Atlantic World, Colonies, and Slavery - Key Vocabulary

The Atlantic World, War, Labor, and Religion in Seventeenth-Century British North America

• The Atlantic consumer revolution and Native involvement

  • By 1650, most Americans along the Atlantic Coast relied on European goods for daily necessities. Native Americans were an integral part of the consumer economy in the Atlantic world.
  • Archaeologists often find it difficult to separate European settlements from Indian ones due to similarities in houses, recovered objects, and material goods.
  • A historian describes the relationship as far more complicated than a simple exchange of European metaphors for Indian beaver skins.
  • The exchange revolutionized Indian economies not mainly through new tech but through new commercial practices and markets.
  • Even Native Americans friendly with English settlers grew wary of the changes these dynamics brought.
  • With the rise of the tobacco crop, English settlers wanted more land: to hunt, fish, and farm on Indian lands.

• Population shifts and the scale of English settlement in New England

  • By 1670, there were over 52{,}000 English subjects in New England, about three times more English than Native Americans in the region.
  • This growth was propelled in part by the chaos of the English Civil War in the British Isles.

• Attitudes and conflicts between English settlers and Native peoples

  • Many English viewed Native Americans as savage, demonic, and cruel using harsh language of the era.
  • In 1636, Puritan settlers in Massachusetts accused a Native of murder; Puritans retaliated by burning a Pequot village. This marked the beginning of escalating violence.
  • The Pequot War of 1636–1637: Puritan militias and Native American allies attacked Pequot settlements; hundreds of Pequots were killed, including women and children, and survivors were dispersed or enslaved.
  • Puritans and their Native allies killed hundreds of Pequots; the war culminated in a brutal campaign of destruction across the Connecticut River Valley.
  • The violence represented a shift from restrained warfare to unrestrained warfare as both sides depicted the other as foreign and barbaric.
  • By the end of the conflict, Puritan militias had killed roughly 900 Indigenous people; survivors’ males were sold into slavery, often ending up on Caribbean plantations; many women were enslaved as domestic servants in Puritan communities.
  • The 1638 Treaty of Hartford effectively dissolved the Pequot Nation (note: the lecture also references a 1636 dissolution for the Pequot).
  • The Massachusetts Bay Colony passed its first written law regulating enslavement: in just wars, captives could be enslaved for life.
  • After the提 dust settled, relations between English and Native peoples stabilized somewhat, but English expansion continued and beaver populations declined, reducing Native economies.

• King Philip’s War and its broader consequences

  • Tensions re-emerged as English encroachment on Native lands increased and settlement patterns pushed inland.
  • Chief Metacomet (King Philip) led the Wampanoag and allied tribes against English settlers when Chief Metacom’s forces were attacked and Western New England communities were violated.
  • The English court system convicted and hanged several Wampanoags for murder after a controversial case involving the murder of a Puritan; anger and retaliation followed.
  • War escalated into King Philip’s War (often dated 1675–1678).
  • It was brutal and comprehensive: noncombatants, resources, shelters, and field fortifications all became targets; hundreds of civilians were killed or mutilated; around fifty colonial towns were burned; Providence, Rhode Island, was destroyed; Boston faced threats.
  • America’s first conscription laws were enacted, drafting males aged 16 to 60 into local militias.
  • In the end, roughly 600 colonists died (about 5 ext{%} of New England’s male population), and NorW., around 1{,}200 homes were burned and 8{,}000 head of livestock were killed.
  • Wampanoag and allied losses were substantial (as many as 4{,}000 killed). The war effectively reduced Indigenous presence in New England, driving survivors into villages overseen by English authorities.
  • Metacom’s severed head was displayed in Puritan colonies for almost two decades as a stark message that English dominance was permanent.

• Slavery, the Columbian Exchange, and early labor systems

  • The colonies formed part of the broader Atlantic Columbian Exchange, a vibrant network trading goods and people.
  • In the Americas, goods traded included: sugar, \, wheat, \, tobacco, \, rum, \, rice, \, corn, \, tomatoes, \, coffee; in return, Europe supplied manufactured goods such as jewelry, wine, glass, and more.
  • The appeal of human cargo (enslaved people) was a central component of the exchange, not just material goods.
  • Slavery existed in multiple colonial contexts before it became race-based in the English colonies; enslaved Africans eventually became the dominant labor force in plantation economies.
  • Slavery varied historically: bondage and forced labor existed across many cultures and eras; the modern racialized form developed in the Atlantic world as the labor demand grew and European racial ideologies hardened.

• The transition from Native enslavement to African slavery in the English Atlantic

  • Before the 1600s, Native Americans were often enslaved by various colonial powers, including English, French, Dutch, and Spanish.
  • Indentured servitude in the British colonies provided a temporary status with eventual freedom dues; many former indentured servants achieved positions of influence, illustrating a less rigid racial order in early decades.
  • By the late 1600s, however, Africans increasingly replaced Native Americans as the primary enslaved labor force in the Atlantic colonies.
  • Africans were newcomers to the Americas, lacking familiarity with local terrain and languages, which contributed to a more permanent and dehumanizing system.
  • The development of a racialized discourse around slavery intensified as plantation economies expanded and the demand for enslaved labor grew. By 1750, whiteness began to consolidate as a social category that transcended class differences in some contexts.
  • The enslaved population in the Chesapeake and Southern colonies grew rapidly; the enslaved population eventually became the largest immigrant group in the Americas, with Africans transported in large numbers via European traders.

• Slavery in the Atlantic: statistics, routes, and codification

  • By 1700, enslaved Africans made up about 11 ext{%} of the population in the Atlantic world’s British colonies; in the Chesapeake, enslaved people formed a substantial and growing portion of society.
  • The transatlantic slave trade linked European, African, and American economies for three centuries (roughly 1514–1866), with a dramatic increase in the importation of enslaved Africans during the 17th and 18th centuries.
  • Slavery in the English colonies differed by region:
  • In the South, especially in Virginia and Maryland, slavery became deeply entrenched due to the plantation economy.
  • In New England, slavery existed but was less central due to less fertile land and different economic structures.
  • The middle colonies (e.g., Pennsylvania) were more ethnically and religiously mixed with slavery still present.
  • The growth of the plantation system intensified racialized social orders, making it harder for enslaved people to escape bondage.

• Virginia slave codes and the codification of race-based slavery

  • The Virginia House of Burgesses passed the slave codes of 1705, a turning point in codifying slavery as a racial caste.
  • Key provisions included:
  • All indentured servants who did not come from Christian lands could be enslaved for life.
  • White colonists and Black slaves were separated in daily life; whites could not leave plantations without written permission; owning firearms was restricted for enslaved people.
  • Masters faced fewer penalties for abusive acts against enslaved people.
  • Interracial marriage between whites and Blacks was illegal.
  • These laws institutionalized a racialized system, consolidating white supremacy in the labor market.

• Slavery, labor, and regional differences in the colonial era

  • Slavery was present in New England but localized to urban settings due to less fertile soil and different economic structures; it was less central there than in the South and Chesapeake.
  • By 1730, enslaved populations in VA and MD achieved self-sustainment, meaning enslaved families could reproduce and maintain a workforce locally, reducing dependence on new imports.
  • By 1750, approximately 80 ext{%} of enslaved Blacks in the Chesapeake region were born in America, not Africa, signaling a shift from transatlantic importation to domestic slave reproduction.
  • The growth of slavery and the emergence of racialized laws led to a steady decline in the status and freedoms of free Black people in these regions—while the free Black population did not necessarily disappear, its relative share diminished as enslaved numbers rose.
  • In the North, especially in New York City (New Amsterdam by the Dutch) and Charleston (Charlestown, South Carolina), slaveholding grew as a staple of urban economies and port cities.

• The social and political implications of slavery and whiteness

  • Slavery’s expansion correlated with the emergence of whiteness as a political and social category that transcended early class boundaries.
  • White northerners, like southern whites, gradually tied their identity to the notion of whiteness as a social and political protector against the enslaved populations.
  • This whitening process helped stabilize a new racial hierarchy at the core of colonial society, even as religious and regional differences persisted.
  • Some historians argue that the expansion of plantations was a major driver of racial degradation of Black life in America; as the demand for enslaved labor grew, so did the dehumanization required to justify bondage.

• Religion, toleration, and the colonial project

  • Religion remained central to colonial life and was shaped by events in England (e.g., the English Civil War) and the distance from Canterbury.
  • Salutary neglect and the relative independence of colonial churches allowed communities to develop their own doctrines and practices outside direct oversight from England.
  • Most Protestant colonists identified with the Church of England (Anglicans) while seeking reform or independence of doctrine in the New World; some colonies promoted religious toleration as a means of conformity rather than diversity (e.g., Maryland and Rhode Island).
  • Oppressed or dissenting groups faced restrictions: Quakers (Friends) were banished or imprisoned in Puritan Massachusetts; Anne Hutchinson was banished for challenging Puritan orthodoxy.
  • The Puritan emphasis on conformity, discipline, and religious authority clashed with the diverse religious landscape of the Atlantic colonies.
  • The sermon by John Higginson in 1663 framed New England as a plantation of religion rather than trade, underscoring the primacy of religious identity for some communities.
  • Salem witch trials (1692) highlighted the intertwining of religion, fear, gender dynamics, and social control:
  • Tituba, an enslaved woman from Barbados, was accused of witchcraft along with other women; the accused were imprisoned or executed, while some confessed under duress.
  • A mass hysteria followed, with about 150 people accused and many executed or imprisoned; Giles Corey was pressed to death for resisting a plea.
  • Explanations for the witch hunts vary: social tensions, power dynamics, gender roles, outsiders or servants, PTSD from Native American raids, possible hallucinogenic influences from rye affected by ergot fungus, and the failures of utopian visions.
  • The trials illustrate how religion functioned as a social tool to police conformity and control within communities.

• Religious diversity, colonial borders, and the New Netherland experience

  • The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam/Nieuw-Nederland practiced inclusion of race, religion, and nationality to some extent but still engaged in slavery and discrimination.
  • The Dutch empire’s control over the region shifted with two English conquests (1664 and 1674), and the area became New York.
  • New Sweden in present-day Delaware and parts of Pennsylvania were absorbed into English control; the so-called revolt of the “Long Swedish” occurred under Marcus Hook (Marcus Jackson in the lecture’s aside).
  • The middle colonies (e.g., Pennsylvania founded by William Penn in 1681) were more racially, ethnically, and religiously mixed than the southern colonies; Pennsylvania was described as among the most diverse places in the world at the time.

• Virginia, Bacon’s Rebellion, and the reconfiguration of labor and authority

  • In Virginia, a significant share of white men met voting qualifications in the mid-Atlantic colonies; for example, earlier voting requirements in Virginia included owning a house and more than 25 acres of land.
  • The rise of landless free whites and the presence of a substantial enslaved population created tension between colonists and the aristocracy.
  • In 1676, a squabble with local Doah Indians on the Potomac led to the murder of a planter’s cattle herdsman; a group of colonial vigilantes took matters into their own hands when Berkeley refused to muster militia.
  • Nathaniel Bacon led a rebellion promising to free indentured servants and enslaved people who joined his cause; he pledged to murder all Indians if the governor did not act.
  • Berkeley declared Bacon’s group unlawful; Bacon’s forces burned Jamestown to the ground; Bacon died of dysentery shortly thereafter; Berkeley returned to England with royal support from King Charles II, who sent 1{,}100 troops to Virginia to restore order, ending Bacon’s Rebellion.
  • Bacon’s Rebellion highlighted the vulnerability of colonial elites to uprisings by the poor, many of whom were white and Black alike, and it contributed to a shift toward harsher racialized control of enslaved populations.
  • The rebellion and its aftermath influenced the 1705 Virginia slave codes, reinforcing the link between political authority and racialized labor systems.
  • The phrase that anger toward “an alien race” could be more powerful than anger toward aristocrats underscores the way race would come to structure political life in the colony.

• The map, data, and the global context of the slave trade

  • A QR code (mentioned in the lecture) linked to a map of the Atlantic slave trade from 1514 to 1866, highlighting the global scope and density of the trade across different periods and regions.
  • The map (and related discussion) emphasized the magnitude of forced human migration and the central role of slavery in the Atlantic world.

• The transition from indentured servitude to enslaved labor in the North and South

  • Indentured servitude remained a viable option for debt settlement and labor in the early decades, but its popularity waned as plantation systems expanded and the cost of indentured labor rose.
  • Slavery offered a cheaper, more controllable labor force: enslaved people had no rights, no path to legal recourse, and no guaranteed freedom dues.
  • The legal and social codification of slavery increasingly separated Whites from Blacks, especially in the South, and linked bondage to racial identity rather than to class status alone.

• Gender, voting, and family life in the colonial era

  • By the mid-eighteenth century, social and political structures increasingly tied citizenship to property and whiteness.
  • Women’s legal status in some colonies included protections around property and divorce in certain circumstances, highlighting a degree of gendered complexity within a broader framework of patriarchal authority.
  • The frontier and frontier-urban dynamics created a social economy in which family, religion, and law intersected with land, labor, and violence.

• Key takeaways and connections to broader themes

  • The Atlantic world was a web of exchange—material goods, people, and ideas—where native societies and European settlers interacted in often brutal, violent, and transformative ways.
  • Slavery emerged from a convergence of economic incentives, legal codifications, and racial ideologies; its racialization transformed social relations and political life across the colonies.
  • Religion served as both a stabilizing force and a tool of control, shaping communities, legitimizing conflict, and fueling both conformity and dissent.
  • Conflicts (Pequot War, King Philip’s War, Bacon’s Rebellion) reveal how violence, coercion, and territorial expansion defined early colonial politics and race relations.
  • The evolution from a relatively fluid early English colonial society to a more rigid, race-based hierarchy demonstrates how economic systems (plantations, cash crops) and demographic shifts (indented servitude to slavery) redefined social order.

• Connections to previous lectures and real-world relevance

  • The themes of exchange, violence, and labor in the Atlantic world connect to broader discussions of colonization, imperialism, and the roots of racial inequality in the Americas.
  • The emergence of whiteness as a political and social category foreshadows later developments in American history, including the formalization of racial caste and enduring debates over rights and citizenship.
  • The role of religion in shaping social norms, governance, and conflicts provides a lens for understanding the interplay between faith, law, and politics in settler societies.

• Ethical, philosophical, and practical implications

  • The scale and form of violence against Indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans raise enduring questions about justice, human rights, and the moral calculus of empire-building.
  • The use of religion to enforce conformity and suppress dissent highlights how belief systems can be mobilized to justify coercive power.
  • The transformation of labor systems shows how economics can drive profound social and racial reordering with long-lasting consequences.

• Questions for reflection or examination

  • How did the Atlantic economy encourage both cooperation and conflict between Indigenous peoples and English settlers?
  • In what ways did Bacon’s Rebellion accelerate the shift from indentured servitude to race-based slavery in Virginia?
  • How did religious toleration function as a mechanism for conformity rather than genuine pluralism in certain colonies?
  • What factors contributed to the consolidation of whiteness as a political and social category by the mid-eighteenth century?

• Quick reference to key dates and numbers

  • 1650: European goods dominate American daily life; Native Americans participate in consumer revolution.
  • 1670: English population in New England exceeds Native American population by a large margin ( ext{over } 52{,}000 English vs. Indigenous communities).
  • 1636–1637: Pequot War; mass violence and the destruction of Pequot communities.
  • 1638: Treaty of Hartford dissolves Pequot Nation (note: the lecture references this dissolution in this period).
  • 1675–1678: King Philip’s War (Metacomet); widespread devastation and conscription in New England.
  • 1676: Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia; Jamestown burned; Berkeley recalled; eventual royal intervention.
  • 1705: Virginia Slave Codes codify race-based slavery and restrict enslaved people and their rights.
  • 1700: Enslaved Africans represent about 11 ext{%} of the population; rising in the Chesapeake and colonies.
  • 1730: Enslaved population in VA and MD achieves self-sustainment.
  • 1750: 80 ext{%} of enslaved Blacks in the Chesapeake born in America.
  • 1681: Pennsylvania founded by William Penn; mid-Atlantic colonies framed as diverse and relatively tolerant in some respects.
  • 1692: Salem witch trials highlight religious and social tensions in Massachusetts.

• Note on sources and emphasis

  • The content emphasizes the complexity and brutality of early colonial interactions, including economic entanglements, violent conflict, and the evolving regimes of race and labor.
  • It also underscores the role of religion in shaping social life, governance, and conflict in the colonies, including the consequences of dissent and the limits of claimed toleration.

• Final thought

  • These decades set the stage for enduring patterns in American history: the entangled legacies of conquest, empire, labor exploitation, racialization, religious diversity and conflict, and the gradual, contentious development of American political and social order.