APUSH Unit 2 (1607-1754) Lecture Review

Period Overview and Historical Context

The time period for Unit $2$ begins in $6007$ with the founding of Jamestown and concludes in $1754$ with the start of the French and Indian War.
The first half of the unit examines the growth and development of British colonies in North America in relation to one another, other colonial powers, and indigenous nations.
The second half of the unit focuses on the increasing dissatisfaction of American colonies regarding British imperial policy.

Comparison of European Colonial Empires

All four major European powers (Spanish, Dutch, French, and British) aimed to build colonial empires in the Americas, but their societies differed based on specific goals.
The Spanish Empire: - Main Goal: Extraction of wealth, initially through minerals like gold and silver, and later through cash crops such as sugar and tobacco. - Social and Labor Systems: - Encomienda System: Established to subjugate native populations into a mass cadre of slave labor. The encomanderos did not own the land. - Hacienda System: Gradually replaced the encomienda system to enact reforms after reports of brutality reached Spain and concern grew over the power of encomanderos. It was a coerced labor system focused on agriculture where the plantation owner did own the land and indigenous laborers were tied to it via debt repayment. - Casta System: A social hierarchy ranking people based on the amount of white blood in their veins. Pure Spanish individuals held the most power, while indigenous people and enslaved Africans held the least. - Religion: A primary motivation was the conversion of indigenous Americans to Christianity. Missions organized settlements into towns with Catholic churches as the center to maintain social and economic control. - Resistance: The Pueblo Revolt of $1680$ occurred after Spanish priests tried to suppress traditional Pueblo beliefs (which had seen some synratism) and killed medicine men. Led by the Pueblo, they killed hundreds of Spaniards and destroyed every church. The Spanish returned $12$ years later and subdued the Pueblo but accommodated some cultural aspects.
The French and Dutch Empires: - Characteristics: Sent relatively few colonists (mostly men) and focused on building trading posts rather than permanent settlements. - Goals: Primarily economic, focused on the beaver fur trade. - Indigenous Relations: Emphasized cooperation and trade partnerships over control. The French intermarried with indigenous groups and allied with them. Missionaries made few converts as they did not use the same level of force as the Spanish. - The Dutch: Focused on the colony of New Amsterdam, a significant trading port where more than a dozen languages were spoken. They had no interest in religious conversion.
The British Empire: - Population: Significantly more people immigrated from Great Britain compared to other powers. - Motivations for Settlement: - Social Mobility: Poor individuals sought more land/power than available in the rigid English structure. - Primogeniture Laws: These dictated that only the oldest son inherited land, driving younger brothers to seek land in the New World. - Economic Prosperity: Jamestown ( $1607$ ) was initially founded by single men looking for gold. After failing to find gold, they turned to tobacco cultivation. - Religious Freedom: The Church of England was in turmoil. Puritans wanted to purify the church from within; Separatists (Pilgrams) wanted to separate entirely. King James I pressured these groups, leading them to flee. - Improved Living Conditions: Population growth and the enclosure movement (landowners claiming public lands) made it hard for poor farmers to survive. - Relationship with Indigenous Peoples: The British sought to live entirely separate from indigenous populations rather than incorporate them.

Regional Comparison of British Colonies

By $1754$ , there were $13$ distinct British colonies grouped into four regions.
New England Region: - Settlement: Settled by Pilgrims ( $1620$ ) and later Puritans ( $1630$ ) who immigrated as family groups to create a religious society. - Governance: The Mayflower Compact established a government based on the will of the majority. Massachusetts Bay Colony allowed all freemen (strict Puritans who owned property) to vote in town hall meetings. - Economy: Due to long, cold winters and rocky soil, they practiced subsistence farming and developed an export economy based on fur, timber, and fish.
Middle Colonies (New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania): - Characteristics: Defined by diversity and trade. Home to diverse cultures and religions. - Economy: Focused on grain exports, utilizing excellent seaports and fertile soil. - Pennsylvania: Founded by William Penn as a refuge for Quakers. It was unusually democratic, treated indigenous people fairly at the start, and attracted a diverse population.
Chesapeake and North Carolina: - Settlement: Jamestown ( $1607$ ) was the first settlement. Initially populated by single men seeking wealth. - Economy: Transformed by tobacco cultivation leading to large, isolated plantation plots. - Labor: Originally used indentured servitude (contract work for land), but African slavery gradually replaced it after $1619$ . - Governance: Included representative bodies like the Virginia House of Burgesses.
Southern Atlantic Coast and British West Indies: - Economy: The West Indies focused on sugarcane using massive plantations. Demand for sugar led to a black-to-white population ratio of $4$ to $1$ . - Labor Controls: The Barbados Slave Code stripped all rights from black workers. These codes were brought to South Carolina. - South Carolina: Focused on rice and indigo. Slavery became entrenched as slaves had experience in rice cultivation, creating a rigid hierarchy dominated by wealthy planters.

Transatlantic Trade and Mercantalism

Triangular Trade: A network involving the shipment of manufactured goods from Europe, rum from New England to Africa, enslaved Africans to the West Indies via the Middle Passage, and sugar/molasses to New England.
Impact on Indigenous Groups: Trade introduced metal tools and firearms, altering traditional economies and power dynamics. European diseases like smallox devastated native populations.
Mercantalism: An economic ideology aimed at maintaining a favorable balance of trade (maximizing exports, minimizing imports) to accumulate gold and silver. - The government (the state) directed the economy. - Colonies served the imperial parent as suppliers of raw materials and markets for finished goods.
The Navigation Acts: Laws passed by Britain to integrate colonial economies strictly into the British system, stripping colonial autonomy.
Salutary Neglect: Periods where Britain was too distracted by wars with France or distance to enforce the Navigation Acts, allowing colonists to develop habits of ignoring British trade laws.

European and Indigenous Interaction and Conflict

All European powers allied with indigenous groups, often getting pulled into existing native conflicts.
The Beaver Wars: Conflicts in the $17$ th century where the Irakcoy Confederacy, seeking beaver-rich territory, fought groups allied with the French. The French allied with various groups while the Dutch and British allied with the Ira.
Responses to Intrusion: - Accommodation: In Santa Fe, the Spanish eventually offered land grants to the Pueblo and were more lenient regarding traditional beliefs to avoid further rebellion. - Conflict (Metaccom’s War / King Phillips War): Chieftain Metacom (King Phillip) forged an alliance to attack English settlements in New England, destroying a dozen towns. Metaccom was eventually killed, and the high death toll effectively ended native resistance in the region.

Development of Slavery and Resistance

Bacon’s Rebellion ( $1676$ ): Nathaniel Bacon led a group of landless former indentured servants against indigenous groups and Governor William Berkeley (who had disenfranchised them). Although the rebellion collapsed, it led wealthy planters to shift from unpredictable indentured servants to more controllable African slaves.
Institutionalizing Slavery: - Chattel Slavery: Definition of slaves as property, like farm equipment. - Legal Framework: Laws decreed children of enslaved women were perpetual slaves and prohibited intermarriage between races.
Resistance: - Covert: Working slowly, breaking tools, and maintaining family/cultural traditions (e.g., using African ritual cowry shells). - Overt (Stono Rebellion, $1739$ ): Slaves in South Carolina killed white people and burned property. Though suppressed by the militia, it led to even harsher slave codes.

Colonial Society, Culture, and Identity

Diversity: The colonies were a poperri of cultures, including Germans ( $6007$ mentioned $,$ actually $6\%$ ), Scots-Irish ( $7\%$ ), and Africans ( $20\%$ ).
The Great Awakening ( $1730s$ ): A religious revival led by Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. It emphasized individual emotional response to God and acted as the first mass movement to create a shared national identity.
The Enlightenment: Intellectual movement featuring John Lockach and Jean Jacqu Rouso. Ideas of natural rights and the social contract unified colonists and made them suspicious of elites.
Anglicization: The process of colonies becoming more like England over time through shared government structures (governor and two-house legislature) and the emergence of a wealthy merchant/planter class that mirrored English nobility.

Growing Tensions with Great Britain

Territorial Settlement: Colonists wanted to move into the Ohio River Valley, but Britain forbids this to avoid conflict with the French and indigenous groups.
Self-Rule and Impressment: Colonists grew accustomed to autonomy. Resentment flared over impressment (forcing Americans into the Royal Navy), leading to a $3$ -day riot in Boston in $1747$ .
Trade Parameters: The Navigation Acts restricted trade to Britain, preventing colonies from finding new markets for their surplus goods. This led to widespread smuggling and resentment toward imperial oversight.