DEUSH MOD 1

BEFORE FIRST CONTACT - AMERICAS AND EUROPE

Why is this land called America?

• In 1507, German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, created a map of the world and gave the “New World” the name of America as a nod to explorer Amerigo Vespucci who wrote one of the first books about this land after he traveled across the Atlantic in 1503.  

• These maps became a popular form of wallpaper and the name stuck.

Pre-Columbian Americas

• Population circa 1492 – about 75 million

• Geographical size – 20 million square miles

• Examples of large societies

  • Cahokia, Maya, Aztec,  Inca

  • Built monumental cities and structures

    • Examples?

    • Largest city – Tenochtitlan (250,000+)

• Most in smaller settlements

• Mostly agricultural + hunting/gathering

  • Examples of types of agriculture?

  • Main crops – squash, corn, beans (Three Sisters)

  • Few domesticated animals – pigs and chickens

  • Hunted wild buffalo, turkeys

• Abundant food resources

• Hundreds of languages

  • Most no written language

• Many different faiths practiced

• Weapons

  • Materials:

    • Wood

    • Bronze 

    • Stone 

    • bones

Exposure to Diseases

• Did not live in dense settlements

• Did not accumulate filth

• Did not live in crowded areas

• Had a lack of domesticated animals

• Suffered from very few infectious diseases

View of Property

• land was for communal use

• Can not “own” land

Technology and Innovation

• Ingenuity in areas like astronomy, medicine, agriculture, and architecture

• Lacked important technological advances 

  • like the plow, the wheel, and sailing ships 

  • BUT

    • Used slash/burn and crop rotation

    • Cities and religions as complex as Europe

    • Sanitation system, syringes/aspirin

Why were the Europeans successful at colonizing the Americas? 

• It wasn’t character traits, good or bad, that ultimately hurt Native Americans.  

• It was…

  • An unwillingness or inability to unite against the European invader (250 tribes, 300+ languages)

  • Bronze or wooden weapons

    • Versus steel weapons and guns

  • No horses

  • A lack of biological defense against European diseases

Pre-Columbian Europe

• Population circa 1492 – about 65 million

• Geographical size – 4 million square miles

• Examples of large societies

  • Examples?

  • Built monumental cities and structures

    • Examples?

• Many smaller kingdoms and countries

• Mostly agricultural

  • Land surrounded by fences

  • More domesticated animals

    • Ex. cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, horses, oxen

    • Hunted deer

• Suffered from widespread famine and poverty

• Dozens of languages

  • Spoken and written

• Three dominant faiths

  • Which ones?

• Weapons

  • Materials:

    • Wood

    • Iron or steel

Exposure to Diseases

• Lived in dense settlements

• Many domesticated animals

  • Lived in close proximity

• Animals and human accumulated vast filth

  • Bred vermin: 

    • Ex. Mice, rats, roaches

• Built up immunities over a millennia

  • Exposed to many infectious diseases

    • Examples?

View of Property

• Land was a commodity (something that can be bought or sold)

• Can be “owned” by an individual (private property)

• Also had communal lands for public use

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND THE COLONIZATION OF THE AMERICAS

Introduction: The Age of Exploration

• European powers sought new trade routes and territories in the 15th-18th centuries

• Major players: Spain, Portugal, France, Netherlands, England

• Motivations: Direct access to Asian trade, Northwest Passage, rivalry with other powers

Settler Colonialism

• “Destroys to replace”

• When settlers seek new territory or land and seek to replace native culture

  • No attempt to assimilate

  • Due to belief in cultural superiority

  • Did not necessarily lead to genocide but could

  • “Cultural genocide?”

Spain's Exploration and Colonization

• Main exploration period: 1500s-1600s

• Famous explorers: Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro

• Areas colonized: New Spain (Mexico), Central America, South America, Caribbean

• Reasons: Gold, silver, land for sugar, social advancement, spread of Catholicism

Spain

• New Spain

• Exploitation of riches

  • Created race-based class system (castas)

• Spread of Christianity

  • Word of atrocities

• Influenced other European countries to explore and colonize

Black Legend  

• Unfavorable view of Spanish

• Cruel and intolerable

  • Mistreatment of:

    • Natives

    • non-Spanish

    • non-Catholic

• Used by Spanish rivals to diminish Spanish reputation

  • Demonized Spanish

  • Political tactic

Portugal's Maritime Empire

• Exploration period: 1500s-1600s

• Key figures: Prince Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama

• Main colony: Brazil

• Motivations: Rivalry with Spain, gold, silver, sugar production, slave trade

France in the New World

• Exploration period: 1600s-1700s

• Notable explorers: Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain

• Territories: New France (Canada), Great Lakes, Louisiana

• Focus: Fur trade, investment from trading companies, spread of Catholicism

Dutch Colonial Efforts

• Exploration period: 1600s

• Key explorer: Henry Hudson

• Colony: New Netherland (Hudson River Valley), New Amsterdam (New York City)

• Motivation: Expand profits from trade

Dutch

• New Netherlands

  • New Amsterdam

• Capitalists

  • Trade

    • Dutch East India Company

    • West India Company

      • Trade with natives

  • Stock exchange

  • Finance

• Religious Freedom

• Rights for women

• Slavery despite views on freedom

English

• Early colonization: Ireland*, Roanoke

• Privateering and government sponsored trade monopolies

• “Doing God’s work”: spread Protestant Christianity

• Rival of Spain - War

• Peace led to urgent desire to colonize 

  • End of privateering

English Colonization

• Exploration period: 1600s-1700s

• Explorers: John Cabot, Sir Francis Drake

• Colonies: British North America (Thirteen Colonies), Jamaica, Northern Canada

• Reasons: Rivalry with Spain, profit, religious freedom, spread of Protestantism

Impact on Indigenous Peoples

• Devastating effects of European diseases (e.g., smallpox)

• Exploitation as laborers or slaves

• Forced relocation and loss of land

• Some instances of trade and cooperation (e.g., fur trade)

Labor and Social Structures in the Colonies

• Initial reliance on indigenous labor

• Increasing importation of enslaved Africans

• Development of racial hierarchies (e.g., Spanish casta system)

• Emergence of hybrid cultures and mixed-race populations

Legacy of European Colonization

• Lasting impact on demographics, languages, and cultures of the Americas

• Economic systems based on resource extraction and plantation agriculture

• Ongoing issues of racial and social inequality

• Complex relationships between former colonies and European powers

THE ORIGINAL THIRTEEN COLONIES

Jamestown

Virginia Company

• 1606

• King James I granted Virginia Company a charter to establish colonies in New World

  • Private joint-stock company

• Wanted economic opportunity

  • Expected to profit from gold, iron ore, timber among other products

  • Also hoped to find Northwest Passage

• Other motives

  • Stop spread of Spanish colonies

  • Spread Protestant Christianity

• 
  

Jamestown

• Settlers landed in 1607

• Powhatan territory

• No easy money

  • Not ready for hard work

  • Land unsuitable

• John Smith and Pocahontas

  • Secured cooperation with Powhatan for a short time

• “Starving time”

• John Rolfe and tobacco

• House of Burgesses

Plymouth

Plymouth and the Pilgrims

Background:

• Protestant Reformation

  • Rejection of Roman Catholicism and authority of Pope 

  • Rise of the Anglican Church in England

• Puritans

  • Protestants who were seeking to reform the Anglican Church

    • Too Catholic

  • Separatists

    • Extreme group of Puritans 

      • Saints: members who upheld the proper worship of God

      • Intense association that believed in own righteousness (being morally correct)

    • Wanted to break free from the Anglican Church

      • Believed this was not the true church of Christ

    • Later known as the Pilgrims

The Pilgrims

• Left Britain

• Went to Holland for freedom of religion

  • Too “Dutch”  

  • Wanted to remain English without interference

• Secured rights with Virginia Company to settle in Virginia

  • Agreed to work 7 years in return for support of company

• Landed off New England coast

  • The Mayflower

  • 102 people

Plymouth Colony

• Plymouth was outside of Virginia Company jurisdiction

  • Was supposed to land in Virginia

    • Landed in Cape Cod

  • Settlers became “squatters”

    • No legal right to land 

    • Had to land due to:

      • sickness

      • low food and water 

      • Winter (Nov. 1620)

• Land was “vacant”

  • 1616-1619: plague wiped out 90% of region’s inhabitants

    • Due to contact with European traders

  • Remaining tribes were in competition for power over region

• First permanent English settlement in New England

  • Plymouth Bay

• Struggled to survive first winter

  • 52 of the 102 died by spring 1621

• Became allies with Wampanoag

  • Massasoit: sachem (leader)

  • Communicated through Indian interpreters: 

    • Squanto

    • Samoset

• With aid of Indians, Pilgrims learned to farm and survived

• Within the next decade, thousands of English came to settle in region

  • Boston

New England Colonies

Massachusetts Bay Colony

• English Puritans formed in 1629

• Joint-Stock Enterprise

• Port of Boston was the capital

• Puritan and Non-Puritans allowed

• Incorporated Plymouth Colony

• John Winthrop - first governor

Problems in Massachusetts Bay Colony

• New England’s colonial society was based on religious standing.

• The Puritans grew increasingly intolerant of dissenters who challenged the Puritans’ belief in the connection between religion and government. 

  • Roger Williams

  • Anne Hutchinson 

  • Both challenged the social order which the colony was founded on

Roger Williams

• Banished from Massachusetts

• Believed:

  • English settlers had no rightful claim to the land unless they purchased it from the Native Americans

  • religious freedom

  • separation of church and state

• Founded Providence (later capital of Rhode Island)

  • Became haven for other religious minorities

Anne Hutchinson

• Also banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony

• Helped to establish Portsmouth

  • Became part of Rhode Island

• Believed that worshippers needed neither the church nor its ministers to interpret the Bible for them

Middle Colonies

New Netherland – NY and NJ

• 1621—New Netherland founded by the Dutch

  • Henry Hudson employed by Dutch sailed up the Hudson River in 1620

  • Dutch interested in the fur trade

  • New Amsterdam founded in 1625 (now NYC)

  • 1655 took over New Sweden along the Delaware River

New Netherland

• Diverse population

  • Attracted Germans, French, Scandinavians and other Europeans to settle there

  • Many Africans—free as well as enslaved

• Had friendlier relations with the Native Americans than New England and Virginia

  • Not interested in CHRISTIANIZING the Indians but instead ESTABLISHING FRIENDLY ties with them

New York and New Jersey

• Downfall of New Netherland

  • The ENGLISH!

    • Saw the Dutch as separating the Northern and Southern colonies

  • 1664—King Charles II granted his brother James, the duke of York permission to drive out the Dutch

    • when English arrived, Peter Stuyvesant called the Dutch to arms but not many came—the Dutch surrendered

    • Duke of York named it New York

      • He was the new proprietor of the colony

      • He gave land to two of his friends who named the territory New Jersey

Pennsylvania

• William Penn’s “holy experiment”

  • A place without a land-owning aristocracy

  • Every adult male settler received 50 acres of land and the right to vote

  • “City of Brotherly Love”--Philadelphia

• Religion:  Quaker

  • Believed God’s “inner light” was in everyone

  • Pacifist

  • Dress plainly

• Relationship with the Native Americans

  • Respected the NA and they respected him

• Most advertised colony

  • Posted signs in German, Dutch and French
    
    

Chesapeake Colonies

Maryland

• 1632

• George Calvert, the first Lord of Baltimore

• Roman Catholic colony

• Colony granted Religious Freedom
  
  

Virginia

• 1607

• Virginia Company of London

  • Granted permission via charter

• First permanent English settlement in Western Hemisphere

• Thrived due to tobacco

  • Cash crop
    
    

Southern Colonies

The Carolinas

• Initially one colony

• 1663

  • Split into North Carolina and South Carolina (1712)

• King Charles II gave land to key supporters
  
  

Georgia

• James Oglethorpe

• 1732

• Buffer between rest of English colonies and Spanish Florida

• Haven for those imprisoned for debt

  • Few debtors came

• Policies:

  • No slavery and drinking of rum

  • Reversed later by British when took over direct control
    
    

Turmoil in England and the Colonies

The English Civil War

• King James I (r. 1603-1625) and King Charles I (r. 1625-1649) believed in “divine right of kings”

• 20,000+ dissenters fled to New England

• English Civil War

  • 1642-1649

  • War over power of Parliament vs. the King

• Impact:

  • The concept of sovereignty of the people replaced “divine right of kings”

Puritan Migration

• The Pilgrims and Puritans sought freedom from religious tyranny

  • Fled during era of turmoil in England

  • As a result:

    • Strong will to preserve way of life and autonomy

    • Saw North America as an Eden

      • “Untouched” land to be again in peace

  • However:

    • Discounted and disregarded the people who already lived there

      • Did not extend notion of religious freedom to others

• Used violence to achieve settlements
  
  

Pequot War

• 1636-1637

• Several battles between Pequots and a coalition of the Narragansett, the Mohegan, and colonists

• Turning point of the war:

  • Mystic Massacre

• Effect:

  • Wiped out powerful Pequot tribe

    • Were either killed or sold into Caribbean slavery

      • However, led to Caribbean import ban on Native American slaves

        • Led to the decline of capturing Native Americans as slaves

  • Opened more lands to White settlement

  • Showed how the ability of white settlers to wage

King Philip’s War

• In 1675, Metacomet (“King Philip”) led the Wampanoag tribe against NE colonists:

  • Attempted to oust settlers from their lands

  • Sought justice for several killings

• Result:

  • 1,000+ Natives and colonists died

  • Half of all towns were destroyed or abandoned

  • Ended Native American power in New England

    • Metacomet executed and young son sold into slavery

Political Turmoil

• King James II created the “Dominion of New England” in 1686 by 

  • combining MA, CT, RI, Plymouth, NY, NJ, and NH under a new royal charter

    • Resentment amongst colonists

  • Dissolved in 1689 when King James II was removed from the monarchy (Glorious Revolution)

    • Colonies to return to previous status

      • Exception: Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony combined into Massachusetts (1691)

Bacon’s Rebellion

• 1676

• Causes:

  • Economic:

    • Falling tobacco prices

    • Rising prices on English goods

    • High colonial taxes

    • Hit poor Virginians hardest

  • Political:

    • Must be landowner to vote

    • Growing resentment of wealthy Virginia landowners

    • Calls for expansion westward

    • Retaliatory raids by Natives on colonists

• Catalyst:

  • Bacon led raids against Native settlements

    • Called for governor support

  • Gov. Berkeley refused support and declared Bacon a rebel

    • Wanted to preserve trade with Natives

• An angered Nathaniel Bacon led 500 men 

  • Amassed a militia

    • Many indentured servants made up militia

  • Launched more raids around the colony

  • Marched on Jamestown twice

    • On second march, burned Jamestown down

• Bacon died soon after and rebellion fell apart

• Impact:

  • Led to more aggressive policy towards the Natives

  • Shift from indentured servitude to African slavery

  • Helped to solidify system of racial intolerance amongst White settlers

Salem Witch Trials

• 1692 – Salem, Massachusetts

• Mass hysteria of witchcraft spread through area

  • Frenzy of baseless accusations of witchcraft

• More than 200 people accused of witchcraft

  • 20 executed and 5 died in jail

• Causes:

  • Throughout 17^th Century, belief in good and evil supernatural interventions and powers widespread

    • Witches were people (mostly women) accused a making a pact with the devil for evil powers to harm

  • Period of social, economic, and religious turmoil in Salem Village

• Trials ended when MA governor intervened after wife was accused

• Effects:

  • Important changes to colonial court system

    • Right to legal representation

    • Accused are innocent until proven guilty

  • Lessening of the belief in witchcraft

Impact of Turmoil

• African slavery became dominant form of coerced labor 

• Constant fear of Native and slave uprisings

• Racial lines more defined and solidified

  • Race as marker of citizenship

  • Racial intolerance amongst White settlers increased

    • Native Americans and Black people were demonized

    • Became defining part of American culture

• Questions about authority and liberties became part of colonial identity
  
  

SLAVERY IN THE COLONIAL ERA

Indentured Servitude

• Definition:

  • A labor system in which people agreed to

    work for an employer for a set number of

    years in exchange for passage to the

    colonies, food, and shelter.

• How It Worked:

  • Many poor people, debtors, or convicted

    criminals signed contracts called

    indentures.

    
    

  • Employers paid for their voyage to the

    colonies.

    
    

  • Servants worked under strict control and

    often faced harsh living and working

    conditions.

    
    

  • Their contracts could be bought and sold

    by employers.

    
    

  • After completing their service, they

    received freedom dues, such as money,

    land, or supplies.

Origins and Motivations for Slavery

• Colonists needed labor and preferred coerced labor.

• Slavery was profitable for enslavers.

• Indentured servitude was unreliable.

  • Contracted labor for a set period in exchange for passage, shelter, and sustenance.

1619

• First African enslaved persons arrived in English colonies

  • First of an estimated 450,000 brought to British North America

    • About 11-12 million to the New World

      • Additional estimated 2 million died at sea

        • Middle Passage

      • Another several million estimated to have died before leaving Africa or the Seasoning

        • The Seasoning – period of adjustment after arrival in Americas

Slavery in British North America

• By 1750

  • Slavery legal in all colonies

  • Colonies more reliant on slavery to some extent as a system of labor:

    • New York

    • New Jersey

    • Pennsylvania

    • Delaware

    • Maryland

    • Virginia

    • North Carolina

    • South Carolina

    • Georgia

      
      

      
      

Slave Trade

• Every major port city involved in slave trade

  • Charleston, SC

  • Newport, RI

  • New York City, NY

Rise of Chattel Slavery

• By the 1700s, slavery based on race became dominant.

• By 1750, slavery was legal in all 13 colonies.

Race and Racism

• Race: Defined by physical traits and ancestry.

• Racism: Belief in racial superiority/inferiority; systemic oppression.

Enforcement of Slavery

• 1662

  • Virginia law

    • All children born in the country get their labor status from the condition of the mother

  • Other colonies followed with passage of similar laws

  • All children born to enslaved women, slave for life, regardless of father

• Impact: slavery became hereditary and for life

• Slave Codes:

  • Laws to control enslaved people, prevent rebellion, and protect enslavers’ interests.

  • Methods of control included violence, psychological manipulation, and denial of education.

• Why?

  • So, enslavers could maintain control and benefit from slave labor

• How?

  • Maintained strict discipline through physical violence including torture and sexual assault

  • Required and imposed unconditional submission from enslaved persons

  • Created a sense of personal inferiority, so that enslaved persons “know their place” and to be “grateful” to enslavers for their enslavement

  • Instilled fear

  • Taught enslaved persons to take interest in their enslaver's enterprise

  • Prevented access to education and recreation, to ensure that enslaved persons remain uneducated, helpless, and dependent

Resistance to Slavery

Slave Rebellions

• Stono Rebellion

  • Sept. 1739

  • 80 enslaved persons set out for Fort Mose in Spanish Florida

  • Killed white settlers and burned plantations along path

  • Defeated by local militia

• SC response

  • 1740 law

    • Purpose: “So that the slave may be kept in due subjugation and obedience.”

Antislavery

• Quakers

  • “fundamental equality of all human souls”

  • By 1758 disowned members engaged in slave trade

  • Sparked debates throughout colonies about:

    • banning slavery

    • Racial basis of slavery

    • Human rights

• Impact:

  • After the American Revolution, the first wave of states freed enslaved persons

    • Based on principles of the Revolution of equality and liberty

Conclusion

• Colonists increasingly relied on enslaved labor to meet economic demands.

• Indentured servitude declined as race-based chattel slavery expanded.

• Slave codes and laws made slavery hereditary and lifelong.

• Enslaved people resisted through rebellion, cultural survival, and everyday acts of resistance.

• The institution of slavery helped shape the economy, laws, and social hierarchy of early America.

CONSUMPTION, TRADE, AND SOCIETY IN THE BRITISH AMERICAN COLONIES

Consumer Revolution

• What was it?

  • By the 1700s in the colonies:

    • Dramatic increase in availability and purchase of goods

• Causes:

  • Growing colonial wealth

  • Connection to Triangular Trade

  • Greater availability to access and afford imported goods

• Effects:

  • Purchase of consumer goods

    • Ex. furniture, books, textiles

  • Owning consumer goods became symbol of status and respectability

    • Defined social identity

  • Increased colonial connection to British culture and markets

• Significance:

  • Strengthened the colonial economy

  • Encouraged expectations of economic freedom within the colonies

Currency and Credit

• Problem:

  • No standard currency in colonies

• Example forms of money:

  • “commodity money”

    • Ex. tobacco, rice

  • bills of credit (paper money)

  • metal coins (mostly foreign)

  • wampum

  • bartering

• Credit System:

  • purchases made on credit rather than cash

  • merchants extended loans or created accounts for customers

  • trust and reputation became very important

• Significance:

  • Reliance on credit allowed colonies economies to grow despite unstable currency

Trade within the British Empire

The Atlantic Economy

• Colonial trade linked North America, England (and Western Europe), West Africa, and the Caribbean

Growth of Colonial Cities

• New York

• Philadelphia

• Boston

• Newport

• Charleston

• Why Cities Grew:

  • Expanding trade

  • Busy ports

  • Immigration

  • Growth of colonial economies

• Importance of Cities:

  • Centers of:

    • Commerce

    • Cultural exchange

    • Newspapers and political discussion

Mercantilism

• What was it?

  • Economy theory

    • A nation’s wealth and power depended on accumulating raw materials and maintaining a favorable balance of trade

• British Goals:

  • Increase exports

  • Limit imports

  • Control colonial trade

  • Strengthen Britain’s economy

• Colonial Role:

  • Supply raw materials

  • Purchase British manufactured goods

  • Generate wealth for Great Britain

Colonial Trade

• Navigation Acts

  • Series of acts passed by Parliament between 1651 and 1733 to enforce mercantilism

• Main Provisions

  • Use of English ships only

  • certain products only sold within British Empire

  • imported goods must pass through England first

Trade and Wealth

• Navigation Acts

  • Difficult to enforce

    • Cost more to enforce than revenue collected

• Corruption in trade

  • Smuggling

  • Piracy

  • Bribery

• Salutary neglect:

  • Unofficial policy of relaxing enforcement

  • Significance: allowed colonists to develop habits of self-government and economic independence

Conclusion

• Growth in trade connected the colonies to the Atlantic world and increased economic prosperity.

• The Consumer Revolution gave more colonists access to goods and raised standards of living.

• Expanding port cities became centers of commerce, culture, and political discussion.

• British mercantilist policies and the Navigation Acts tied colonial economies closely to Great Britain.

• Colonial society remained unequal, with wealth, race, and gender shaping opportunities and power.

• Salutary neglect allowed colonists to develop habits of self-government and economic independence.

• Increasing colonial prosperity and self-confidence made many colonists question British control.

• These economic, social, and political developments helped create a distinct American identity and laid the foundation for the American Revolution.