AP US History Unit 2 Lecture Review

Unit Two Overview: 1607–1754

• The time period for APUSH Unit 2 spans from $1607$ (the founding of Jamestown) to $1754$ (the beginning of the French and Indian War).

• The unit is divided into two conceptual halves:     - First Half: Focuses on the growth and development of British colonies in North America, their relationships with each other, other European colonial powers, and indigenous nations.     - Second Half: Concentrates on the increasing tension between the American colonies and Great Britain regarding imperial policies.

Comparison of European Colonial Empires

• While the Spanish, Dutch, French, and British were all European powers building empires in the Americas, their colonies differed significantly based on their specific goals.

• The Spanish Empire     - Primary Goal: Extraction of wealth, initially through minerals ($gold$ and $silver$) and later through cash crops ($sugar$ and $tobacco$).     - Social and Labor Systems:         - Encomienda System: A system used to subjugate native populations into a massive forced labor force.         - Hacienda System: Gradually replaced the Encomienda system as a reform. While still a coerced labor system focused on agriculture, in the Hacienda system, the plantation owner owned the land, and indigenous laborers were tied to it through a debt repayment system (unlike Encomienda where the crown granted labor but not land ownership).     - Religious Motivation: Established missions throughout the empire to convert indigenous people to Christianity, placing Catholic churches at the center of settled towns.     - Cultural Syncretism and Conflict: Some indigenous people adapted by adding Christian beliefs to traditional ones (Syncretism). Others resisted, most notably the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.         - Pueblo Revolt Details: After Spanish priests suppressed traditional Pueblo beliefs and killed several medicine men, the Pueblo rebelled, killing hundreds of Spaniards and destroying every church. The Spanish returned $12$ years later to subdue them again.     - Spanish Caste System (Casta System): A racial hierarchy based on the amount of "white blood," with pure Spanish at the top and indigenous/enslaved Africans at the bottom.

• The French and Dutch Empires     - Demographics: Relatively few colonists compared to Spain or Britain; mostly men settled in trading posts.     - Goals/Methods: Emphasized trade and cooperation over control or permanent settlement.     - French Focus: Developed trade partnerships, particularly in the beaver fur trade. They intermarried with American Indian groups to facilitate trade. Missionaries (Jesuits) existed but rarely used brutal force for conversions.     - Dutch Focus: Purely economic motivations (fur trade). They established New Amsterdam as a significant, diverse trading port where over a dozen languages were spoken. They had no interest in religious conversion.

• The British Empire     - Demographics: Experienced massive migration compared to other powers.     - Motivations for Migration:         - Social Mobility: Fleeing the rigid social structure of England; seeking land ownership denied by primogeniture laws (where only the oldest son inherited land).         - Economic Prosperity: Seeking gold (Jamestown) or agricultural wealth (tobacco).         - Religious Freedom: Puritans (wishing to purify the Church of England) and Separatists (Pilgrims) fled persecution from King James I.         - Improved Living Conditions: Responding to high population growth and the enclosure movement, which turned public grazing lands into private property for the wealthy.     - Goal: To create a new English society entirely separate from indigenous populations.

• Metaphorical Comparison:     - Spain: "Grabbed" the New World (tight control and remaking society).     - French and Dutch: "Shook hands" with the New World (partnerships for profit).     - British: "Shoved" the New World away (sought total separation from indigenous peoples).

Regional Characteristics of British Colonies

• By $1754$, there were $13$ distinct colonies categorized into four regions:

• New England Region     - Settlement: Founded by Pilgrims ($1620$, Plymouth) and Puritans ($1630$, Massachusetts Bay). Settled in family groups to create a permanent biblical society.     - Governance: Mayflower Compact established a democratic government based on the will of the majority. Town hall meetings allowed free property-owning men to vote.     - Economy: Rocky soil and long winters led to subsistence farming. The economy shifted toward exports of fur, timber, and fish.

• Middle Colonies (NY, NJ, DE, PA)     - Themes: Diversity and Trade.     - Identity: High religious tolerance (especially in Pennsylvania). Pennsylvania, founded by Quaker William Penn, served as a refuge for dissenters and was unusually democratic.     - Economy: Fertile soil and seaports fueled the export of grain.

• Chesapeake (VA, MD) and North Carolina     - Settlement: Jamestown ($1607$) was the first. Initially settled by single men seeking gold.     - Economy: Revolutionized by John Rolfe and the introduction of tobacco. Tobacco required large plantations, leading to a geographically isolated society.     - Labor: Originally used indentured servitude, but transitioned toward African slavery starting in $1619$.     - Governance: Virginia House of Burgesses, a representative assembly for landowners.

• Southern Atlantic Coast and British West Indies     - Economy: The West Indies focused on sugarcane, which was highly labor-intensive. South Carolina grew food for the West Indies before pivoting to rice.     - Slavery: Demand for sugar led to a black population that outnumbered the white population $4$ to $1$ in some areas.     - Social Order: Barbados Slave Code (brought to the mainland) stripped rights from enslaved people. A rigid hierarchy formed with elite planters at the top.

Transatlantic Trade and Mercantilism

• Triangular Trade:     - New England rum shipped to West Africa.     - Enslaved Africans shipped to the West Indies via the Middle Passage.     - Sugar and molasses shipped to New England to be distilled into rum.

• Impact on American Indians: Trade introduced metal tools and firearms (altering power dynamics) while spreading diseases like smallpox, which devastated populations.

• Mercantilism:     - A state-driven ideology aiming for a favorable balance of trade (maximize exports, minimize imports).     - Measured wealth in $gold$ and $silver$.     - Colonies existed solely to provide raw materials to the mother country and serve as a market for manufactured goods.

• Navigation Acts ($1651$-$1673$): Laws requiring colonists to trade exclusively with England using English ships. Many colonists bypassed these via smuggling.

Slavery, Labor, and Resistance

• Transition to Slavery: Occurred after Bacon's Rebellion ($1676$). Nathaniel Bacon led a group of former indentured servants in an uprising because Governor Berkeley wouldn't protect them from native attacks. Elite planters subsequently feared indentured servants and turned to enslaved Africans as a more "controllable" labor source.

• Slavery in the Colonies: All British colonies participated in slavery, but it was most entrenched in the South. New England had fewer slaves, often working as domestic servants or on small farms.

• Resistance to Slavery:     - Covert Resistance: Maintaining ancestral culture (e.g., cowrie shells), breaking tools, or working slowly.     - Overt Resistance: Stono Rebellion ($1739$). Enslaved people in South Carolina killed white residents and burned property. Though suppressed by the militia, it resulted in even harsher slave codes.

Colonial Society and Culture

• Diversity: The population included Germans ($6\%$), Scots-Irish ($7\%$), and people of African descent ($20\%$).

• Unifying Movements:     - The Great Awakening ($1730s$): A religious revival led by Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. Emphasized personal, emotional connections to God. It was the first mass movement in the colonies.     - The Enlightenment: Intellectual movement emphasizing rationality and natural rights (John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau). Promoted the idea of the "social contract."

• Anglicization: Despite their differences, colonies increasingly resembled English customs, utilizing two-house legislative bodies and a governor, while the wealthy merchant/planter classes began to mirror British nobility.

Growing Imperial Tensions

• Territorial Tension: Colonists wanted to move west into the Ohio River Valley, but Britain restricted this to avoid conflict with French and indigenous groups, causing colonial resentment.

• Self-Rule and Impressment: Colonists grew used to "salutary neglect." When Britain enforced policies like impressment (forcing colonists into the Royal Navy), it led to riots, such as the $1747$ Boston riots during King George's War.

• Trade Tension: The growing colonial population produced more goods than the stagnant British market could absorb, leading colonists to seek illegal trade partners outside the British Empire.