Notes on Slavery, Race, and Colonial Britain (I–VI)

I. Introduction

  • Diverse origins of colonial society:
    • Servants, enslaved laborers, free farmers, religious refugees, and powerful planters forged new worlds in the American colonies.
    • Native Americans saw settlements grow and take resources, reshaping land.
    • Fluid labor arrangements and racial categorization crystallized into race-based, chattel slavery that defined the British imperial economy.
  • Atlantic connections:
    • The North American mainland mattered less than Caribbean sugar, but colonial backwaters were deeply tied to Atlantic networks.
    • An increasingly complex Atlantic World linked Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with events across the ocean shaping colonial life.
  • Transoceanic dynamics:
    • Civil war, religious conflict, and nation-building in Britain affected colonial society.
    • Colonies grew into powerful communities capable of warring with Native peoples and managing internal upheavals.
  • Slavery as a brutal, defining institution within these patterns.

II. Slavery and the Making of Race

  • Francis Le Jau (1706, Charles Town, South Carolina):
    • Witnessed horrors of slavery: Middle Passage, enslaved Africans, Native Americans enslaving enemy villages, colonists fearing invasions.
    • Criticized English traders for provoking wars to enslave, and for justifying enslavement with claims that white servants were “good for nothing at all.”
    • Baptized and educated many enslaved people, yet feared emancipation if Christian baptism undermined slavery.
  • 1660s turning point: legal codification of lifelong slavery for Africans in colonies like Virginia and Barbados.
    • Created permanent deprivation of freedom and a separate legal status to maintain racial barriers.
    • Skin color became a transcendent divider: white vs. Black.
  • Early racial thought often did not map onto modern racial hierarchies:
    • Example: Captain Thomas Phillips (1694) claimed value of color was not intrinsic; profit was the motive for slavery.
  • Warfare as a vehicle for enslaved Native Americans:
    • Pequot War (1636–37): hundreds of Native Americans sold into Caribbean slavery.
    • Dutch in New Netherland enslaved Algonquians during Governor Kieft’s War (1641–45) and the Esopus Wars (1659–63); captives sent to Bermuda and Curaçao.
    • King Philip’s War (1675–76): hundreds of Native Americans enslaved; widespread capture and trade.
    • New England attempts to export enslaved Native Americans to Barbados; Barbados Assembly refused due to rebellion concerns.
  • 18th century slave wars and exports:
    • Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi Valley conflicts produced more enslaved Native Americans.
    • Some conflicts were wars, others illegal raids by slave traders.
  • Scale of enslavement (estimates):
    • Between 1670 and 1715, an estimated
      24,000 ≤ N ≤ 51,00024{,}000 \,\le\, N \,\le\, 51{,}000
      Native Americans were forced into slavery in the southern colonies.
    • Many enslaved Native Americans were exported to Barbados, Jamaica, Bermuda; others remained regionally.
  • Enslaved African labor and the Middle Passage:
    • Middle Passage tied to the broader Atlantic system: part of a triangular economy of sugar and enslaved labor.
    • Three legs of the slave journey (for enslaved Africans):
      1) overland journey in Africa to a coastal slave-trading factory;
      2) ocean voyage lasting 1≤t≤6 months1\leq t\leq 6\text{ months} (the Middle Passage);
      3) acculturation and transportation to the plantation (seasoning) in the Americas.
    • Conditions: overcrowding, disease, infections, and brutal treatment.
    • Human outcomes: approximately
      11-12 million11\text{-}12\text{ million} Africans forced across the Atlantic; about 2 million2\,\text{million} deaths at sea; additional millions died during overland leg or seasoning.
  • Cultural and demographic impact of the Middle Passage:
    • American foods (e.g., cassava) and rhythms/music (spirituals, drum rhythms) reflect African origins and adaptation.
    • Gullah community on Carolina shores shows continued African influence in language and crafts (basket making).
  • Global reach of the trade:
    • By the end of the eighteenth century, roughly the Americas, Europe, and Africa were deeply interwoven in a system that shaped identities and economies.
  • Portuguese, Dutch, and English involvement (early steps):
    • 1440s: first Atlantic slave trade steps with Portuguese ships to West Africa.
    • Africans were valued as domestic laborers in Europe; later, in the Americas, enslaved Africans became the primary labor force.
  • Entry points and legacies:
    • Charleston (Charles Town) became a leading mainland entry point for enslaved Africans; Castillo de San Marcos built in response to English expansion.
    • 1693 Spanish Decree of Sanctuary offered freedom to enslaved people fleeing English colonies if they converted to Catholicism and swore loyalty to Spain.
  • Numbers and gender dynamics:
    • About 450,000 Africans landed in British North America; a relatively large share of enslaved people were women, which aided natural reproduction of enslaved populations in North America.
    • 1662 Virginia law: children inherit the status of the mother; this made enslavement hereditary for the offspring of enslaved women, regardless of the father’s race or status.
  • Legal and economic dimensions:
    • The maternal inheritance rule created a practical system for maintaining a lifelong enslaved population.
    • The system reinforced racial hierarchy and allowed long-term capital accumulation by planters.

III. Turmoil in Britain

  • Religious conflict in sixteenth-century England:
    • Catholic and Protestant tensions; Elizabeth I’s Protestant settlement; Puritans sought to purify and reform Anglicanism.
  • Civil war and the Cromwell era:
    • 1640s–1649: Parliament vs. Crown; Execution of Charles I (1649); England becomes a republic under Cromwell.
    • The 1640s–1650s wars and governance reshaped Britain’s relationship with its colonies.
  • Imperial implications for the colonies:
    • Post-1640s, new English governance devices (e.g., Navigation Acts) tied colonies more tightly to England.
    • 1649–1650s embargoes and the Navigation Act of 1651 tried to curb Dutch influence and ensure direct trade with England.
  • The Glorious Revolution and its colonial impact:
    • 1688: James II is overthrown; William of Orange and Mary take the throne (Glorious Revolution).
    • In the colonies, the revolution spurred resistance to absolutist rule and promoted Protestant ideals and liberty.
    • The Dominion of New England (1686) consolidated New England and other colonies under Sir Edmund Andros to counter French Canada; colonists resented centralized authority and military conscription.
    • 1688–1689: Colonial uprisings; colonists in Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland align with William and Mary; anti-Catholic and anti-French sentiments strengthen Protestant unity.
    • The Bill of Rights (1689) curtailed royal power and reinforced Protestantism and liberty in England.
  • Colonial responses to imperial changes:
    • Colonies fluctuated between autonomy and tighter imperial control depending on the era.
    • The Glorious Revolution reinforced the idea of a Protestant empire with a legacy of liberty against absolutism.

IV. New Colonies

  • Maryland (1632–1634):
    • Charles I grants 12 million acres to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, intending a Catholic haven.
    • 1634: Maryland settlement; mix of Protestants and Catholics; however, Protestant settlers (including Puritans) outnumbered Catholics.
    • 1650 Puritans revolt; 1655–1658 governor William Stone’s attempts to suppress it; 1658 success.
    • Post-Glorious Revolution (1688–1689): Maryland becomes a royal colony; governance shifts away from Catholic dominance.
  • Connecticut and Rhode Island:
    • Connecticut: Hooker and followers (1636) move west to establish Newtown (Hartford) and later Avon; Puritan settlement with emphasis on agricultural expansion.
    • New Haven (1643): Davenport and Eaton lead Puritan experiment; 1665 absorption into Connecticut but religious heritage persists (Yale College founded later).
    • Rhode Island (Providence, 1636): Roger Williams advocates religious freedom and bought land from Narragansett chiefs; later Anne Hutchinson joins; 1644 charter; 1652 laws abolished debt imprisonment and chattel slavery; toleration becomes a defining trait; 1663 charter established as Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
  • Dutch and Swedish presence in mid-Atlantic:
    • New Sweden (Delaware Valley) and New Netherland (Hudson Valley) laid early colonial infrastructure.
    • 1625: New Amsterdam founded on Manhattan by the Dutch West India Company; relative religious tolerance in New Netherland, but small population.
    • 1664: English conquest; New Netherland renamed New York; 1667 Netherlands briefly recaptures, then ceded again.
    • 1688–1689: Class and ethnic tensions in New York contribute to unrest during Glorious Revolution.
  • Proprietary colonies and the Pennsylvanian model:
    • 1664: Duke of York grants East and West Jersey; William Penn later receives land as part of the Pennsylvanian grant.
    • Pennsylvania (west of the Delaware) is founded as a Quaker-led colony intended as a colony of harmony and heaven for the “children of Light.”
    • Penn’s vision emphasizes religious tolerance and diverse migration (French, Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Danes, Finns, Scots, English).
    • Slavery in Pennsylvania: Quakers raised concerns about slavery; 1688 petition in Germantown protested slavery among Quakers.
    • The colony’s climate and soil made slave-based agriculture less viable than in Chesapeake; however, slavery persisted elsewhere.
  • The Carolinas and Georgia:
    • The Lords Proprietor (eight favorites of the king) used Barbados as a model to settle Carolina (1670): large land grants, incentives like religious tolerance, representation, and minimal fees.
    • 150 acres per family member; enslaved people counted as family members to boost labor force; development of rice and indigo plantations along the coast, creating more stable cash crops than deerskins or enslaved Native Americans.
    • Northern Carolina (Albmarle Sound) grows more independently from proprietary power; 1691 creation of the separate province of North Carolina.
  • Summary of regional dynamics:
    • The mid-Atlantic combined religious motives, commercial incentives, and imperial strategies to shape settlement patterns.
    • Slavery underpinned economic development in several colonies, particularly in the Chesapeake and the Caribbean-linked South, while some areas (like Pennsylvania) emphasized tolerance and diverse immigration.

V. Riot, Rebellion, and Revolt

  • 17th-century violence and upheaval:
    • Pequot War, Mystic massacre, King Philip’s War, Susquehannock War, Bacon’s Rebellion, Pueblo Revolt illustrate the era’s violent conflicts.
  • Pequot War and Mystic massacre (1637):
    • Puritan forces attacked the Pequots; destruction of the Mystic fort and heavy casualties.
    • Long-term Mohegan and Narragansett dynamics shifted power in New England.
  • King Philip’s War (1675–76):
    • Metacom (King Philip) sought to defend Native sovereignty; executions of colonial rivals accelerated the war.
    • The warring parties: English, Mohegan, Pequot, Narragansett; the Narragansett suffered major losses in the Great Swamp Fight (Dec 1675).
    • By spring 1676, Native resistance waned; English used more Native allies; Metacom was killed in August 1676; ultimately, New England’s Native power was diminished.
    • Casualties: between 800 and 1,000 English and at least 3,000 Native Americans perished; many Native communities fled or were enslaved.
  • Aftermath of King Philip’s War:
    • Population shifts: Native American presence shrank from ~25% to ~10% of New England’s population in a decade.
    • Lasting bitterness toward Indigenous peoples in New England.
  • Salem Witch Trials (1692–1693):
    • Trials in Salem Town, Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover; 14 women and 6 men executed; 5 died in prison; Tituba (an enslaved Native American or African woman) central to accusations.
    • Causes include local rivalries, political turmoil, trauma from war, faulty procedures, and possible environmental factors; Indigenous and African presence framed tensions.
  • Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) and its significance:
    • Triggered by frontier violence and tensions between landless white freemen, indentured servants, and enslaved Black people; various grievances against Governor William Berkeley.
    • Nathaniel Bacon leads a rebellion against Berkeley; temporary control of Jamestown; Berkeley’s leadership and show of defiance during the clash with Bacon; ultimately crushed when royal forces arrived.
    • Outcomes:
    • Repression of the rebellion; Berkeley’s downfall and eventual departure; royal commissions to restore order.
    • The rebellion exposed vulnerabilities of colonial governance and foreshadowed conflict along racial lines as a stable social order.
    • Post-rebellion consequences:
    • Virginia’s elites exploited the rebellion to justify expanding enslaved labor and suppressing poor white and Black alliances.
  • Pueblo Revolt (1680) in New Mexico:
    • Popé led a multi-tribal insurgency against Spanish rule; thousands of Pueblo warriors attacked Santa Fe, destroying missions and killing hundreds, including 21 Franciscan priests.
    • After twelve years, Spanish returned in 1692 weakened but reconstructed authority.
  • Yamasee War (1715) in South Carolina:
    • Yamasee and allied tribes attacked English traders and settlements; nearly destroyed Charles Town; many villages faced conflict, and English casualties rose.
    • War’s end discouraged reliance on Native labor in the Southeast and helped redirect colonial labor strategy toward enslaved Africans for labor on new rice plantations.
    • Alliances and diplomacy: the Cherokee alliance with Carolina preserved some trade and security, while the Yamasee threat gradually diminished.
  • Pennsylvania’s Walking Purchase (1737) and Native relations:
    • Delaware leaders agreed to sell land measured by “a man walking one and a half days” but Pennsylvanian authorities used a longer route to claim roughly 1,200 square miles; Delawareans migrated west to the Ohio Valley; tensions persisted between colonists and Native nations.
  • Summary of implications:
    • The era’s violence demonstrated colonial dependence on both military action and coercive diplomacy; violence shaped demographic shifts, economic strategies, and evolving race relations.
    • The shift from Native labor to enslaved African labor in the Old South reflected broader imperial economic dynamics and foreshadowed a more robust system of racialized slavery.

VI. Conclusion

  • The seventeenth century established Britain’s North American colonies as a mature and dynamic society, marked by:
    • Ruthless violence against Native peoples and political rivals, as well as tactical alliances and coercive governance.
    • A transatlantic economy anchored in slavery, with a growing, diversified colonial society.
    • The development of distinctive religious, cultural, economic, and political traditions that would shape North America and the broader Atlantic World for centuries.
  • Legacy:
    • The colonies formed complex societies with unique religious cultures and political institutions, setting patterns that would influence subsequent American and Atlantic history.
  • Key concepts to connect with broader themes:
    • Atlantic World interconnections, racial formation and the emergence of slavery, the tension between liberty and domination, and the practical politics of empire.