Europeans Colonize North America (1600 – 1640)

English Interest in Colonization

- By the sixteenth century, many countries, including Spain, France and the Netherlands, had established colonies in the New World. Until the foundation of Jamestown, however, the English didn’t have any successful permanent colonies in North America. 

- Prior to Jamestown, Sir Walter Raleigh of the Sea Dogs formed a joint stock company and received a charter to found a colony on Roanoke Island in 1584. It failed, and he tried again in 1585 and 1587. Both were failures, and the fate of the 1587 colony remains a mystery (all colonists disappeared). 

- Several factors encouraged the English to try again with Jamestown even after their earlier failures, and motivated people to join the expeditions. These reasons include…

• “Overcrowding” – England had experienced a dramatic population boom, resulting in social and economic upheaval (inflation, falling wages, peasants losing their land b/c of the enclosure movement, many homeless people, rapidly growing cities). 

• Competition – The English government was concerned about losing ground in the competition with the Spanish for overall power and with the Dutch for trading. Since they had colonies, it was only natural that England would want them as well. 

• Religion – This applies more to the prospective colonists than to the government. Anyhow, after Henry VIII split from the church in 1533, he established the Anglican Church, which was subsequently taken over by Queen Elizabeth, who swung it more towards the Protestant side. This led to the formation of many English Calvinist [Puritan] groups, who felt that reform should go further. But under the Stuarts [the absolutists], the church went back towards Catholicism w/o the Pope, and many of the Puritans were forced to flee in the 1620s to avoid persecution. 

The Founding of Virginia

- In 1606 the Virginia Company was founded by a group of merchants and gentry who felt they could reap great profits from colonizing America [it could allow them to find precious metals and new trade routes]. The Virginia Company was a joint-stock venture [it was funded by contributions from many small investors]. 

- Although joint-stock companies had worked well to finance voyages, which quickly resulted in $, they wouldn’t work as well for colonies b/c colonies required enormous amounts of funding and usually failed, or at least took a long time, to return profits. Consequently, colonies funded by these companies were always short of capital b/c nobody wanted to risk much $. 

- Anyhow, James I decided to go ahead and charter the company in 1606, which resulted in Jamestown being founded in Virginia [after a failure to start a colony in Maine] in May 1607 by 104 Englishmen. 

Jamestown’s Struggle for Survival

- The most concise way to express the first years would be absolutely terrible luck. The colonists faced a myriad of problems, most of which they were not responsible for. For instance…

• They just happened to arrive during a severe drought. 

• They had major problems with diseases like typhus and dysentery caused by a lack of sanitation (they washed clothes in the James river, then drank the water, and so on).  

• They settled in the worst place possible climactically. 

• They (this was their fault) were lazy. As the colonists were mainly gentlemen expecting to somehow magically discover gold and get rich, they were totally unprepared for the notion of gasp manual labor. 

- Not surprisingly, they had a 90% mortality rate on the first wave of colonists.  

Jamestown and the Powhatan Confederacy 

- So why wasn’t this another failure? Well, b/c of the Native Americans in the area [6 Algonquian tribes – the Powhatan Confederacy]. Since Powhatan [their leader] thought that the new arrivals could help him consolidate his power over the neighboring tribes, he was receptive and friendly towards them and agreed to trade food for items such as knives and guns.    

- Soon enough, however, the relationship broke down. One cause of this was the kidnapping of Pocahontas, Powhatan’s daughter, by colonists who wanted to use her as a hostage to get settlers back. After that, they maintained an uneasy peace and nothing more. 

- Additionally, frequent cultural misunderstandings contributed to the failure of the friendship. For instance…

• In the Indian culture, leaders were not autocratic. B/c the English were accustomed to dealing w/absolutist figures, they consistently overestimated the power of the Indian leaders. 

• Another problem was conceptions of property ownership. For the Native Americans, land was communal and couldn’t be bought/sold. Also, the English thought land ownership implied it was farmed. 

• Most significantly, the English had a big time superiority complex, and did not give a crap about Indian traditions and culture.  

- So, due to the factors listed above, it was exceedingly difficult for the two groups to maintain the harmonious relationship they had developed at the beginning. Before long, the settlers began to follow a pattern that would occur time and again: they took advantage of their allies, then turned against them (using their internal politics to divide and conquer) and then stole their land. 

- Anyhow, with the support of the Native Americans the Jamestown colonists managed to survive for the first few years. Their first taste of independent government came a while down the road, though, with the introduction of the House of Burgesses by the Virginia Company established the House of Burgesses in 1619. Although the governor could veto their laws, they controlled his salary. 

The Expansion of the Chesapeake Colonies

- But what actually saved the colonists in the long term? One word: tobacco. In 1611, the first crop was planted and the Virginians finally found the commodity crop they had been searching for. There was a huge boom in tobacco exports throughout the 1620s (it became like currency). 

- Consequently, the colony grew into a full sized settlement that included men, women, and children. Also, since tobacco exhausted the soil quickly the colony expanded space-wise as well. 

- The expansion caused Powhatan’s successor, who felt the colonists were encroaching on his lands, to launch coordinated attacks along the James River on March 22, 1622 in which ¼ of the colonists were killed. But after reinforcements arrived, the settlers counterattacked and a peace was reached. 

- Indian control of the region was further broken in April 1644 when they made a last attempt, failed, and were forced to sign a treaty that subjugated them to the English. 

- The one thing the 1622 attack did do was destroy the Virginia Company, which wasn’t making $ and had its charter revoked by James I in 1624. Virginia was then made a royal colony. James quickly attempted to remove the House of Burgesses but was met by so much resistance that he was forced to give up.

- Additional expansion occurred in 1634 when Charles I gave G. Calvert land on the Chesapeake as personal property. Calvert named the area Maryland and decided to use the colony as a haven for Roman Catholics. In fact, C. Calvert [son] was the first colonizer to offer religious freedom to all Christians – Toleration Act of 1649. 

- Besides religion [Jamestown was mostly composed of Anglicans], however, Maryland was identical to Virginia – they both relied on the tobacco crop and had plantations spread out down the river and therefore didn’t need towns to exchange goods [b/c they could just send it on down the river].

The Headright System and Indentured Servitude

- The major problem the colonists faced even from the beginning of the tobacco cultivation was a labor shortage, as tobacco was a very labor-intensive crop. This problem resulted in the introduction of the headright system in 1617 by the Virginia Company.  

- The headright system stated that every new arrival paying their way could get 50 acres of land. Although this in itself encouraged wealthier people to move to the colonies, it also allowed the already established planters to get labor and land at once. 

- Essentially, wealthy planters would pay other peoples’ passages in return for several years of what became called indentured servitude. So the planters would get free labor (for a while) and land, and, after they worked their quota of years, the servants would get their freedom and their own plots. 

- Indentured servants, who were generally lower-class people who came over in hopes of advancement, had tough lives, even though they would, if they managed to survive the first years [many epidemic diseases made this easier said than done], receive “freedom dues” and be permitted to live as independent farmers.

- But overall, also b/c courts protected against excessive abuse, until the 1670s [when tobacco prices began to decline] America provided real opportunities. After 1670 land became harder to acquire and correspondingly in 1681 Maryland dropped the requirement that servants get land afterwards.

The Founding of New England

- Two separate groups contributed to the founding of New England:

• Separatists (Pilgrims) – The Pilgrims were even stricter than the Puritans, and felt that they had to split from the Anglican Church b/c it was too corrupt to ever be reformed. 

• Congregationalists (Puritans) – The Puritans simply believed that the Anglican Church was too Catholic and needed to be purified. The Puritans were also essentially Calvinists. Puritans were also larger in number. 

- Eventually the area filled out with many other people, who were not necessarily Pilgrims or Puritans and simply came for economic reasons, and so on. Nevertheless, the leaders of the initial colonists left an indelible imprint on the region – their idealism persisted for decades at the very least. 

The Pilgrims

- The colonization of New England began when in 1609 a Separatist congregation moved to the Netherlands, where they could practice freely. They disliked the Netherlands, however, b/c toleration also meant that many other religious sects unacceptable to the Separatists were about. 

- Consequently, they obtained permission from the Virginia Company to colonize New England and left in September 1620 on the Mayflower with a whole bunch of non-Separatists. To make sure that they would still be in command when they landed, the Separatist leaders drafted the Mayflower Compact. 

- The Mayflower Compact established a “Civil Body Politic” and basic legal system. It also described the belief that the Pilgrims had made a covenant w/God, which meant that they had to create a new utopian society – they were egalitarians [only for church members] and believed in communalism. 

- Anyhow, the Pilgrims finally landed on November 21, 1620. They named their town Plymouth. But, once again, they had a tough time at the beginning [as they were poorly prepared for the climate].

- They were only saved when the Pokanokets [led by Massasoit], a local Indian tribe that had lost many people in an epidemic and were threatened by their neighbors, decided they would be useful allies. 

The Puritans

- As the Pilgrims struggled to survive and create their small town community, though, another group arrived and established colonies that would eventually come to dominate New England and absorb Plymouth in 1691. This second group was headed by Congregationalists, who were threatened by Charles I, who had begun trying to wipe out Puritan practices in the country. 

- Subsequently, a group of Congregationalist merchants obtained a royal charter in 1629 and formed the Massachusetts Bay Company, which soon attracted middle-class Puritans who were concerned about the deteriorating situation in England. Although they remained committed to reforming the Anglican Church, they felt they would be better able to continue in America. 

- Therefore, the merchants decided to transfer their headquarters to America. Led by John Winthrop, who was elected governor in October 1629, the Puritans set off towards New England in 1630 on the Arbella. On the way, Winthrop explained his vision for the colony in a sermon, “The Model of Christian Charity.” … “a city upon a Hill”

- Like the Pilgrims, he also stressed community, equality, and their covenant w/God, which required them to create a model “city upon a hill.” Later on, more formal institutions echoed the ideals expressed in the speech, for the General Court, which originally governed the Company, was changed into a colonial legislature. Soon enough, the system was complete w/a governor and full two-house legislature.

The Expansion of the New England Colonies

- Three types of towns developed in New England: agricultural towns that attempted to sustain Winthrop’s communalist ideas, seaports/trading centers, and commercialized agriculture towns. 

- Furthermore, the colonists spread out over the years, founding Connecticut (1636), New Haven (1638), and New Hampshire (1638). But migration inevitably led to conflicts with the Native Americans. For instance, the first colonists to move to Connecticut under Thomas Hooker faced the Pequots, who realized that the arrival of the colonists would threaten their role as middlemen between other Indian groups and the Europeans. 

- The Pequot War began with the death of two English traders [not by Pequots], which caused an English raid on a Pequot village. The Pequots then attacked in April 1637, and a Massachusetts Bay expedition responded by burning the main Pequot town and pretty much wiping them out. 

- For the next 30 years the Native Americans allowed the Europeans to spread over their territory, although they never blended into European society and most colonist didn’t bother trying to convert them, with the exception of John Eliot [who wasn’t really successful anyhow b/c he demanded the Native Americans totally reject their roots]. 

Contrasting Lifestyles in the Chesapeake and in New England

- Not surprisingly, due to climactic and cultural reasons, life was very different in the two sections of the country. The most significant differences include…

• The importance of religion – It was not until the 1690s that the Church of England really took root in Virginia, and even then it was never an essential part of society. In New England, though, religion was central to all aspects of life; strict moral codes prevailed and anyone who disagreed with the established religious orthodoxy could be kicked out – ex. Roger Williams, who founded Providence, Rhode Island (1637) b/c he was exiled for promoting separation of church and state, and Anne Hutchinson.  

• Land distribution – In the Chesapeake, land was unevenly distributed. In New England, however, a few people would apply together for grants of land and would then plan villages in which everyone would get land. So, New England was much more egalitarian in that respect. 

• Plantations vs. small towns – While the Chesapeake was composed of sprawling plantations New England mainly consisted of small towns. 

• Family life – In the Chesapeake, the predominance of males, the high mortality rate, and the incidence of servitude led to few, small, short-lived families. In New England, by contrast, people moved to the colonies already in family units and there was consequently a more even male: female ratio, which led to numerous, large [it was healthier there] and longer-lived [they created grandparents] families. Parents had far more impact on their children’s lives, as they actually lived to see them grow up.

- Clearly, the two regions developed very contrasting lifestyles over the years. 

American Societies Take Shape (1640 – 1720)

The Restoration Colonies

- In 1642 the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, rebelled against Charles I [the absolutist monarch wannabe]. They finally won in 1646, and Charles was subsequently executed; Cromwell assumed control of the government until his death in 1660. After the bad experience w/Cromwell [the Interregnum] the English decided to restore the monarchy, so Charles II arrived [The Restoration]. 

- All the events back in England had major consequences for the colonies. For one, since Puritans controlled the government from the War until the Restoration, their migration to New England slowed down a lot. Additionally, after 1660 six new colonies were formed [The Restoration Colonies] but this time as proprietorships.  

- The founding of the restoration colonies is as follows…

• New York was originally a Dutch colony, but in 1664 Charles II gave the area to his brother James, the Duke of York [pretending the Dutch weren’t there, I guess]. So James organized an invasion fleet, and the Dutch surrendered w/o resistance [the merchants thought it would be bad for business]. In 1672 the Dutch briefly retook the colony, but in 1674 they permanently ceded it as a result of their loss. New York was a very diverse colony and had a relatively high % of slaves as well, so the Duke was careful as he moved to establish his authority. For instance, in 1665 he passed The Duke’s Laws [first applied only to English settlements on Long Island and then later to the whole area], which maintained Dutch forms of local government and (!) allowed religious toleration [each town could pick which church to support]. But it took until 1683 for an elected legislature to be formed. So basically, until the 18th century New York remained a relatively depopulated colony [grew slowly] w/few changes from Dutch rule. 

• New Jersey was formed b/c the Duke of York regranted part of his land in 1664 to his friends Sir George Carteret and John Lord Berkeley [this actually deprived N.Y. of much needed fertile land and was one of the reasons the colony grew so slowly]. New Jersey, however, partially b/c its owners used land grants, limited toleration and the promise of an assembly to attract colonists, grew rapidly. W/in 20 years Carteret and Berkeley sold their sections to investors. All of Carteret’s part and some of Berkeley’s went to the Quakers, who were seeking to escape persecution. 

• Pennsylvania itself was actually founded by Quakers when in 1681 Charles II gave the region to his friend William Penn, who then held it as a personal proprietorship. Penn used his colony as a haven for fellow Quakers [who were radical egalitarians and denied the need for clergy] but also promised toleration, guaranteed English liberties to all, and established an assembly. His publicity efforts caused massive migration to the area. Some of the migrants were even Native Americans, b/c Penn promised to treat them fairly as well. But his toleration was a double-edged sword for the Native Americans, as many of the people he allowed in were not respectful of them [the Scots, Irish, Germans and Swiss clashed w/them over land]. 

• Carolina was granted by Charles II in 1663 in a lucrative semitropical area [could produce many valuable commodities]. The proprietors had John Locke draft the “Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina” for them, which (!) laid out a semi-feudal hierarchical society [it really was Locke, not kidding here]. Still, Carolina ended up splitting into two separate centers, which split into separate colonies in 1729. Virginia planters settled North Carolina, establishing a society very similar to their own; wealthy planters from Barbados settled South Carolina, and, after a few difficult years in which they depended on trade w/the Native Americans, began using large amounts of slaves to cultivate rice and indigo. 

- So the Restoration Colonies, formed after Charles II was crowned in 1660, varied in composition but were all basically proprietorships. 

Problems Faced by the Existing Colonies in the 1670s and 1680s

- In the 1670s and 80s, the original French, Spanish and English colonies faced numerous crises, mainly caused by their relationships w/the Native Americans in their respective areas. 

- For instance, in New France, the governor decided to expand into the south and west in the 1670s [wanted to gain direct control over the fur trade]. This brought them into conflict w/the Iroquois Confederacy, which had had skirmished w/the Europeans over the fur trade [the Beaver Wars] as early as 1633. So in the 1670s, the French began attacking Iroquois villages and in 1701 a neutrality treaty was negotiated by the exhausted Confederacy. The French also expanded by settling up outposts in the Mississippi region, where travelers and traders could stop between Quebec and Louisiana. 

- New Mexico also experienced significant problems. B/c the Franciscans had been increasingly harsh on the subjugated Pueblo peoples in efforts to try to totally erase their native religion and culture [also colonists demanded heavy labor tributes] the natives rebelled in 1680 under Popé. Although Spain regained control in 1692 the governors changed tactics and became more cooperative. Spain also expanded their territory by establishing military outposts and missions to the east and north. 

- In the English colonies [both New England and the Chesapeake], however, problems didn’t start b/c of trade [New France] or religion [New Mexico] but simply b/c of land issues. 

New England – King Phillip’s War

- In New England, the expanding population resulted mainly from natural increase, rather than from immigration, which slowed down greatly after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642. But b/c of the good conditions and large families, the population had tripled by the 1670s through natural increase alone. 

- The increase created a need for land, and settlement began to spread farther into Massachusetts and Connecticut, and even north to New Hampshire and Maine. Other families gave up on agriculture altogether and took up skills like blacksmithing or carpentry. 

- Nevertheless, settlements gradually came to surround the lands of the Pokanokets, whose chief, King Phillip, was the son of Massasoit [welcomed the Pilgrims]. Concerned by the loss of land and the impact of Christianity, King Phillip began attacking settlements in June 1675. Other Algonquians joined, and even the more well established villages began to face attacks in 1676 [Plymouth and Providence]. 

- But the tide turned in the summer of 1676, when the Native Americans began to lack supplies and the colonists began using Christian Native Americans as guides. After the Mohawks [enemies of the Algonquians] helped by attacking a major Wampanoag camp on June 12 and King Phillip died in August, the colonists emerged victorious and started selling the captured Native Americans into slavery. The power of the coastal tribes was broken.

- It’s important to note that the victory came w/a cost – 1/10th of the male population was killed or wounded, towns were devastated, and the economy didn’t reach pre-1675 levels until the American Revolution. 

The Chesapeake – Bacon’s Rebellion

- Around the same time, Virginians also experienced conflict w/the Native Americans b/c of land, although the conflict played out slightly differently. After land-hungry Virginians attacked two Native Americans tribes, Native Americans raided outlying farms in retaliation in the winter of 1676. 

- Governor William Berkeley, however, was reluctant to strike back b/c: (1) he had trade agreements w/the Native Americans and didn’t want to disrupt them and (2) he already had land and didn’t want competition anyway. 

- So the angry colonists [many former indentured servants] rallied around recent immigrant Nathaniel Bacon, who held members of the House of Burgesses until they authorized him to attack the Native Americans and was consequently declared to be in rebellion by Berkeley. 

- Throughout the summer of 1676, then, Bacon fought both Native Americans and supporters of the government, even burning Jamestown itself to the ground. Even though the rebellion died w/Bacon in October, the point was made and a new treaty in 1677 allowed more territory to be settled.

- Besides being a turning point in relations w/the Native Americans, Bacon’s rebellion had another very important consequence. As landowners realized that there wasn’t much land left to give to indentured servants, the custom stopped and they began looking for slave labor instead.

The Introduction of African Slavery

- As a consequence of Bacon’s rebellion and the reluctance of indentured servants to go to the Chesapeake [no more land] planters turned to slavery as a labor source. 

- They had no real moral qualms about this b/c slavery had been practiced in Europe for centuries and European Christians believed that it was OK to enslave “heathen” people. Racism against Africans, which viewed them as inferior b/c of their skin color, had also been developing in England since the 1500s. 

- Even though there was a slave system in the West Indies by the 1650s, it didn’t spread to the mainland colonies until the 70s. Anyhow, when slavery did start in the colonies, what was it like?

• Slavery in the South – after 1677 slaves were imported incredibly rapidly into the Chesapeake region, and the existing slaves multiplied even faster. As the slave population increased, laws against them became stricter [whites were scared]. The new slaves were generally assigned more remote posts until they learned local customs, etc. An important thing to remember about slavery in the South is that most yeomen farmers couldn’t afford slaves – it was only the big planters that had them. So slavery also caused increased stratification in Southern society. In the Carolinas there had been more slaves from the start, but they only started importing them directly in 1700, when rice was introduced [the slaves helped them learn to cultivate it]. Indigo was later added as a crop there. Carolinians also enslaved Native Americans, which contributed to the outbreak of the Yamasee War in 1715.  

• Slavery in the North – in the North there were fewer slaves, most of who were concentrated in New York and New Jersey. Most slaves were also already assimilated Creoles, especially early on. When some slaves did begin to come from Africa, the Creoles didn’t like it and looked down on them b/c they had difficulty adapting. Though some slaves were house slaves or worked in cities, overall, like in the South, most Northern slaves lived in the countryside. 

Mercantilism and the Navigation Acts

- The mercantilist system of thought arose in the early 1600s, when it was believed that there was a finite amount of wealth [if they win, you lose] in the world and that governments had to control production and competition in order to gain the upper hand. 

- By the late 1600s the concept developed that colonies could actually extend the amount of wealth available and that countries should use their colonies to provide cheap labor and raw materials, which could be processed and then sold back to the colonies at a profit. 

- So in England, where they were looking for new sources of revenue, this sort of thinking was applied, resulting in the Navigation Acts, which were passed from 1651 to 1673, and stated that…

• All goods had to stop in England to check that [initially] ½ the crew was British [later the quota was raised to ¾, and the ships became taxed as well]. 

• Foreign trading was banned between colonial ports, and colonists weren’t allowed to serve on competitors’ ships.

• Later on lists of enumerated goods [goods that could only be sold to England] were made. 

- The purpose was to make England benefit from both colonial imports and exports. But, officials soon found out that enforcing the laws was much easier than passing them, b/c there was lots of smuggling. As a result, Admiralty Courts were established and a Board of Trade and Plantations was formed in 1696 to supervise the governors [but it didn’t have any direct powers of enforcement either]. 

Atlantic Trade Patterns – “Triangular Trade”

- The complex Atlantic trading system that developed as a result of the slave trade during the colonial period is often referred to as Triangular Trade – but it really wasn’t a triangle at all. One thing is for sure, though: the whole thing really did depend on slavery – the sale and transport of slaves, the exchange of stuff they made, and the food required to feed them. 

- Here is the classic triangular pattern, which developed in the mid 17th century…

• New England only had one thing England wanted – trees. So, to get more stuff from England, the colonists sold food to the English islands, which needed to feed their slaves. So by the 1640s, New England was already indirectly dependent on slave consumption. 

• The islands would consume products from New England and then ship molasses, fruit, spices and slaves back to colonial ports, where the molasses would be distilled into rum and sent to…

• Africa, which would provide slaves, who would be sold by coastal rulers and bought by European slavers, in exchange for the rum and manufactured goods. 

- Anyhow, in addition to the relationships above, there was a whole bunch of confusing stuff going on, but it is really not that big a deal so who cares? 

Effects of the Slave Trade

- First of all, slavery definitely stunk for the slaves, who had horrible conditions on the boat ride, etc. But it also had major political and economic consequences for Africa and for Europe, where it sparked big time rivalries between the powers. This, of course, caused changes in the Americas. So here goes…

- In West Africa, where the coastal rulers served as the essential link between the Europeans and the slaves, slavery caused increased centralization b/c the trade created powerful kingdoms. Slavery also consequently destroyed existing trading patterns and hurt local manufacturing.

- But the slave trade really benefited the Europeans, though it did help out some African rulers – so the powers fought to control it. The Dutch replaced the Portuguese in the 1630s, and the Dutch then lost out to the English, who took over through the Royal African Company in 1672. Even the English monopoly didn’t really last though, b/c by the 1700s most trading was carried out by independent traders. 

- B/c of the competition over the slave trade, the English also looked for new sources of revenue, especially b/c of the Civil War. And they looked to – yup, you got it – the colonies.  

Colonial Political Development and Imperial Reorganization

- After the crises of the 1670s, English officials began paying more attention tot the colonies. It was a real mess, administratively – the specifics were all different. Overall, though, the colonies all had governors [councils helped the governors] and legislatures [some of which were two-house]. 

- So, even though the local institutions varied, colonists everywhere were used to some political autonomy. But, after James II became king, officials decided to clean up the mess and consolidate the colonies under British rule. Massachusetts (1691), New Jersey (1702) and the Carolinas (1729) were made royal colonies.

- Some charters were temporarily suspended and then restored in that area as well. But the big changes were made in Puritan New England, which was considered a smuggling hotbed and was changed into the Dominion of New England in 1686 [New Jersey to Maine]. The Dominion was run by Sir Edmund Andros, who had immense power, until the Glorious Revolution in 1688. 

- After the GR, colonists thought – hey, let’s rebel too – so they jailed Andros and declared their loyalty to William and Mary. But W&M also wanted tighter control, so they didn’t give the rebellions their sanction and instead issued new charters, which destroyed many New England traditions. 

- To make it worse for New England, they had to fight King William’s War against the French and their Indian allies [really a European war – The War of the League of Augsburg – in which France declared war on England b/c of the GR] from 1689 to 1697.

- All the upheaval contributed to the famous 1692 Witchcraft Trials, where people were executed b/c of accusations of practicing witchcraft. These ended b/c: (1) ministers started to disapprove (2) the royal charter was implemented and (3) people in high places were accused. 

- After the Witchcraft thing people settled down w/the new administration, though many resented the new order. Another war, the War of Spanish Succession [Queen Anne’s War in the colonies] was fought, and colonists were encouraged to help out through promises of land grants and offices. 

Colonial Development in the Eighteenth Century (1720 –1770)

Trends in Colonial Development in the Eighteenth Century

- Colonial development in the 18th century had several key aspects – population growth [mainly due to natural increase], ethnic diversity, the increasing importance of cities, the creation an urban elite, rising levels of consumption and the growth of a stronger internal economy.

- So, by the second half of the century, social and economic stratification had increased significantly. Additionally, by that time, much of North America had fallen under European control. These changes, along with new trends in thought such as the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, transformed the colonies.

Population Growth

- At the start of the new century, in 1701, the English colonies on the Atlantic Coast had a population of barely 250,000 Europeans and Africans. By 1775, the figure had jumped to 2,500,000, a tenfold increase within the span of a single lifetime. Among African Americans, the population increase was even more dramatic: from about 28,000 in 1701 to 500,000 in 1775. The spectacular gains in population during this period resulted from two factors: immigration of almost a million people and a sharp natural increase, caused chiefly by a high birthrate among colonial families. An abundance of fertile American land and a dependable food supply attracted thousands of European settlers each year and also supported the raising of large families.

• English - Settlers from England continued to come to the American colonies. However, with fewer problems at home, their numbers were relatively small compared to others, especially the Germans and Scotch-Irish.

• Germans - This group of non-English immigrants settled chiefly on the rich farmlands west of Philadelphia, an area that became known as Pennsylvania

• Dutch country - They maintained their German language, customs, and religion (Lutheran, Amish, Brethren, Mennonite, or one of several smaller groups) and, while obeying colonial laws, showed little interest in English politics. By 1775, people of German stock comprised 6 percent of the colonial population.

• Scotch-Irish - These English-speaking people emigrated from northern Ireland. Since their ancestors had moved to Ireland from Scotland, they were commonly known as the Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irish. They had little respect for the British government, which had pressured them into leaving Ireland. Most settled along the frontier in the western parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia - By 1775, they comprised 7 percent of the population.

• Other Europeans Other immigrant groups included French Protestants (called Huguenots), the Dutch, and the Swedes. These groups made up 5 percent of the population of all the colonies in 1775.

• By 1775, the African American population (both enslaved and free) made up 20 percent of the colonial population. About 90 percent lived in the southern colonies in lifelong bondage. African Americans formed a majority of the population in South Carolina and Georgia.

- Each of the thirteen British colonies developed distinct patterns of life. However, they all also shared a number of characteristics.

General Characteristics

- Most of the population was English in origin, language, and tradition. However, both Africans and non-English immigrants brought diverse influences that would modify the culture of the majority in significant ways.

• Self-government - The government of each colony had a representative assembly that was elected by eligible voters (limited to white male property owners). In only two colonies, Rhode Island and Connecticut, was the governor also elected by the people. The governors of the other colonies were either appointed by the crown (for example, New York and Virginia) or by a proprietor (Pennsylvania and Maryland). 

• Religious Toleration - All of the colonies permitted the practice of different religions, but with varying degrees of freedom and almost all colonies had state supported churches. Massachusetts, the most conservative, accepted several types of Protestants, but it excluded non-Christians and Catholics. Rhode Island and Pennsylvania were the most liberal.

• No Hereditary Aristocracy - The social extremes of Europe, with a nobility that inherited special privileges and masses of hungry poor, were missing in the colonies. A narrower class system, based on economics, was developing.

• Wealthy - landowners were at the top; craft workers and small farmers made up the majority of the common people.

• Social Mobility -With the major exception of the African Americans, all people in colonial society had an opportunity to improve their standard of living and social status by hard work.

Intellectual Trends: The Enlightenment

- Throughout the 18th century a new colonial elite was developing, and one of the things that began separating them from most other people was education, their use of “leisure” time, and their knowledge of the European intellectual movement known as The Enlightenment, which stressed a belief in rationality and peoples’ ability to understand the universe through mathematical or natural laws. 

- The Enlightenment also gave the elite a common vocabulary and subjects to discuss, and it also encouraged colleges in the Americas to broaden their curriculums to include subjects like science, law and medicine, which allowed more people to join the educated circles. 

- Enlightenment ideals about government, illustrated by John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government (1691), which stated that men had power over their governments and attacked the theory of divine right, were also discussed by the upper classes and did have an effect on American political life. 

- To most people, however, the Enlightenment had its greatest effect though the advances in medicine it stimulated, such as the treatment of smallpox through inoculation.  

Religious Trends: The Great Awakening

- From the mid-1730s to the 1760s waves of religious revivalism swept through America. These revivalists were almost a counterpoint to the Enlightenment b/c they stressed feeling over rationalism.  

- The Great Awakening began in New England when in 1734 and 1735 Reverend Jonathan Edwards noted that his youthful members reacted to a Calvinist based message [people can only attain salvation by surrendering completely to God’s will] which created intense emotion and release from sin. 

- The Great Awakening spread big time when George Whitefield [“the first modern celebrity”] from the Church of England arrived and began touring the colonies and preaching to large audiences. He helped unify the colonies, but he also created a split in religion between the “Old Lights” [traditionalists] and “New Lights” [revivalists]. This eventually led to increased toleration, though. 

- The reason for the resistance to the message of the Great Awakening was that it undermined the dependence on the clergy and was also radically egalitarian [which attracted many ordinary people]. 

Cultural Trends: Public Rituals

- Instead of reading about the Enlightenment, though, most people simply communicated orally, as many were poorly educated or illiterate. Therefore, the common cultures of North America were mainly oral, communal and very local, since information traveled slowly and usually stayed w/in confined regions. 

- So, since the colonists couldn’t form a common culture through other means, religious and civic rituals served to unite them. For example, attendance at church was perhaps the most important ritual as it was central to community life and was handled in different ways depending on the region.  For instance, in Puritan churches and in Virginia, people were seated w/respect to their positions in society; but in Quaker meetinghouses the seating was egalitarian. 

- Civic rituals also varied. In New England, colonial governments proclaimed official thanksgiving days and days of fasting and prayer. Also, militia-training days served to bring the community together. 

- In the Chesapeake, however, important rituals occurred on court and election days, where people came from miles to observe the events. 

- In all areas of colonial America, punishment of criminals in public also served to unite the community and also to remind everybody of the proper behavior by totally humiliating the criminal. 

- A new ritual at the time was the ritual of consumption, which is a fancy term for going shopping. This was actually a new activity back then, since commercial goods were only starting to become available for most people. It became [and still is] customary, though, to buy cool stuff and then show it off. Among the rituals of consumption, though, the tea-drinking ritual was perhaps the most important.

- Additionally, rituals developed for communication and negotiation between settlers and Native Americans – gift giving, etc. Unfortunately for the Native Americans the settlers soon realized that rum was a useful gift.  

Colonial Families

- Families constituted the basic units of colonial society, but their forms and structures varied widely during the 18th century. The types of families included… 

• Indian – dramatic changes for the Native Americans caused led to bands being reduced in numbers by disease and the creation of new units. Old customs were often changed under pressure from European authorities and new circumstances, and extended families became more important b/c of the high mortality rates. 

• Bi-racial – wherever the population contained a small number of European women, mixed race families would appear [most frequently in the backcountry]. These families often resided in Indian villages, and their acceptance in mainstream society varied from area to area. 

• European – in the 18th century most families were larger than families today, and they included all the inhabitants of the house. Households worked together to produce goods for use or sale, and the head of the household represented it to the outside world. Most families maintained themselves through agriculture, and specific tasks were assigned to men and women. There was so much work that if there weren’t kids slaves or servants were needed.

• African-American – usually African-American families existed as parts of their European households; most were slaves by the 18th century. Family links depended on the region: families were scarce in the North b/c there were so few blacks, and in the Chesapeake families were often dispersed [though wide kinship networks formed]. Sometimes these groups united against excessive punishment of members. 

- Besides differences in family life based on the type of the family, life in the cities was significantly different from life in the country. City dwellers went to marketplaces [unlike their country counterparts, many of who made it all themselves] and had more contact w/the outside world [newspapers, ports]. 

Colonial Politics 1700-1750: Relative Calm   

- In the first decades of the century politics reached a new stability b/c of the creation of a new elite, which dominated politics and kept things under control. In some areas, the elite worked together (Virginia), but in others there was stiff competition for office (New York). *1733 (NY) John Peter Zenger tried for criticizing government actions; lawyer said truth could not be defamatory; he was released, setting a precedent for free press.  

- An important trend during the period was an increase in the power of the assemblies relative to the power of the governors [“the power of the purse”]. Still, 18th century assemblies were very different from ones today: they rarely passed new measures, but just saw themselves as acting defensively to prevent the people’s rights from being usurped by the governors. 

- By mid-century, many colonists had also begun linking their system w/the British one [governor=monarch, assemblies=House of Commons] and viewing the assemblies as the people’s protectors [even though the assemblies didn’t pay attention to the concerns of the poor and were not reapportioned for pop. changes].  

Colonial Politics Continued: Internal Crises At Mid-Century

- So up to 1850ish things were going pretty well, politics-wise. But after that a series of crises demonstrated the tensions that had been building [ethnic, racial, economic] that had been building in American society and illustrated that the accommodations reached after the Glorious Revolution were no longer adequate. 

- One of the earlier crises, the Stono Rebellion, occurred in South Carolina in 1739. One morning, twenty slaves gathered south of Charlestown and stole guns and ammunition from a store and then killed the storekeepers and nearby families before heading towards Florida, where they hoped to find refuge. Although the slaves were soon captured, this shocked the colonists and laws against blacks were made harsher. 

- The hysteria generated by the Stono Rebellion, combined w/fears of Spain b/c of King George’s War, manifested itself most strongly in New York in 1741 when whites suspecting that a biracial gang was conspiring to start a slave uprising [the New York Conspiracy] began a reign of terror. This showed that the assemblies were really unable to prevent serious disorder. 

- The land riots in New Jersey and New York certainly seemed to confirm that – for instance, the most serious riots, which occurred in 1765/1766 around the Hudson River, occurred b/c in the 1740s New Englanders had arrived in the area and had started illegally squatting on the lands rented out to tenants by large landowners. After a family sued and the courts supported them, the farmers rebelled for a year. 

- Additionally, in the Carolinas the Regulator Movements occurred, in which backcountry farmers [mainly Scottish and Irish immigrants] rebelled against the provincial governments b/c they felt they lacked influence and that the governments were unfair.