Slavery

The practice of forced labor and restricted liberty. A regime where slave owners could force slaves to work and limit their liberty. Throughout history, slavery existed as punishment for committing crimes or to pay off debts.

Woodland mound builders

Pre-Columbian North Americans

Land bridge

The theory that, as the Ice Age came to a close, a land bridge across the Bering Strait emerged tying North America and Asia across the Bering Sea.

Conquistadors

Translates to “conqueror.” Various Spaniards were granted land and natives in the New World through the encomienda system.

Francis Drake

Englishman who led a fleet of ships against the Spanish armada, pirating New World wealth that the Spanish obtained from their travels.

Roanoke Island

Founded in 1585. Colonists inexplicably disappeared (joined the natives).

New Laws of 1542

Series of laws imposed by the King of Spain to regulate the enslavement of indigenous peoples.

Francisco Pizarro

Conquered the Incas.

Hernan Cortes

Conquered the Aztecs.

Siouan

Family of languages spoken by the Sioux and related peoples, including Crow, Dakota, Hidatsa, Lakota, Mandan, Omaha, and Yankton.

Algonquian

Family of North American languages formerly spoken across a vast area from the Atlantic seaboard to the Great Lakes and the Great Plains.

Henry the Navigator

Responsible for the early development of Portuguese exploration and maritime trade with other continents through the systematic exploration of Western Africa and the islands of the Atlantic Ocean.

Samuel de Champlain

French explorer who founded Quebec. Dubbed the “Father of New France.”

Jacques Cartier

First European to navigate the St. Lawrence River. His three expeditions from 1534 to 1542 laid the basis for later French claims to North America. Cartier is also credited with naming Canada.

Early Problems

• Native disease including malaria decimated the early number of colonists.
• Skewed gender ratio, mostly male, unable to reproduce and form families.
• John Smith: Explorer, leader, and organizer who brought back Jamestown’s dwindling population from the brink of extinction.
  • Organized raids on neighboring native tribe villages.
  • Hostile relationship between the indigenous relationship and English colonizers.

Tobacco

• John Rolfe: Experimented with strains of tobacco in 1912, establishing a burgeoning industry across Virginia.

Exchanges of Agricultural Technology

• Englishman learned how to adapt to the land through native assistance.

Maryland & Calverts

• Proprietary Rule: Laws were delineated by governors and council, with the Crown having ultimate authority.
• George Calvert (Lord Baltimore): He and his progeny designed Maryland as a home for English Catholics and Protestants alienated by the Anglican Church.
  • Established a policy of religious tolerance.
• Early Marylanders experienced no Indian attacks, unlike early Virginians.
• Maryland also adopted the headright system.
• Less tumultuous than VA’s colonies.

Reorganization

• 1609 - 1610: Starving time
• Lord De Le Warr: Instituted ineffective measures of harsh discipline. Ended up deciding that personal stakes are more effective forms of motivation, enable private ownership.
  • Thomas Dale: Succeeded

Expansion

• The Virginia Company implemented a variety of incentives including the “headright” system: 50 acre land grants were provided on certain conditions, including paying for their own passage and bringing one’s family over.
• Transported craftspeople and indentured servants.
• Suppressed Powhatan resistance (Anglo-Powhatan War)
• House of Burgesses: 1st representative assembly.
• Later on, the Virginia Company went bankrupt and had their charter revoked. The colony then came under the control of the King.

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

• Governor William Berkeley was instructed to go easy on the Native Americans and prohibit settlers moving west. He was involved in the lucrative fur trade (northern, few people, and kind to the natives) and therefore tried to quell tensions between frontier colonists and natives (Susquehanna & Doeg)
• Nathaniel Bacon opposed the governor’s orders and staged an armed rebellion at the colonial capital.
• Sped up the transition to racial labor by accelerating indentured servitude to slavery.

Massachusetts

• Plymouth Plantation (1608): Although the King’s consent was required to leave England, Puritan emigration covertly began. They first went to Holland and later crossed the Atlantic to the New World after being unsettled by Dutch tolerance and facing labor discrimination. This transatlantic travel was signed off by the Virginia Company and the Crown, allowing for dissenting Protestant groups to leave the nation.
• William Bradford: Leader of the separatist Puritans.
• 1620: Mayflower voyage, landed on Cape Cod and established Plymouth Rock.
• Mayflower Pact: Since the Virginia Company’s jurisdiction did not extend to Plymouth, the men of the voyage signed off on the presence of a civil government and declared their allegiance to the crown. Plymouth Puritans were separatists with every intention to break from the Church of England.
• Massachusetts Bay (1630): Puritan colonization became increasingly popular as dissatisfaction in England increased, due to the turbulent reigns of James II and his successor, Charles I (favored Roman Catholicism and persecuted religious non-conformists, including Puritans).
  • Massachusetts Bay Company: Founded by Puritan merchants, elected John Winthrop to govern the new settlements.
  • Congregational Church: Decentralized parish organization and separate from the Anglican Church.
  • Became a colonial government presiding over a theocratic society.
• Puritan colonies were intolerant to newcomers and other religious sects, resulting in religious dissent and dissatisfaction among

Connecticut

• The Fundamental Articles of New Haven (1639): Even stricter than Massachusetts

Rhode Island

• Roger Williams: Separatist and called for the separation of Church & State. Established Rhode Island after Massachusetts dispeled him for his heretic rhetoric

Anne Hutchison: Massachusetts Puritan and religious figure who advocated for “elect” clergy and was later banished for her sedition. Her and her followers emigrated elsewhere, primarily settling in New Hampshire and Maine.

Settlers & Natives

• Settlers in New England experienced significantly less opposition by Native Americans than settlers in the South. However, tensions emerged in later years as white opinions transformed (from condescending admiration to considering them heathens/savages).
  • Natives were largely eradicated by disease or assimilated into English colonies. Early settlers received key assistance from Natives, primarily concerning cultivation and agricultural techniques.
• Pequot War (1637): Connecticut Valley settlers allied with the Mohegan and Narragansett vs. Pequot Indians over trade competition with the Dutch. Resulted in the eradication of the Pequot Indians.
• King Phillip’s War/Metacom’s War (1675): Massachusetts settlers allied with the Mohawks vs. Wampanoags. Resulted in the decimation of the Wampanoags. However, Massachusetts still faced considerable competition from the Dutch and French (allied with Algonquians).
• Conflicts between settlers and natives were facilitated by exchange of technology.

Protestants

• Presbyterian
• Quaker
• Martin Luther (1517)
  • Created Lutheranism (95 Theses)
• John Calvin
  • Created Calvinism
• Henry VII: Established the Church of England/Anglican Church/Episcopalian Church (1534)
  • Puritans
    • Non-separatists: Believed that the Church of England/Anglican Church can be revitalized and cleansed.
    • Separatist: Believed that Puritanism should disavow the Anglican Church and be considered a separate sect.

Eastern-Western Schism (1054)

• Break between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches

English Civil War (1640)

• Back in England, the actions of King James I and his son Charles I (antagonizing and dissolving Parliament, establishing and absolute monarchy) resulted in a civil war with the Cavaliers (supporters of the king) versing the Roundheads (Parliament, mostly Puritan).
  • King James I, Charles I, and later progeny are all part of the Stuart Monarchy
• Roundheads won, instituting Oliver Cromwell (devout Puritan) in 1649.
• After Cromwell’s death, Charles II, son of Charles I, took back the throne and ushered in the Stuart Restoration (1660).

New Proprietary Colonies

• Charles II revitalized colonization in the Americas, offering land grants to favored courtiers. He issued four new charters: Carolina, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, all of which were proprietary (the Crown has ultimate authority but governors are able to pass legislation) and modeled after Maryland.
  • These colonies were unlike VA in that: No private companies took interest in deriving quick commercial success.

The Carolinas

• Unstable due to tensions between the northern Albemarle region in the north and the souther wealthy planters. Also between wealthy Barbadians and surrounding smaller farmers.
• 1719: After the death of Lord Shaftesbury, colonists seized control of the colony. King Charles II later divided the Carolinas in two.

Incentives for Settlement

• Governors received large estates and profit as landlords, using the headright system to allocate land.
• Political (representative assembly) and religious freedom (to Christians).
• Initially failed to attract settlers, later succeeded due to the efforts of Lord Shaftesbury who convinced financiers to fund migrations to the Carolinas from England.

Fundamental Constitution for Carolina (1669)

• Established by Lord Shaftesbury (formerly Anthony Ashley Cooper) and inspired by John Locke.
• North
  • Isolated backwoods farmers without an aristocracy or slaves.
• South
  • Prosperous plantation (slave-based) economy and aristocracy due to fertile lands and harbor.
  • Trade ties with Barbados.

New Netherland, New York, & New Jersey

New York

• In 1664, King Charles II offered a charter to his brother, the duke of York, for the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers. However, this territory overlapped with land owned by the Dutch. England was able to extract a surrender from the Dutch governor of New Amsterdam.
  • In 1674, the Dutch lost New Amsterdam for good.
• Like many proprietors, James, the duke of York, resided in England and delegated powers to a governor and council in the colony.
• Wealth was unequally dispersed and largely in the hands of Dutch patroons (large landowners), wealthy English landowners, and fur traders. Thus, like the Carolinas, New York was unstable.

New Jersey

• James, the duke of York, offered land to Sir John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, which they dubbed New Jersey and relinquished back to the Crown.
• Ethnic and religious diversity, like New York, but no significant wealth. Majority of the population was small farmers.

Pennsylvania

• Founded by William Penn, the son of an admiral for the English Royal Navy. After inheriting a debt from the king, Charles II paid off the debt with a grant of territory which would become Pennsylvania.
• Cosmopolitan and well-known

The Quaker Colonies

• The Society of Friends: Grew from the preachings of George Fox.
• Refused concepts of predestination and original sin, rather believing in the “inner light.”
  • Personal spiritual revelation; a source of enlightenment within oneself.
• Offered women positions in church that were generally equal to men’s.
• Of all Protestant sectarians, Quakers were the most anarchist and democratic.
• Pacifists, refused to fight in wars.
• Disregarded distinctions of gender and class when speaking.
• Persecuted in the Americas as well as England. However, a number of wealthy figures were attracted to the faith, including:
  • William Penn: Founded Pennsylvania after inheriting his father’s Irish lands and king’s debt.

Puritan

• Predestination: Doctrine that all events have been willed by God, referencing the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often attempt to address the paradox of free will, whereby God's omniscience seems incompatible with human free will.
• Original sin: Due to Adam & Eve’s transgression, all humans are born with a sinful nature that must be reformed.

Both

• Faced religious persecution and looked to the Americas for asylum.

Caribbean Islands

• Nearly half of the English migrants to the New World settled in the Caribbean islands and the strait of Bermuda, although surrounded by Spanish colonies, they maintained close ties with English North America.
• European settlement of the Caribbean was neither hindered nor supported by an indigenous population, who were generally wiped out by the time the Spanish established their first colony.
• Unstable, short lifespans, harsh conditions

Imperial Conflict

• Hispaniola (1496): First Spanish colony established in the Caribbean.
• English colonists regularly experienced attacks by the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and remaining natives.

Sugar Slavery

• Economy was based on sugarcane export, which required copious natural resources and labor. Indentured servants from England refused to work under the harsh tropical climate and dangerous conditions. Thus, an enslaved African workforce, which soon outnumbered the colonists, was used to harvest and plant sugarcane.
• Soon, the West Indies were no longer considered attractive destinations to emigrate to.

Masters & Slaves in the Caribbean

• A wealthy and white minority contrasted an enslaved and abused African majority. Harsh legal codes enforced complete authority over slaves while disregarding welfare.

Connection to British North America

• The Caribbean Islands were essential for trans-Atlantic trade, providing sugar and rum, as well as being the principal source of slaves for the mainland colonies.

Southwestern Borderlands

• Mexico and southern regions experienced a heavy Spanish presence, especially in the metropolis of Mexico City.
• Spaniards experienced far greater prosperity than the majority of North American English settlers.
• Enduring societies which enlisted, rather than displaced (like the English Atlantic Seaboard would do), the native population.
• Converted remaining indigenous populations to Catholicism.

Spain’s Northern Colonies

• Weaker than southern colonies, primarily consisting of religious minorities, Catholic missionaries, independent ranchers, and Spanish military presence.
• Texas: Threatened by French Louisiana, Spain fortified with missions, forts, and communities spurred by Catholic missionaries.
  • San Antonio (1731)
• New Mexico: Most prosperous (agriculture supported by natives) and populous of the northern settlements.
  • Pueblo Revolt (1680)
• Arizona
• California: Formally colonized by Spain in the 1760s to quell threats from English merchants, French, and Russian trappers. Established various forts and communities along the Pacific coast, devastated the native community with imported diseases. Used native laborers to build an agricultural economy.
  • San Francisco (1776)
  • Los Angeles (1781)
  • Santa Barbara (1786)

Southeastern Borderlands

• Spain built fortifications in Florida and Georgia to defend against the northern English presence.
• Florida: 1560s. Constant conflict with English settlers drove out Spain, whose meager remaining population were confined to St. Augustine and assimilated. The English acquired Florida in the aftermath of the Seven Years’ War (French & Indian War)

Founding of Georgia

• Secured the southern border of the English colonies.

Queen Anne’s War/War of Spanish Succession: A force of Indians and Creoles from Florida and led by Spaniards destroyed a South Carolinian settlement on the 1676 treaty line.

General James Oglethorpe: Member of Parliament, granted land by King George II in 1732. Driven by military (establishing a barrier against Spanish lands) and philanthropic (refuge for impoverished/homeless whites) motives. Described as dictatorial by Georgian residents.

• Attracted impoverished artisans and tradesmen and religious minorities.
• Initially excluded slaves for fear of revolts and compacted size of landholdings for greater military protection, later revoked.

Middle Grounds

• Native Americans and European immigrants continuously came to blows during early colonization. In areas like VA and New England, colonists quickly subjugated and displaced the native population.
• But when it came to the western borders, power dynamics were more ambiguous, with each side making concessions.
  • The French and British would, at times, help the natives mediate internal disputes. The French were particularly skilled in establishing mutually beneficial relationships with the natives: marrying into tribes and offering respect to chieftains. However, as their power dwindled, the English gradually gained a foothold in the interior, who formed similar relationships.
• Post-1776, new settlers refused to adapt to the cultural practices of the natives, instead creating a ruthless European world which subjugated indigenous populations: ultimately leading to the collapse of the “middle grounds.”

The Drive for Reorganization

• Mercantilism: Restricting trade to in the colonies to be between the mother nation. However, some colonial goods were not suitable for export and others received better prices from Spain, France, and the natives. Thus, non-English parties regularly took part in trade with English colonies.
• The Navigation Acts: Supported the English mercantile system. After the Restoration (AKA post-Oliver Cromwell), Charles II increased control on colonial commerce.
  • 1st (1660): Closed the colonies from all trade except with English ships and to export certain goods only to the English.
  • 2nd (1663): All goods being shipped from Europe to the colonies must pass through England on the way.
  • 3rd (1673): Strengthened the first two acts by appointing customs officials and duties on coastal trade.

The Dominion of New England

• James II attempted to conglomerate English colonies into a “dominion,” appointing Sir Edmund Andros. This was extremely unpopular.
• Combined Connecticut + Rhode Island, New York + New Jersey with Massachusetts and stripped Massachusetts of independence, renaming it a royal colony.

The “Glorious Revolution”

• James II was Roman Catholic and had a male heir who would be raised Catholic
• Instated the
• House of Burgesses
• Inspired other colonial uprisings, including the Puritans in the NE

End of the Dominion

John Coode’s Rebellion

Names

Dates

Definitions

Conflicts

Summary