Chapter 1-- A New World

The First American

The Settling of Americas

• The Americans had long-established civilizations before European arrival

• First inhabitants spread across North & South American

• Warming climate led to the extinction of large animals

• Agricultural development began 9,000 years ago

  • developed simultaneously in the Near East and Americas

  • Originated in Mexico & Andes, then spread

• Maize, squash, beans —> basis of agriculture

• No livestocks —> no plowing, no natural fertilizer

  • affected farming efficiency compared to Eurasian civilizations

Indian Societies of the Americas

• Pre-Columbian Americas were not empty; they had cities, roads, irrigation systems, and trade networks.

• Tenochtitlán (Aztec capital) had a population of 250,000 and featured impressive structures like a great temple, royal palace, and central market, rivaling European capitals.

• Inca Kingdom (modern-day Peru) had a population of 12 million and was connected by 2,000 miles of roads and bridges along the Andes.

• North American civilizations were not as large or centralized as the Aztecs or Incas but had developed sophisticated farming, hunting, fishing, and political systems.

• Technological differences:

  • North American societies lacked metal tools, gunpowder, scientific knowledge for navigation, literacy, and wheeled vehicles (due to absence of domesticated animals like horses).

  • These perceived "backwardness" justified European conquest.

• Despite these differences, Indian societies had perfected agriculture, hunting, fishing, political organization, religion, and trade networks

Mound Builders of the Mississippi River Valley

• Native Americans constructed a community on a series of giant semicircular mounds on a steep cliff that gave view of the Mississippi River —> Poverty Point

• Poverty Point: commercial and government center for trades throughout Mississippi and Ohio River Valley

• Mound Builders: encountered the burial bounds they created and traded across half the continent

• After the mound builders had declines, another culture flourished in the Mississippi River Valley —> city of Cahokia

Western Indians

• Hopi & Zuni lived in settled villages for over 3,000 years

• Peak culture (900–1200 CE): built planned towns, large multi-family dwellings, dams, and canals

• Pueblo Bonita (Chaco Canyon, NM) was 5 stories high with 600+ rooms, the largest dwelling in the U.S. until the 1880s

• Decline likely due to drought; survivors moved south & east, developing desert farming with irrigation

• Spanish called them "Pueblo Indians" due to their small villages (pueblos)

• Pacific Coast had densely populated independent villages relying on fishing, hunting sea mammals, and gathering plants/nuts

• Columbia River had 25 million salmon annually, providing abundant food

• Great Plains Indians hunted buffalo (descendants of giant bison); before horses, they hunted on foot

• Some Plains groups lived in agricultural communities

Indians of Eastern North America

• Hundreds of tribes lived in eastern North America, from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada

• Diet included corn, squash, beans, fishing, and hunting deer, turkeys, and other animals

• Trade routes covered the region; tribes frequently fought over goods, captives, and revenge

• Diplomacy and peace agreements were also common

• No centralized authority existed until the 15th century, when leagues and confederations formed

• Southeast: Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw formed loose alliances

• Northeast (NY & PA): Five Iroquois tribes (Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, Onondaga) formed the Great League of Peace, bringing stability

• The Great Council met yearly to coordinate relations with outsiders

• Native American societies were highly diverse, with different political systems, religions, and languages

• Indians had no concept of a unified "America" and identified with their local tribe or confederacy

• Initially, Indians viewed Europeans as just another group and sought to use them to gain advantages over rival tribes

• The clear divide between "Indians" and "whites" only developed later in the colonial era

Native American Religion

• Native American societies shared common religious characteristics despite diversity

• Religious ceremonies were tied to farming and hunting

• Believed in animism—spiritual power existed in animals, plants, trees, water, wind, and other natural elements

• Ceremonies aimed to harness supernatural forces for human benefit

• Hunters performed rituals to honor animal spirits; other ceremonies sought good harvests or protection from evil spirits

• Religious rites helped define community membership

• Shamans, medicine men, and religious leaders held respected positions

• No sharp divide between natural vs. supernatural or secular vs. religious activities

• Many Indians believed in a single Creator at the top of the spiritual hierarchy

• Europeans saw Indian religions as pagan (non-Christian) and sought to convert them to Christianity

Land and Property

• Indians viewed land as a common resource, not something to be bought and sold. Village leaders assigned land for families to use, but ownership was about the right to use, not control over the land itself

• Black Hawk explained that land was given by the Great Spirit for sustenance, not for private ownership

• There was no market for real estate before Europeans.

• Indians did not focus on accumulating wealth. In areas where villages moved due to depleted resources, owning many possessions made little sense

• Status mattered, but reputation was based on generosity rather than material wealth. Chiefs lived better than others, but their status came from their willingness to share

• Some tribes, like the Natchez, had rigid social structures, but wealth was less important in Indian societies than in European ones

• Generosity was highly valued, and gift-giving was crucial. Trade was not just a transaction but included ceremonial exchange

• There were no extreme inequalities, and no one went hungry in Indian societies. Roger Williams noted that there were no beggars among New England's Indians

Gender Relations

• Gender relations in Indian societies were different from European norms

• Women had freedom in sexual relations and could divorce their husbands

• Most societies were matrilineal, where children belonged to the mother’s family, not the father’s

• Tribal leaders were usually men, but women had key roles in religious ceremonies, selecting leaders, and tribal meetings

• Indian women owned dwellings and tools, and the husband generally moved to the wife’s family

• Men showed masculinity through hunting or fishing, while women handled household duties and most agriculture

• In Pueblo societies, men were the primary farmers due to less hunting

European Views of the Indians

• European views of Indians were extreme, seeing them as either "noble savages" or "uncivilized barbarians."

• Some Europeans, like Giovanni da Verrazano, saw Indians as "beautiful," but over time, negative views dominated

• Early descriptions of Indians as barbaric centered on their religion, land use, and gender relations

• Europeans believed Indians lacked true religion and worshipped the devil, labeling shamans as "witch doctors" and their spiritual beliefs as superstition

• Land use: Europeans saw the land as a commodity for economic use, whereas Indians saw it as a spiritual world

• Property rights: Europeans argued that since Indians didn't "cultivate" the land in the European sense, they had no claim to it.

• Despite advanced agriculture, Europeans often described Indians as nomads without settled communities

• Gender relations: Europeans saw Indian men as weak and women as mistreated because they worked in the fields, contrasting with European gender norms where men were seen as authoritative

• Europeans believed that by subduing Indians, they were bringing freedom—the freedom of religion, private property, and "correct" gender roles

• North and South America hemispheres were very developed— contained cities, roads, irrigation systems, extensive trade networks, and large structures

  • The Aztec Empire— Tenochtitlan as the capital

• Native American society was really underdeveloped in the North than it was in the South, which made it more easy and justifiable for the Europeans to conquer

  • Northern Native Americans lacked metal tools, literacy, technology, gunpowder, and scientific knowledge for long-distance navigation

Indian Freedom, European Freedom

Indian Freedom

• Liberty as understood by Native Americans differed from European notions

• Some Europeans, like a colonial official, admired the Iroquois' absolute liberty, where no one had superiority over others and servitude was absent

• However, colonizers viewed Indian societies as having no real concept of freedom. Early dictionaries of Indian languages lacked words for "freedom," "liberty," or terms related to authority like "despotic power" or "oppressed subjects"

• Europeans thought Indians' lack of established governments and fixed laws meant they were too free, with no respect for authority or discipline

• Freedom in Indian societies was not linked to personal independence or private property as it was in Europe

• While slavery was not widespread, personal liberty was valued and seen as the opposite of enslavement

• Kinship ties and the community's well-being were more important than individual autonomy. Group autonomy and connectedness took precedence

• The arrival of Europeans with their ideas of freedom made it a growing concern for American Indians, ironically as they became more dependent on the colonizers

Christian Liberty

• European views of freedom before colonization were diverse, shaped by ideas from ancient Greece and modern political struggles

• Freedom was often seen as a moral or spiritual condition, not just a political or social status

• "Christian liberty" meant freeing oneself from sin through embracing Christ's teachings, aligning with the idea that those who served God were "free from sin"

• Servitude and freedom were not opposites in this context; being a servant to God was seen as a path to spiritual freedom

• Religious liberty had no connection to modern notions of religious toleration. Every European nation had an established church, and dissenters were persecuted

• Religious uniformity was seen as crucial for public order; the idea of personal religious choice was almost unknown at the time

• Religious wars in Europe were centered on which religion would dominate, not the individual right to choose one's religion

Freedom and Authority

• Secular liberty in early modern Europe was linked to obedience to a higher authority, often viewed as obedience to law

• Aristotle saw the law as liberty's salvation, not its enemy

• European societies were highly hierarchical, with social inequality built into every relationship

• The king ruled by divine authority, while those of higher rank demanded deference from those below

• Coverture laws me

• ant that married women surrendered their legal identity to their husbands, unable to own property, sign contracts, or seek divorce

• Male dominance defined family life, with husbands having exclusive control over their wives' domestic labor and sexual relations

• Political writers of the 16th century compared the king’s authority over subjects to a husband’s authority over his family, both viewed as ordained by God

• Challenging these forms of authority was seen as a threat to the social order, supported by a New Testament passage about male headship over women and Christ’s headship over the Church

Liberty and Liberties

• In hierarchical European society, liberty was tied to knowing one’s social place and fulfilling duties specific to one's rank

• Most people lacked economic independence, with property qualifications limiting voting rights to a small portion of the male population

• Labor contracts required strict obedience, with criminal penalties for violations

• Medieval concepts of

• liberty centered on specific privileges granted by contract, royal decree, or purchase, such as self-government or the right to practice a trade

• A "liberty" was defined as a privilege offering benefits beyond the ordinary subject's rights

• Only those with "freedom of the city" could engage in certain economic activities

• Many modern civil liberties were not in place, with the government regulating religion and suppressing dissenting publications

• Personal independence was reserved for a small portion of the population, and "masterless men" (those without regular jobs) were seen as a threat

• European countries that colonized the New World claimed to be spreading freedom for both their own populations and Native Americans

Start of European Expansion

Initial Arms

• Commercial sea route to Asia

• Circumvention of Islamic middlement

Eastward Expansion

• Portugal’s exploration, extension of trading empires

  • West Africa

  • Cape of Good Hope

  • India

  • Far East

• Portugal’s colonization of Atlantic Islands

  • Sugar plantations

  • Slaves from Africa

Slavery and Africa

• traditional patterns of African slavery

• acceleration of slave trade following European arrival

Voyages of Columbus

• Quest for westward route to Asia

• Sponsorship of Spain

Contact

Columbus in the New World

• First Spanish presence in New World

  • Settlements at Hispaniola

  • Explorations by Amerigo Vespucci

• First English and Portuguese presence in New World

  • John Cabot (Newfoundland)

  • Pedro Cabral (Brazil)

Exploration and Conquest

• Three G’s

  • Gold: acquisitions of wealth

  • Glory: national glory

  • God: spread of catholicism

• The Conquistadores

  • Vasco Núñez de Balboa's expedition to Panama, the Pacific

  • Ferdinand Magellan's expe

  • dition around the world

  • Hernán Cortés's conquest of the Aztecs

    • Background on Aztec empire

    • Defeat, devastation, subjugation of the Aztecs

• Francisco Pizarro’s conquest of the Incas

  • Background on Inca Empire

  • Defeat, devastation, subjugation of the Incas

The Demographic Disaster

• Columbian Exchange of goods and people

• Devastation of Indian population

  • Isolation from Eurasian diseases— weren’t immune to European diseases

    • Smallpox

  • Enslavement— harsh conditions they were working under

  • War

The Spanish Empire

• The Atlantic and pacific became highways for the exchange of goods and the movement of people

• Spanish empire included the regions richest in natural resources and very populous

Governing Spanish America

• rivaled Ancient Rome

• because of the destructiveness conquistadors did, Spanish crown replaced them with lawyers and bureaucrats

• Council of Indies: main body in Spain for colonial administration

• government reflected absolutism

  • authority went to king —> council of Indies —> viceroys

  • catholic church played a significant part because it encouraged the practice of faith, morals, and treatment of Native Americans

• Creoles: people born in the colonies of European ancestry

• royal officials were generally appointees from Spain, rather than creoles

• local elites began to start enjoying authority over colonial affairs

Colonist in Spanish America

• Spanish forced Native Americans to work in gold and silver mines, which supplied the empire’s wealth

• Haciendas: large-scaled farms controlled by Spanish land-lords

• Spanish also forced Native Americans to work on haciendas

• Native Americans performed most of labor

• Government tried to stop non-spanish and non-Christians from emigrating to the Americas but the opportunity for social advancements drew many colonist from Spain

Colonist and Indians

• Peninsulares: people of European birth who stood atop the social hierarchy

• Peninsulares made up a tiny portion of the population in Spanish America

• Spanish authorities eventually granted Native Americans certain rights within colonial society and looked forward to their eventual assimilation

• 1514: Spanish government approved of inter-”racial” marriages

  • partly as way to convert Native Americans to Christianity

• Mestizos: mixed origin of European and Native descendant

• Virgin Mary: symbol of mixing Spanish and Native American culture

• 1600: Mestizos made up a large part of urban population

  • 1531: Juan Diego reported seeing visions of Virgin Mary looking like a dark-skinned Native American

Justifications for Conquest

• Europeans had immense confidence to their own cultures and beliefs; thought anyone who didn’t have the same values were heathens (“non-christians)

• 1492- Spain territorial unification, rise of powerful government, enforcement of religious orthodoxy by the expulsion of Muslims and Jews

• After Columbus’ voyage, Pope Alexander VI divided non-christian world between Portugal and Spain

  • Portugal got Brazil; Spain got the rest

Spreading the Faith

• Protestantism: 95-thesis, insisting bible should be for its own interpretation

• Spain wanted to convert Native Americans to Orthodox Catholicism because they didn’t want the Native Americans to fall into protestantism

• Spanish rule decimated Native American population w/ the immense labor conditions

• Spanish would transform Native American political, spiritual, religious, and economic life

Las Casa’s Complaint

• Made a book titled A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies

• vouched for Native American freedom while also saying Spain had a right to rule in America

• thought imploring slaves from Africa would protect Native Americans from exploitation

Reforming

the Empire

• Because of Las Casa’s effort, Spain in 1542 made the new laws known, commanding that Native Americans no longer be enslaved

• 1550: encomienda system is abolished

• Repartimiento System: residents in Native American villages remained legally free and entitled to wages. but where still required to perform a fixed amount of labor each year

• Government established repartimiento system

  • Native Americans were not slaves BUT they still faced many allowed abuses by Spanish landlords and priests who made them go on missions for the conversion process

• Spanish treatment got slightly better because Native Americans converted to Christianity

  • brought Education, medical care, goods from Europe

• Black Legend: the image of Spain as a uniquely brutal and exploitive colonizer

• the Black Legend would eventually provide a potential justification for other European powers to challenge Spain

Exploring North America

• first US colony was Puerto Rico

  • gold

• Juan Ponce de Leon sent a considerable amount of gold while keeping some to himself

• 1513: Leon embarked FL in search of wealth, slaves, and eternal youth —> found nothing

• many explorations ended in decimation of Native American societies, towns, and villages in North America

  • especially because de Sato in particular, who was very brutal

Spanish FL

• Spain hopes to establish military there to fight off pirates seeking for silver and gold on the treasure fleet

• spain wanted to prevent French attacks, as well

• 1565: Philip II authorized Pedro Menedez de Avil’s colonizing expedition to FL

  • This led to the founding of St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States, served as a strategic military outpost

• Spanish religious missionaries set up outposts in hopes to convert Native Americans to Christianity

  • 1597: local Guale Indians up-rise in revolt of erasing Indian culture

  • Ultimately destroyed

• FL failed to attract settlers and forts were of disuse

Spain in Southwest

• expeditions were failures until 1598

• 1598: Juan de Onate led a group of 400 soldiers, colonists, and missionaries north from Mexico to establish permanent settlement

  • Onate’s nephew and 14 soldiers were killed by people of Acoma —> Onate punished the Native Americans by killing them, forcing women into servitude, making the men cut their leg off

• Onate was punished for his treatment towards the Indians and because he found nothing value in area

• In 1610, Spain established the capital of New Mexico at Santa Fe, which was the first European settlement in Southwest

Pueblo Revolt

• Francisan friars worked relentlessly to convert Indians to Catholicism, often using intimidation and violence

• As the inquisition became more intense, friars began to burn sacred Indian objects, which alienated conversion to Christianity

• 1660: prolonged drought & authorities inability to protect villagers from attacks by marauding Navajo and Apache Indians —> discontent —> Pueblo Revolt

• August 1680: Pueblo’s united in a coordinated uprising against Spanish rule, successfully driving the colonizers out of their territory for a brief period

  • 1692: Spanish reconquered New Mexico

    • communities tried welcoming them back for military protection

The French and Dutch Empire

• the establishment of Spain’s empire shifted global trade

  • atlantic replaced the overland route to Asia as the major axis of global trade

• 17th century: English, Dutch, and French established colonies in North America

• English settled for agricultural settlements, while France settled for commercial ventures

• French & Dutch used Indians as trading partners and military allies

French Colonization

• aimed to find gold and to locate a North-West Passage

• 1608: Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec, marking the beginning of permanent French settlement in North America

• 1673: Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet located the Mississippi River

• 1681: Robert de La Salle claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France

• New France eventually formed a giant arc along the St. Lawrence, Mississippi, and Ohio River Valley

• French Canada was ruled by the Company of New France (1663)

  • granted land along St. Lawrence River to higher authorities

  • officers would transport colonists to take their place in feudal society

• New French inhabitants increased, tso they sent many fewer emigrants to the Western Hemisphere

  • government feared significant emigration would undermine France as a great power & might compromise trades/good relations w/ Indians

New France and the Indians

• While they had its fur trade, NF depended on friendly relations w/ local Indians

• French prided themselves on humane policies

• relied on Indians to supply furs to trading posts

• French worked series of military, commercial, and diplomatic connections w/ Indians

• Samuel de Champlain dreams of creating a colony w/ mutual respect between diverse people

• the jesuit did seek to convert Indians to Catholicism but they allowed them to keep their traditions and religious practices, unlike the Spanish

• indians were introduced to the burgeoning economy & rivalries

  • hunting —> quest for marketable commodities

  • 1615: Huron forged trading alliance w/ French —> many converted to Catholicism

    • 1640: epidemics & Iroquois attacked by dutch = destroyed tribes

• on the “middle ground” of the Upper Great Lakes in French America, whites and Indians encountered each other for many years on a basis of relative equality

• Metis: children of marriages between Indian women and French traders/officials

  • became guides, traders, and interpreters

The Dutch Empire

• 1609: Henry Hudson sailed into NY harbor, searching for a Northwest Passage to Asia but instead found himself trading European goods w/ Indians for fur

• 1614: Dutch established an outpost at Fort Orange

  • 10 years later —> Dutch West Company settled colonists on Manhattan Island

• Amsterdam was Europe’s foremost shipping and banking center (Netherlands Thriving)

• Dutch invented joint-stock company —> modern capitalism

Dutch Freedom

• Amsterdam was a haven for persecuted protestants from all of Europe

• liberty

  • freedom of press

  • freedom of private religious practices

Freedom in New Netherlands

• not governed democratically

• new amsterdam was a fortified military outpost controlled by appointees of the West India Company

• slaves were given “half-freedom”

  • allowing them to work for pay and own property, but they were still subject to certain restrictions and obligations to their masters

• dutch women had rights (their own identity— not dependent on a man)

Dutch and Religious Tolerance

• freedom of conscience extended to religious devotion exercised in private

• dutch had an official religion

  • Dutch Reformed Church: one of the protestant national churches to emerge from reformation

• governor petrus stuyvesant saw diversity as a threat to godly, prosperous order

  • refused to let other people of different religion to practice faith in the open

  • strict policies

• 1657: Flushing Remonstrance

  • petition by English settlers protesting the governors order to live in Flushing (Long Island) —> they got arrested

Settling New Netherlands

• Dutch-West India Company promised religious freedom and cheap livestock and labor after 6 years

  • surrendered fur-trade BUT profitable commerce to all newcomers

• Patroons: shareholders who agreed to transport tenants for agricultural labor

• 1629: company adopted a plan of “Freedoms and Exemptions” offering large estates patroons

• patroons were required to purchase a title to the land from Indians

  • “freedoms” were that of a medieval loss

    • 10% to tenants annual income

    • complete authority over law enforcement

• Kiliaen Van Rensselaer would be the only concerning patron, as he owed 700k acres of land in Hudson Valley

  • eventual sporadic uprising

• sent 1 million people overseas to populate and govern colonies but very few made it to their destinations

  • new netherlands became tiny —> operated under Swedish flag to circumvent the West India trade company

New Netherland and the Indians

• Dutch came for trade, not conquest —> many identified Indians as victims to Spanish colonization

• saw Indian sovereignty, but also required tribes to make payments to colonial authorities

• 1640s: governor William Kieft seized fertile farmland from Algonquian Indians, which started 3 years war

• Dutch established diplomacy w/ Iroquois Confederation

Borderlands and Empire in Early America

• “middle-ground”

• boundaries shifted constantly

• Borderland: a meeting place of people where geographical and cultural borders are not clearly defined