EMPIRE AND
INEQUALITY
Crises in the
Chesapeake
and New
England
Colonies,
1676-1750
HIERARCHIES OF POWER
 Break up into small groups.
 Talk about and answer these questions:
 Based on your readings, particularly in the
documents, what hierarchies of power developed in
the colonies.
 How were they similar or different than what the
British were used to at home in Europe?
 Were people happy with these developments?
MAJOR QUESTIONS
 What forces—political, economic, military, social, cultural —
gave shape to the English empire?
 What roles did the colonies play in the empire?
 What were relations like between colonies and the mother
country and how did they change over time?
 How did changes within colonies af fect the larger empire?
 How did power, wealth, and class develop in the colonies?
 What is a slave society, and how did Virginia become one?
 How did imperial politics—in particular the contest between
England and France and England's larger geopolitical
objectives—af fect the lives of ordinary men and women in the
colonies?
THE PLAN OF EMPIRE:
BENIGN NEGLECT?
 Insignificance – “So long as the mainland
colonies contributed little to the national wealth
and cost the government less, the government was
willing to exercise only the loosest of controls and
permit each of the colonial societies to develop in
its own way.”
 Instability in England - “The result was a period
of significant instability at the end of the
seventeenth century, as local colonial governments
struggled to control their own inhabitants, police
their borders, and establish successful economies.”
 Result? – Benign neglect of colonies –
could do largely as they pleased for most of
17 th -century
TURMOIL IN ENGLAND
 King Charles II (r. 1660-1685); King James II (r.
1685-1688)
 “In the middle decades of the seventeenth
century, the British government was thrown into
turmoil as Parliament and the king struggled over
the future direction of the nation.”
 Two overlapping points of contention: religion and
royal power
 English Civil War (1642-1660)
 Result: Colonial issues on the backburner, largely
ignored and allowed to develop own institutions
MERCANTILISM
 The Political Economy of Mercantilism: Goals
and Realities
 Theory of mercantilism:
 Competition among nations for finite amount of
wealth
 Creation of colonies and empires to generate wealth
for motherland
 Dependent relationship – motherland’s wellbeing
came first
 Navigation Acts – all trade must go through
motherland, only British ships, goods taxed to benefit
crown
 Colonies provide raw materials; motherland produced
finished goods of higher value
Great Chain of Being
GOD
ANGELS
MORTALS
(DIFF. LEVELS OF
HUMANS)
BIRDS
FISHES
MAMMALS
PLANTS
Atlantic Triangle Trade
EFFECTS OF NEGLECT ON
COLONIAL ECONOMIES?
How did benign neglect affect colonial
development?
Colonial ideas about economy, society,
and politics?
CRISES IN THE COLONIES: 1600S
Tobacco Economy – land and labor hungry
Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia and Maryland
Class conflict
Conflicts with Native Americans
New England – Puritan Problems
Religious dissenters
Economic growth and issues
Wars with Native Americans
Troubled relations with England
THE TRANSFORMATION OF VIRGINIA
“At the same time that a newly
invigorated England was planting
new colonies, those established
earlier were reshaped…[as a result
of] political and sometimes social
instability.”
THE TRANSFORMATION OF
VIRGINIA
Problems of colonial development in
the Chesapeake
Rising Inequality in Virginia (and
Chesapeake)
Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676
Virginia Became a Slave Society
Increase in freedom for whites in
colonial America
Decrease in freedom for others
GROWING INEQUALIT Y IN VIRGINIA
Inequalities of wealth and power developed
quickly in the Chesapeake in 17 th -century
 Reflected in land ownership patterns – wealthy
snatched up best lands near water
 Wealthy: more land, close to water, lower
transport costs = more tobacco, more profits
 Wealthy: political connections, offices, taxes
 Indentured servants lacked wealth and power
 Indentured servants mistreated, beaten, worked
to death in hot, humid, backbreaking labor
 Terms of service could be extended for minor
infractions, pregnancy
PLANTATION = SYMBOL OF WEALTH &
POWER
Tobacco Economy Dictated Land
Use and Settlement Patterns
Great Chain of Being
GOD
ANGELS
MORTALS
(DIFF. LEVELS OF
HUMANS)
BIRDS
FISHES
MAMMALS
PLANTS
NEW CLASS RELATIONS IN AMERICA
 Main question: How did American context affect
class relations?
 Paternal relations in England – the Great Chain
of Being
 Traditional class relations: royalty, aristocracy,
peasantry – supposedly unchanging
 But new wealth in America = new social classes
 How did new economy affect class relations?
 What conflicts and how were they worked out?
 Who would have power in America if there was
no settled aristocracy or king present?
BACON’S REBELLION, 1676
 Causes?
 Demands?
 Ef fects?
Sir Nathaniel Bacon – member of
the VA gentry
BACON’S REBELLION AND SLAVERY?
How do you think Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676
was related to the growth of slavery in the
Chesapeake colonies?
EFFECTS OF BACON’S REBELLION
“Significantly, the rebels sought not to
overthrow the social and political order
but to secure economic opportunity and a
legitimate government that protected that
opportunity. In its aftermath, Virginia
became a slave society.”
Opportunity for whom?
Lack of opportunity for whom?
EARLY SLAVES IN NORTH AMERICA
 Native Americans enslaved throughout North and
South America – died from disease, escaped, not
reliable source of labor
 Portuguese slave colonies: plantation model
 Dutch slaves – N.A. colonies, NY, Brazil,
Caribbean, African slave trade
 In 1680, only 7 percent of VA population was
African of origin (some of those were servants,
not slaves)
 By 1700, 28% of pop. was African, 14% slave
 What changed in two decades?
A “SOCIET Y WITH SLAVES”
 Hard plantation labor performed by indentures
(white and black) and slaves from 1620s to late
1600s
 Not yet a “Slave Society” or slave -based economy
 Some social mobility for first Africans in North
America
 Some bought and owned land and slaves in Chesapeake
 Close living and relations between white and black servants
 Same rights as other settlers - right to sue in court
 Gradual institution of racial slavery – laws
distinguished between whites (free) and black slaves
 Eventually early black settlers lost rights and had to conform to new
“slave society”
 By late 17 th -century, Chesapeake had become slave-based economy
FIRST MD SLAVE LAW
1639 law guaranteed “all inhabitants of
this Province being Christians (Slaves
excepted)” all the rights and liberties of
“any natural born subject of England.”
First mention of difference in application
of law to slaves vs. free whites
Page 100 in textbook – timeline of legal
definition of slavery over time
Plantation labor, formerly provided by indentured servants (white and black),
was, by the 1700s, work only suited to African slaves
AMERICAN SLAVE SYSTEM
 Slavery developed differently in English colonies:
diff. than other European colonies and other past
societies with slaves
 Hereditary, passed from mother to child
 Rarity of manumissions – freeing – of slaves
compared to other slave societies
 African (or Indian) = slave; white = free
 Freedom of whites compared to lack of freedom of
slaves
 No matter how poor, a white person was still free,
solely based on skin color
CRISES IN NEW ENGLAND
Problems in the “City Upon a Hill”?
Religious dissenters – problems of inclusion
and exclusion, purity and tolerance
Land Hunger – conflicts with Native
Americans
Economic problems
Relations with England/Crown
Questions: What issues or problems
strengthened the Puritan covenant? Which
weakened it?
Puritan Economic Angst
George Henry Boughton, “The Early Puritans of New England
Going to Church,” 1867
ECONOMIC TRENDS AND PROBLEMS
 Economic changes in 18 th -century New England
How could Puritans maintain purity of
religious purpose with economic change?
 Increased Atlantic commerce: Triangle Trade based
on wealth created by West Indies slave-grown and
slave-produced sugar
 Growth of N.E. shipping industry and ports, trade
with England and other colonies
 Puritans took part in consumer revolution - tea,
household goods, ostentatious consumer goods,
slaves
 New England increased bonds of unity with England
in this period
 New class differences among Puritans, less
cohesiveness
Atlantic Triangle Trade
ECONOMIC ISSUES AND CONFLICTS
 Problem of declension (decline) from religious
focus and farming (competency)
 Less land available – how will children get
competency (enough to live upon)?
 Opportunities for wealth through commerce
 Belief in hierarchical society anyway, so justified
differences in wealth and power
 But commerce conflicted with P beliefs in
community
 Increased inequality, relationship of rich to poor
 One solution: Wealthy started own churches so they
wouldn’t have to feel bad
 Questions: Did Puritans become the very thing they
had left in England? What did economic change do
to the covenant?
PROBLEMS WITH ENGLAND
Benign neglect during 17 th century - ignored
 English Civil War in 1640s – Puritans (in England)
took power and killed king
 Throne restored, however (raised questions of what
would happen to N.E. Puritans who had supported
civil war in England)
 1664 Charles II granted New England, and New
Netherlands to his brother James
 James allowed New England to keep its own laws
Why was England’s neglect of N.E. important?
PURITANS AND MERCANTILISM
 Mercantilist goals of England – force colonies to guide
economic benefits to mother country
 Raw materials from colonies
 Colonies should then buy finished goods from England
 Navigation Acts in 1660s to enforce mercantilism:
English ships, sailors, goods to and from England
 But N.E. didn’t have much raw materials or a plantation
economy to send to England
 Instead, N.E. had shipping which competed with British
ships, got around laws, traded with competing nations
N.E. wanted more free trade, not
mercantilism
 Puritans not obeying Navigation Acts, so England taxed
them and reorganized govt.
Atlantic Triangle Trade
FIGHT FOR CONTROL
 England unhappy w/ N.E. circumvention of
Navigation Acts, so created new colony, Dominion
of New England from Maine to NJ
 Got rid of colonial assemblies and enforced
religious toleration
 During Glorious Revolution, 1688-89, Puritans
retook colonies from Anglicans/Royalists
 But with reinstatement of monarchy, English
asserted tighter control, creating Royal Colony of
MA, new navigation acts and taxes
 Later in 1715 Parliament took control of colonies,
virtual representation in Parliament
 MA and other New England colonies had same
structure, but actual representation
 Outcome? Trajectory? Where was this headed?
Relations with England: Looking into the Future
George Henry Boughton, “The Early Puritans of New England
Going to Church,” 1867
NEW COLONIES, NEW PATTERNS
“As a rule, the most successful colonies offered the
most opportunity to free white people and the
greatest amount of religious toleration.”
New Netherland
Became New York, 1664 - King Charles
gave his younger brother James, the Duke of York, title to the
land
 With a large show of force, the British forced the Dutch colonists to
surrender their land to British rule.
Diversity and Prosperity in Pennsylvania
 William Penn was granted 1681 charter from Charles II
Diversity and prosperity were generated in
both colonies
NEW COLONIES, NEW PATTERNS
 Indians and Africans in the Political Economy of
Carolina
 The Carolina constitution designed by Anthony Ashley Cooper (the
Earl of Shaftesbury) combined democratic and feudal elements:
 A representative government and toleration of religion
 Hereditary rules, which placed an elite group of nobles at the top and hereditary
serfs (and black slaves) at the bottom
 “As might have been predicted…the only aristocracy
that the Carolinas developed was one of wealth,
supported by the labor of slaves.”
 The Barbados Connection – English immigrants from
Barbados brought slaves and harsh slave code to Carolinas
 Carolinas developed staple crop, rice, and became slave -based
society – majority slave in many areas
FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS OF
CAROLINA, 1669
 Main ideas? Goals?
CONTINUING ISSUES AND
QUESTIONS
What impact would the conflict between
different empires have on colonial life?
What effects did imperial conflicts have on
relations between the colonies and the mother
country?
What role did Native Americans play in these
conflicts? On whose side?