Unit 2: Period 2: 1607 - 1754

Contextualizing Period 2

Early Settlements

• Spanish and Portuguese settled in Central and South America
• French, Dutch, and British settled on the Atlantic coast
• Trade was the mainstay of Native and European contact

Sources of Labor

• Europeans seized land from Native Americans as they looked for a source of labor to make the land profitable
• Enslaving Natives failed due to disease and because they could escape easily
• Indentured servitude became common in colonies but was insufficient
• Slaves from Africa became a popular source of labor later as the Spanish and others were importing slaves too

Spanish Colonies

• Florida → Juan Ponce de Loen claimed this land for Spain after strong resistance from Natives
• New Mexico And Arizona → Spanish Colonists began arriving in 1598 with Sante Fe as the capital
• Texas → Spanish est. settlements in Texas between Florida and New Mexico
• California → Franciscan order and Father Junipero Serra est. mission along the California Coast

French Colonies

• Motives: Christian missionaries, economic reasons, the fur trade
• Quebec was the 1st settlement in America by Samuel de Champlain (1608)
• Louisiana was explored by Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette
• New Orleans became a prosperous trade port

Dutch Colonies

• Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River with est. Dutch claims to the surrounding area
• Dutch West Company made to control the region for economic gain

British Colonies

• England’s population grew more rapidly than its economy
• Joint-stock companies financed colonies
• Motives: better life, religious freedom

The 13 Colonies and the British Empire

Types of British Colonies

• Corporate colonies: operated by joint-stock companies, during the early years
• Royal colonies: under the direct authority and rule of the King’s government
• Proprietary colonies: under the authority of individuals granted charters of ownership by the king

Early English Settlements

• England gained a reputation as a major naval power
• England’s population was growing wildly
• poor and landless people attracted to the Americas
• Joint-stock companies grew
    * pooled savings of many investors → spread the risk

Jamestown

• King James chartered the Virginia Company
• Problems
    * Location in the swampy area resulted in disease outbreaks
    * Trades with American Indians were prominent but when conflicts came trade stopped and settlers went hungry
    * John Rolfe developed a variety of tobacco that became popular in Europe and profited
• Transition to a royal colony
    * Virginia company made unwise decisions + debt
    * King James, I revoked the charter and it became England’s 1st royal colony

Plymouth + Massachusetts Bay

• Religious motivation to move west
• Settled by English protestants and + Anglican Church
• The leader of the church was the monarch of England
• Dissenters adopted Calvin’s doctrine of predestination
• King James, I viewed religious dissenters as a threat to his religious and political authority + ordered them arrested and jailed

Plymouth Colony

• Separatists (radical dissenters to the Church of England) wanted a separate church independent of royal control
• Known as pilgrims they chose a colony in America operated by the Virginia Company of London
• Set sail on the Mayflower and landed off the Massachusetts coast
• Hardships
    * Harsh winters killed many
    * Able to adapt to the land by natives + celebrated Thanksgiving
• Leaders: Captian Miles, Governor William Bradford

Massachusetts Bay Colony

• Moderate dissenters believed the Church of England could be reformed/ purified → Puritans
• Puritans gained a royal charter for the Massachusetts Bay Company
• Puritans + John Winthrop sailed to MA → more settlers came (known as the great migration)

Political Instiutions

• Representative Assembly in VA
    * Virginia Company encouraged settlement in Jamestown with the same rights as residents
    * Representation in lawmaking processes
    * Jamestown organized the 1st representative assembly in America → House of Burgesses
• Representative Government in New England
    * Mayflower Compact → pledge them to make decisions by the will of the majority
    * All freemen (male) of the Puritan church had the right to participate in elections
• Limits
    * Most colonists were excluded from the political process
    * Only white males could vote
    * The rest had limited rights

Chesapeake Colonies

• King Charles chartered a new colony on either side of Chesapeake Bay and granted control of it to George Calvert
• Religious Issues
    * Act of Toleration → act of parliament granting freedom of worship to nonconformists
    * Protestant revolt → religious reform movement that swept through Europe
• Labor Shortages
    * Indentured servants → agreements between 2 parties about long-term work
    * Headright system → right to receive 50 acres per person or per head in Virginia
    * Slavery → Dutch ships brought black Americans to Virginia to serve plantation owners + permanent bondage
• Economic Problems
    * Tobacco overproduction led to low prices
    * House of Burgesses attempted to raise prices
• Conflict in Virginia
    * Bacon’s Rebellion → Bacon and his followers burn Jamestown, angry at the Virginia government that gave land to natives and the land aristocracy
    * Problems
      * Highlighted class differences
      * Colonial resistance to royal control

Development of New England

• Rhode Island
    * Roger Williams fled southward to Narragansett Bay with followers
    * Anne Hutchinson believed in antinomianism and joined Roger
    * Roger granted a charter from the Parliament that joined Providence and Portsmouth into a single colony → Rhode Island that served as a refuge
• Connecticut
    * Settlers unhappy with MA authorities were attracted to Connecticut
    * Reverend Thomas Hooker led a large group of Puritans to Hartford + drew up the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
      * Est. representative government of the legislature
    * New Haven Joined with Hartford settlers to form Connecticut
• New Hampshire
    * Last New England colony that was originally part of Massachusettes Bay
    * King Charles II separated NH from the Bay colony and made it a royal colony
• Halfway Covenant
    * Allowed partial membership rights to persons not yet converted to a Puritan church
• New England Confederation
    * The joint military alliance between New England colonies of Plymouth, Connecticut, New Haven, and Massachusetts Bay against Natives, French, and Dutch
• King Philip’s War
    * Wampanoag’s chief Metacom united many tribes against English settlers (encroaching on native land)
    * Colonial forces prevailed ending Native resistance in New England

Restoration Colonies

• Colonies found in restoration time
• Carolinas
    * Charles II granted a tract between Virginia and Spanish Florida to 8 nobles (lord proprietors of the Carolinas)
    * South Carolina
      * Colonists from England + planters from Barbados founded a town
      * Based on fur trading and providing food for West Indies + large rice-growing plantations
• North Carolina
    * Virginia and New England farmers est. self-sufficient tobacco farms
    * Earned a reputation for democratic views and autonomy from British control
• New York
    * The king granted the Duke of York lands between Connecticut and Delaware Bay.
    * James ordered new taxes, language, duties, rents, etc with no assembly
    * Taxation without representation et strong opposition made James yield by allowing the governor to grant broad civil + political rights
• New Jersey
    * James split the New York colony into 2 making New Jersey
    * Attracted settlers by land offers + religious freedom + assembly
    * West New Jersey + East New Jersey → New Jersey
• Pennsylvania + Delaware
    * Quakers
      * Believed that religious authority was found within each person’s soul and not the bible or any other source
      * Persecuted + jailed for their beliefs in England
    * William Penn
      * Young converted to the Quaker faith
      * Bequeathed Pennsylvania land as the royal family owed father large debt
    * The Holy Experiment
      * William Penn est Pennsylvania as a way to put into practice Quaker ideals
      * Penn hired agents and published notices throughout Europe that promised political and religious freedom and generous land terms
    * Delaware
      * Penn granted 3 lower counties of Pennsylvania their own assembly becoming another colony
• Georgia
    * Britain wanted a defensive buffer to protect South Carolina from the Spanish threat
    * imprisoners in England could come here to escape debt + start over
    * Special regulations
      * James Oglethorpe founded Georgia’s first settlement + put in a plan to make the colony thrive
      * The constant threat of Spanish attack stopped the colony from prospering
    * Royal colony
      * Oglethorpe gave up their plan and Georgia became a royal colony
      * The colony grew slowly through the SC plantation system

Triangular trade

• Merchant ships followed a 3-way route from North America to Europe to Africa.
• Britain (textiles, rum, manufactures) , Africa(slaves), America (sugar, tobacco, cotton)

Mercantilism and the Empire

• Mercantilism: nations’ wealth and power were best served by increased exports and reduced imports
• Colonies were to provide raw materials to the parent country for growth
• Acts of Trade and Navigation were England’s implemented mercantilist policy with Navigations acts
    * Trade only by English Ships
    * Imported goods only through England ports
    * Specific goods could only be exported to England (tobacco)
• Impact on colonies
    * Caused New England shipbuilding to prosper + Chesapeake monopoly
    * Limited development of colonial manufacturing
    * Colonists resented regulatory laws by distant governments
• Enforcement
    * British gov lax in enforcement
    * Massachusetts Bay Charter revoked
• Dominion of New England
    * King James II determined to increase royal control over colonies through larger administrative units
    * NY, NJ, + others combined into the dominion of New England
    * This led to an uprising against him + separate charters for colonies

Institution of Slavery

• Increased Demand for Slaves
    * Reasons
      * Reduced migration of immigrants into colonies
      * Slaves were a dependable workforce → Indentured servants were unsuitable as they kept revolting
      * Slaves were cheap labor → Tobacco prices fell, and rice and indigo became profitable so cheap was labor needed
• Slave Laws
    * White colonists adopted laws to ensure African Americans would be held in bondage for life and slave status would be inherited
    * Triangular Trade
      * Britain (textiles, rum, manufactures) , Africa(slaves), America (sugar, tobacco, cotton)
      * Middle passage: slaves would be transported to the Americas directly from Africa

European Settlements

• Motivations to colonize → raw materials, adventure, markets, overcrowding in England, and religious reformation
• Spanish Settlements
    * Settled in Mexico
    * Spanish caste system (Europeans, Mixed, Natives)
    * Were there for missionary work
    * Enslaved Natives + Bartolome de las Cases outspoken against enslavement and encomienda
• Dutch Settlements
    * Settled in middle colonies
    * No cohesive establishment + trade
    * Quakers
• French Settlements
    * Settled in Canada + West of Britain
    * Immense fur trade with Natives
    * Missionary work
• English Settlements
    * Settled away from Natives → Eastern Coast
    * Settlement and land were the main goals
    * Protestant + Catholic (refugees)
    * Disease wiped out natives

Colonial Society in the 18th Century

Population Growth

• 250,000 → 2,500,000 complete population
• Africans
    * largest non-English immigrant group
    * Africant population made up 20%

Structure of Colonial Society

• General Characteristics
    * Self-Government → Representative assembly (RI & CT were elected)
    * Religious Toleration → practice of different religions
    * No Hereditary Aristocracy
    * Social Mobility → Opportunity to improve their standard (didn’t apply to Africans)
• Family
    * Men - landowning + voting + jobs
    * Women - average typical household work
• Economy
    * Mercantilism throughout colonies
    * New England - limited farming + more industrial manufacturing
    * Middle Colonies - rich soil + small manufacturing
    * Southern Colonies - large plantation economy
    * Monetary system - limit the use of money
    * Transportation - good by water, roads, trails, and small ships on water routes
• Religion
    * Puritans, Anglicans, Quakers
    * Challenges
      * discrimination + persecution
      * absence of church leadership
    * Established Churches: protestant, Anglican, congregation church dominance
    * Great awakening
      * Religion/puritan influence DECREASES
      * Johnathan Edwards: sinners in the hands of an angry god”: Christians must depend on God’s grace
      * George Whitefield traveling sermons
        * Revitalized religion with emotionalism
        * New lights v old lights (orthodox)
      * congregations + Presbyterians split into methodists + baptists
        * Anglican + congregational (puritan) tax-supported churches dominate
        * Anglican/church of Eng ESP IN SOUTH
        * Founding of college & sense of Americanism
• Cultural life
    * Colonial arts and sciences flourished
    * Architecture: Georgian-style buildings
    * Painting: itinerant artists
    * Literature: Poor Richard’s Almanac + more
    * Science: Ben Franklin
• Education
    * Elementary
      * Emphasis on learning the bible
      * Tax-supported schools
      * Sponsored, private, tutors
    * Higher
      * Promoted doctrines of religious groups + only nobles could afford
    * Ministry → Cristian
    * Physicians → cures only made colonists worse
    * Lawyers → talkative troublemakers
• Press
    * Newspapers → news spread + 5 newspapers dominant
    * Zenger Trial → 1st challenge with freedom of the press regarding
• Enlightenment
    * Education in colonies
    * Brought by Ben Franklin
      * Reasoning: science and politics
    * Colonies more democratic than Europe
    * John Locke - natural rights basis for Declaration
• Politics
    * Structure of government
      * 8 royal colonies and 3 proprietaries (MY, PN, DL)
      * Local government
        * The dominant form of local government was a town meeting
    * Voting
      * White men largely took the votes
      * Wealth men had the bigger say