Spanish in America
Prioritized extracting wealth via silver mines + plantations
Casta system, intermarriage, harsh conversion
Encomienda system as forced labor
French in America
Prioritized trade alliances with Natives, specifically fur trade
Almost respectable native relations with a focus on Iroquois speaking Hurons for trade connections, furs traded for iron + other metal works (pots, pans, weapons),
Jesuit priests assimilate into Native Tribes to convert from within
Many frenchmen had relations with Natives
No labor system
English in America
Prioritized finding riches to export and establish newfound religious/political freedoms
Native relations were not a big focus but hostile at times
Utilized indentured servants + African slaves, no institutionalized forced labor system for Native Americans
Mercantilism
Political economy based on government regulation that emphasized the importance of accumulating wealth through trade, colonization, and a favorable balance of exports over imports
Joint-stock company
made of investors who pooled their capital and received shares of stock in proportion to their share (fund settlers to colony)
Headright system
granted land to anyone who paid passage of a new arrival (often 50 acres per person of land for indentured servants)
Settlement of Jamestown
King James granted a royal charter to joint-stock company the Virginia Company
All men, no farmers/laborers
Expected to find gold, get rich, and extract tribute from Natives, actually found no gold, half died (refused to farm —> starvation)
Government structure
British Crown
Royal governor (appointed by crown, had approval on laws, oversaw colonial trade, could dismiss colonial assembly) governor John Smith of Jamestown
Council (appointed by + advisory board to governor and highest court in each colony)
Colonial assembly (elected by eligible colonists, made laws, paid governor’s salary, had authority of tax)
Virginia House of Burgesses
representative government established in the royal colony of Virginia in 1619
write + apply laws + taxes
First democratically elected legislative body + colonial voice allowed for self-government
The Mayflower Compact (1620)
First document desiring democratic rule
On the Mayflower, 35 pilgrims among 67 “strangers” landed in Plymouth Colony
Puritans (believed in predestination), John Winthrop was the 1st governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony
City upon a hill
Speech by John Winthrop
Idea that Massachusetts would be an example for the world of a perfect society based on Puritan beliefs
Anne Hutchinson
Banished from Massachusetts Bay colony for speaking out against religious leadership
Proponent of antinomianism, the belief that faith and God’s grace as opposed to the observance of moral law and performance of good deeds are suffice to earn a place among the “elect,” challenging Puritan beliefs and clergy
As an intelligent, well-educated, and powerful woman, she was tried for heresy and convicted
Roger Williams
Banished from Massachusetts Bay colony for speaking out against religious leadership
Minister in Salem Bay settlement who taught controversial principles like that church and state should be separate
Established new colony in modern-day Rhode Island under this principle
Metacom’s/King Philip’s War (New England)
Wampanoag tried to resist New England immigration
Ended when Metacom was captured + killed
Thousands were killed on both sides
War ended most Native American resistance in New England
Powhatan Uprising (Chesapeake)
Jamestown colonists originally relied on Powhatans in Chesapeake region to cultivate food
Powhatan Confederacy was made up of about 30 tribes but eventually defeated and forced to give up most of its land
As more colonists arrived and claimed land, violence broke out
Pueblo Revolt
Fought back against Spanish in New Mexico who were forcing them to work on encomiendas, suppressing culture, and forcing Catholic conversion
Largest and most successful Native revolt in North American history
Successfully drove off Spanish for 12 years
John Smith
Forced Jamestown colonists to work and established trade relations with Powhatans
John Rolfe
Turned tobacco into a profitable cash crop (“Brown Gold”) with Pocahontas in Jamestown
New England Colonies (Massachusetts Bay + Plymouth)
Separatists who wanted religious freedoms sailed on the Mayflower to Plymouth in 1620
Allied with the Wampanoag tribe
Beginning of the Great Puritan Migration
Church = gov, small communities for monitoring —> Salem Witch Trials
Emphasized education so anyone could read the bible
Exported fish and lumber from Boston ports
Known for whaling + ship-building
Middle Colonies
Most ethnically and economically diverse, maintained from the Dutch in New York and New Jersey
Logging + shipbuilding near the coast + lucrative NY fur trade + large grain farms growing cereal crops wheat, oat, and barley, as the “bread basket”
Quaker (believed each individual had access to direct revelation) William Penn’s “holy experiment,” Pennsylvania promoted religious tolerance
Southern colonies
Long growing seasons led to many cash crops (tobacco, indigo, sugar, rice)
Plantations were the center of economic, social, and political activity throughout the South
Planter aristocracy controlled economy and participated in local government
Conditions of slavery were worse here
Stono rebellion
Largest slave insurrection in colonial america
Led to more strict slave codes, especially in South Carolina, where this occurred, due to fear of more rebellions
Navigation Acts
Restricted/monopolized trade in American colonies by forcing colonies to only import tea and sugar from England through British ships + crews
Led to smuggling and salutary neglects
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
America’s first Constitution-like laws
Stated powers and limitations of government
Bacon’s Rebellion
Nathaniel Bacon led poor farmers (many previously indentured in Virginia) frustrated with Sir William Berkeley, royal governor of Virginia, and Virginia elite for not doing enough to protect frontier settlers from Native American attacks
Showed growing class divide and planter economy of Virginia
First demonstration of real pushback against royal authority
Led to transition from indentured servitude to almost exclusive slavery
First Great Awakening
Jonathan Edwards - Congregationalist preacher who used fire and brimstone sermons to scare people into returning to the church out of fear
George Whitefield - made people feel hopeful through personal salvation and an individual relationship with God
Increased church attendance for New and Old Light denominations
First uniquely cultural experience in colonies
Questioning church leadership and moving away from religious hierarchy led to same questioning of royal authority