The Middle Passage (16th to 19th Century)

• 11 to 12 million African Slaves shipped to the Americas

• 2 million Africans died at sea

1. Overland Journey

   • March to a coastal slave trading factory

     • March was usually hundreds of miles

2. Oceanic Trip (middle leg)

   • Trip lasted 1-6 months

   • 2 million died during the voyage

   • Voyage from Africa to the Americas with enslaved human cargo

   • horrific conditions for the slaves

     • Slaves were held on the bottom deck

     • they had 4ft of personal space and were chained together

     • they couldn’t get up so bodily fluids ended up on the floor

     • 15% died on the voyage

3. Seasoning

   • Occurred in The West Indies with the founding of Charlestown (Main Place for seasoning)

   • Enslaved Africans acculturated for the rigors and discipline of slave life.

   • Enslaved broken of their wills and sold to a plantation to be laborers

Elmina Castle (15th Century)

• The first slave factory

• Built by Portuguese

• Slaves marched here and were held in large holding cells

The Decree of Sanctuary (1693)

• Promise of freedom to slaves from the Spanish King

  • They had to covert to Catholicism and swear allegiance to Spain

• Happened b/c British created Charlestown Colony on Spanish land

The English Revolution of the 1640s

Charles I (1625 - 1649)

• King that believed in an absolute monarchy (ruling without consulting parliament) → tensions Crown and Parliament → rebellion in Ireland and Scotland in 1640 → Civil War in England (1642 - 1651)(Royalists/Cavaliers + Parliamentarians/Roundheads) → Parliamentarians/Roundheads won → Charles I executed → colonies divided (6 colonies supported Charles II others didn’t) → Parliament attacked and put embargo due to support of monarchy

Oliver Cromwell (1653 - 1658)

• Lord Protector

• England = republic

• consolidated holdings in the colonies

• signed off on Charles I execution

• 1661, was beheaded after he died → head put on spike

Navigation Act of 1651

• Colonists had to ship goods to England → limited colonist profit

• Had to use British ships for goods

• Prevented other Europeans economic participation in colonies

Charles II (1660 - 1685)

• England = monarchy

• believed to be pro French and catholic

• Signed of on Cromwell execution

The Glorious Revolution (1688)

• William II and Mary II (James II daughter) invited to be monarchy → end of internal conflict in England

  • Colonists supported b/c:

    • rejection to absolutism

    • Protestantism and liberty central to european life

• James II fled

Thomas Hooker (1636)

• colonial leader + congressional minister

• led 100 people + livestock to Newtown (Hartford CT)

Roger Williams (1636)

• minister + theologian author

• exiled from Massachusetts

• Founded Providence Colony

  • Egalitarian Constitution

  • Religious and Political freedom → haven for Quakers, Jews, and other religious groups

Anne Hutchison (1637)

• Settled in Rhode Island near Providence

Duke of York (1664)

• Taken from Dutch by English in 1664

• named after James II (Duke of York)

  • He funded the expedition → named after him

William Penn (1664)

• Wanted his own large colony → Granted 45000 miles of the land between Hudson and Delaware River

• Member of society of friends (Quakers → pacifist → uncomfortable with slavery b/c violence)

• founded Pennsylvania colony for religious purposes

• wanted Pennsylvania to be an example of godliness

  • built on harmony, tolerance, and collaboration → diversity of migrants (included French, Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Danish, Finish, Scottish)

Charles Town (1670)

• Created b/c Charles II wanted to increase England hold on eastern seaboard

• Governed by 8 lord proprietors (king’s favorites)

  • wanted more immigration → promises (below) → colony grew → North and South Carolina

    • religious toleration

    • Political representation by assembly.

    • Exemption from fees

    • each person that came and paid their own way granted 150 acres of land

The Pequot War (1636 - 1637)

• Pequot killed James Oldman (English Trader) → English attack on Block Island → Pequot attack on British Fort

  • Pequot destroyed provisions, warehouses, and attacked colonists → Mystic Massacre

    • Mystic Massacre = English (Massachusetts + Connecticut) and Natives (Mohegans + Narragansetts) set Pequot fort on fire and killed Pequots as they ran out

      • 400 - 700 Pequots killed

      • Turning point for English → English won → more English expansion

Mohegans (17th Century)

• Native group that was jealous of the Pequots and sided with the English

• They threw off the balance by siding with the English

• They were allies of the Pequots

King Philip’s (Metacom’s) War (1675 - 1676)

• Massachusetts, Connecticut, Plymouth vs Wampanoags

• Started with death of John Sassamon → alleged killers tried in English court → convicted and executed → 9 colonist’s killed by Wampanoags → they moved northwest, avoided colonial forces in mobile group, attacked colonial towns → The Great Swamp Fight → Narragansett survivors join Metacom’s side → destroy colonial towns, get close to Boston → English + native allies track down and kill mobile groups → Metacom caught & killed

Wampanoags

• Native group

• killers of John Sassamon executed → Wampanoags killed 9 colonists in retaliation → King Philip’s (Metacom’s) War

Metacom

• Aka King Philip

  • name used to appease English

• Sachem

• Covenant with English

  • protection + reciprocity for submission (Wampanoags thought they were equals with English)

• He saw execution of 3 his people as a challenge and sign of increasing inequality

  • believed that Wampanoags should have delt with the murder

  • British action = overstep

The Great Swamp Fight (1675)

• British killed 1000 Narragansett people → survivors joined Metacom → Metacom + followers attacked colonial towns

Susquehannock War (1675)

• Doeg Indians took Thomas Matthew’s pigs → series of raids for retribution → chased doeg to Maryland → 14 Susquehannock killed by colonists b/c they confused them with the doeg → Susquehannock retaliated → colonists killed in Virginia and Maryland → political crisis in Virginia (Bacon’s Rebellion)

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676 - 1677)

• instigated by Native resistance (Susquehannock War)

• exacerbated by Nathanial Bacon and Sir William Berkeley

• Berkley asked to start war b/c Susquehannock attacks, said no→ colonists felt unprotected → Nathanial Bacon + frontiers man wanted to fight Susquehannock → marked traitors by Berkley b/c he feared they would become a coup → mobilized an army to stop bacon and his followers → some believed Berkley was trying to overthrow English settlements → He had Bacon arrested → Bacon apologized → Bacon 500 man army → army surrounded statehouse, bacon demanded to be named governor → Berkley dared Bacon to shoot him → Berkley gave in due to Bacon 500 man army

• organized military campaign + personal grievances

• Bacon died in 1676

• Part of widespread Native resistance to crush English colonialism in America → Yamasee War

Sir William Berkeley

• Governor of Virginia

• prohibited gun sales to natives

• restored suffrage to landless freed men

• He tried and executed the rebel leaders

• Lived remaining days in England in disgrace after removed from power by English troops

The Yamasee War (1715 - 1717)

• Waged war b/c English monopolized land + resources and imposed non beneficial conditions on the Yamasee → came miles within Charlestown and killed every emissary and English trader they crossed

• Yamasee feud with English ended trade, diplomacy and no more dependence on English for trade

• English survived due to Cherokee alliance

• English solution to attack native resistance = alliances with other native groups

• Conflict stopped and Natives accepted English terms of trade

• led to the end of Native slave trade b/c English saw native slavery as dangerous