Introduction

• As colonial societies developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, fluid labor arrangements and racial categories solidified into the race-based, chattel slavery that defined the economy of the British Empire

Slavery and the Making of Race

• English traders encouraged wars with Native Americans in order to purchase and enslave captives

• Planters justifies the use of an enslaved workforce by claiming that white workers were “good for nothing"

• The 1660s marked a turning point for Black men and women in the English colonies

  • New laws gave legal sanction to the enslavement of people of African descent for life

  • Skin color became a marker of an all-encompassing division between the two races (white and black)

• Initially, colonizers tried to enslave Native Americans, but they died quickly (either from disease or starvation) so the demands of the growing plantations required a more reliable labor force → the transatlantic slave trade

  • European slavers transported millions of Africans across the ocean in a journey known as the Middle Passage

    • For the captains and crews of slave ships, the Middle Passage was one leg in the maritime trade in sugar and American goods, manufactured European commodities, and enslaved Africans

    • For the enslaved Africans, the Middle Passage was the middle of three distinct journeys from Africa to the Americas (overland journey in Africa, the oceanic trip, and transportation to the American location of enslavement)

Turmoil in Britain

• Religious conflict plagued 16th century England

  • Catholic and Protestant English monarchs vied for supremacy and deemed their enemies heretics

    • Elizabeth I cemented Protestantism as the official religion of the realm, but it was unclear what type of Protestanism would hold sway

  • The tensions between Catholics and Protestants eventually led to the English Civil War, ending with the execution of Charles I

    • Parliamentarians vs Royalists

• Charles I’s execution challenged American neutrality since 6 colonies declared allegiance to the dead monarch’s son (Charles II)

  • Parliament responded by leveling an economic embargo on the rebelling colonies

  • Eventually, Charles II was crowned, but the seeds of doubt had been planted

New Colonies

• Despite the turmoil in Britain, colonial settlements grew throughout the 17th century

• In 1632, Maryland was established in the hopes of creating a haven for Catholics (which was unsuccessful thanks to Puritans)

  • It was a successful tobacco colony

• Religion was a motivating factor in the creation of several other colonies as well, including the colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island

• Until the middle of the 17th century, the English neglected the area between Virginia and New England which allowed the Swedes and the Dutch to establish their own colonies in the region (New Sweden and New Netherland)

Riot, Rebellion, and Revolt

• The establishment and solidification of the British North American colonies did not happen peacefully

  • The Pequot War: an armed contingent of Puritans from the colonies went into Native American territory intending to attack the Pequots, which resulted in the Mystic massacre and provided security and stability for the English

  • King Phillip’s War: An armed conflict between indigenous inhabitants of New England and colonists

  • The Susquehannock War: A series of conflicts between Susquehannocks and colonists, beginning with Bacon’s Rebellion

  • Bacon’s Rebellion began when the militia mistook them for Doegs (there was a debt situation over pigs), leaving 14 dead and starting a pattern of violence between the Susquehannocks and colonists

    • Nathaniel Bacon began a rebellion against the governor because he would not attack the Native Americans but eventually failed

  • The Pueblo Revolt: Several thousand Puebloan warriors razed the Spanish countryside and Santa Fe, killing 400 people

    • Perhaps the greatest act of Indigenous resistance in North American history