Transcript Chapter 3 Colonial Society

Chapter 3 - Colonial Society
Were the colonies united?
•Each region – NE, Middle, South – acquired its
own history & developed its own traditions as it
adapted to its environment.
•Having different reasons to establish a colony
would also contribute to these differences.
•Little contact between colonies.
•It wasn’t England’s intent to build a centralized
empire in the New World, just to have colonies
needed for mercantilism.
Similarities
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Location
Common language
Common heritage
Common religion - they all started as part of
the Church of England.
• Loyalty to the monarchy (Crown/Great Britain)
• All subject to the mercantile system.
Similarities between NE & the
Chesapeake Colonies
• Both established around the same time: VA
1607, MA 1630
• Both English colonies
• Both spoke English, accepted Protestantism &
were loyal to the Crown.
Differences between VA & MA
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Environmental conditions
MA – a commonwealth
Labor systems
Social systems
Economies
Motives for establishing
People who first settled there
Fewer families in VA
Education lacking in VA compared to MA
Examples of differences between
VA & MA:
• Chesapeake – its economy was entirely based
on a single crop – tobacco – which created a
demand for indentured servants and later
slaves; more materialisic.
• MA – the longevity of its founders led to social
& political stability that the Chesapeake
colonies didn’t have until the end of the 17th
century.
Another example of the difference
between VA v. MA
• No unity between VA & MA (p. 13). When VA
was having problems with the Native
Americans, MA refused to help them because
they believed it was God’s way of punishing
the tobacco planters for their “worldliness.”
• When MA was having problems with the
Native Americans, it didn’t bother the
Virginians. They saw the Puritans as religious
fanatics and even outlawed the export of food
to MA.
Terms to know:
• Backcountry – the frontier, away from the East
coast; more inland, westward
• Commonwealth – a group of persons united
by some common interest; the people are
sovereign (govern themselves) and they are
organized for the good of all, not for the good
of one (individual); describes the Puritans
New England Society
Puritans
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God-centered
Arrived as nuclear families
Replicated in America their life in England
Longevity - grandparents
Large population
Commonwealth
Agrarian
Dowry
Non economically self sufficient – grew a surplus
in order to buy manufactured goods
• Established towns
• Half-Way Covenant – a way to increase church
membership
• Education was a family responsibility.
• Had the 1st tax supported schools
• Community-centered, not individuals out to get rich
Social Order
- Gentry – became leaders in government
- Sumptuary laws – limited the wearing of fine apparel
to the wealthy & prominent so that those not of the
gentry class could not dress as if they were!
- Yeomen – independent farmers, landowners
- Servants (vocational training) – mainly children p. 71
Chesapeake colonies
VA & MD
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Did not arrive as families but as individuals
Most (70-85%) were indentured servants
High mortality rates
Poor environment – disease, salt water to drink
Social Order
Gentry – plantation owners ruled
Yeomen
Freemen – former indentured servants; formed the largest
class
Indentured servants
slaves
• No need for towns because they traded their
tobacco directly with English merchants
• Imported manufactured goods from England
as did the Puritans
Slavery
• Slaves replaced Native Americans &
indentured servants.
How did slavery get started in VA?
• First arrived in 1619
• Flourished under the Triangular Trade.
• Middle Passage – slave voyage
• As the slave population became to outnumber
the southern colonies’ population, this
created fear which led to the passage of black
codes and the rise of racism.
• Slavery was referred to as “the peculiar”
institution because it was based solely on skin
color.
African American Identities
• The slave experience varied from colony to colony
and region to region.
South Carolina
– Slave made up the majority of the population
(60%) which enabled them to develop their own
culture (Creole languages such as Gullah.)
- Worked on isolated rice plantations
- Limited contact with whites
- Formed kinships
New England & Middle Colonies:
• More frequent contact with whites
• North: many worked as domestic servants
Virginia:
• Worked in tobacco fields mainly for plantation
owners (the gentry)
Rebellions:
Stono Uprising – SC, the most serious colonial
slave rebellion; slaves were trying to get to
Spanish Florida
British Economics
• Salutary neglect – as long as the colonies
made a profit for the Crown, the monarchy
left them alone. This led the colonies to
become more independent, economically and
politically.
• Salutary neglect continued until the end of the
French & Indian War in 1763 when the Crown
needed more money.
The British Economic System
Mercantilism
• A term coined by British economist Adam
Smith
• Required colonies, raw materials, markets, & a
favorable balance of trade (export more than
import)
Navigation Acts
• Passed to enforce mercantilism and to eliminate
the Dutch trade with the colonies.
• Stated that no ship could trade in the colonies
unless the ship had been built in England or in
America & its crew had to be 75% English.
• Stated that certain enumerated goods (items that
England could not produce) were to be sold only
to England: tobacco, sugar, cotton, indigo, rice
• Enumerated means numbered or listed.
• Staple Act – stated nothing could be imported
into America unless it was first shipped to
England which would increase the cost of the
good to America (protective tariff)
• Colonial reaction to the Navigation Acts –
angry and pretty much ignored them or found
ways to get around them, p. 82 (smuggling
also occurred)
• England passed a plantation duty – tax the
enumerated goods upfront
• The greatest problem with the Navigation Acts
is that they could not be enforced.
• However, colonists no longer made as much
profit from their trade and these trade
restrictions would create resentment that only
increased with the new taxes imposed after
the French & Indian War.
Colonial Rebellion
Bacon’s Rebellion 83-84
• Conflict was over land (the best land was in the hands
of the plantation owners who were the governing
body)
• Conflict was over the Native Americans who were
attacking the backcounty settlers or backwoodsmen
and the government in Jamestown refused to do
anything about it. Most of these farmers had been
indentured servants.
• Nathaniel Bacon took matters into his own hands,
attacking Indians & burning down Jamestown.
• Bacon’s Rebellion became a civil war.
• Outcome: slaves replaced indentured servants
The Glorious Revolution in
Massachusetts
• New England developed a sense of independence
from England even though it was unfounded.
They too had to follow the Navigation Acts. NonPuritans were moving into the area and
demanding to be treated fairly.
• 1675 – King Philip’s War – Native Americans v.
Puritans, a severe economic blow to the MA
colony (debt from war) but was the last major
Native American conflict for the Puritans.
• England’s response: cancel the Massachusetts
Bay Colony’s charter, making it a royal colony
• England decided to restructure the
government of all of NE in the Dominion of
New England. of NE would be under 1
governor.
• When news of the GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
reached the colonies, the colonists overthrew
the royal governor (Sir Edmund Adrows), and
the Dominion of New England was abandoned
giving MA a new royal charter. Now to vote
you to own land, not be a church member.
Witchcraft
• A response to the political turmoil when England
attempted the Dominion of New England
• A response to religious discord when nonPuritans began moving into MA as well as division
among Puritans.
• A response to the economic inequality within MA
– the poor and the wealthy
• Is compared to the McCarthy hearings of the
1950s when people were wrongly accused of
being communists
The Glorious Revolution in
New York and Maryland
New York
• A response to divisions within the ruling class and
religious & ethnic differences
• A clash between the Dutch & Anglo-Dutch
• Jacob Leisler – along with others, seized the local
fort (seat of government) in the name of William
& Mary
• Leisler was ordered to surrender the fort and
when he didn’t immediately do so, he was
declared a rebel, tried and hanged.
MARYLAND
• Conflict between Catholics & Protestants
• With the news of the Glorious Revolution,
Protestants under John Coode formed the
Protestant Association to force the governor
of Baltimore to resign. This Association also
asked the Crown to transform MD into a royal
colony.
• Anglicanism (Protestantism) was declared the
official religion