Notes on Colonial Development and Elizabeth Key

Elizabeth Key and the 1662 Statute

• Elizabeth Key gained freedom in 1656 due to her father's status.

• Her lawyer, William Greensted, an Englishman, took her case, fathered two of her children, and eventually married her.

• Key won her case, securing her freedom from bondage.

• She escaped her mother's fate of slavery because her father and husband were both free Englishmen.

• The 1662 statute aimed to prevent similar avenues to freedom.

The Molding of Chattel Slavery

• The development of chattel slavery demonstrates how Europeans adapted their principles to the demands of their new surroundings.

• The conflict between Elizabeth Key, William Greensted, and Virginia's House of Burgesses illustrates how people in various social and political positions sought to make sense of their world and manipulate its rules to their benefit.

• Through numerous power struggles, a new world gradually emerged from the collision of cultures.

Three Types of Colonies by 1700

• By 1700, three distinct types of colonies had developed in the Americas.

  • Tribute Colonies: Established in Mexico and Peru, relying on the wealth and labor of indigenous peoples.

  • Plantation Colonies: Focused on producing sugar and other tropical/subtropical crops using bound labor.

  • Neo-Europes: Aimed to replicate or approximate economies and social structures familiar to colonists from home.