PUTTING DOWN ROOTS: OPPORTUNITY AND OPPRESSION IN COLONIAL SOCIETY

1. PUTTING DOWN ROOTS: OPPORTUNITY AND OPPRESSION IN COLONIAL SOCIETY America: Past and Present Chapter 3

2. Sources of Stability: New England Colonies of the Seventeenth Century • New Englanders replicated traditional English social order • Contrasted with experience in other English colonies • Explanation lies in development of Puritan families

3. Immigrant Families and New Social Order • Puritans believed God ordained the family • Reproduce patriarchal English family structure in New England • Greater longevity in New England results in “invention” of grandparents • Multigenerational families strengthen social stability

4. Commonwealth of Families • Most New Englanders married neighbors of whom parents approved • New England towns collections of interrelated households • Church membership associated with certain families • Education provided by the family

5. Women’s Lives in Puritan New England • Women not legally equal with men • Marriages based on mutual love • Most Women contributed to society as • wives and mothers • church members • small-scale farmers • Women accommodated themselves to roles they believed God ordained

6. Social Hierarchy in New England • Absence of very rich necessitates creation of new social order • New England social order becomes • local gentry of prominent, pious families • large population of independent yeomen landowners loyal to local community • small population of landless laborers, servants, poor

7. Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Gentry, in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position. The Yeoman was a social class in England from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century of a free man who owned his own farm Definitions

8. The Challenge of the Chesapeake Environment • Imbalanced sex ratio among immigrants • High death rate • Scattered population

9. Family Life at Risk • Normal family life impossible in Virginia • mostly young male indentured servants • most immigrants soon died • in marriages, one spouse often died within a decade • Serial marriages, extended families common • Orphaned children raised by strangers

10. Women in Chesapeake Society • Scarcity gives some women bargaining power in marriage market • Women without family protection vulnerable to sexual exploitation • Childbearing extremely dangerous • Chesapeake women died 20 years earlier than women in New England

11. The Structure of Planter Society: The Gentry • Tobacco the basis of Chesapeake wealth • Great planters few but dominant • arrive with capital to invest in workers • amass huge tracts of land • gentry see servants as possessions • Early gentry become stable ruling elite by 1700

12. The Structure of Planter Society: The Freemen • The largest class in Chesapeake society • Most freed at the end of indenture • Live on the edge of poverty

13. The Structure of Planter Society: Indentured Servants • Servitude a temporary status • Conditions harsh • Servants regard their bondage as slavery • Planters fear rebellion

14. The Planter Class How would a class system affect life in the Southern colonies? • Owners of plantations- Elite • Came from noble families in England • Small population with great control • Class System

15. Race and Freedom in British America • Indians decimated by disease • European indentured servant-pool wanes after 1660 • Enslaved Africans fill demand for labor

16. The Search for Cheap Labor Percentage of Population What was causing this trend in the Southern Colonies? Year

17. Planters Turn to Slavery • First- tried Native Americans • Died of diseases • Escaped into forests • Turned to African Americans • By 1750- more than 235,000 living in America • 68% were in the Southern Colonies • 40% of the South’s population • As population increase, more laws arose • Were checked for passes when traveling • Living areas were checked for weapons • Etc

18. Roots of Slavery • First Africans to Virginia in 1619 • Status of Africans in Virginia unclear for 50 years • Rising black population in Virginia after 1672 prompts stricter slave laws • Africans defined as slaves for life • slave status passed on to children • white masters possess total control of slave life and labor • mixing of races not tolerated

19. Origins and Destinations of African Slaves, 1619-1760

20. Constructing African American Identities: Geography’s Influence • Slave experience differed from colony to colony • 60% of South Carolina population black • Nearly half Virginia population black • Blacks much less numerous in New England and the Middle Colonies

21. Constructing African American Identities: Slave Resistance • Widespread resentment of debased status • Armed resistance such as S. Carolina’s Stono Rebellion of 1739 a threat • Runaways common in colonial America

22. The Enslaved Fight Back Worked slowly Damaged goods Deliberately carried out orders in the wrong way Pretended not to understand directions

23. The Stono Rebellion • 1739 • 20 slaves killed planters and marched south • Chanting “Liberty” • Called out for others to join them as they marched • Up to 100 total • 7 plantations were burned and 20 whites were killed • Fighting broke out • Many slaves died • Those captured were executed • Led to stricter rules on slaves • Needed permission to leave plantations • Illegal to meet with free blacks

25. Africans in New England • Only few slaves in New England • 1700- only 2% of the population • No large plantations • Slaves • House Servants • Cooks • Gardeners • Stablehands • Were hired out to work in shops or warehouses • Could sometimes keep portion of wages • Could possibly buy their freedom

26. Africans in New England New England had more free blacks than any other region Merchants, sailors, printers, carpenters, or landowners Still were not treated as equals

27. A Prosperous Region- Middle Colonies • Productive Farms • Long growing season and rich soil • Cash crops • Fruit • Vegetables • Grain- became known as “breadbasket” colonies

28. Growing Cities • Excellent Harbors • Hudson River= New York City • Delaware River= Philadelphia • Enormous trade • Exported grain and other cash crops • Imported manufactured goods • Trade brought Wealth • Large and beautiful buildings • Independence Hall: Philadelphia

29. Importance of Location

30. African Americans in the Cities • Economy did not depend on slave labor • 1750 only 7% of population was enslaved (most lived in cities) • Compared to Southern colonies 40% • New York City was a big part of the slave trade • Manual laborers • Servants • Drivers • Assistants • Built roads, houses, and public buildings

31. Racial Tension in New York City • Lives of Slaves were harsh • Fears of slave revolt increased • 1712- group of slaves rebelled • Burned several buildings • Slaves faced defeat, torture, and death • Did not prevent further rebellions • Quakers condemned slavery • Said it was immoral and against Christian principles • Worked to prevent the slave trade from entering Pennsylvania

32. Diversity and Tolerance • Very diverse population • Germans were largest immigrant group • Came as indentured servants • To Pennsylvania for religious tolerance • Brought many skills • Farming • Crafts • Gunsmiths • Ironworkers • Makers of Glass, Furniture, and Kitchenware

33. Diversity in the Middle Colonies

34. Diversity Leads to Tolerance Dutch in New York and Quakers in Pennsylvania Laid foundation for religious tolerance Many religious groups settled in Middle Colonies Different groups had to learn to accept, or tolerate one another NYC is still a center of commerce and religious diversity.

35. Rise of a Commercial Empire • English leaders ignore colonies until 1650s • Restored monarchy of Charles II recognized value of colonial trade • Navigation Acts passed to regulate, protect, glean revenue from commerce

36. Response to Economic Competition • “Mercantilism” a misleading term for English commercial regulation • Varieties of motivation • crown wants money • English merchants want to exclude Dutch • Parliament wants stronger Navy—encourage domestic shipbuilding industry • everyone wants better balance of trade

37. Mercantilism • An economic theory that shaped imperial policy throughout the colonial period, mercantilism was built on the assumption that the world's wealth was a fixed supply. In order to increase its wealth, a nation needed to export more goods than it imported. Favorable trade and protective economic policies, as well as new colonial possessions rich raw materials, were important in achieving this balance.

38. The Navigation Acts • Mercantilism • Mother country benefits/ makes a profit from the colonies • As colonies prospered, England wanted to make sure it made profits! • So… • England passed the Navigation Acts in 1651

39. The Navigation Acts • 4 major requirements • All goods had to be carried on English ships or ships made in the colonies • Products such as tobacco, wood, and sugar could only be sold to England or its colonies • European imports to the colonies had to go through English ports • Officials were to tax any colonial goods not shipped to England • Colonists were angry • Merchants ignored Acts when possible • Problems • Smuggling • Pirates

40. Atlantic Trade • 3 Types of Trade • With other colonies • With Europe • Triangular Trade (involved slaves, rum, sugar, and molasses

41. Triangular Trade

42. Regulating Colonial Trade: The Navigation Act of 1660 • Ships engage in English colonial trade • must be made in England (or America) • must carry a crew at least 75% English • Enumerated goods only to English ports • Certain essential raw materials produced in the North American colonies, such as tobacco, sugar, and rice specified in the Navigation Acts, which stipulated that these goods could by shipped only to England or its colonies.

43. Regulating Colonial Trade: The Navigation Act of 1663 • Goods shipped to English colonies must pass through England • Increased price paid by colonial consumers

44. Regulating Colonial Trade:Implementing the Acts • Navigation Acts spark Anglo-Dutch trade wars • New England merchants skirt laws • English revisions tighten loopholes • Navigation Acts eventually benefit colonial merchants

45. Civil War in Virginia: Bacon's Rebellion • Nathaniel Bacon leads rebellion, 1676 • Rebellion allows small farmers, blacks and women to join, demand reforms • Governor William Berkeley regains control • Rebellion collapses after Bacon’s death • Gentry recovers positions, unite over next decades to oppose royal governors

46. Bacon’s Rebellion • Nathaniel Bacon led group of angry settlers • Demanded that governor help defend settlements in the west and stop favoring the elite • 1676 • Bacon entered Jamestown • Took control of House of Burgesses • Burned Jamestown to the ground

47. Bacon’s Rebellion • Bacon got sick and suddenly died • Rebellion ended • Governor hanged 23 of the followers • King and House of Burgesses angry with governor • Passed laws to prevent governor from taking such power again

48. The Glorious Revolution in the Bay Colony: King Philip’s War • 1675--Metacomet leads Wampanoag-Narragansett alliance against colonists • Colonists struggle to unite, defeat Indians • Deaths total 1,000+ Indians and colonists

49. King Philip’s War Europeans believed land could be owned Native Americans thought of land as available to the community Conflicts over land resulted in war

50. Fighting for Survival Native Americans were worried Loss of land Impact of European culture 1675-1676 uprising against Puritan colonies King Philip was the English name for Metacom- leader of Wamponoag tribe