settlers brought families = ideal for starting new society

• Weren’t allowed to mistreat natives

• traded with natives for beavers, peltry, oil

New Jersey Colony

• Est. by Eng. to connect Southern + New England colonies

• tolerant —> attracted diverse groups

• West: Quakers, East: Puritans

New Netherlands/New York

New Netherlands:

• est. by Dutch to trade/farm

• tolerated diverse groups

• little effort to convert natives

• Few ppl moved from Netherlands

  • Better life in Netherlands, colony = feudal system

New York:

• taken over by English

• Eng. wanted to close the gap between southern + new England colonies

Pennsylvania

• William Penn = given charter from King of Eng.

• Quakers: Inner light, personal relationship w/ God, pacifists

• est. as place of religious tolerance/haven for Quakers

New Sweden/Delaware

New Sweden:

• est. by Dutch to join the tobacco trade, fur trade, grains trade, etc.

Delaware:

• Absorbed by New Netherlands, then Britain

Chesapeake and Southern colonies

Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia (VA, MD, NC, SC, GA)

• Forests on rolling hills/mountains + rivers/streams

• Mild winters, warm summers = long growing seasons

• Rich soil, farmed tobacco corn, peas, etc.

• cotton = main export

• Society = mainly young adult men

  • Peak physical state —> do labor

  • GOAL = increase wealth

• Saw natives as uncultured, just wanted their land

• HOB

• Stono Rebellion = slave uprising

Virginia Colony

• Atlantic coast = unclaimed by Spain/France —> English colonization attempts

• Sir Walter Raleigh attempted est. at Roanoke 2x (failed)

• Jamestown Colony (funded by VA Co.) = success

  • Good harbors, fertile soil, swamps, protected from spanish

• John Smith wanted to take Native land —> conflict with Powhatans

• Originally OK relationship w/ Natives (learned their techniques) when they were struggling

  • Sick from malaria etc. —> too sick to tend crops —> starvation

  • Later turned on natives

• VA Co. saved colony by allowing colonists to own/work land as private property

  • Ppl = farmers, not employees —> working harder to grow corn, squash, etc.

    • Ensured survival, but not profit

• Tobacco —> huge profit

  • John Rolfe taught colonists to farm tobacco 1616

  • profits attracted more immigration

• Headright system —> more immigration

• More wars w/ NAs (Opechanchanough)

• Bacon’s Rebellion

• William Berkely = governor

Virginia House of Burgesses

• 1619 est.

• Representative gov.

• VA = originally proprietary, later royal colony

• Male landowners elect 2 leaders = Burgesses to represent settlement

Maryland

• Lord Baltimore = aristocrat

• Governed as proprietary colony

• est. as Catholic haven who were discriminated by Protestant majority in Eng.

• More protestants than Catholics ended up immigrating —> conflict

Georgia Colony

• James Oglethorpe + trustees

• Safe haven for eng. debtors who had been jailed for being unable to pay debts

• est. also to protect SC from Spanish Florida

• Strict rules: no alcohol, no slaves, colonists had to work their own land (no owning plantations)

  • Angered colonists —> protesting until trustees surrendered the Crown —> royal colony

plantation system

• Unlike small subsistence farms, plantations = est. to grow cash crops + make money

• Cheap labor

• Economy based on agricultural mass production

• a few crops grown on large farms worked by laborers or slaves

class conflict

• poor were very underrepresented in the government, and had higher taxes b/c HOB = wealthy 1st class

• were forced to move westward for land —> more NA conflict —> low class mad at wealthy class

Bacon’s Rebellion

• Increase in VA population —> poorer ppl moving westward (land is less fertile) —> intruding on NA land —> conflict w/ NAs

• William Berkely = royal governor of VA

  • Made situation worse: increased taxes on low class and gave it to wealthy class

  • Also disregarded free press/public education for common people

• Berkley was unwilling to go to war w/ NAs/get rid of them —> settlers rebelling under Nathaniel Bacon

• Bacon = already known for NA slaughter

• 1676 Bacon’s Rebellion drove out Berkely + burned town

• Bacon died 1mo. later (sick) —> rebellion end

• Berkely regained power but rebellion undermined his credibility

  • King appt. new governor, Berkley —> england

• Rebellion showed poor class wouldn’t tolerate a government only catered to wealthy ppl

  • Colonial leaders reduced taxes + increased access to frontier land

slave culture

Stono Rebellion

• 1739, near Charleston SC

• Largest uprising of enslaved ppl

  • burned houses, killed white ppl

• led to suspension of slave imports + harsher slaves codes

• more efforts to forbid education + movement of enslaved ppl

• also led to more uprisings (Nat Turner’s Rebellion = most effective slave uprising)

cash crops

• Tobacco in VA

• cotton in southern colonies

• Grain/wheat = NOT a cash crop (sustenance crop)

Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled by people of English origin, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies.  Why did this difference in development occur?

Geographical differences

• New England = rocky + colder —> more difficult for large scale farming = difficult to have plantations

• Chesapeake = mild winters + warm summers = long growing seasons + good for agriculture

  • VA and other southern colonies est. in hopes of making MONEY

Religious differences

• New England = lots of religious conflict (stronger views/beliefs) w/ natives and within society

  • Lots of Europeans settled in New England to gain religious freedom/expression

• Chesapeake = lot less religious conflict

religion = more important/dominated life in new england

farming = more important/dominated life/money in chesapeake

Societal differences

• New England = brought families, = amt men/women, diverse

• Southern = young adult men, servants or wealthy, intended to make money or increase social standing