Colonial America: Labor, Rebellion, and Religion

Indentured Servitude and Land

  • People were incentivized to come to the New World with the promise of land.
  • Typically, one might receive 50 acres of land for each indentured servant they brought over.
  • They would own this land for about seven years until it became free.

Key Colonial Products and Their Origins

  • Bacon: Virginia was known for its bacon production.
  • Shave (Likely a mispronunciation of "Shays" or "Sheep"): Massachusetts
  • Whiskey: Western Pennsylvania

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

  • Context: Dissatisfaction among colonists in Virginia due to the lack of support from the Virginia House of Burgesses and Governor Berkeley in their conflicts with Native Americans on the frontier.
  • Key Figure: Governor Berkeley (Virginia)
  • Trigger: Frustration over the lack of governmental support for frontier wars against Native Americans.
  • Outcome: When Bacon dies, the rebellion ends
  • Significance:
    • It prompted a shift from indentured servants to slaves as the primary labor source.
    • Indentured servants were seen as too troublesome.

West African Slavery and the Middle Passage

  • Shift to Slavery: Bacon's Rebellion contributed to the increased reliance on West African slaves.
  • Middle Passage: The brutal journey from West Africa to the Americas.
    • Slaves were purposely mixed with different languages to prevent communication and rebellion.
    • Approximately 50% of West Africans died during the Middle Passage.
  • Upon arrival in the New World, slaves were branded, separated from their families, and subjected to harsh treatment.
  • Successful Slave Rebellion: No specific instances of a successful slave rebellion mentioned on the ship.
    • Slaves were typically weak, sick, and disoriented.

Triangular Trade (Golden Triangle)

  • A trade network, advantageous to Europeans, involving trade guns, slaves, and other goods.
  • Trade guns were exchanged for slaves, who were then transported to the Americas.

Salem Witch Trials

  • Women in Massachusetts had a certain degree of power, which made some younger women angry, leading to accusations and trials.
  • Similar to McCarthyism, where accusations and suspicion ran rampant.

Halfway Covenant

  • Context: Response to declining church membership in Massachusetts.
  • Reasoning: Not enough people were willing to claim they had undergone conversion under Calvinism.
  • Provision: Loosened the requirements for church membership; baptism was sufficient, with conversion expected later.
  • Impact:
    • The majority of church members were women, though men held the power.
    • Seen as a compromise that would eventually lead to the Great Awakening.
  • Opposition: Purest (visible saints) criticized the Halfway Covenant because they believed it diluted church membership with those who weren't truly saved.