American Life in the Seventeenth
Century
1607-1692
American Life in the Seventeenth
Century
• Keep the essential question in mind as you
view the slides on this PowerPoint.
• Essential Question:
– What happens when cultures collide?
• How did the emerging American identity begin?
• How did Native Americans attempt to adapt to a
changing environment?
The Unhealthy Chesapeake
The Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland and Virginia is hot and
humid in the summer. The Bay also has lots of marshes and
bogs. The living conditions of the colonists and the natural
environment was perfect for malaria, dysentery, and typhoid.
A marsh in Virginia.
Mostly men came as indentured servants
to work the tobacco fields of the
Chesapeake. The death rate for colonists
in the Chesapeake was high and it was
even higher for women. As a result,
there was far more men than women.
Where’s the
chicks?
Tobacco Economy
& Frustrated Freemen
Tobacco cultivation requires lots of labor but Indians die of white diseases, slaves
are too expensive and English families in the Chesapeake die like nobody’s
business. Where to find cheap labor? Hmm……..
The Chesapeake was a
terrible environment for
people but it was great for
growing tobacco.
So, this is how the solution worked: a rich man paid the passage of a
laborer from England. In return, the rich man got 50 acres of land and
the poor person got a suit of clothes, some corn and promised to work
for free for a few years – this was called the headright system.
Well, there are lots of
poor people in England
who can’t find jobs.
Tobacco Economy
& Frustrated Freemen
Those rich landowners sure are nice, huh? Not! The
wealthy landowners got all the land and labor for super
cheap. The indentured servants were left with almost
nothing if they lived long enough to get their freedom
back.
Pretty soon, there was a whole
lot of poor, angry, white guys
roaming around the countryside
of Virginia and Maryland.
A guy named Nathanial Bacon had enough. He attacked Indians and
chased Governor Berkeley from Jamestown. The primary cause of
Bacon’s Rebellion was the poverty and discontent of many single young
men unable to acquire land.
Many men went out into the woods of
Virginia to make their own tobacco
farms, but they would get attacked by
Indians and the House of Burgesses
(dominated by the wealthy planters)
wouldn’t help them.
Colonial Slavery
Rhode Island really got in on the
action by creating slave trading
businesses.
But, the labor surplus in England decreased and wages increased. As a result, fewer poor Englishmen were
willing to be indentured servants in the Chesapeake. Wealthy landowners turned to African slaves as laborers
and, by 1680, African slavery became the prevalent form of labor in Virginia and Maryland (black laborers
outnumbered white laborers for the first time!).
The culture that developed among the slaves in
the English colonies of North America was a
combination of several African and American
cultures.
A Comparison of Colonial Life:
New England vs. Southern Society
Wealthy
landowners
Small farmers
•Elementary education was mandatory for any town
with more than fifty families.
•People lived longer and had more stable families.
•The town was the focus of politics, religion, and
education.
•The introduction of livestock, such as sheep, pigs,
horses, and cows greatly changed the landscape.
•Married women gave up their property rights because
Puritan lawmakers thought separate rights would hurt
the unity of marriage .
Landless whites
Indentured Servants
African Slaves
Southern Social Order
•Fewer urban centers, so there were less
businesses, merchants, and professionals
(like lawyers).
•The colonial legislature was the center of
politics but the plantation was where
most activity occurred.
•Married women had property rights, due
to the high mortality rate of young men.
Life in the New England Town
Unlike the Chesapeake, Puritan towns were well planned, orderly,
and family-oriented.
But the pressure of growing populations caused problems.
As time passed, the children of the original Pilgrims became less
religious and less Puritans were claiming to be “saved.” With less
official members of the congregation the church was beginning to
lose influence in the lives of New Englanders. The Half-Way
Covenant” provided baptism but no full communion to people who
had not had a conversion experience.
The Salem Witch Trials
•Farming families outside of town
accused business owners in town of being
witches.
•Many of the women were older and
property-owning widows.
•Anxiety about a weakening church was
common.
•A majority of Puritan congregations were
women.
Social and religious changes to New England life probably caused the Salem
Witch Trials. Those people accused of being witches in Salem were
generally from families associated with Salem’s burgeoning market
economy.
Life in New England Towns
But the Puritan Congregational
church left a good legacy in many
ways. Puritans ran their own
churches, which was a model for
the town meetings.
The town meeting was very
democratic because every adult
male took part in electing
officials, chose school teachers,
and discussed how to maintain
the town.
Questions to Consider
• How was life in the South and New England
colonies similar and different?
• What were the changes in Colonial society
that helped shape an American identity?
• What were the environmental and societal
changes that caused an emerging American
identity?