History Notes

Heimler’s History of British Colonies:

Chesapeake colonies were the first colonies
The first British colony established in America was Jamestown in 1607
The establishment was financed by a new economic model called a joint-stock company
A joint-stock company was a private sponsor
To pay for the funding, a group of investors pooled their money together to share the financial risk
If the venture profited, the investors did as well
The purpose of Jamestown was to profit
Because the investors wanted to make a large profit, colonists split their time between two things

Diggin for gold and silver
Building up military and defenses in order to protect their gold and silver

Famine and disease called a large portion of people
The situation was was poor, some people resorted to cannibalism
The cultivation of tobacco helped the famine situation
Tobacco was able to greatly profit from
Most of the people who worked in the colonies were indentured servants
Indentured Servants: People who couldn’t afford to immigrate and thus would sign a labor contract to work for 7 years to pay their settlement fees
The farmers needed more land for tobacco which lead them to take land from the Native Americans
This led to increasing tension and violent retaliation and raids on the farmer’s land
William Berkeley didn’t respond to the angry farmers
This led to a rebellion led by Francis Bacon that first attacked Natives and the plantation owned by Berkeley
The elite began fearing that the indentured servants would retaliate
This caused them to turn to slaves from Africa
The New England colonies were settled by pilgrims
This meant there were a lot of Puritan Settlers, who were protestants that were seeking religious freedom from the church of England
The Pilgrims didn’t come primarily for religious freedom
The needed farmland means that economics was a pull factor for the United States
The New England colonists migrated as family groups to establish a society
Their life was still filled with the disease before they were able to reach a point of prosperity
In the 1620s, the British established their first colonies in the Caribbean
The constant warm weather made the area optimal for farming
Tobacco became a huge business venture until the more profitable sugar cane replaced it
Because of the price of farming sugar cane, the demand for African slaves grew
This high demand led to a majority black population
Harsh laws, called slave codes, were established to ensure the colonists could manage the high slave population
Chattel: A term slaves were defined as that meant they were property
The Middle Colonies developed an export economy because of their water-based geography
These colonies had a diverse population at first but shrunk as a social hierarchy emerged
Merchants and shopkeepers were at the top and African slaves were at the bottom
Pencilvaniya focused on religious freedom and used negotiation to obtain land from the Natives
Because Britain was far away, it allowed the colonies to form their own governments
This led to many democratic governments
In the Middle and South colonies, the elites were the ones who ruled \n

Heimler’s History:

In the years prior to the civil war, a huge amount of immigrants wanted to seek a new home
They lived together in ethnic communities to keep their cultural customs alive, called cultural enclaves
Many settled in slums where there were a lot of diseases and poor working conditions
Unemployment was also terrible
Many German immigrants moved west to find land to farm
Because of the influx of immigrants, an anti-catholic, nativist movement raised against the immigrants
Nativism is protecting the interests of native-born people over those of non-native people
The Irish weren’t considered the same white as the Americans and were also Catholics, not protestant which the Americans hated
Know Nothing Party: A political party formed for the purpose of being against immigration.
Nativism wanted to limit the immigrant’s cultural and political influence

1.3 Agenda:

The primary group in the Chesapeake colonies were Africans, mostly enslaved
The middle colonies had a more diverse group and contained several ethnic groups and religious groups
The New England colonies consisted of mostly the English and the main religious group was Congressional
The main purpose for people immigrating to the New England colonies, indicated by the similar religions and one ethnic group, was probably to gain religious freedom or start a family
The Middle Colonies were so diverse because they had very good farmland due to the amount of water and also had possibilities for water trade routes
The reason why so many Africans were probably in the Southern Colonies was that they were forced to be there as Chattle slaves for tobacco farming

1.4 Agenda:

Push factor: A factor that causes someone to want to emigrate from their country
Pull factor: A factor that causes someone to want to immigrate to a specific country
The reason why the Germans, English, and Irish had such high immigration numbers was partially from the desire to escape religious persecution from the Catholic Church
A lot of Irish people were interested in immigration because of the Irish Potato Famine
Irish Potato Famine: The Irish Potato famine refers to when the Irish were at their peak in potato farming because of the usability and price of the crop, but then there was a disease spreading throughout the potatoes, making them unfarmable, and therefore causing a famine
Another pull factor could have been the opportunity to obtain a better economic situation due to the rich farmland in America
Immigrants, specifically Irish ones, had very negative views of them
The Americans(not Native Americans) had a lot of negative perceptions of the Irish such as them being always drunk, aggressive, and just causing overall issues
They were also afraid that the Irish might revolt if enough of them gathered together so they wanted to teach people to be cautious