1 Colonization Notes Personal

NOT COMPLETE NOTES

Tobacco-

There were a lot of very large plantations, especially in places like Virginia.

There were also indentured servants, who agreed to work for 4-7 years in exchange for passage there. Once they were done they would often move west. They were mostly young males, so it made a gender inequality as there were more men.

Politics-

The house of Burgesses, the first form of politics in the new world. English didn’t tell them to do this, they just kind of did and it worked.

Made most of the power lie in the hands of the governor.

They only allowed white men pretty much to run for office and vote. Made is very rigged towards the plantain owners because they were the ones in office.

Religion

Much of Virginia was loyal to the Church of England(Anglican) because they were not there for freedom of religion they were there for money.

Big towns like Jamestown are few and far between

Rich people could buy spots in the church like a box in sports

When they realized that kids weren’t joining the church as much, the Halfway Covenant was introduced in 1667 where they wouldn’t have to go in public and defend their faith in front of everybody. Now they just had to do it with a priest.

Bacon’s Rebellion

Class conflict In 1676

Government wouldn’t help subsistence farmers so they decided to burn Williamsburg and start rebelling

Bacon soon died later of dysentery

Motives of People

  • Religion: John Winthrop(first governor of the Massachusetts bay colony), Separatists, and non-separatists

  • Economic

  • Social

John Winthrop wanted to create a community with religion at the center. They were at Massachusetts bay colony, now around Boston. People came to this colony for religious freedom, however they were still not always accepting of other religions.

Society

Society was patriarchal at the time. Very close knit towns, close families. They had a reciprocity economic belief where everyone was equal. Everyone had similar things, kind of an early version of communism so that when you had free time you would focus on God not working harder. They also had a belief called predestination where before you were born you either would be set to go to heaven or hell, and you could not get onto the heaven list but you could be kicked off.

Politics

Some of them made things like the mayflower compact which kind of established politics. Congregationalist is basically a very direct democracy which they used, but there were limits to this system. They decided to have this own self rule on their own. They also were a theocracy and had very religious oriented laws.

People who Spoke against the local government

Roger Williams had a large following in the Massachusetts Bay colony. He believed that the government should be nice to the natives and buy the land from them instead of just taking it. He also wanted separation of religion and state, he was one of the first people to believe this. They got kicked out of Massachusetts and founded Rhode Island. They were one of the first places to have freedom of religion.

Anne Hutchinson also speaks out against the Puritans as a woman who also started doing other things. She also said that she didn’t need the government interpreting the Bible for her.

Thomas Hooker also got kicked out of there and formed new colonies.

Economy

The issue is that people started to come to America for money but the original people there came for God so they disagreed.

Maryland

Goals

  • Catholic Haven

    -Lord Baltimore wanted it to be a catholic refuge and then the king gave him a bunch of land because he was siding with him.

    -Baltimore, Maryland was probably named after this guy.

    -They end up being one of the first places that have an act of toleration of religious toleration which made it one of the most religiously free places. They basically had a system where anyone who worshipped the trinity could be there and believe and pray freely. So they still had many limitations but it was better than pretty much everywhere else.

  • Manor System

    -Cheap land makes unstructured development and allows people to have small farm

    -Large independent land owners, also known as plantation owners, start to dominate Maryland.

Realistic

  • Religious wars were fought between Protestants and Catholics

  • Unstructured development.

Maryland was at this time considered a southern state and continued to be until the civil war.

West Indies

The West Indies is the Caribbean.

It was colonized by wealthy English planters.

These islands had dangerous geography:

  • It was a No Man’s Land

  • It had a lot of heat/disease

  • High mortality rate

Had little emphasis on religion

There were also few women

People who went through the West Indies often tried to get in and out as there were many things that could kill you.

Mostly it was just young dumb men who tried to go there to get money.

List of things that were of danger:

  • It gets very hot in these areas, and they were working hard in the sun

  • There were diseases such as Malaria

  • Hurricanes came with no warning

  • There was a plague outbreak in the 1640s

  • Pirate’s were also a big danger in this area

Economy in the West Indies

There was a dependence on Sugarcane to make money.

There was also a dependence on slavery as the plantation owners would never go and work on the plantations.

Number of slaves in the Caribbean doubled to 110,000 in the late 1600’s.

There was a lot of drinking, about 1 gallon per month for the average person. Because of this the life expectancy was about 38.

Slaves largely outnumbered the plantation owners here. They basically turned it into a prison like area where they would be attacked so they were scared to revolt.

Barbados slave laws were slowly rolled out and kept getting more and more strict. For example things came like everyone who was black would be treated like a slave. Slaves would also just be required to be given the bare necessities to live. Slaves were also only given freedom to go where people told them and they could be whipped if they left without permission. If they stole they got harsh punishments, etc.

Restoration Colonies

  • These restoration colonies were made after the British Civil War, which was in the 1660’s after Charles II gained the throne. Land was a reward for service. He had time to focus on North America again after the Civil War.

  • Managed by few leaders, like Pennsylvania William Penn and Georgia’s James Oglethorpe.

Idealistic Objectives

-Many places failed when they conflicted with geography

  • New York:

    -Manors were too expensive

  • Carolinas

    -Created by 8 men in 1663 who had experience in the West Indies.

    -in 1670 a colony was established where proprietors plans were idealistic.

    -Society was based on social hierarchy

    -Hereditary Aristocracy which means the top class ruled most things and it was families stay in their role.

    -Turned into a plantation based society similar to Virginia. Main difference being further inland, the population was more diverse. People were from France, Ireland, Switzerland, etc.

  • Pennsylvania

    -Quakers Religion created in the 1640’s

    -They don’t like fighting, say you should be able to manage your religion yourself and you’ll be fine.

    -William Penn purchased New Jersey

    -In 1681, the Quakers gained Pennsylvania. This means that they set up places where they could follow this religion.

    -They were more open, tolerant, and peaceful than pretty much any other religion during this time.

    -Society was diverse due to laws that allowed equality to all people and more freedoms.

    -Quakers became a minority in their own colony.

    -Delaware decided to secede and become independent.

  • New York

    -New York was set up by the Dutch in the 1620’s.

    -They called it New Amsterdam

    -It was set up to be a trading community

    -Somehow during the English Civil War, they claimed New York for some reason.

    -In 1702 New Jersey became a royal colony

    -They used the patroon(or patron? Maybe a typo) system

    -Land was cheap and purchases by immigrants

    -In 1685 New York became a royal colony

  • Georgia

    -In 1732 it was created as a debtors colony by James Oglethorpe.

    -It was basically used as a buffer between Spanish Florida and South Carolina(since it was very profitable) for if war broke out.

    -Also had very idealistic objectives. Banned slavery, pursued alternative crops, and had good relations with natives.

    -It didn’t end up working out for James Oglethorpe since he didn’t want to use slaves and he didn’t use the wide known profitable crops.

    -They lifted the ban on slavery in 1750 to try to get more people to come.

Transformation of Colonies

  • Population Growth

    • From 1713-1744 population of the colonies increased from 330,000 to 1 million. This is a massive increase in population.

  • Diversification of Population

    • 1630-1700 90% of immigrants were British

    • 1700’s 100,000 Irish, 65,000 Germans.

  • Economic Growth

    • Twice the economic Growth of England during the 1700’s

    • Triangular trade patterns

    • Navigation Acts and Mercantilism

      • Did not stifle colonial economy until the late 1700s

      • Diversified Economy

    • Did not have as large of an economy as England, but it was growing faster.

    • Mercantilism

      • The idea that the reason to have colonies is to make them money.

    • Navigation Acts

      • Laws that said the colonies can only trade with British ships

  • The Great Awakening

    • Starts in the northeast but goes through all of the colonies

    • 1739-1770s period of intense religious commitment and emotional expression

    • Conflict between “old light” and “new light”

    • Nobody told us to do this, we decided to make a social and cultural change

  • Salutary Neglect

    • First 140 years of America largely being ignored by the British and us getting to choose what happens

    • We gained a sense of independency and being able to choose what we get to do

    • We like our freedoms

    • There are positives and negatives