Topic I. Colonial America

2. America and the British Empire, 1650-1754A. Chesapeake country, Virginia and Maryland, plantation economies, Tidewater

1. Virginia (see notes on Jamestown No. 1, C.1)2. Maryland, 1634

a. motivation1. founded by Lord Baltimore as a refuge for Roman

Catholics2. financial profit

b. sponsor(s)1. Lord Baltimore (absentee proprietor) gave his relatives

large tracts of land (feudal domain)2. smaller backwoods settlements inhabited by Protestants

(poorer people) also grew up around estates and tensions between groups grew

c. economy1. tobacco main crop (like Virginia)2. indentured servants main source of labor (like Virginia)

d. significance1. religious toleration but Catholics outnumbered in 1649

agreed to Act of toleration (passed by local representative assembly), which granted all Christians toleration (Jews and atheists death penalty if denied divinity of Jesus Christ) i.e. Act resulted in less toleration than previous measures.

3. General characteristics of the Chesapeake countrya. social - 17th century - characterized by disease, shortened life

span, absence of females, weak family ties, high out-of-wedlock births, slow immigration from England, but by 18th century - immunity to disease, growth by natural increase (Virginia largest colony by 1700)

b. economy - based on tobacco but volatile prices since solution was to plant more when prices dropped, therefore constant and great need for labor (Indians dies, Africans too much money)

- white indentured servants until 1680 when African labor used (3/4) of European) because whites were too rebellious and unreliable and monopoly of Royal African Company broken- headright system led to growth of vast riverfront estates

B. Growth of new England1. Plymouth, Massachusetts (see notes in No.1 C.2) merged with the

Massachusetts Bay Colony on 1691, still charterless, most important leader, William Bradford, governor 30 years, moral and spiritual influence

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2. Massachusetts Bay Colony 1630a. motivation

1. well-equipped expedition of 1,000 moderate non-Separatists, Puritans left England when Charles I dismissed Parliament in 1629

2. Great Migration of 1630s (to 1642) brought 75,000 more Puritans fleeing religious repression and economic depression

3. establish Godly or Bible Commonwealth4. find prosperity

b. sponsor(s)1. - diverse group obtained royal charter to form

Massachusetts Bay Company. i.e. Gov. John Winthrop, wealthy attorney who felt he had a calling for a “city on a hill,” holy society for all to follow

c. economy- fur trading, fishing, ship building helped elevate the Massachusetts Bay Colony to most influential in all New England

d. significance1. Bible Commonwealth but clergy barred from holding

political office, so “separation of church and state”2. Protestant Ethic i.e. serious commitment to work and

involvement in worldly affairs3. Massachusetts Bay Colony “hub” of region from which

other colonies grew (Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Haven, New Hampshire and grew into Plymouth, Maine, New Hampshire)

C. Restoration Colonies, after Charles II restored to throne (1660)1. Carolinas, named for Charles II, 1670

a. motivation1. grow food stuffs to provision sugar plantations in Barbados2. export non-English products (wine, silks, olive oil)

b. sponsor(s)1. Charles II gave 8 aristocratic proprietors land all the way to the Pacific Ocean

2. later (1712) north part of Carolinas develops it own distinctive traits as squatter/outcasts from Virginia move south and raise tobacco on small farms without the use of slaves

c. economy1. developed close economic ties with the British West Indies

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2. exported Indian slaves to work in sugar cane fields and mills or in New England

3. rice becomes principal crop in South Carolina- promoted African slavery because of their skill and immunity to malaria (by 1710 made up the majority of the population of South Carolina)

4. busiest seaport in South (Charleston) inhabited by aristocracy from England but also religiously tolerant; known for slave trade

d. significance1. North Carolina becomes known as a haven for irreligious,

spirit of resistance to authority2. along with Rhode Island (Roger Williams) becomes most

democratic, independent, and least aristocratic of the 13 colonies

2. Pennsylvaniaa. motivation

1. asylum for Quakers, who were being persecuted in England.

2. place where experimentation with liberal ideas in government could take place unhampered

3. financial profitb. sponsor(s)

1. William Penn, wealthy Quaker, secured grant from king in consideration for debt owed to his father (proprietary colony)

2. advertised for settlers from all over Europe with promises of toleration and land; it attracted Dutch, French, and German immigrants

3. squatters already lived along the Delaware River, including Dutch, Swedes, English and Welsh

c. economy1. fertile soil, broad expanses of land led to successful growth

of grains - “Bread Colonies”2. rivers tap fur trade and lure settlers into back country3. little manufacturing but still lumbering and shipbuilding,

growth of seaports, commerced. significance

1. one of the most ethnically mixed colony in New World because of liberal immigration and naturalization policy, therefore economic and social democracy great

2. freedom of worship for all except Catholics and Jews who could not vote or hold office; no tax-supported church

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3. paid Indians for their land and treated them fairly therefore no military defense needed

4. politically, representative assembly elected by landownersD. Mercantilism, a general theory used to justify exploitation of American colonies

(used by all strong nations)1. elements include

a. develop a strong, central government to direct the nation’s affairsb. achieve economic and military self-sufficiency, usually exporting

more than importingc. colonies exist for the benefit of the Mother country (not to achieve

economic independence or self-government)2. American colonies’ relation to England

a. colonies were expected to provide ships, ships’ stores, and sailors to build up the navy and merchant marine

b. colonists would serve as market for English manufactured goods, therefore they were discouraged from trading with other countries

c. colonies would provide raw materials that might otherwise have to be purchased from foreign nations, thereby keeping the wealth within the empire

3. Parliament’s measures to enforce mercantilist policiesa. 1650 trade was restricted to and from colonies requiring that good

could only be carried on British vessels (kept Dutch traders out)b. (see notes on American Revolution for other measures)c. Dominion of New England, 1686, created by royal authority and

included all New England colonies plus New York and New Jersey in order to1. bolster colonial defense in event of Indian wars2. administer Navigation Laws to bind the colonists more

tightly to the Mother country3. headed by the hated Sir Edmund Andros, military man who

alienated colonists bya. cracking down on smugglersb. curbed town meetings, press, schools and courtsc. revoked land titlesd. taxed without consent

E. Origins of Slavery (first Africans to Jamestown, 1619, possibly as indentured servants)1. Of the 10 million Africans brought to the New World between 1492-1792,

only 400,000 were destined for North America, and most arrived after 1700; rest were taken to the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in South America or to various West Indies islands

2. White indentured servants filled most labor needs before 1700 but they proved to be unreliable and dangerous

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- as their expectations for “freedom dues” (land supplies, etc.) were unmet and they lost hope of ever becoming economically independent, insurrections became a real threat- Bacon’s rebellion, 1670 was started by disenfranchised landless, former servants in the Chesapeake region who were upset that government policy towards Indians was friendly and that government monopolized the lucrative fur trade

3. This, combined with the fact that the Royal African Company lost their monopoly stimulated the move toward the importation of Africans to fill the labor needs of the South, especially

- Africans also brought with them several advantages, such as immunity to malaria and experience growing rice (which explains why South Carolina where rice was grown, had the greatest proportion of Africans to Whites)

4. Most Africans brought from West coast of Africa were captured by African coastal tribes and sold to slave tradersa. traveled “middle passage” like animal stock and 20% mortality not

uncommonb. most destined for Newport, Rhode Island, or Charleston, South

Carolina5. Some Africans gain freedom (and even own slaves) but most become

chattel for life6. Slave culture grows in the Chesapeake easier than further south because

tobacco cultivation was less labor intensive and the plantations were closer together

- slave population perpetuates itself through natural increase7. As time went on, restrictive laws (slave codes) were passed to keep the

African slaves from resisting- what first started as a chiefly economic motive for adopting slave labor, later became infused with racism - laws to suppress them were based purely on race (rather than economic status or religion, as was the custom in other area, such as voting or church membership)

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