American Life in the 17 th Century

1. American Life in the 17th Century

2. Life in the Chesapeake • Location: Maryland and Virginia area • Disease: typhoid, dysentery, malaria • Life span: 40 to 50 years • Family Life: Men outnumbered the women (6:1) 1/3 of women are pregnant on their wedding day • Tobacco Economy: Exports rose from 1.5 million pounds of tobacco annually in the 1630s to 40 million pounds in 1700 Problem: Production increases – prices fall Solution: keep planting and producing HEADRIGHT SYSTEM: Purpose: growth for the Chesapeake Area Aristocrat (rich) sponsors an indentured servant to America, that aristocrat earns the right to purchase 50 acres of land PROBLEM: Rich are gobbling up the land….poor people are left out! Remember: indentured servants vs. African slaves

3. Frustration and Bacon’s Rebellion • Chesapeake Men: homeless, landless, no woman and angry….so let’s get land and some women BACON’S REBELLION: 1676 – 1,000 man revolt against Governor William Berkeley Governor Berkeley: great relationship with the Native Americans (fur-trading) Goal of Bacon’s Rebellion: LAND FROM INDIANS End of Rebellion: Bacon dies of disease and Governor Berkeley takes over and crushes the rebellious tide. Psychological legacy: lingering fear of revolt and lawlessness in the minds of the upper class.

4. Colonial Slavery 1670 – 1680s – African American slaves made up 7% of Southern population • Wages in England went up, so fewer young men came to America. • Americans were fearful of another Bacon-like revolt. • In the mid-1680s, African American slaves coming to America outnumbered white immigrants for the first time. • Simply put, in the 1680s, the African slave trade quickened considerably. Reference: MIDDLE PASSAGE (WEST AFRICA TO WEST INDIES) = seasoning of slaves while in West Indies Largest import cities: Charleston, SC and Newport, RI

7. African American Revolts • Occasionally revolts occurred / though scattered and controlled quickly • Stono River Revolt: • South Carolinian slaves try to walk to Spanish owned Florida, but captured but state militia and sent back into captivity

8. Southern Society • Rich vs. poor and gap was widening Social Hierarchy (1) FFV’s: (Virginia) land owners / strong voice in the House of Burgesses (fairness?) Nicknamed the FFV’s (First Families of Virginia) (2) Small Farmers: largest social groups / owned small plots of land and owned 1 – 2 slaves (3) Landless Whites: freed indentured servants (4) Slaves: no rights and no hope of gaining any Remember: Urban Sprawl DID NOT occur – Why? __________________________________________________

9. New England Society • Climate and conditions were MUCH BETTER than the Southern society • Invention of Grandparents! (life expectancy) • Bible Commonwealth: laws to benefit the common good based on biblical ties • Main agenda: protect the sacred bond of family and marriage • This was illustrated in Nathaniel Hawthorne’sThe Scarlet Letter where the heroine is forced to wear a bright red “A” on her chest to announce her sin of adultery.

10. Life in the New England Colonies • Urban Sprawl DID work in this area (compare to South) Characteristics: structured and ordered (town squares, churches, homes, shops….) Most Valued: EDUCATION Lower populated areas: primary schools Higher populated areas: secondary schools HARVARD COLLEGE: 1636 – America’s OLDEST college Main motivation: train men for the ministry Church connection: a church would give an understanding of self-government….feeds into society

11. The Half-Way Covenant Jeremiad: a stern, old-fashioned scolding • The ambition was to corral straying souls and return them to the “straight-and-narrow.” Paradox: Puritan leaders and preachers began to loosen their grip on church membership = Half-Way Covenant *Half-way status with the church 17th century society saw everything through religious eyes so…..

12. Salem Witch Trials In 1692, a few girls claimed to have been bewitched by a Caribbean woman practicing voodoo. Names were named, rumors spread, and innocent people were accused of being witches. Hysteria took hold and twenty people were executed. By 1693, the Salem residents saw the recklessness for what it was and called it off.

13. New England Way of Life • Why not focus on agriculture? Problematic soil • Some farms: so small that it couldn’t generate the economy like a plantation-style like the South • Northern Slavery: tried but not needed • Religious purposes • Not economically needed Result: less ethnically diverse than South Major Industry: Fishing! (God and Cod)

14. From Africa to African-Americans • African culture brought across the ocean: language, music, food, amongst many numerous things • Africans worked in South Carolina rice fields because of • Their knowledge of the crop • Their resistance to disease (immunity) / as compared to Native Americans Assignment: Read p. 74 and 75 to come up with a well-rounded response to the following question *Essential Question: Evaluate how African men and women continued to have a deep cultural tie to their Motherland, and how African culture influenced the social makeup of America. Length: ½ page (due today) *Please do not rewrite what you read / make sure you answer the actual question

15. New England V. Middle V. South • Compare the ESPN of colonial life ESPN: (E) Economic, (S) Social, (P) Political, and the (N) Environmental issues and themes of each area of Colonial America. DO NOT be afraid to draw upon what you already know. Purple paper up frontfor gridding