APUSH Unit 2
European Colonization of the Americas (1607-1754) 🌎
Motives and Methods
The major themes of this unit revolve around comparing the different motives and methods that Europeans used to colonize the Americas.
Spanish Colonization
Established colonies: to extract wealth (cash crops and gold/silver) and to subject the native population to their rule
Conversion to Christianity: attempted to convert the native population to Christianity with mixed success
Caste system: introduced a caste system that reorganized society based on racial ancestry
French Colonization
Interested in trade: more interested in trade than conquest, especially the fish and fur trade
Trading settlements: established trading settlements around North America
Marriages with Native American women: some French traders married Native American women to further advance their economic goals and keep kinship ties alive with their Native trading partners
Mutual benefit: there was mutual benefit in these alliances, with the French introducing iron cookware and manufactured cloth, and the Native Americans benefiting from the French preparation of beaver skins for sale at market
Dutch Colonization
Fur trading center: established a fur trading center on the Hudson River in 1609
Economic goals: goals for colonizing were mainly economic, like the French
New Amsterdam: established New Amsterdam in 1624, which facilitated and advanced their economic goals
Hub of trade: New Amsterdam became a hub of trade that attracted large populations of traders, merchants, fishermen, and farmers
British Colonization
Motivations
Economic opportunities: new economic opportunities and lands on which they could seek those opportunities
Religious freedom: some wanted to venture across the Atlantic to seek religious freedom and improved living conditions
Inflation: the British economy was experiencing inflation, which made prices rise, and their money worthless
British Colonial Settlements
Chesapeake Region
Jamestown: established Jamestown in 1607, their first permanent colonial settlement in North America
Joint stock company: financed by a joint stock company, a private business entity in which several different investors put money into a pot and then collected profits when the entity was successful
Profit-seeking venture: Jamestown was a profit-seeking venture, with colonists searching for gold and silver and building military force to defend their finds
Tobacco cultivation: discovered tobacco cultivation, which led to a complete reversal of their fortunes
Indentured servants: most people doing the work on the cultivation of these crops were indentured servants, who signed a labor contract that paid for their passage from Britain to the New World and agreed to work for usually seven years before going free
New England Colonies
Pilgrims: settled by pilgrims who migrated in family units to establish a society, not a profit-seeking enterprise
Christian religion: goals were bound up in their Christian religion
Family economies: created family economies as farmers
Rough time: had a rough time, with fevers and disease killing about half the original settlers
British West Indies and Southern Atlantic Coast Colonies
Caribbean colonies: established permanent colonies in the Caribbean in places like Saint Christopher, Barbados, and Nevis
Year-round growing seasons: the warm climate afforded year-round growing seasons
Tobacco and sugarcane: grew tobacco, but by the 1630s, falling tobacco prices led to the introduction of a new crop, sugarcane
Labor-intensive: sugarcane was a very labor-intensive crop, leading to an increase in demand for African slaves to grow it
Laws governing enslaved people: laws were passed to govern the black population, defining enslaved people as property and governing every little detail of their lives
Middle Colonies
Diverse population: in New York and New Jersey, there was a diverse population
Sea and rivers: the area was on the sea and was shot through with many rivers## Regional Characteristics of the British Colonies đź—ş
Middle Colonies
Founded by William Penn, a Quaker and pacifist
Recognized religious freedom for all
Land obtained from Indians through negotiation, not force
Governance in the Colonies
Unusually democratic due to Britain's distance and lack of interference
Self-governing structures established by colonial leaders
Examples:
Mayflower Compact: organized government on the model of a self-governing church congregation
House of Burgesses in Virginia: a representative assembly that could levy taxes and pass laws
The Atlantic Trade System 🌊
Triangular Trade
A three-part journey:
Merchant ships carried rum from New England to West Africa
Traded rum for enslaved people
Shipped enslaved people to the West Indies, trading for sugar cane
Returned to New England, selling sugar cane to make rum
Mercantilism
"Measuring wealth by gold and silver, each state's goal was to gain as much of that wealth as possible"
Maintaining a favorable balance of trade (more exports than imports)
Establishing colonies to obtain raw materials
British government's Navigation Acts:
Required merchants to engage in trade with English colonies and English-owned ships
Certain valuable trade items had to pass through British ports, where they could be taxed
Slavery in the British Colonies 👥
Between 1700 and 1808, 3 million enslaved Africans were carried on British ships across the Middle Passage
Majority sold to planters in the British West Indies
Every British colony participated in the slave trade
Strict slave codes introduced in Virginia, Carolinas, and Barbados, defining slaves as chattel (property)
Enslaved blacks resisted and rebelled, using covert strategies (e.g., secretly maintaining cultural customs, breaking tools) and overt strategies (e.g., the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, 1739)
Relations with Native Americans 🌎
Metacom's War (King Philip's War) in 1675: British encroachment on Native American lands led to conflict between the Wampanoag and the British
British allied with the Mohawk Indians, eventually ambushing and killing Metacom, ending the movement
Colonial Society and Structure 🏛
Religion
Enlightenment: a movement emphasizing rational thinking over tradition and religious revelation
Ideas spread through a robust transatlantic print culture
Key concepts:
Natural rights: people have inborn rights given by a creator, not by government
Social contract: people are in a contract with their government, which must protect natural rights
Three-branch government: legislative, executive, and judicial
The Great Awakening
A massive religious revival sweeping through all the colonies (1720s-1740s)
Leaders: Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield
Result: a large-scale return to the Christian faith, binding the colonists together and sowing the seeds for the rejection of British rule
Anglicanization
Colonies becoming more English-like, developing autonomous political communities similar to those in England
Rising frustration with the British, leading to resistance