2.2 The Coming of the English:
English Emigrants:
● 17th century - dangerous environment
○ Diseases, religious/political/economic tensions, imperial wars, conflicts w/ N.A.
● Bad economic conditions in England → more willing emigrants
● 1607-1700: many left for Ireland, West Indies (sugar cultivation → riches)
● Chesapeake area: tobacco-producing colonies of Virginia and Maryland
○ Constant demand for cheap labor
● Newcomers: single, young, men from bottom of society
Indentured Servants:
● 2/3 of settlers, voluntarily surrendered freedom for a time in exchange for passage to
America
● Could be bought and sold, not marry without owner’s permission, subject to physical
punishment, obligated to labor
● Law lengthened term of pregnant indentured servants
● Received freedom payment dues
● High death rate, New World less appealing
Land and Liberty:
● Basis of liberty
● Gave men control over labor and right to vote
● Lured settlers and indentured servants
● Reward from king
● Abundance of free land → slave labor
Englishmen and Indians:
● Wanted land, not domination over existing populations
● Chesapeke and New England attracted more settlers → pressure and conflicts with N.A.
● John Rolfe and Pocahontas
○ Unique mixed marriage
● 1691 - legislature outlawed the mixed marriages
● Exchanged goods
● Fur traders married N.A. women → access to N.A. society and network
● Recognized Indians’ title based on occupancy
● Military defeat → forced treaties
● Governments attempted to prevent private seizure of N.A. lands (ineffective)
● 17th century - recurrent warfare
○ Colonists developed superiority
● Planted Indian crops and adopted Indian technologies (snowshoes, canoes)
Transformation of Indian Life:
● Used Natives as guides, trading partners, and allies
● Eastern Indians initially welcomed for goods
○ Woven cloth, metal kettles, iron axes, fish hooks, hoes, guns
○ Desired copper ornaments and glass beads for religious ceremonies
● Men devoted time to hunting beaver for fur-trading
● Usage of European goods ↑ > Older skills deteriorated
● Alcohol usage ↑
● Learned to bargain effectively
○ Exchanged valuable commodities (ex: furs, animal skins) for useless European
trinkets
● Profits of trade flowed to European merchants
● Stimulated warfare among Indian tribes
● Overhunting of beaver and deer → encroach on other land
● Epidemics decimated populations
Changes in the Land:
● Settlers fenced in more land and introduced more crops
● Free-roaming pigs and cattle threatened Native crops
● Demand for wood → depletion of forests Indians relied on for hunting
● Fur trade expansion → diminished beaver populations