red white and black

History of the United States

The seeds of the society that became the U.S. were planted by three distinct peoples:

• Native Americans

• Europeans

• Africans

Backgrounds of each:

Native Americans

• first settlers

• Humans first came to the Americas in three waves: 40-20,000 years ago, 12-6,000, 10-5,000 (they were mostly nomads following the buffalo herds)

• New evidence (based on DNA analysis) reveals that major migration began 16,000 years ago. It split into two branches about 14,000 years ago, spreading into Central and South America.

• 2,000-1,5000 bc— some groups began developing agriculture and more settled life (Mayan, Aztec, Incan — write down their territories)

• By 1500; population estimates range from 8 to over 100 million. Current guess is 43-72 million in South America, 22-48 million in North America

• Most farmed, major exceptions were the Plains Indians and those tribes along the North West coast (most of them fished and gathered)

• There’s not one Native American culture, however there were cultural areas where the traditions, ways of living and architecture was similar

• Only the Plains Indians were living in tents

A New World for Native Americans

“New World” as a process rather than a place (because the term “new world” became problematic as America was not created the moment Europeans colonised it, as there were Native Americans who lived there before, and were native to the land)

European Impact on Native Americans:

• Disease: virgin soil epidemics, 50-90% death rate from childhood diseases, by 1650 native population over 6 million.

• Native Americans gave the colonizers siphyllis.

Trade:

• Native Americans accepted those items that had a functional use from Europeans

• Exchange cemented relationship (form the perspective of Native Americans) v exchange of

  commodities for profit (from the perspective of Europeans)

• Dependent on Europeans (Native Americans did not have any knowledge about repairing guns

  for example, Europeans did)

• Overkill of animals (Native Americans lived in harmony with nature and animals, but the introduction to guns began the overkill of animals as it was easier and also Europeans demanded more and more in terms of trade which pushed the natives to kill more animals and give away their hides etc.) — the beaver population in New England was practically wiped out

Horses:

• transformed Plains Indians

• More efficient exploitation of the buffalo

  Land:

• Lots of it, few people

• Fundamentally different notions of ownership (it created a lot of conflict between Europeans (individual ownership of land) and Native Americans (communal ownership)

• Communal v individual

  Missionaries

• All Europeans had a stated goal for exploration and colonization the evangelization of natives

and Asians (in North America they were largely ineffective) (movie rec: “Black Robe” — but some did convert)

A New World for Europeans

Native impact on Europeans:

• primarily material (technology for dealing with new world, crops, place names)

• Identity — subtle, but profound impact — Indians represented a vision of the colonists without the benefits of European civilization.

Africans

• As diverse in ethnicity as any area

• Language: 200 distinct languages in Nigeria

• Most Africans who were enslaved by the colonizers were from West Africa

  Empires of West Africa: Ghana, Mali, Songhai

• Society

  • extended kinship network was foundation (a big sense of community),

  • traced ancestry back to common individual, often matrilineal (most often they would trace their lineage through the mothers),

  • oldest male was the head/chief of the village/family etc etc, polygamy was practiced in West Africa but you had to be able to support the extra wife and children so it wasn’t so common,

  • Lineage and occupation was the basis of status.

  • Slavery was practiced in Africa but it was not perpetual nor hereditary nor racial (as opposed to the slavery the English practiced) — in Africa you became a slave because of debts for example or when being captured in war. Nonetheless, most African communities had a way for the enslaved to become a part of the community.

• Economy — geography determined dominant mode of economic life:

  • if you lived by the water you fished, if you lived in an area highly populated by certain animals you hunted them etc etc),

  • But farming was key.

  • Land ownership was passed onto the next generation (the village owned the land). Artisans (crafting things — they sustained their life by producing tools, utensils etc).

  • Commerce (from person to person, from village to village, from tribe to tribe) — it was a very extensive network.

• Religion

  • basic form was ancestor worship (they viewed their ancestors as keeping a watchful eye over them)

  • Nature alive with spirits (certain spirits were storms, lightning, rain etc)

  • Rituals of magic to achieve particular ends (to defeat the enemy, to make sure your beloved only has eyes on you)

  • Blood offered to ancestor, some human sacrifices (but not as common).

  • Muslim influence among the elite.

  • Christianity (significant Christian influence — Ethiopia) — no missionaries till 16th century, not much headway till the 19th century.

• The Arts — crafts (artisans also created things of beauty that had no other use), most vital was music, especially singing, instruments (the guitar has some roots in Africa, drums).

• Literature:

  • oral not written (some would use arabic to write it down but it was not widespread),

  • passed on from generation to generation,

  • professional (more formal history of the tribes, e.g. understanding the cosmos) vs. popular (stories for children to teach them to behave).

  • Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus stories (based on African traditions that the slaves brought with them and then Joel Chandler Harris wrote down and made a fortune) — cultural appropriation

The slave trade

• Began in 1441, interested in Africans, could offer for trade in Asia

• Demand for labor in New World plantations opened the floodgates

• 1525 - first slave ship arrives in the Americas

• Portugal, Spain, Holland, then England after 1700 dominated the trade

• 1866 - last slave ship arrives in the Americas

• 12.5 millions Africans arrived in the New World

Pattern of the trade:

• King grants monopoly to one group of investors who would control the slave trade for a particular country — the king would also get a % of the profits. Afterwards it became a “free-for- all” for English slave traders.

• company establishes trading posts on African coast (they were trading with Africans for Africans) — ships arrived with European goods

• Males cost 4 times that of females (men stronger => more efficient heavy labor)

• Ships loaded, then headed to New World

The middle passage:

• second leg of ship’s journey

• Ships crammed full, 250-300

• Death rate 1-8, lose 30-40 ⇒ slaves

• Disease, suicide, loss of will, killed by crew

• Slaves not passive, greatest danger was a slave revolt — sometimes slaves were able to manage taking over the crew, and changing the journey but not always back to Africa (as they did not know the path nor the way to operate the ship)

“Revolt insurance” — if a ship was lost due to a slave revolt an insurance company would pay the owner for the loss of the ship

The two areas that received the most slaves were Brazil or the Caribbean — only 5% ended up in the English colonies in North America. That changed when the need for cotton arose.

Some Africans’ input into the slave trade

Africans pillaged other African villages, kidnapping people to then trade them with Europeans. The Europeans inspected the slaves in order to see if they had any diseases etc. Then the slaves would be marked and taken to the ships where they suffered a very brutal voyage in a too-small cabin. They were barely fed anything — if there was not enough food the scarce portions they received went bad) some of them would be thrown out of the ships into the ocean.

When they arrived the merchants would create advertisements so the people knew who was up for auction.

They would mainly work on harvesting tobacco, coco, sugar, rice and then cotton plantations.

Consequences for Africa:

• King of Nzinga — converted to christianity, sent a letter to the English king asking to send priests to further the word of the gospel etc — it got ignored.

• It is estimated that around 50 million slaves were taken (counting the one’s who died during the voyage, death by disease (double check that tho)

Europe in 1500:

• was undergoing a cultural revival

• Columbus’ voyages were both an expression of that revival and an expansion of that revival

A revival of trade (motivation for expansion)

• part of a general expansion of the economy, based on agricultural change and population growth

• Crusades stimulated desirable exotic products of the Middle East and Asia

• West europeans access controlled by Italian and muslim merchants

• This look for a sea route to trade directly

A revival of learning (technology for expansion)

• the renaissance

• Reacquainted with classical texts in astrology, astronomy and mathematics

• Ptolemy of Alexandria: round earth, miscalculated circumference by 10,000 miles — that’s what

  lost Columbus and how he discovered America

• Astrolabe — an instrument which measured how far the stars are above the horizon, how north

  or south of the equator you are (there were no landmarks which directed you in which direction

  you should be going therefore stars were used as gps essentially)

• Shipbuilding: European ships became larger, faster, more manoeuvrable and thus economical

Revival of strong monarchies (financing for expansion)

• search for sea route = expensive

• Coincided with consolidation of power and authority

• They took the lead in financing and supporting exploration

Revival of religion (the dark side of expansion - a sense of cultural superiority)

• the reformation

• Religion as part of national identity (to be English and dutch is to be protestant, to be French is to be catholic, to the Spanish is to be hyper-catholic)

• Stimulated, made worse national rivalries — missionaries on steroids

Portugal:

• small country, unexpected leader in expansion

• Strong merchant class

• Strong leader in Prince Henry

• Cape Canaveral for 15th century exploration

• Discovered and Azores and Canaries, explored West Coast of Africa

• 1487 rounded Cape Hope, 1497-99 da Gama reaches India

Spanish Colonies:

• Gospel, Gold and Glory (those voyages were also voyages of evangelisation)

• The motivation for exploration, conquest and colonization

• “We came here to serve God and the King, and also to get rich”

Columbus

• Italian merchant/seaman ⇒ completed the spanish-based voyages

• 1480’s pedalled scheme to reach the east by sailing west,

• Spanish King and Queen supported it (financed the first voyage, gave him three ships)

• 1492 - first voyage, made a total of 4

Gold and Glory

• explored the islands,

• 1519 — Cortez begins conquest of Mexico,

• 1531—Pizarro conquers Incans. Silver was Spain’s “gold” — they weren’t very thoughtful in using those riches, instead of investing in Spain they used their wealth to buy from other places

Pattern of settlement:

• the encomienda — Spanish elite granted right to rule native villages (natives had no say in it),

• native labor in return for governance,

• natives were forced to support the work of the Catholic Church.

• Society of extremes (great wealth at the top, and great poverty at the bottom)

Gospel

• first permanent colony in the future USA was St. Augustine, est. 1565 in Florida.

• Most important Spanish influence on what becomes the US was in the South West.

• Coronado and the cities of gold - 1540s (he found no cities of gold) - the government then ignored those areas but priests did not; they built missionary stations => military follows to protect the missionaries => merchants follow because of the people.

• Centered on Santa Fe \ (est. 1608) and California (18th century).

• 1526 - royal order for at least 2 priests to go with Spanish conquistadores.

• The requirement: read to natives, accept authority of Pope and King or lose their land

• Long term, gradual efforts by establishing missions

• Largely failed

English Colonies:

Introduction:

• 1603 — James I becomes king of England

  • ends war with Spain

• channel resources into exploration and colonization

• financing ⇒ joint stock companies

• english efforts were much more of a private enterprise

Virginia

introduction:

• 1607 — Virginia Company of London establishes Jamestown

• nearly collapsed

• poorly supported

• 1618 ⇒ 400+4k arrivals

• 1625 ⇒ 1200

• disease

• 1612 — tobacco became Virginia’s gold

• Indians taught the Spanish, the Spanish taught the rest of Europe (what it has to do with Virginia i have no clue)

• substituted mild West Indies variety for local Virginia

• headright system provided access to land

• 1618 reforms → 50 acres for payment of passage to Virginia

• “the first American boom”

• King James I on tobacco — not a positive outlook

more in detail about Virginia

• to succeed a planter needed labor :

  • plantation/planter were more generic terms in 17th c.

  • plantation could refer to a small farm or a whole colony

  • thus planter could refer a small farm OR a whole colony

  • thus planter could refer to a farmer or the master of a large estate

• white indentured servants:

  • sold portion of work life in exchange for passage to colony

  • 4/5 came as servants

  • young, 15-24, lower ranks of English society

  • contract lasted 4-7 years, bonus at end

  • hard life

  • servants seen as property

  • fewer than 1/20 became planters

• the switch to slave labor:

  • 1st report of African slaves in 1620

  • status unclear

  • 1st law abt them not until 1660, becoming Christian didn’t change status

  • death rate decline in 1650s

  • Carolina colonies established in 1660s

    • support for Caribbean colonies

    • slavery in charter

    • slave merchants have reason to go to North America

  • slave cost twice as much as a servant

  • increase in supply of slaves, decline in supply of servants

    • slaves seen as a lifetime investment (30-40 years as slave vs 4-7 years servants)

    • servants only represented a short-term solution which was a problem for masters

    • expansion of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

    • decreasing supply in indentured servants

    • demand for labor needed a long-term solution

    • slave labor reproduces itself

  • 1676 — Bacon’s Rebellion:

    • revolt of landless ex-servants against restrictions on their access to land

    • tension between poor and rich

    • failed, but came close to topplin Virginia’s government

  • social advantages of slave labor:

    • ends problem of landless ex-servants

    • color probable indicator of status

  • “unthinking decision” — how elites gradually and without much deliberate planning, transitioned to a system of racial slavery in response to labor and social tensions

Masachusettes

introduction:

• it was a Puritan settlement of New England

• has had a wild career in professional scholarship

• H. L. Mencken: Puritanism is “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere might be happy.”

• Perry Miller: understand them in the context of their times, not judge them by 20th c. standards

• Puritanism in England:

  • reformation in England produced the “via media”

  • satisfied most, but some still wanted to “finish” the reformation of the English church

  • “purify” it of all remnants of Catholicism:

    • mostly satisfied with theology

    • eliminate all clergy above the parish pastor

    • simplify worship

    • reorganize structure

  • purify English society of its:

    • increasing immorality

    • corrupt politics

    • materialism

  • it appealed mainly to middle class tradesmen and merchants who found religious justification for their activities (while puritanism focused on faith it also kind of promoted trade and commerce, entrepreneurial success)

  • efforts opposed by English monarchs:

    • pastors deprived of pulpits

    • loss of political rights

• Pilgrims: The Plymouth Plantation

  • left the Anglican church to establish independent congregations, separatists/Brownists or Pilgrims

  • 1607 — moved to Holland but feared corruption of the ideals of Dutch society

  • 1620 — with grant from London Company ⇒ set sail on Mayflower ⇒ wintered in Massachussetts and stayed

  • Mayflower Compact — the first document/contract between leaders and people to obey and rule

  • demonstrated ability of Englishmen to survive in area

• establishing the colony:

  • Pilgrim v Puritan

  • Massachussetts Bay Company — played a central role in colonizing New England

  • 1630 - 1640 — Great Migration:

    • 20k to 40k people

    • came in family units, therefore a more table basis for society

    • mostly farmers but also a significant proportion of artisans

• developing the Colony:

  • new arrivals maintained the colony economically

  • various efforts to find marketable product failed

  • trade became Massachussetts’ gold:

    • agricultural products and fish to sugar islands

    • rum and sugar to England

    • manufactured goods to New England

    • slaves

• end of a dream:

  • new town members

  • half-way covenant

  • impact of the merchants

  • “The Errand in the Wilderness”

• The Puritan Legacy:

  • New England town — orderly pattern of settlement

  • public education

  • sense of mission

  • Puritan ethic

    • “Calling”

    • encouraged frugality, discouraged extravagance

    • taxes as a threat to calling

    • boycott of taxed items required self-denial

Other colonies:

Before the English Civil War:

1. Virginia (1607)

2. Massachussetts (1620; 1628)

3. New Hampshire (1623; 1629)

4. Maryland (1634)

5. Connecticut (1635)

6. Rhose Island (1636)

After the Restoration:

1. The Carolinas (1663; split in 1712)

2. New Jersey (1664)

3. New York (1663; New Netherlands - 1638)

4. Delaware (1664; New Sweden - 1638)

5. Pennsylvania (1682)

6. Georgia (1732)