English Religion and Rebellion
in North America 1607-1700
What were special characteristics of the Chesapeake region
in the 17th century, and how did they affect life there?
How did various systems of labor take hold in the
Chesapeake?
Compare the Indian Rebellion and Bacon’s Rebellion. What
were consequences of each for Virginia?
Settling the New World
• Unlike other Europeans, English were able
to make successful, populated colonies in
North America
• Roanoke colony— “The lost colony”
1606
• After failure of Roanoke, merchants replace
gentry as leaders of English expansion
– King James and British ministry approve venture to
North America by the Virginia Company to settle
region from (present-day) North Carolina to southern
New York
– Allows for more autonomy in trade, settlement
• Commerce, not settlement, was the goal of
Virginia company
– First expedition in 1607 (Jamestown) was limited to
male traders, employees of the company
Threat in Jamestown
• Initially dispatched to ship gold, exotic crops and
merchandise to England, the workers found no
gold
• In the swampy environment, the men resorted to
stealing and conflicts with local tribes for food
and survival; only 38 of 120 lived by 1608
• 1611—1,200 settlers sent to Jamestown; less
than half survive the “starving time”
– Alliance with Powhatan of Algonquins turns to
breaking point; marriage of his daughter Pocahontas
to John Rolfe supposed to spark trade and end
conflict
Tobacco—a turning point
• Rolfe had brought tobacco seed from West
Indies, which thrives in swampy Chesapeake,
creating a cash crop for England
• Tobacco becomes basis of economic life and
permanent settlement of Jamestown by 1617
– To encourage settlement, Virginia Company creates
“headright system”—50 acre parcels of land given to
colonists who brought indentured servants into
America
– System of representative government formed with
House of Burgesses in 1619; 4,500 new colonists
arrive by 1622 attracted by land, self-government,
and judicial system
Impact of Tobacco in the
Chesapeake
“All our riches for the present do consist in
tobacco” (1630)
• Exports: 3 million lbs. 1640 to 10 million
lbs in 1660
• New arrivals continue to expand up James
and Chesapeake, creating large
plantations
• However, families were scarce
– Disease; death in childbirth; orphans
Expansion of English colonies
• Influx of settlers sparked war with
natives in the area, especially over
land
• Powhatan’s brother and successor,
Opechancanough, resisted any
English attempts to take land or
convert natives
• In 1622, coordinates attack of 12
tribes, killing nearly 1/3 of English
settlers
– English fight back, “destroying them
who sought to destroy us”
New Directions
• Uprising leads King James to revoke Virginia
Company charter, making Virginia a royal colony
• Church of England established in Virginia,
property owners support clergy through taxation
• All royal colonies afterward would be overseen
by a royal governor, elected assembly (House of
Burgesses) and Anglican Church
Baltimore’s colony
• Following the success of
Jamestown, Charles I (James’
successor) wanted a new tobacco
colony bordering the Chesapeake
• 1632 Land was granted through a
royal charter to Charles Calvert
(Lord Baltimore)
– Colony was to be sympathetic to
Catholics persecuted by Anglican
Church (Charles I sympathizer)
– Grant was called Maryland, after
Charles I’s wife
– 1634 first settlers arrive in Maryland
Maryland’s religion
• Maryland became a refuge
for Catholics and
Protestants
• Tension between religious
groups threatened colony’s
solidarity—leads to
Toleration Act of 1649,
granting religious
toleration to all Christians
Slaves in the Chesapeake
• Majority of migrants to Chesapeake were indentured
servants—subject to harsh punishment, not able to
marry, many never escape poverty (only 25% succeed)
• African workers, who first arrived in 1619, remained a
small part of the population
• Some Africans, like indentureds, could aspire to near
equality with settlers and become planters
– Although most served masters for life, not legally enslaved;
common law did not legalize chattel slavery (buying/selling of
slaves as property)
– It was only after a collapse of the tobacco industry in the 1660s
that laws were passed lowering status of Africans in the region
and establishing slavery
Seeds of Rebellion
• With large influx of tobacco in the market, collapse of
boom in 1660s
– Leads to market for cheap labor, “blacks can make it cheaper
than whites… “Negro and Slave had by custom grown
Homogenous and convertible”
• In effort to exclude other European nations from taking
part in tobacco market, Parliament passes Act of Trade
and Navigation (Navigation Acts) in 1651
– Limits Dutch, who had paid highest prices for tobacco, sold best
goods, provided cheap shipping
– Required colonists to ship all products (including the newly, highdemand sugar) only to Britain, destroying most profits
• Tobacco planters increase, but Chesapeake no longer
offers upward social mobility to whites or blacks
– Region now dominated by white planter-elites/merchants
Corruption of Berkeley
• Governor William Berkeley became corrupt, creating a
spoils system that gave tax-free land to members of his
council and jobs in return for loyalty
• Indian conflict also started social conflict among poor
white freeholders and landless whites
– Wanted local Indians removed from the treaty-guaranteed lands
along the frontier, so that they could own land
– Wealthy planter-merchants opposed removal; they wanted
continued cheap labor and Indians to trade with
– Freeholders form militia and begin killing natives in 1675;
retaliation forces Berkeley to make a decision to avoid war
• Berkeley attempts to solve conflict by creating frontier
forts
– However, settlers saw this plan as a plot to impose higher taxes
and take control of tobacco trade
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
• Nathaniel Bacon, a member
of Berkeley’s council, led a
protest against Berkeley
– Bacon and his men kill a
number of peaceful natives
after governor refuses to grant
military commission
• Supporters threaten
violence; Berkeley agrees to
political reforms, restores
voting to landless freemen
as a solution (not enough in
eyes of poor and reformers)
– Issue “Manifesto and
Declaration of the People”
demanding removal of Indians
and end to rule of the “wealthy
parasites”
Results of Rebellion and Conflict
• Bacon’s Rebellion prompts tax cuts,
reduction of corruption in government,
opening of public offices to yeomen,
expansion into previously protected Indian
lands
• To reduce chances of another rebellion,
Chesapeake planters turn away from
indentured servitude, Burgesses legalizes
practice of chattel slavery in 1705
Big Ideas
• Colonial drive for wealth led to growth of tobacco as a
cash crop
• This led to the policy of a headright system
• Land-grabbing and planting led to encroachment on and
conflict with local Indian populations (Opechancanough
war in 1622, 1644; Indian War 1676)
• Dispersion of land holdings, along with poverty and the
environmental obstacles led to undermining of traditional
British social order and gender roles
• Creation of class system and demand for political rights
leads to social rebellion
– Bacon’s Rebellion and reforms
• Fear of social rebellion leads to legalization of slavery
– Changes in market, rise of wealth, and shifting
patterns of migration enable system of slavery to
become common place by early 18th century