American Pageant
Chapter 1: New World Beginnings – pp. 4-24
A. Pre-Columbian Societies (p 6 – 10)
1. Neolithic Period ~ 5000 BC people learned to farm (staple – corn (maize)
2. Circa 1492: Approximately 50 million inhabitants
3. Meso-America (Mexico) – 30 million
- Aztecs ~ 30 million
4. North America – 4 million (pre-Columbian societies)
- Pueblos / Anasazi (Southwest) – settlements with 600 interconnected rooms
- Mississippian Culture (Cahokia) = Mound-builders
- Around 1300 both cultures declined (speculation is climate / drought)
5. North America – civilizations at the time of the arrival of Columbus
- Corn, beans, squash spread to the Atlantic seaboard; largest civilizations:
a. Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee (Southeast)
b. Iroquois Confederacy (Northeast)
- Most tribes were living in small, scattered settlements, and were often
hunter-gatherer societies (mobile)
- Many societies were matrilineal
- Most were worshippers of nature
- After the arrival of the Spaniards:
a. Disease kills approximately 90% - Hispaniola declined from appr. 1
million to 200 in 50 years
b. Horses – create highly mobile, hunter-gatherer societies in the Great
Plains in search of Bison: Apaches, Sioux, Blackfoot
B. Spanish Conquistadores
1. Used West Indies as a staging ground for Spanish invasion of the mainland
- Logistics, supplies, acclimate
- Established practices based on vulnerable native communities
2. Tenochtitlan – 300,000 inhabitants in 10 mile² area
3. Spanish conquest
- Diplomacy = Allies (approximately 20,000 natives)
- Information = Spanish castaway enslaved by Mayan-speaking natives +
Malinche (knew both Mayan and Nahuatl (Aztec) languages) – Doña Marina
- Military = Spanish technology (armor / muskets) and horses
- Economics = Aztecs had superior wealth, but this only invited greed
4. Population declines from 20 million to 2 million
5. Spanish impose language, laws, customs, and religions, but…
Intermarry and cultures blend (mestizos)
6. Conquistadors lose power as the Crown tightens control
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C. Spanish Empire – New Mexico (New Spain)
1. 160,000 Spaniards, mostly men, subjugate millions
2. Cathedrals built throughout the empire
3. Printing presses help spread learning
- Mexico City / Lima both found universities in 1551
4. As French / English begin to arrive, Spanish build forts on the borderlands
- St. Augustine (1565) – used to annihilate French settlement in Jacksonville
- New Mexico – “Battle of Acoma” (Spanish rule could be brutal – severed
one foot of every survivor)
5. Roman Catholic Mission – Central institution to the colonies
- Pope’s Rebellion (1680) – Southwest: Indians revolt, destroy every church
in the Province, kill priests and settlers (takes 50 years to regain control)
6. Settlements in Texas – to guard against French trade on the Mississippi
- San Antonio (The Alamo) – 1716
7. California (1769) – Lack of threat results in less interest in building forts
- 21 missions established from San Diego to Sonoma (north of San Francisco)
to rule over 300,000
8. Unlike British colonies, Spanish fuse their culture with Indians / inter-marry
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American Pageant
Chapter 2: The Planting of English America 1500-1733, p. 25-42
At the beginning of the 17th Century, what transformations had the new and old worlds
witnessed?
- new crops and livestock
- disease and armed conquest
- hundreds of thousands of Africans enslaved on sugar plantations
- imperial Spain in control from Fl and New mexico southward
Why did it take England so long after Spain to develop colonies in the new world? How
did the Protestant Reformation spark interest in exploration and discovery in the new
world?
- religious conflict – King Henry VIII breaks w/ RCC in 1530’s, launches
Protestant Reformation
o resented drain of tax $ to Rome
o Pope refused to annul marriage to Catherine of Aragon
o Declares self head of separate Church of England
o Confiscated church property – ¼ of countrys land
o Enlists support of merchants by granting titles, offices, lands, commercial
favors – forges solid alliance
- John Calvin – most systematic Protestant theologian
o Doctrine of Predestination – God chose small number for election while
condemning most to eternal damnation
o Signs of Election – prominence and prosperity – characterized early
European capitalism
o Prompts great amounts of exploration and discovery by English
Explain how the Spanish monopoly in the new world was broken in the English channel
and allowed for English domination to begin.
- Queen Elizabeth I assumes throne after death of ½ sister Mary (Catholic – tried to
reverse reformation – kills hundreds of Protestants – Bloody mary)
- Liz outlaws Catholicism, but tolerates variety of views, is energetic, popular,
“Virgin Queen”
- Advisers convince to enter competition for colonies – in part to rid England of
homeless and secure economic advances
- First priority in Ireland (catholic) – had sought help from catholic Spain, but to
little avail
- Liz supports buccaneers seeking Protestantism and Plunder – seizing Spanish
treasure ships and raiding settlements (though technically at peace w/ Spain) in
Spanish New World ports
- Enrages King Phillip II of Spain – had right to these lands in Treaty Of
Tordesillas
- Expanding colonial interests turn competition into war
o England fails miserably at first attempts at colonization – Newfoundland,
Roanoke
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o Spanish profits in new world enrich Spain – Phil used part to amass
“invincible armada” of ships for invasion of England
o 1588 – 130 ships into English Channel, English fight back using better
ships and more manpower and inflict heavy damage
o storm “Protestant Wind” devastates the rest of Spanish fleet
o beginning of end of Spanish imperial dreams – continued for 300 more
years, but England’s victory dampened fighting spirit and ensured English
naval dominance in North Atlantic
How did English nationalism contribute to exploration and colonialism of the new world?
- had many characteristics:
o strong unified national state under popular monarch
o some religious unity after long struggle
o sense of national destiny
- national spirit bloomed in wake of Spain’s defeat
o golden age of literature
o were restless, had sense of adventure, curiousity for unknown
o spirit of self confidence, patriotism, faith in future of nation
What social and economic changes were occurring in England in the early 1600’s that
also helped prompt colonization?
- population boom – 4 million in 1600
- feudalism – land divided into territories, ruled by lords, demand service and
tribute from peasants or kicked off land altogether
- wool trade depression causes unemployment, poverty – increase of beggars in
large cities – alarms ruling classes, claim are burdened w/ surplus population
- primogeniture – only eldest sons eligible to inherit landed estates – younger sons
forced to seek fortunes elsewhere
- joint stock companies enable investors to pool money for exploration
To sum it up:
- peace w/ Spain – opportunity for colonization
- population growth – workers in new world
- unemployment, adventure, markets, religious freedom – motives
- joint stock companies – financial means
What was the intent of the joint-stock company, Virginia Company of London, and
analyze its success or failure.
- got charter from King James I for settlement – promise of cold and passage
through America to Indies
- intended for only a few years, put severe pressure on colonists threatened with
abandonment if didn’t find riches for company
- few thought in terms of long term colonization
- charter is significant because guaranteed to settlers same rights of Englishmen
they would have had if stayed at home – gradually extended to other colonies,
reinforced sense that they remained within embrace of traditional English
institutions
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landed near mouth of Chesapeake, attacked by Indians, pushed up river, name
James River, mosquito infested and unhealthful
establish Jamestown – several hundred die of disease, malnutrition and starvation
– were unaccustomed to fending for themselves (woods had game, rivers fish),
wasted time looking for nonexistent gold
saved by Captain John Smith – marries Powhattan’s daughter Pocahontas,
preserves shaky peace and provides needed food – colonists still died in large
numbers
only 60 survive winter of 1609-10 – drag selves aboard England bound ships, but
met at mouth of James river by new gov Lord De La Warr – orders back to
Jamestown, imposes military regime, aggressive action against Indians
by 1625 only 1200 of 8000 colonists had survived
How did English colonization become a Frontier of Exclusion after the arrival of Lord De
La Warr?
- carried orders from VA company that amounted to declaration of war
- introduced “Irish Tactics” – raided villages, burned houses, stole provisions,
torched cornfields
- First Anglo-Powhatan War ends in 1614, fragile respite for 8 yrs
- Indians struck back against land grasping settlers and kill 347
- VA co new orders for perpetual war w/out peace or truce to prevent Indians from
being any longer a people – reduced population and drove survivors farther west
- 1644 Second Anglo-Powhatan war – Indians defeated again – effectively
banished from ancestral lands and formally separates Indian from white areas of
settlement – origins of reservation system
- Powhatan Indians fell victim to 3 D’s: disease, disorganization and disposability
o Disease – smallpox, measles
o Lacked unity to make effective opposition against military organized
whites
o Served no economic function – no reliable labor source, no valuable
commodities
o Indian presence frustrated colonists desire for one local commodity theyt
wanted: land
Overall, in what ways were the lives of Native Americans changed with European
colonization?
- Horses – catalyze migration onto Great Plains in 18th c.
- Disease and forced migration
- Trade – firearms, intensified competition among tribes for hunting grounds to
supply Europeans with skins and pelts
Of what importance was tobacco in the colonial economy?
- after John Rolfe perfects methods of raising and curing, demand becomes
insatiable
- ruinous to soil when planted in successive years
- danger of a single crop economy in VA
- promoted broad acred plantation system and demand for fresh labor
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planted seeds of north American slave system (but still too costly for colonists to
acquire)
prompted increased demand for land – drove to dangerous frontier w/ Indians
Southern English Colonies
Virginia:
- established for/by: VA company charter; London company
- economy: turns to tobacco
- other features:
o rep self govt – London Co authorizes settlers to create House of Burgesses
o James I revokes charter and makes royal (under direct control)
Maryland:
- estab for/by: Lord Baltimore, to make $, refuge for catholics; proprietary colony
- economy: tobacco
- other features:
o Lord B wanted to set up as feudal domain w/ catholic lords
o Surrounded by protestant planters, rebellion and B’s family loses
proprietary rights
o Labor – mainly indentured servants
o Act of Toleration 1649 – toleration to all Christians, but death to Jews and
atheists
West indies:
- estab for/by: sugar lords, result of weakened Spain
- economy: sugar
- other features:
o sugar was rich mans crop – tobacco poor mans
o land and labor for sugar capital intensive
o imported large numbers of African slaves – outnumbered whites 4:1
o enacted formal Slave codes denying fundamental rights, giving masters
complete control (p. 36) – Barbados slave code inspired others in colonies
o relied on North American mainland for foodstuffs and basic supplies as
result of all sugar farming
Carolinas:
- estab for/by: 8 of King Charles II’s nobles – restoration period
- economy: wanted to grow food to supply sugar plantations; rice emerges as
principal export crop
- other features:
o brought Barbados slave system, estab trade in Carolina using Indians from
interior
o rice cultivation required W African slaves w/ experience
o Charlestown becomes busiest seaport in S
North Carolina:
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estab for/by: Virginian squatters – irreligious and inhospitable
economy: small farms for tobacco, other crops, little need for slaves, generally
poor
Other features:
o Least aristocratic
o Democratic and independent minded
o Officially separated from South Carolina in 1712, both become royal
Georgia:
Estab for/by: James Oglethorpe and others; royal
Economy: gov’t subsidies (first to receive); Oglthorpe’s own $; silk, wine
Other Features:
- last of 13 colonies
- intended to serve as buffer b/t Spanish/French
- launched by philanthropists for English debtors
- all Christians except Catholics had toleration
- grew slowly, least populous
- plantation economy thwarted by unhealthy climate, restrictions on black slavery,
Spanish attacks
What were the common features of the southern plantation colonies?
- MD, VA, NC, SC, GA
- Devoted to exporting commercial ag products
- Tobacco and rice (NC not so much)
- Slavery in all (not til after 1750 in GA)
- Huge acres in hands of few wealthy (aristocratic)
- Wide scattering of plantations retards growth of cities
- All permit some religious toleration
- Westward expansion due to soil butchery from tobacco
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Chapter 3: Settling the Northern Colonies
1619 – 1700, p. 43 – 63
How did the establishment of the southern English colonies and northern English
colonies differ in their purpose?
- different patterns of settlement, economies, political systems, and values
- promises of riches (tobacco) in south
- religious devotion in North
What was John Calvin’s role in the Protestant Reformation?
- severe religious leader – elaborated Luthers ideas
- Calvinism becomes dominant theological credo
- Spelled out in 1536 – Institutes of the Christian Religion
- Gol all powerful and good
o Humans weak and wicked (original sin)
o God knows who goes to heaven/hell (elect) – good works cant save from
“predestination”
o Elect can’t be certain – still must lead good lives
o Sought signs of “conversion” – saving grace – once seen, expected to lead
sanctified lives – “visible saints”
o King Henry VIII breaks w/ Catholics, stimulated some English reformers
to undertake total purification – “Puritans”- many from wool districts
o Calvinism fed on social unrest and provided comfort to econ
disadvantaged
What were the beliefs of the Separatist Puritans and why were they a threat to King
James I?
- only “visible saints” should be admitted to church membership, but Cof E
enrolled all – saints had to ssit w/ damned – Separatists vow to break away
entirely from CoE
- JamesI – head of church and state – if could defy him as church leader, could also
do as political leader – threatened to harass Separatists out of land
How did the Pilgrims wind up becoming squatters?
- Separatists depart for Holland, but resented “Dutchification” of children - wanted
to be where could live and die as English – America logical
- Negotiated w/ VA co to settle under its jurisdiction
- Mayflower – 65 days at sea – missed destination and arrive in New England in
1620 w/ 102 people – only ½ were Separatists
- After preliminary surveys chose Plymouth Bay, outside domain of VA co –
squatters w/ no legal right to land or permission to estab a gov’t
What was the significance of the Mayflower Compact?
- was not a constitution, but did set precedent for later written ones
- agreement to form a crude govt and to submit to will of majority
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How were the Pilgrims considered prosperous even though several died during the first
winter?
- 1620-21 – only 44 of 102 survive
- next autumn bought bountiful harvests and first Thanksgiving Day
- in time found economic legs in fur fish and lumber
- strong leaders – William Bradford elected gov 30 times
- Plymouth never important economically or numerically
- 1691 – still charterless, merged w/ Mass Bay Colony
What was the difference b/t the Separatist Pilgrims and moderate Puritans?
- Separatists – dedicated extremists, purest Puritans – sought to break w/ CoE
- Moderate Puritans reform church from within
How did the non-Separatist Puritans establish a settlement under the Mass Bay co?
- 1629 – fearing for faith after Charles I begins persecutions, secured royal charter
to form the Mass Bay Company – proposed to estab large settlement in Mass area
- denied wanted to separate from CoE but just from impurities
- 11 vessels, about 1k immigrants
- larger scale than any other English settlement
- turmoil in England continues immigration over next decade
- Great Migration – 70k refugees left England – not all Puritan – only 20k to Mass
- Prosperous, educated people came – John Winthrop – first gov – calling from God
to lead religious experiment – led for 19 yrs
- Fur trading, fishing, shipbuilding – diversification vs. south
- Biggest, most influential of colonies
- Benefit from shared sense of purpose – covenant w/ god to build holy society that
would be model for humankind
What were the characteristics of Mass Bay Colony?
- franchise to all “freemen” – adult males of Puritan congregations (came to be
called Congregational Church)
- unchurched and women voteless
- 2/5 of adult males had vote – more than in England
- Town gov’ts – more inclusive – male property holders, publicly discuss local
issues, majority rule hands
- Was not a Democracy – Winthrop – distrusted commons, thought democracy was
meanest and worst form – “If the people be governors, who shall be governed”
- Freemen elect gov and rep assembly called General Court, but only Puritans could
be freemen
- Doctrine of the covenant – purpose of govt to enforce god’s laws
- Both belivevers and non paid taxes for govt supported church
- Religious leaders have huge influence in “Bible Commonwealth” – influence
admission to church membership – interrogations to prove conversions
- Power of preachers not absolute – congregation could hire/fire/set $ - also barred
from political office due to political clergy in England – limited idea of separation
of church/state
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Protestant Ethic – serious commitment to work and worldly pursuits – simple
pleasures of eat, drink sing, sex but passed laws to make sure stayed simple,
repressing some instincts (no kissing in public, Blue Laws – after color paper
What were some fo the troubles of the Bay Colony, including people?
- problems in the form of dissention to Puritan thought
- Quakers – flout authority of Puritan clergy persecuted w/ fines, floggings,
banishment
- Anne Hutchinson – intelligent, mother of 14 – carried to extremes Puritan
doctrine of predestination – holy life no sure sign of salvation and that truly saved
need ot bother to obey law of either God or Man – called antinomianism – trial in
1638 – claimed had direct revelation from god about beliefs – banished – killed
by Indians in NY
- Roger Williams – Salem minister, extreme separatist – hounded others to make
clean break w/ CoE; challenged colony’s charter (condemned for taking land from
Indians w/out compensation); denied authority of civil govt to regulate religious
behavior (blow to Puritan idea of govts very purpose) – banished in 1635 – fled to
RI, built Baptist church
What were the characteristics of the Rhode Island colony?
- w/ Roger Williams, complete freedom of religioun for all, no oaths, no mandatory
worship, no taxes to support state church
- more liberal than any other E settlement
- at start had simple manhood suffrage, later narrowed by property
- much freedom of opportunity
- malcontents and exiles from stifling Bay colony – many had nothing in common
other than unwelcome anywhere else
- strongly individualistic and independent
- began as squatter colony in 1636, established rights when got charter from
Parliament in 1644
How did New England spread out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
- as available land in MBC became scarcer, entire families/church congregations
would move out to estab settlements elsewhere
- flocked out to Connecticut River colony, with Springfield, Hartford, New Haven
settlements
- Conn River Colony – Fundamental Orders – modern constitution, estab regime
democratically controlled by “substantial” citizens
- In north, fur trading, fishing, etc (Maine); NH grew from fishing and trading
activities (absorbed by MBC in 1641 but separated by king in 1679 and made
royal)
What was the relationship between the Puritans and Indians?
- spread of settlements led to clashes
- before Piligrims in 1620, epidemic swept through coastal tribes, killing ¾ deserted Indian fields greet settlers
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at first befriend settlers – only thing could do – but push inland leads to
confrontations
1637 – routing of the Pequot tribe
feeble attempts at converting Indians to Christianity – zeal doesn’t’ match that of
Spanish
King Philip’s War – Indians only hope to resist E expansion was intertribal unity
– Metacom called King Philip by E launches series of coordinated assaults on
villages in NE – frontier hard hit, but fall back to larger cities – slowed westward
march but inflicted lasting defeat on NE Indians
How did the New England Confederation attempt colonial unity?
- 1643 – England involved in civil wars, colonists thrown upon own resources
- purpose of confederation for defense – Indians, French, dutch
- also dealt w/ intercolonial problems
- each member colony – 2 votes (Senate?)
- essentially exclusive Puritan club – Puritan leaders blackballed RI and Maine due
to too many underirable characters
- weak, but first notable milestone toward colonial unity
- colonists get experience in delegating votes to representatives
- king paying little attention in early years, become semiautonomous
commonwealths – period of benign neglect
- 1660 – Charles II restored to throne, takes active role in colonial management –
goes against habits that had grown in colonies
How did the Dominion of New England stifle the first inclinations toward colonial
independence?
- created by royal authority; designed to bolster defenst in event of war w/ Indians –
seemed statesmanlike
- also designed to promote efficiency in administration of English Navigation laws
– stitch Englands overseas possessions more tightly to the motherland by
throttling American trade w/ countries not ruled by English crown
- Sir Edmund Andros – head of dominion
o HQ in Boston – Andros member of CoE (hostility)
o Soldiers profane and noisy
o Ended town meetings
o Restrictions on courts, press, schools, revoked land titles
o Taxation w/out representation
o Enforced Navigation laws
How did the Glorious Revolution in England have an effect in the colonies?
- 1688-89 – dethroned unpopular Catholic James II; enthroned William and Mary
- news reaches America, Dominion collapsed; Boston mob rose against regime;
Andros shipped back to England
- 1691 – MBC made royal w/ new charter and royal gov
- voting now enjoyed by all qualified male property owners
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as Glorious Revolution reverberates through colonies, was some unrest until new
monarchs relaxed grip on trade, bringing on period of “salutary neglect” –
Navigation Laws weakly enforced
royal appointments have lasting effect in that English officials staff courts and
staffed gov’t – many incompetent and corrupt – and block local leaders to
positions of political power
Describe the role of the Dutch in America.
- 17th c was golden age in Dutch history – emerges as major commercial and naval
power, becomes colonial power – greatest activity in E Indies – Dutch East India
Co.
- employed Engtlish explorer Henry Hudson
- Dutch West India Co – outposts in Africa and sugar industry in Brazil
- DWI plants New Netherland in 1623-24 in Hudson River area for fur trade – most
brilliant was purchase of Manhattan island from Indians
o Call New Amsterdam (later NYC)
o Company town – run by and for Dutch Co – no enthusiasm for religious
toleration, speech, or democracy – gov’s usually harsh and despotic – took
on aristocratic tint that would influence settlement
o Feudal estates on Hudson river
- territory was under shadow of English vigorous colonies to north and was
honeycombed w/ NE immigrants
- 1664 – Charles II grants area to brother – Duke of York
Describe the basic ideas behing Penn’s Holy Experiment in PA – include information
about the Quaker influence.
- Quaked when under deep religious emotion
- Officially Society of Friends
- Were offensive to authorities – refused to support CoE w/ taxes; had simple
churches; no paid clergy; spoke up in meetings
- Believed all = in sight of god – did not cave to social conventions; took no oaths
- Despised warfare; refused military service
- Penn attracted to Quakers in 1660 to disapproval – saw many fellow Quakers die
of mistreatment, thrown in prison
- Turned thoughts to new world – wanted to estab asylum for people, experiment
w/ liberal ideas in govt, and make $
- 1681 – granted land in America by king who owed dead father $ - king named
Pennsylvania – Penns Woodland – Penn wanted it changed
- PA best advertised of colonies – Penn sent out paid agents and distributed
pamphlets printed in many languages
- Liberal land policy attracted heavy inflow of immigrants
- Already had several thousand squatters to get started
- Looking ahead, Penn bought land from Indians; very fair treatment – seemed like
PA would be promised land of friendly relations, but Quaker tolerance proved the
undoing of Quaker Indian policy
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As non Quaker immigrants came to province, undermined Quakers policy toward
Indians
Province was unusually liberal – had rep assembly elected by landowners; no tax
supported state church; freedom of worship (Penn forced by London to deny
Catholics and Jews from voting or holding office); death penalty only for
treason/murder (were 200 capital crimes in England)
Also – no military defense; no restrictions on immigration, naturalization easy;
dislike of black slavery
PA attracted mix of ethnic groups; modern atmosphere in an unmodern age –
unusual degree of econ opportunity, civil liberty, religious freedom
Blue Laws still prohibit ungodly revelers, stage plays, playing cards, dice, games
and excessive hilarity
What were the general characteristics of the Middle colonies?
- NY, NJ, Del, PA
- Fertile soil; broad land
- Became known as bread colonies
- Rivers – Sus, Del, Hudson – fur trade, few waterfalls (importance?)
- Forests for lumbering, shipbuilding
- Growth of seaports – Phil, NY
- Landholdings generally intermediate in size – smaller than south, larger than
north
- Local gov’t b/t town meeting of NE and county govt in S
- Pop more ethnically mixed
- Degree of religious toleration, democratic control
- Land more easily acquired
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Chapter 4: American Life in the Seventeenth Century, 1607 – 1692
p. 66 – 83
As 17th c wore on, encampments give way to permanent settlement
- durable/distinctive ways of life emerge
- rigid Puritan doctrines soften
- regional/sectional differences crystallize (esp. slavery)
Why was the Chesapeake region considered to be so unhealthy?
- life in wilderness brutal – malaria, dysentery, typhoid cut 10 years off life
expectancy
- ½ don’t survive to 20 – only ½ of these to 40/50
- settlements grew slowly – most from immigration – most men teens/twenties
- survivors compete for scarce women (6:1)
- families few/fragile – marriages destroyed by death w/in 7 yrs – very few
grandparents – large amount of unmarried pregnancies – 1/3 brides already
pregnant
- native born acquire immunity – by end of 17th, white pop growing on natural
increase – VA grows to become most populous colony
What was the societal impact of the tobacco economy?
- tobacco grows great in Chesapeake region – settlers plant before corn to eat
- exhausts soil, increase demand for land (Indian attacks)
- 1.5 million pounds/yr by 1630’s – 40 million/yr by end of 17th
o production depressed prices – growers respond by planting more
- more tobacco = more labor – but from where
o families procreate too slowly, Indians die too quick, slaves too costly
o England – surplus pop – indentured servants – exchange labor for
transportation and freedom dues
o VA and MD – headright system – encourage importation of servants –
whoever pays passage gets right to 50 acres (masters thus reap benefits of
landownership – some parlay investment in servants into vast real estate
holdings
o Chesapeake planters bring 100k servants by 1700 – ¾ of all European
immigrants to VA and MD
o Hard but hopeful life – but land becomes scarcer, masters resistant to
include land grants in freedom dues – when freed had little choice but to
hire themselves out for low wages to former masters
What were the reasons behind Bacon’s Rebellion?
- large numbers of landless freemen drifters – single,young, frustrated w/ no land or
women
- VA assembly in 1670 disenfranchises b/c “had little interest in the country” and
“causing tumults at the election to the disturbance of his majesty’s peace” – VA
gov Berkeley not happy
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1676 – 1k Virginians break out of control under leadership of 29 yr old planter
Nathaniel Bacon
many were rebels forced into back country in search of land – resented Berkeleys
friendly policies toward Indians (gov had monopoly on their fur trade)
Berkeley refused to retaliate for indian attacks on frontier settlements
Bacon and followers take matters into own hands and start killing Indians, chased
Berkeley from Jamestown, and torched capital
Bacon suddenly dies of disease and Berkeley crushes uprising – hands over 20
rebels (more than Chuck II did for death of his father)
Smoldering resentments b/t landless former servants and gentry of tidewater
plantations
Planters look for less troublesome laborers – look to Africa
Colonial Slavery
- 10 million Africans brought to New World in chains during 300 yrs after
Columbus
- 400k in North America – majority after 1700 – most hauled to
Spanish/Portuguese South America or West Indies
- too costly at first
- 1680’s – rising wages in England shrink pool of poor willing to come to America
as servants; planters fearful of mutinous former servants
- by mid 1680’s – black slaves outnumber white servants in plantation colony new
arrivals
- 1698 – Royal African Company loses monopoly on carrying slaves to colonies
- Americans rush to get in on slave trade
- Africans account for ½ of pop of VA by 1750 – outnumber whites I SC 2:1
- Most slaves from west coast of Africa – originally captured by coastal tribes
traded in crude markets to E and A flesh merchants – branded/bound, herded into
sweltering ships for “middle passage” – tight packing – death rates 20% - onto
auction blocks in New World ports
- Early African immigrants may gain freedom, some become slaveowners
- But as number of Africans increase toward of end of 17th, white coloniest react to
racial threat w/ slave codes – remember Barbados?
- Sharp distinctions b/t slaves and servants created
- VA Slave Codes – 1662 – dormal d3ecree of iron conditions of slavery – made
blacks and their children the property for life of their white masters – some make
crime to teach to read or write
- Slavery begins for economic reasons, but by end of 17th, clear that racial
discrimination molded the American slave system
What were the contributions of the new African Americans to society and culture?
- deepest south – slave life was severe – climate and labor
- SC rice and indigo plantations – gangs of mostly male slaves worked and died –
rely on fresh imports to sustain population
- Chesapeake – somewhat easier – tobacco less demanding – plantations larger and
closer to each other – more frequent contact w/ friends and relatives
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By 1720 proportion of F slaves in Chesapeake rises – family life possible – slave
pop begins to increase by Natural Increase
Native born African Americans contribute to distinctive slave culture – mix of
African and American elements of speech, religion, folkways
Language example – Gullah – English blended w/ several African languages –
words pass into American speech – goober, gumbo, voodoo
Ringshout religious dance eventually contributes to jazz – banjo, bongo drum
Also help to build country with labor – some become skilled artisans, but most
hard labor
Did prove to be more manageable labor force than indentured servants
What was the social structure of southern society?
- gaps in social structure widen with slavery spread
- poverty and disease gives day to defined hierarchy of wealth and status in early
18th
- Top: small but powerful great planters – gangs of slaves and vast tracts of land –
rule economy and monopolize political power – were hardworking, businesslike
- Next: Small Farmers – largest social group – maybe 1 or 2 slaves – hand to
mouth existence
- Landless Whites: former IS
- IS
- Slaves
- South – few cities, consequently no urban professional class; life around great
plantations
What was NE family life like?
- clean water, cool temps retard spread of disease – adds 10 years to lifespan over
England
- 1st generations of Puritan colonists avg 70 yrs
- migration – not as single individuals but as families – family remained as center
of NE life
- from outset pop grew from natural increase
- married early – women by early 20’s – babies every 2 yrs until menopause –
childbearing did kill some – some of largest families borne by several mothers
- most have 10 pregnancies w/ 8 survivors
- longevity contributes to family stability – children grew up in nurturing
environments where expected to learn obedience above all
- grandparents considered to be NE invention
- low premarital pregnancy rates
- Property Rights for Women – contrast b/t N and S – NE women give up when
marry b/c would undercut unity of married persons by acknowledging conflicting
interests b/t m and f – in south, men often die early leaving widows w/ kids to
support (women retain property rights and inherit estates)
- Husbands power over wife not absolute – authorities did intervene to restrain
abusive spouses
16
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Laws of NE sought to defend the integrity of marriages – divorce very rare,
authorities could order couples to reunite – abandonment and adultery only
permissible grounds for divorce (scarlet letter)
What was life like in New England towns?
- NE tightly knit society based on small villages and farms and Puritanism
- Grew in more orderly fashion than in S
- Towns legally chartered by colonial authorities
o Distribution of land entrusted to town fathers or proprietors
o Proprietors move selves and families to place and laid out town
o Meetinghouse for worship and town hall, village green
o Families receive 3 plots – woodlot, crops, animals
o Towns over 50 families required to provide elementary education
- Puritans run own churches; democracy in church govt led to democracy in
political govt – town meeting showcase for democracy
Describe the Half Way Covenant and the Salem Witch Trials.
- growing pop dispersing onto outlying farms out of control of church/neighbors
- first generations religious zeal dampening
- mid 17th, new sermon – the “jeremiad” – scolded parishioners for waning piety
- alarming decline in conversions – new formula for membership – half way
covenant
o modified covenant to admit to baptism but not full communion the
unconverted children of existing members
o weakens distinction b/t elect and others, further diluting purity of original
settlers godly community
o dramatized difficutly of maintaining fever pitch of devotion of founding
generation
o over time, Puritan church doors open to all comers, converted or not –
erased distinction b/t elect and others
o purity sacrificed to the cause of wider participation
- Salem Witch Trials
o One of NE’s most frightening religious episodes
o Group of adolescent girls in Salem Mass claimed to be bewitched by
certain older women
o Hysterical witchhunt ensued – lynch 20 – 19 are hanged, one pressed to
death – 2 dogs also hanged
o Witchcraft persecutions common in Europe, also several outbreaks in
colonies
o Directed at property owning women
o Grew out of superstitions and prejudices of the time, plus unsettled social
and religious conditions of growing Mass
o Accused from families associated w/ east side commercial area
o Accusers from stagnant west side (subsistence farming area)
o Victims were Anglicans, quakers, Baptists – not puritan
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o Reflected widening social stratification and fear of religious traditionalists
that Puritanism being eclipsed by commercialism
o Ends in 1693 after gov’s wife accused – prohibits further trials, pardoned
those convicted
o Witchhunting becomes metaphor for irrational urge to find scapegoat –
McCarthyism
What conditions helped to shape the New England way of life?
- rocky soil
- industrious, penny-pinching frugality
- land left NE less ethnically mixed than S neighbors – immigrants not attracted to
where soil was stony and sermons sulfurous
- climate – summers hot, winters cold
- soil/climate encourage diversification
- no broad fertile expanses of land, hemmed in by mountains close to shore, rivers
short and fast
- Indian philosophy – condemned for wasting land by underutilizing it – use this
logic to take from Indians w/ duty to improve land by clearing, building roads,
laying out perm settlements
- Turn to natural harbors – timbering, shipbuilding, commerce, fishing
- Combination of Calvinism, soil, and climate in NE makes for energy,
purposefulness, sternness, stubbornness, self reliance and resoucefulness
- NE impact on rest of nation – ousted by sterile soil, thousands scatter from OH to
OR and estab communities modeled on NE town w/ central green, schoolhouse
and town-meeting democracy
What were the early settlers days and ways like?
- cycles of seasons and sun set schedules of early colonists
- majority farmers – plant/spring, tend/summer, harvest/fall
- rose at dawn; bed at dusk – chores after dark only if “worth the candle”
- women – wove, cook, clean, children
- men – clear land, fence, plant, crop, firewood, butchering
- compared to most 17th Europeans, lived affluent lives
- most white migrants to early colonial America came neither from aristocracy or
from dregs of society – some exception to IS’s
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Chapter 5: Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution, 1700 – 1775
p.84 – 104
-
common term 13 original colonies misleading – Britain had 32 by 1775 in NA
only 13 unfurled standard of rebellion
why did some strike for independence and others not?
o Distinctive social, economic, political structures of 13 Atlantic seaboard
colonies and appearance of American way of life
What were the population characteristics of the colonies that leant themselves to
rebellion?
- huge pop growth – 1700 (300k); 1775 (2.5 million)
- white immigrants 400k/ close to same for slaves
- most of spurt due to natural increase
- doubling numbers every 25 yrs; also youthful – avg age 16 in 1775
- political consequences
o 1700 20:1 – E to A
o 1775 3:1 – sets stage for shift in balance of power
- most east of Alleghenies – some into interior by 1775
- only 4 real cities – Philly, NY, Boston, Charleston
- 90% in rural areas
- Melting pot – basically English in stock and language, numerous foreign groups
o Germans – 6% by 1775 – fled religious persecution, economic
oppression, war
 Settle in early 1700’s in PA
 Several protestant sects (most Lutheran)
 Known as PA Dutch (corruption of Deutsch)
 Many move to backcountry
 No deep rooted loyalty to crown; clung to German
language/customs
o Scots-Irish
 7% in 1775; important non-English group
 spoke English, but not Irish at all – were Scots Lowlanders
 were transplanted to northern Ireland – Irish catholics hated the
Scottish Presbys
 early 1700’s, tens of thousands abandon Ireland, most to PA – best
land already taken by Germans and Quakers, push to frontier
 illegally but defiantly sqat on lands, fight w/ Indians and white
landowners; after Allegheny mts., flow south too
 were good frontiersmen – ready to use violence against all
 were lawless and individualistic
 brought whiskey and no love for Brit govt or any other govt –
eventually join American revolutionaries
 Andrew Jackson and about 12 future pres were S-I descent
o Other European groups
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
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French Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes, Jews, Irish, Swiss,
Scots Highlanders (except for S-H had little loyalty to crown)
 Largest single non-E group was African – 20% of pop in 1775
mainly in S
pop. Was most mixed anywhere in world
o S – black and white
o NE – least diversity
o Middle – variety
groups mingled and intermarried, laid foundation for multicultural American
national identity
o Michel-Guillaume de Crevecoeur – “a strange mixture of blood, which
you will find in no other country. What then is the American, this new
man”?
o Whites not alone in creating new societies – African slave trade mixed
many groups
What was the social structure of colonial America?
- compared to E, seemed like land of equality and opportunity – except for slavery
- no titled nobility dominated society (maybe not so much in S); no pauperized
underclass threatened from below (maybe IS’s)
- most were small farmers, owned modest holdings, worked with own hands
- cities had small class of skilled artisaned, shopkeepers, tradespeople, unskilled
laborers
- remarkable openness to social ladder – rare in old England
- on eve of Revolution was showing signs of stratification and barriers to mobility
that raised worries about the “Europeanization of America”
o rominent came to be seated in churches and schools according to social
rank
o by mid cent richest 10% in cities owned 2/3 of wealth
- wars created widows and orphans, become dependent on charity – almshouses in
1730’s in cities to care for them
- NE countryside – descendents of original settlers more limited prospects than
pioneers
o Supply of land dwindled and families grew, landholdings subdivided to
point where could not sustain family
o Younger sons/daughters forced to hire out as wage laborers, seek land
beyond Alleghenies
o 1750 – Boston large number of homeless poor – forced to wear large red
“P”
- South – planters gain power through disproportionate ownership of slaves
o Riches created by slavery not evenly distributed among whites
o Wealth concentrated in hands of largest slaveowners, widening gap b/t
gentry and poor whites
- in all colonies, lower classes increasing by continuing stream of IS’s
- less fortunate were paupers and convicts shipped to America
20
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o 50k jail birds dumped on colonies by E – robbers, rapists, murderers – no
goodwill for king’s govt
least fortunate – slaves
o no equality
o America’s closest approximation to E’s volatile lower classes
o Fears of black rebellion begin creation of slave codes
o Also called for stop of importation of slaves by E
o E authorities, seeking to preserve supply of cheap labor for colonies veto
all efforts to stop transatlantic trade
o TJ includes this in draft of DoI but forced to w/d
What were the professions of colonial America?
- Christian ministers most honored
- Dr’s – poorly trained, not highly esteemed – no med schools til 1765
- Lawyers – not favorably regarded
What were the characteristics of the economic landscape of colonial America?
- Ag – leading industry – 90% of people
- Tobacco – still staple in MD, VA – wheat also spread across Chesapeake on
deserted tobacco lands – fertile middle colonies produce large amount of grain
- Americans enjoy higher standard of living than any country to time
- Fishing – far below ag, practiced in all colonies – major industry in NE –
stimulated shipbuilding
- Bustling commerce in all colonies, esp NE, NY, and PA
o Commercial ventures and land speculation = speedy wealth
o Triangular Trade – see map p.93
- Manufacturing only secondary importance
o Variety of small enterprises
o Get rich faster by farming
o Rum, beaver hats (despite E regulations), household manufacturing
o Lumbering – most important single manufacturing activity
 Shipbuilders take most – 400 /yr
 Colonial naval stores – tar, pitch, rosin, turpentine – highly valued
– Brits want to retain mastery of seas
 Trees marked with Kings sign for future use – even though were
plenty to be taken, still bred resentment among colonists as shackle
on free enterprise
- strains in complex trade network evident by 1730’s
o fast breeding Americans demanded more Brit products, but slow growing
Brit pop reached saturation point for absorbing imports from America
o trade imbalance – how could colonists sell goods to make money to buy
what they wanted in E? – answer – seek foreign markets – frowned upon
by E
o turn to trade with French West Indies who buy NA timber and foodstuffs
that provided $ for Americans to buy E goods
21
o Brit West Indies planters convince Parliament to pass Molasses Act
(1733) to stop NA trade w/ FWI – would cripple American international
trade – American merchants get around law through bribing and
smuggling
o Foreshadowed impending imperial crisis, when headstrong Americans
would rather revolt that submit to laws of far off parliament, who they
viewed as bent on destroying livelihood
What were the importance of improved transportation and taverns in the realm of colonial
agitation against England?
- no roads connect even major cities until 1700’s – were very poor
- relied instead on navigable rivers, coastal traffic – most cities begin near major
waterways for various reasons
- taverns spring up along main routes of travel and in cities
o included amusements like bowling, pool tables, gambling
o all social classes mingle – tavern cradle of democracy
o clearinghouses for information and rumor, political talk
o important in crystallizing public opinion, hotbeds of agitation as
revolutionary movement gathered momentum
- intercolonial postal system in mid 1700’s – service slow and infrequent
What were the dominant denominations and how did membership influence loyalty to the
crown?
- 2 established or tax supported churches in 1775 – Anglican and Congregational
- many did not worship in any church
- colonies that had established religion, only minority of people belonged by 1775
- Church of England: Anglicans
o Official in GA, NC, SC, VA, MD, some NY
o Served in America as major prop of kingly authority
o In America fell short of promise – was less fierce and more worldly than
Puritanical NE – sermons shorter, hell less scorching, amusements less
scorned
- Congregational church – grew out of Puritan church
o Formally estab in all NE colonies, except RI
o At first taxed all, but relented and exempted members of other well
known denoms
- ministers grapples w/ political issues
o as early rumblings of rev against crown, sedition flowed freely from
pulpits
o Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, and rebellion – neo-trinity
o Anglicans supported king
o Non Anglicans opposed bishopric in America b/c feared tightening of
royal reigns
- in general, people could do as they pleased w/ religion
What was the Great Awakening and its impact on American society?
- in all colonial churches, religion less fervid in early 18th c than earlier
22
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Puritans: battle b/t theological doctrines and compromising efforts
Churchgoers complain of “dead dogs” – preachers w/ tedious, boring sermons
Some preachers worried that parishioners gone soft and sould no longer kindled
by hellfire of orthodox Calvinism
Liberal ideas challenge old time religion
o Humans not necessarily predestined to damnation, might save selves
through good works
o Arminians – individual free will, not divine decree, determined eternal
fate
Great Awakening
o Exploded in 1730’s-40’s, swept through colonies
o First ignited in Northhampton, Mass by Jonathan Edwards – proclaimed
w/ burning righteousness the folly of believing in salvation through good
works, affirmed need for complete dependence on Gods grace – painted
lurid detail landscape of hell and eternal torments – hell paved w/ skulls
of unbaptized children
o 4 yrs later – George Whitefield – toured colonies w/ message of human
helplessness and divine omnipotence
 during revival meetings, sinners professed conversion; the “saved”
groaned, shrieked, rolled in snow
Orthodox clergymen (old lights) skeptical of emotionalism and theatrical antics
New Lights – defended awakening for role in revitalizing American religion
Lasting effects:
o Emphasis on direct, emotive spirituality undermined older clergy
o Increased number and competitiveness of American churches
o Encouraged wave of missionary work among Indians/slaves
o Led to founding of New Light centers of learning – Princeton, Brown,
Rutgers, Dartmouth
o Most significant – was first mass movement of American people – broke
down sectional boundaries, denominational lines, contributed to growing
sense that Americans had of themselves as a single people
What were the purposes of early schools and colleges in America?
- education reserved for aristocratic few
- should be for leadership, not citizenship, and only males
- Puritan NE – more zealous – stressed the need for Bible reading by individual –
primary goal to make good Christians – not citizens
o Flourished from outset in NE
o NE had large numbers of graduates from English universities
- Middle/South – had some adequate elementary schools
o South – hampered by diffused population – would hamper for hundreds
of years after
- general atmosphere in schools was gloomy
o emphasis on religion, classical languages (latin/greek)
o focus not on experiment and reason, but doctrine and dogma
o discipline was severe – birched
23
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o some IS’s were teachers
colleges – geared toward preparing men for ministry
o well to do sent boys abroad to English colleges
o Ben Franklin – major role in launching first American college free from
denominational control – Univ of PA
What was art and architecture like in colonial America?
- still attached to European tastes
- pioneering life not yet bred many homespun patrons of arts
- most artists studied abroad
o John Trumbull
o Charles Wilson Peale – portraits of GW
o Benjamin West
o John Singleton Copley
- Architecture – imported from Old World, modified to meet climatic and religious
conditions of New
o Log cabin (Sweden)
o Red bricked Georgian style
- Colonial literature
o Generally undistinguished
o Exception – Phillis Wheatley – slave poet
o Ben Franklin – “the first civilized American”
 Poor Richard’s Almanack
 Pithy sayings, homespun virtues of thrift, industry,
morality, common sense
 Most widely read in America than anything but bible
 Also only first rank scientist produced in American
colonies
American Presses/libraries
- generally too poor to buy quantities of books and too busy to read them
- a few private libraries, esp among clergy
- BF – Philly – first privately supported circulating library in America
- Eve of revolution – 40 colonial newspapers – weeklies
- News often lagged many weeks behing event
- Powerful agency for airing colonial grievances and rallying opposition to Brit
control
- John Peter Zenger – NY
o Newspaper assailed corrupt royal governor
o Charged w/ seditious libel, taken to court
o Lawyer argued that Zenger had printed the truth, but royal chief justice
instructed jury not to consider the truth or falsity of Zenger’s statements –
mere fact of printing, irrespective of truth, was enough to convict
o Jurors defy judges, return verdict of not guilty
o Decision banner achievement for freedom of press and health of
democracy
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o Pointed way to open public discussion
o Estab doctrine that true statements about public officials could not be
prosecuted as libel – papers eventually free to print responsible criticisms
of officials
What was the nature of politics in the pre-revolutionary colonies?
- colonists making noteworthy contributions to polisci
- 13 colonial govts took various forms
o by 1775 – 8 had royal gov’s
o 3 under props
o 2 elected own govs under self governing charters
- almost all have 2 house legislature
o upper house/council – appointed by crown in royal; by prop in prop; by
voters in self gov
o lower – popular branch – elected by people (property)
o backcountry people seriously underrepresented, hated ruling colonial
clique
- legislatures voted taxes as they chose for expenses of colonial govt – self taxation
through representation privilege had come to value
- gov’s appointed by king generally able, some incompetent or corrupt
o Lord Cornbury was worst – NY/NJ – drunk, grafter, embezzler, religious
bigot
- colonial assemblies found various ways to assert authority and independence
o power of the purse – w/holding gov’s salary unless yielded to wishes
o London govt guilty of poor admin here – don’t fix until its too late w/
Townshend Acts
o Control over purse by legs led to prolonged bickering, proved to be
persistent irritants that generated spirit of revolt
- Local gov’t
o County gov’t – rule in plantation S
o Town meeting govt in NE – direct democracy
o Modification of both in middle
- ability to vote in any not birthright
o religious/property quals
o privileged upper classes unwilling to give ballot to every “biped of the
forest”
o ½ of all adult white males disenfranchised
o eligible voters often did not exercise privilege – would ofter acquiesce in
the leadership of their betters
- by 1775 America not yet true democracy socially, economically, or politically but
far more that Europe
What was life in the colonies like in the pre-revolution days?
- everyday life drab and tedious; labor heavy and constant; work from “can see” til
“can’t see”
- food plentiful, but diet could be coarse and monotonous
25
basic comforts lacking – heating, running water, plumbing, candles/oil lamps for
light, hogs for garbage disposal
- amusement eagerly pursued when permitted
o militia assembled for musters, often for merrymaking and flirting
o funerals/weddings opportunities for social gatherings – lots of drinking
o sports in north
o card playing, horse racking, cockfighting dancing in south
o lotteries universally approved
o Holidays celebrated everywhere (Christmas frowned upon in NE as an
offensive reminder of Popery
th
By mid 18 c, despite differences, revealed similaritries
- all basically English in language/customs, Protestant in religion, but widespread
presence of others compelled every colony to cede at least some degree of ethnic
and religious toleration
- afforded unusual opportunities for social mobility
- some measure of self govt
- communication and transportation improving
- colonies looked like patch work quilt
o each slightly different, but stitched together by common origins, ways of
life, beliefs in toleration, economic development, and self rule
o all separated from seat of imperial authority by ocean
- simple facts of shared history, culture, and geography set stage for struggle to
unite as independent people
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