Chapter 3: The Emergence of Colonial Societies, 1625-1700
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Removal began in 1500-1600
Upheaval/removal of Native Americans from
their lands
Contact with Europeans brought diseases
which Natives had no immunity to
1 million died prior to 1700
Land that Europeans settled on had long
been home to Native Americans
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Chesapeake
New England
Carolina
Middle Colonies
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Varied in many ways
Physical environment
Patterns of population grown
Economy
Social Structures
Religious practices
Modes of government
Ethnic and racial composition
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Located on
Chesapeake Bay
Virginia and Maryland
Similar economies,
populations and
patterns of growth
Short life spans
Poor health
No “creature
comforts”
African slaves were
source of labor (replace
indentured servants)
 Royal colony (crownappointed governor)
 Burgesses passed laws
 Justices of the peace
served as judges and
oversaw new
constructions
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Church of England
Set up into parishes
6 vestrymen managed finances and how to
help poor and prosecute moral offenders
Holy men had to train in England
Always a shortage
People were REQUIRED to attend church or
pay fines or labor
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Given to rich English elites
1632, 1st grant given to Lord Baltimore, a
Catholic noble
Lord Baltimore would have unlimited control
over colony except war , trade, and an
assembly to approve laws
He named his colony “Maryland”
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Lord Baltimore
Refuge for English Catholics who were not
allowed to worship in public and had to pay
taxes to support the Anglican church
On an “estate” a lord could have a Catholic
priest and allow the people to follow its rules
It was settled mostly, though, by Protestants
Plantation system developed quickly
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Offered large grants of land to English
Catholic elites if they would bring colonists
and pay for their travel
They would receive a 2,000 acre manor
This would allow Catholicism to survive and
grow in Maryland and hopefully encourage
tolerance by Protestants (Lord Baltimore
hoped)
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Protestants and Catholics argued
Lord Baltimore passed the Act for Religious
Toleration (Toleration Act): established
religious toleration
Eventually the Toleration Act was repealed
and much resistance occurred for Lord
Baltimore
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90% were indentured servants (could not
marry until they fulfilled their financial
obligations)
80% were men
Females often married rich planters because
of the scarcity of women
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Typhoid fever
Malaria (came from Africa)
48 years old was life expectancy
44 years old was life expectancy for women
Servants died more frequently than others
Typical family would lose ½ of its 4 children
Widows experienced economic prosperity
Typical families often had many last names
Death rate decreased by late 1600’s due to
immunities built up by colonists
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Ruled people’s lives in Chesapeake
Began in 1618, ended in 1629
Good soil needed and a river source for
transportation
80% of homes were within a ½ mile of river
and 600 feet from coast
Used “wharves” for loading and docking ships
Poor laborers had horrible lives with little
food, clothing or housing, gap between rich
and poor
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Rarely accumulated money to live prosperous
lives
Were subject to rich landowners who would
add years of labor for the smallest infraction
Freedmen who had acquired their
independence never really made much
money, lives were sometimes worst than in
England
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Over land between Natives
and settlers
Violence prevailed between
the two groups
Tension
Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy
planter, encouraged an
“extinction” war
April 1676
Massacred peaceful Indians
Bacon demanded total
control of all surrounding
tribes, his rebels use force to
control tribes
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Many tribes were murdered
Bacon dies of dysentery and
his group of rebels breaks up
Land was seized from Native
Americans and never given
back
Colonies were in crisis
Economic opportunities for
settlers made peaceful
coexistence impossible
Racial intolerance was motive
for attacks
SLAVES
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Based on race
African slave trade
No hope of freedom
Were not paid
Children would not be able
to achieve freedom
Social class status
1680’s slave #’s tripled
from 4,500 to 12,000
Conditions deteriorated by
1700
INDENTURED SERVANTS
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Could eventually gain
freedom
Subject to owner’s feelings
and could have years added
Children could gain freedom
Some slaves/indentured
servants married/ran off
together
Became harder to get English
servants because conditions
in England were improving
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Massachusetts Bay
Very different from Chesapeake
Both expanded at expense of Native
Americans
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“A Model of Christian Charity”
Boston
“A City Upon a Hill”
Example for all
Religious community
Biggest threat to stability in his community
came from increasing “self-interest” and
materialism
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New England Way
Public profession of faith
Harvard College in 1636
Cooperation between church and state
Established towns
Divorce allowed, but rare
Had less disease, healthier environment
Longer life span, 65 yrs.
Little cash
Gender-biased society
Tension with Indians, Pequot War
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Believed that civil authorities should not
regulate religious requirements
Was banished in 1635
Moved to Providence, many dissenters
followed him
Enforced religious toleration
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Very religious
Argued on how to achieve salvation
Undermined church authority
Antinomians, opposing the rule of law
Well educated in the Bible
Many men felt she was out of her place
Winthrop brought her to trial for heresy
She settled in Rhode Island
Resulted in increasing limitation of women
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Between settlers and Native Americans
Killing between the Wampanoags and
settlers
Reduced southern New England’s Indian
population significantly, about 40%
Deepened hostility toward Native Americans
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1691-1693
Young girls and a slave, Tituba
Accusations of witchcraft spread through
society
Clearly represented social class differences
and inequality in society
Paranoia and fear swept society
Eventually Governor William Phips forbid any
further imprisonments
Marked the end of Puritan New England
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Economy based on sugar cane and tobacco
growth (Carolina)
Heavy dependence on slave labor from West
Africa, but also tried enslavement of Native
Americans
African slaves had knowledge of rice growing
and also immunity to diseases like malaria
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New Netherland and New Sweden
(introduced the log cabin)
Ethnic diversity
Fur trade, “beaver wars”
New York
New Jersey
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Founder William Penn
Advocated “religious freedom”
Holy experiment
Quakers, founded by George
Fox
Belief in “Inner Light”
Opposed slavery
Land key to success, long
growing season
Made up of lower class English
citizens
They denounced local customs,
refused to give in to the rich and
put more emphasis on “spiritual
state rather than wealth”
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Britain was increasing its ties to America with
little concern for a representative gov’t
Crown revoked charters, consolidated
colonies, angered settlers
Sir Edmund Andros made governor, took
away all privileges
Glorious Revolution: Mary and William
overthrow James II, created English Bill of
Rights 1689, restore Parliament
Continued struggle for Protestant Control
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Belief that a nation should export more than
it imports
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Immigrant population
Diverse group
Increasing growth and
infringing on Native
American lands
40% African-born slaves
Male-dominated
Were subject to
outbreaks of smallpox
and diseases
Most poor never moved
up social class
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Copied British styles,
taste
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Depleted soil of nutrients, deforestation
Knew little, nothing of smart farming
practices
Native Americans used better farming
practices
Slaves, poor farmers lived lives of destitution
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Enlightenment
Focus on ideas of
liberty, independence,
new beliefs, freedom
Ben Franklin
Sir Isaac Newton
New inventions
New books, education
Great Awakening,
religious ideas
George Whitefield
Colonists seeking
salvation, reached
more than white
colonists, also slaves
and neighboring Native
Americans
 Thomas Paine:
Common Sense
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Series of laws, acts which
angered colonists
 “No taxation without
representation”
 Stamp Act
 Declaratory Act
 Sugar Act
 Townshend Acts
 Intolerable Acts/Coercive
Acts
 Quartering Act
 People felt their rights
were being taken without
proper representation
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Colonists protest and fight
back
Send Olive Branch Petition
to King George
Write the Declaration of
Independence 1776, July 4th
British invade and
Revolutionary War begins
Battle of Bunker Hill 1775
British tried intimidation to force surrender
1777 500,000 British troops taken prisoner, Battle
of Saratoga, turning point
 Continental Army, Valley Forge under George
Washington, severe lack of food and clothing,
2,500 die from disease and thousands left
 British suffer several major defeats and
eventually surrender by 1781
 Treaty of Paris ends war, US is recognized as an
independent nation with Mississippi River as
western border
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