APUSH Period 2

In the seventeenth century, from Florida and New Mexico southward, the Spanish conquered most of South America. Most of North America by the 1600s was unexplored by the Europeans. 3 European powers had posts in three distant corners and within three years of one another: Santa Fe (Spanish) 1610, Quebec (French) 1608, and Jamestown (English) 1607. A lot of religious turmoil was happening, after King Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church. Catholics and Protestants fought for decades. Elizabeth I took the throne in 1558, she was Protestant. Catholic Spain and Catholic Ireland tried to team up to take down Elizabeth, but it was unsuccessful. 

English buccaneers like Francis Drake wanted to promote Protestantism and also plunder Spanish ships. The first attempt of English colonization was the lost colony of Roanoke, which was led by Sir Walter Raleigh after his brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was lost at sea. They landed in 1585, but the colony of Roanoke vanished whenever Raleigh came back. 

Under Philip II, the Spanish wanted to destroy England because of their switch to Protestantism. They had an “Invincible Armada”, ships that were big and heavy, but they were outmaneuvered by the swift British ships. However, a storm came through and destroyed the entire Spanish fleet. After this attempt, Spain’s power slowly declined. It was the complete opposite for the British, in which they had a golden age of literature and were thirsty for adventure. Spain and England signed a peace treaty in 1604. 

There was a surplus in the population of England. It went from 3 million people in the 1550s to 4 million in the 1600s. However, land used for sheep grazing made it worse for small farmers to get money. Economic depression hit the woolen trade in the late 1500s, making these farmers go to the city and become beggars. Laws of primogeniture said that only the eldest songs were eligible to inherit landed estates. To fund the adventures of Drake, Gilbert, and Raleigh, they had to invest in it. 

In 1606, the Virginia Company of Lontions arrived with three ships to the Chesapeake Bay, they were attacked by Indians, and were forced to go up to where the James River was. It was mosquito-infested and was hard to defend, but on May 24, 1607, the hundred men disembarked, leaving the colony called Jamestown. Whenever the settlers came over to the colony, they wanted to search for gold and spent their time doing that instead of surviving. Many people also died during the expedition. They were saved by Captain John Smith. John Smith was captured by the Powhatans, but Pocohantas saved him from getting murdered. He was the “leader” of the colony. Of the 400 settlers who came to Jamestown, 60 were alive after the winder of 1609-1610. Lord De La Warr came around and tried to control Jamestown in 1610. He went to war against the Indians.

A group of English settlers from Barbados arrived in Carolina in 1670. They brought a version of the Barbados slave code, which the other colonies started to use as well. It was named after King Charles II. Indian slave trade started to happen in Carolina. The Lords Proprietors, people who were granted land from the king, didn’t want the slave trade to happen. In 1707, after all of this Indian slave trade and turmoil, the Savannah Indians migrated to Maryland and Pennsylvania, where William Penn settled his Quaker colony known as Pennsylvania. Rice was grown a lot in Carolina. Charles Town was one of the busiest ports of the South. North Carolina was first named for being in the North Carolina and were tobacco farmers who didn’t need slaves. North Carolina was separated in 1712. The Carolinas were attacked by a lot of other Indian tribes like the Tuscaroras and the Yamasees.

Georgia was a buffer colony in the beginning. Its use was to protect the Carolinas from the Spanish. Georgia was launched by philanthropists and was used originally as a place where people from debtor’s prisons could escape. James Oglethorpe was the ablest of the founders. Georgia grew slowly because of the Spanish attacks, bad climate, and black slavery. Savannah was also a place where a lot of people also mixed in together. 

Religion shaped the earliest settlements in the North, while in the South people wanted the money from tobacco. Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the wall of the Wittenberg Church in 1517. In it, he declared the Bible alone was the source of God’s word. The Protestant Reformation happened. John Calvin of Geneva based his ideas off of Luther and named his, Calvinism. In 1536, Calvin had a doctrine called Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin argued that you are predestined if you are going to Heaven or Hell, this is where predestination originated. During the protestant reformation, everybody wanted to see Catholicism gone, this included Puritans, Calvinists, etc. A branch of Puritans known as Separatists wanted to make the priests as equal as the common folk, since the “saints” were the king’s subjects. King James I saw that if people defied him as a spiritual leader, they would defy him as a political leader. This did not work for Charles I (he died). 

In 1608, a Separatist group known as the Pilgrims went to Holland in 1608. In Holland, they didn’t like how the Dutch people were tainting their children. So they left for the new world. They arrived in 1620 with 102 men, however, they didn’t have a smooth landing. They had to move up the river since where they landed was part of the Virginia Company. They agreed to settle with them, but they landed at Plymouth Bay instead of where they were originally supposed to be going. Before settling, they made the Mayflower Compact, which was a crude government signed by 41 men. The winter was bad, with 58 of their men dying. Plymouth had a bountiful Thanksgiving in the fall. One of the leaders of the Pilgrims was William Bradford. 

In 1629, some Puritans fearing for their faith made a charter to form the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They landed in 1630 with 11 vessels. 70,000 refugees left England and went to places like the West Indies, New England. Massachusetts had Boston as its main hub. John Winthrop was the first governor of this colony. He believed that they needed to be a “city on the hill” basically being a divine city. 

Puritan congregations were now called the Congregational Church. The provincial government was not a democracy yet, with Governor Winthrop fearing and distrusting the commons as the meaner sort. John Cotton was a person who was a Puritan that was defending the government’s duties to enforce religious rules. Puritans were in a “Protestant ethic”, where they drank, made love, ate, and sang songs. But the laws restricted doing so in public. Michael Wigglesworth’s Day of Doom (1662) was a poem that depicted how hell was. Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643 held unorthodox views that challenged authority of the clergy and the very integrity of the Puritan experiment in the Mass. Bay Colony. 

The Bay Colony had a lot of social harmony. Dissension started whenever the Quakers were being mistreated. Anne Hutchinson, said that since there is predestination, there is no sure sign of salvation, what she was committing was antinomianism. In 1638, she boasted that she could talk to God, and she was banished. Another person who was against religious rules was Roger Williams, he was a Separatist who wanted to leave the Church of England. He was also banished. However, he fled to Rhode Island in 1636,m and built a Baptist Church there. Rhode Island became pretty independent, it began as a squatter colony in 1636, and it secured a charter in 1644. 

Hartford was founded in 1635. With more settlers coming 3 years later. New Haven was also sprawling in 1638. Basically, the Mass. Bay Colonies were growing a lot and was the hub of New England. Maine was also looking good to fisherman and fur traders, Ferdinando Gorges tried to colonize the land in 1623, but was later purchased by Gorges in 1677. New Hampshire was also absorbed in 1641 by the Bay Colony. The King separated New Hampshire from Massatuchetts in 1679 and made it royal.

 In 1620. An epidemic killed a bunch of Indians whenever the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth. The Indians first befriended the settlers and signed a Treaty in 1621. In 1637, the Indians became more hostile since more settlers were pushing them out. This led to a little war called the Pequot War, and was ended by the slaughter of the Pequot tribe. In 1675, Massasoit;’s son Metacom forged an alliance and attacked English villages. In 1676, 52 towns were hit, with 12 being destroyed entirely. He was killed and his head was on a pike after. After all of this, the Indians weren’t really a threat anymore. 

In 1643, 4 colonies (Mass, Plymouth, Conn. New Haven) gathered together to make the New England Confederation. The reason they made this confederation was to protect against foes or potential foes, like the Dutch, French, and the Indians. Another reason was how runaway slaves and criminals kept fleeing colonies. This confederation was really a Puritan club. This was a rocky start to an union. 

Whenever Charles II came back onto the English throne at 1660, he was appalled. So, he gave and removed sea-to-sea charter grants with Connecticut receiving one in 1662, and the Bay Colony getting one removed. The Dominion of New England was created in 1686. It first covered all of New England, then was expanded to New York and East/West Jersey. It was also made as a defense against other powers. It also powered the English Navigation Laws. The ENLs engaged trade with only England. At the head of this New Dominion was Sir Edmund Andros. He was pretty bad: taxed people heavily, stopped town meetings, etc. In 1668-89, the Glorious Revolution happened in England, where they dethroned James II, and was replaced by William III. When this reached America, they drove Andros out of New England. Even after all of this, Mass still became a royal colony in 1691. After 1691, the colonies were in “salutary neglect” where the ENLs weren’t enforced as much. 

Late in the 16th century,  the Netherlands were fighting Spain. The 17th century was a golden age in Dutch history. The Dutch had 3 wars with the English and also had the Dutch Republic. The Dutch East India Company was loaded with ships, men. Henry Hudson was an English explorer who went into New York and Delaware Bay and then filed this area as Dutch. New Netherland was planted in 1623-1624. It was established by the DWIC for its fur trade. They also bought Manhattan Island as well.  New Amsterdam was a company town. It was ran by Dutch stockholders, and they didn’t care about religious freedom at the time. But some laws started coming out and then people came to New Amsterdam, also a lot of immigrants came as well. New Amsterdam had an aggressive wall that protected them from Indians, this is where Wall St. came from. There was tension between New Amsterdam and New England. The Swedes came and planted the colony of New Sweden on the Delaware river. Peter Stuvesant sieged New Sweden and it was absorbed into New Amsterdam. New England then took over New Amsterdam with Stuvesant surrendering. The Livingstons and De Lanceys, families who wielded a lot of power, settled over there. The Dutch peppered names like Harlem, Brooklyn, and Hell Gate. 

The Religious Society of Friends were known as the Quakers. TThey were simple people, believing that they were all children in the sight of God. They didn’t condone to war and fighting other people and were simple, devoted democratic people. William Penn was one of these people who were attracted to the Quaker faith. He wanted to experiment with liberal ideas and the Quaker way of life, so he asked the king for some land. He got Pennsylvania in 1681. He welcomed anyone who wanted to come, and because of that it was also a very successful colony. He also bought land from the Indians and treated them well, and Pennsylvania also held a lot of immigrants. 

New Jersey started to grow in 1664. It was given to Lords Proprietors from the Duke of York, but was then given to the quakers. In 1702, it was made royal. Delaware was actually governed under Pennsylvania. All of these middle colonies - New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania had a lot of things in common. The soil was fertile and the land was broad. They exported a lot of grain. Rivers also played a vital role. Virginia had many forests that contributed to ship building. Also all of the harbors in the middle colonies were full of ships coming in and out. The middle colonies were also the inbetween of the plantation south and New England. Whenever Ben Franklin came to Pennsylvania, the middle colonies were thriving a lot. 

Life in the American wilderness was nasty. Malaria, dysentery, and typhoid was pretty bad. Disease plagued colonies like Maryland, Virginia, and some others. People who came to New England were single males in their twenties. These people died by the time they arrived to New England. Most men couldn’t find mates, marriages were destroyed, and children, if any, couldn’t see their grandparents. As time went on, people became immune to these diseases. At the beginning of the 18th century, Virginia was the most populous colony, followed by Massatuchetts and Maryland. 

Tobacco was a growing economy for the Chesapeake Bay colonies. In the 1630s, ships carried out 1.5 Million pounds of tobacco, and this number kept growing. But who would work in the plantation? England decided to use indentured servants, people who worked on these plantations for a set amount of time, and were promised land and other things. They also used the headright system to encourage importation. By 1700, there was 100,000 indentured slaves brought to the region. It was not a good life at all, but people believed the outcome would be good. The Virginia assembly in 1670 disfranchised most of the land. Virginia’s governor William Berkeley’s misery increased, as Bacon’s rebellion broke out in 1676. Nathaniel Bacon was the head of this rebellion. They burned Jamestown and demanded what they wanted, which was to get their land that they were promised.

After this rebellion, African slaves started to be imported. Slaves were brought to Jamestown as early as 1619, but there were very few in 1670. White slaves were cheaper than black slaves. But things changed in the 1680s, with black slaves outnumbering white slaves. In 1698, the Royal African Company, first chartered in 1672, lost its crown granted monopoly of carrying slaves to the colonies. Amercans, especially Rhode Islanders, wanted to get in on this slave trade. By 1750, nearly half of the population of Virginia was black. The slaves who came from there, came from the west coast of Africa, who went through the middle passage, and went on to the Americas. Most went to the West Indies and South America, with a few coming to America. Laws regarding slaves made them and their children property of their owners. In the deepest South, slave life was severe. South Carolina was loaded with rice and indigo plantations that these slaves worked on. Tobacco had larger plantations. The slaves started having families and was helpful for the owners.  

Native-born African Americans contributed to the growth of a stable and distinctive slave culture. SC’s coast grew a language blacks had called Gullah. It blended several African languages and other African traditions were also brought to the South. There was a distinct hierarchy in the South, with great planters being at the top of this, these people were slave owners who had a lot of land and a lot of slaves. These people ruled the House of Burgesses. They labored a lot over plantation management. The largest SOCIAL group were small planters, people who just luckless indentured servants. Their numbers decreased as black slavery was continuing to go on. Southern life grew around the plantation. 

Northerners were different, they lived for longer and had cleaner water. Instead of the South, Northern life grew around the family. Women birthed a lot. Raising children was their job. Longevity of Northerners came from family stability. New England invented “grandparents” so they can learn from their elders and they grew in a nurturing environment. Southern men died pretty quickly, and laws made women be able to inherit the land. Northern women gave up their rights for property. Women’s rights began to appear, but they were still dominated by the stereotype that women are weaker than men. Midwives also played a big role in delivering babies. Divorce was a very rare thing in Northern society. 

New Englander’s society was small farms and villages. It grew in an orderly fashion. New towns were chartered by the authorities and the distribution of land was handed over to the “proprietors”. This consisted of a meetinghouse, which was surrounded by houses. Majority of the adults knew how to read and write, with children also getting elementary education. In 1639, the college of William and Mary was started in Jamestown. Puritans ran their own churches, and democracies. New England villagers always elected their officials, appointed schoolmasters and discussed mundane matters. In the middle of the 17th century, a new form of sermon began to ber heard from Puritan pulpits, “jeremiad”. After this, the church developed the Half Way Covenant. It allowed children to be baptized but unconverted church members. This made people part of the church and have rights. In Salem, Massatuchetts, other things were happening. In 1692, adolescent girls were saying they were bewitched. The fear of witchcraft was on the rise during this time, but it ended in 1693. The region was rocky and had hot summers and cold winters. However, the introduction of livestock changed a lot of stuff. This speeded the erosion and flooding, because of their grazing. The New Englanders became best at shipbuilding and commerce. Majority of these colonists were farmers. Women cooked, cleaned, and took care of children. Leisler’s rebellion also happened from 1689-1691. 

Thirteen colonies wasn’t the case, Britain had 32 colonies throughout America, Florida, Canada, etc. Only 13 of those colonies went to rebellion. By 1775, 2.5M people inhabited the thirteen colonies whilst half a million were black. Basically, there was a lot of population growth, with Philadelphia being the largest “city”, followed by New York, Boston, and Charleston. 90% of the people lived in rural areas. 

Colonial America was a melting pot, with Germans constituting about 6% of the population.They all settled in Pennsylvania after fleeing from religious persecution and the economic oppression and war. They were primarily Lutheran. They were known as Pennsylvania Dutch. Scots-Irish were also in colonial America, making about 7% of the population. They came from Northern Ireland. The Scots-Irish weren’t doing well because of the restrictions of linens and woolens. They were mostly squatting illegally, and brought whiskey making with them. They led the Paxton Boys in Philadelphia in 1764. Colonial America was a hodgepodge of races, with African American being the largest non-white population. Basically America was very diverse as well. 

Military suppliers in the early 1700s made their riches known. These people in Boston and Philadelphia owned a lot of wealth in their cities. The people in the countryside were becoming poorer. In 1750, people in Boston had to wear a P on their clothing who were homeless, poor. Wealth came to large slave plantation owners. The most honored profession was in the Christian ministry. In 1750, the clergy didn’t have as much power as they had now. 1765 was when the first medical school was made. Bleeding was done a lot and diseases like smallpox, diphtheria had a lot of epidemics. People also didn’t care about lawyers. Agriculture was the leading industry. Tobacco was the staple crop in Maryland and Virginia. In the middle colonies, bread was heavily made due to the large quantities of grain being planted. Fishing was also a good industry, with dried cod and shipbuilding being a major industry in New England.

Lumbering was the most important manufacturing activity used for vessels. Tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine were also highly valued. People were subjected to fines if they were cutting trees that were to be used for England. England saw all of this trade that was happening to the West Indies and dropped the Molasses Act which made it stop trading with the French West Indies. The merchants responded by smuggling goods through to the French West Indies. Travel was hard since there weren’t any dedicated roads. So, most people settled near navigable rivers. Taverns were made for drinking and gossip happens a lot, and they are held a part in public opinion. The Anglican and Congregational churches were the churches that were tax supported in 1775. Anglican faith was practiced in New York, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and North, South Carolina. It clung to a faith that was less fierce. The Congregational Church was grown out of the Puritan Church, established in all of the New England colonies except for Rhode Island. Angilicans didn’t have a serious bishop who was over them. They had to travel to England to be ordained. The Great Awakening was a religious revival in the 1730s and 1740s. It was first ignited in North Hampton, Mass. by John Edwards. Edwards' preaching style was learned and closely reasoned. He proclaimed that salvation must be obtained through good works and the need for God’s grace.; George Whitefield had a style where people were swooning and were fainting under him. He was one of the best preachers and was touring throughout the colonies. It helped with church attendance, new colleges, and even missionary work. Education was a very big factor in New England society. College education was widely regarded in New England. Many families in the South would send their children off to Northern universities. Ben Franklin launched the University of Pennsylvania in 1751. Architecture was imported from the old world as well. Colonial literature was undistinguished. Ben Franklin started Poor Richard’s Almanack. Americans were too poor to buy books and to busy to read them. Ben Franklin also launched a library in the New World. There were many newspaper articles printed out as well. John Peter Zenger was a newspaper printer who had a newspaper that assailed the governor. He was defended by Andrew Hamiliton and was saying that he had printed the truth. This gave freedom of press in the colonies whenever the Declaration of Independence was made. 

America was making progress in political science. Every colony had a two house legislative body, the upper house and the lower house. The upper house was appointed by the crown while the lower house was appointed by the people. The governors appointed by the royal crown were able-bodied men. Some were corrupt ( like Lord Cornbury who governed New York and New Jersey in 1702). By 1775, America had not yet been a full democracy. Amusement was eagerly pursued where time and custom permitted. Weddings and Funerals happened, winter sports and dancing also happened. Some people just pass the time by working. Lotteries were approved and Holidays were also celebrated. However, they weren’t an independent country yet, just independent colonies.