History M07A

Lecture #2: Colonial Regions Develop

An English Colony on the Chesapeake

• The Fragile Jamestown Settlement - starts with a fort and defense from Natives (Powhatan/Pocahantas)
• Life is tough, famine & disease, few settlers survive
• Cooperation and Conflict- Natives attempted to starve settlers out, settlers used force to reopen trade
• English trade conveniences for food, unwilling/able to labor for food
• Powhatan dies, Opechancanough attacks settlers, fails to eliminate them & makes permanent enemies

From Private to Royal Control

• most mortality from disease & mismanagement
• Government takes over colony - eventually turns to tobacco
• Exporting tobacco gives Chesapeake purpose
• Very labor intensive, but tobacco profits could make labor very rewarding
• Land very cheap (free with paid passage)

A Servant Labor System

• Many poor cannot afford passage, landowners looking for labor turn to indentured servitude
• Conditions harsh for servants - legal code maximizes exploitation
• Women even more desired as wives/domestic help

Social and Economic Polarization

• Mostly protestant - Maryland established as Catholic colony (RC upper class - Protestant lower classes)
• First half of 1600s: split between farmer and servant - changes after 1650, harder for servants to become land owners, tobacco not as profitable
• Real split emerges between landed & landless, government favored landed & increasing restricted trade

Bacon’s Rebellion:

• Poor continue to push into “Indian Lands”, demand protection
• Governor brands Bacon an outlaw, Bacon declares war
• Crackdown on rebellion makes wealthy even more powerful
• Settlers conclude it’s easier to fight Indians than each other - class tensions lessen
• # of servants decreases, colonies move…

Toward a Slave Labor System

• Starts with Sugar in the West Indies - sugar production required capital and slaves
• From Barbados to Carolina, settlers from W. Indies - bring slaves
• Changes in Carolina lead to emergence of slave labor in Chesapeake
• Slaves provide permanent labor supply, easily identifiable, poor whites enjoy elevated status, legal challenge is now keeping slaves in their place

The Evolution of New England Society

• Puritans believe in strong covenant with each other and with God
• Calvinism & Predestination - close eye on behavior of others
• Church & state technically separate, but church allowed heavy influence over government

Government by Puritans for Puritanism

• Elected colonial assembly & used town meeting for local government (men voted & held office)
• Towns distribute lands, negotiated with Indians to relinquish rights
• Equal land leads to small family farms
• Short growing season & soil lead to very different economic development (fish, fur, ship building)

The Splintering of Puritanism

• Piety mellows with time, “horse-shed” Christianity
• Halfway covenant tries to deal with children of saints without conversion
• Quakers begin to arrive & are persecuted
• Witch Trials show Puritans need to remain pious and hold on to faith, we remain fascinated by witch hunt

The Middle Colonies

• Starts with Dutch West India Co.
• Much greater religious & cultural diversity than Northern or Southern colonies
• New Netherland becomes New York
• New Jersey and Pennsylvania born out of one land grant
• New Jersey keeps proprietary government, Penn builds…

A Quaker Colony in Pennsylvania

• Quakers very equal, not hierarchical
• Guided by inner light, “society of friends”
• Dealt fairly with Indians
• Religious tolerance for all believers
• Quakers did have high moral standards, and had huge influence on Pennsylvania’s government

Royal Regulation of Colonial Trade

• Colonies were supposed to generate income for throne
• Navigation Acts limit goods to English ships, certain “enumerated” goods could only go to England or colonies
• King Philip’s War and the Consolidation of Royal Authority