American Life in the Seventeenth Century

1. American Life in the Seventeenth Century

2. Unhealthy Chesapeake • Life was harsh. • Malaria, dysentery, and typhoid killed many. • Life span 40 - 50 years. • 6:1 male to female ratio • Few people knew any grandparents. • 1/3 of weddings were shotgun. • Virginia: 59,000 people

3. Tobacco Economy • The Chesapeake was very good for tobacco cultivation. • 1630s Chesapeake Bay exported 1.5 million pounds of tobacco 1700: 40 million pounds a year. • Prices fell and farmers still grew more. • The headright system encouraged growth of the Chesapeake. If an aristocrat sponsored an indentured servant’s passage to America, the aristocrat earned the right to purchase 50 acres land. • Most of early laborers were indentured servants. • Most indentured servants were immigrants. • IS received passage, food, and clothing for labor. • Life for them was hard- 7 years to work for freedom • Conditions were brutal.

4. English Colonization • Late 1600s:lots of free, poor, landless, frustrated single men. • 1676: Nathaniel Bacon led rebellion. • These people wanted land and were resentful of Virginia governor William Berkeley’s friendly policies toward the Indians. • Bacon’s men murderously attacked Indian settlements. • Bacon suddenly died of disease • Bacon’s legacy lived on • Impacted laborers ability to find work post-rebellion

5. Colonial Slavery • 300 years after Columbus’ :400,000 of 10 million African slaves were brought over to the U.S. • Mid-1680s: black slaves outnumbered white servants. • 1750:blacks accounted for nearly half of the Virginian population. • Most of the slaves were from West Africa • Some of the earliest black slaves gained their freedom and some became slaveholders themselves. • Slave codes made it so that slaves and their children would remain slaves to their masters for life. • Some laws made teaching slaves to read a crime • Conversion to Christianity would not qualify a slave for freedom.

6. Africans in America • Slave life in the Deep South was very tough. • Many blacks blended their native tongues with English. • Blacks played music with the banjo and bongo drum. • Some slaves became skilled artisans. • Most were relegated to sweaty work. • Slave revolts occurred. • 1712: New York City slave revolt led by Jacob Leisler • 12 whites died & 21 Blacks were executed. • 1739: South Carolina blacks along the Stono River revolted • SC: Harshest place for slaves. After SR, slaves were treated worse in more parts of the South.

7. Southern Society • Social gap appeared • Virginia:a clutch of extended clans owned tracts and tracts of real estate. • First Families of Virginia (FFV). • Virginia: problem with drunkenness. • Largest social group was the landowning farmers. • Schools and churches were slow to develop.

8. New England Family • Clean water & cool temperatures. • Average life expectancy of 70 years. • Tended to migrate as a family. • Women usually married in their early 20s and gave birth every two years until menopause. • Women had 10 babies and raised about 8 of them. • Death in childbirth common. • Higher life expectancy and laws meant less rights for women. • Men didn’t have absolute power over their wives. • Law was very severe and strict. • Adulterous women had to wear the letter “A” on their bosoms if they were caught.

9. Life in New England towns • Life was organized. • New towns were legally chartered by colonial authorities and very well organized politically. • Meetinghouse surrounded by houses & a village green. • Towns of more than 50 families had to provide primary education. • Towns of more than 100 had to provide secondary education. • 1636: Massachusetts Puritans established Harvard College. • Harvard was established as a school for pastors. • 1693: Virginia established William and Mary. • Puritans ran their own churches. • Church democracy led to democracy in political government.

10. Salem Witch Trials • New type of sermon came about called “jeremiads.” • Earnest preachers scolded parishioners for their waning piety. • Uncertainty and questioning of religious and social practices. • 1662: “Half-Way Covenant.” • All people could come and participate in the church • Early 1690s: group of Salem girls claimed to have been bewitched by certain older women. • Hysterical witch-hunt that led to the executions of 20 people and two dogs. • Europe: larger scale witch-hunts were already occurring. • Witchcraft hysteria eventually ended in 1693.

11. New England way of life • New Englanders became great traders. • Less ethnically mixed than its neighbors. • Climate encouraged diversified agriculture and industry helping the economy of the New England colonies. • Black slavery was attempted. • Rivers were short and rapid. • Chastised the Indians for “wasting” the land. • Fishing became a very popular industry. • Built on “God and cod.”

12. Early Settlers • Farmers usually rose at dawn & went to bed at dusk. • Few events were “worth the candle.” • Life was humble but comfortable. • Lower middle class citizens looking to have a better future in the New World. • Laws against extravagances were sometimes passed.

13. African to African-American • Africans’ brought new languages, music, and cuisines to America. • The first slaves were men. • 1740: Large groups of African slaves lived together on plantations. • Most slaves became Christians. • Many African dances led to modern dances. • Christian songs could also be code for the announcement of the arrival of a freedom. • Jazz is the most famous example of slave music entering mainstream culture.