CREATING ENGLISH AMERICA

1590-1660

ENGLISH COLONIZATION IN IRELAND

ENGLISH COLONIZATION IN IRELAND

ENGLAND’S MOTIVES FOR EXPANSION Economic

Religions

Political

Social

ENGLAND’S SOCIAL CRISIS

•England’s decline economy (brought on by frequent drought and war) led to an increasing number of poor that strained the economy and led to a social crisis

•Population grew from 3 million in 1550 to 4 million in 1600

•A significant change for the time

•“Enclosure movement”

•The English crown did little to alleviate the problem

•Henry VIII stated those without jobs could be whipped, branded, forced into military service, or executed

ENCLOSURE

ENGLAND’S SOCIAL CRISIS•Elizabeth I offered two solutions:

•Force vagrants and vagabonds to accept any job offered

•Go to America!

•(The ‘unruly poor’ was highly encouraged to venture to the New World to find riches)

•Propaganda campaigns

•The crown and colonizing companies appealed to the poor by stating they could become “Masterless Men” in the New World

•A man could control his own labor, gain independence from the English “man”, and own land.

•Thomas Moore’s Utopia describes this in detail and encouraged the ‘unruly poor’ to go to America to escape the inequities of Europe

ENGLAND’S INITIAL PUSH TO AMERICA

•How many people left?•Between 1600 and 1700, over half a million people left England•Sustained immigration was vital for a colony’s success (and survival)•Lower class “unruly poor” and indentured servants represented 2/3 of those that left England•Indentured servants did not enjoy liberties while under contract (essentially another form of slavery)

ENGLISH COLONIES to 1675•Roanoke (Failure)

•Jamestown

• 1st attempt – Failure

• 2nd attempt – Success

•Chesapeake

• Virginia/Maryland

•New England

• Plymouth/Massachusetts Bay/Rhode Island, Connecticut

ROANOKE

ROANOKE

•Sir Walter Raleigh (English pirate) sent 100 colonists to set up a colonial base on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina.

•Why? He wanted to keep pressure on Spanish ships in the area

•The initial push to colonize was abandoned and most of first 100 returned to England

•In 1586, he sent another 100 colonists to try to establish a permanent colony

•Those 100 disappeared when a supply ship came in 1590

•More than likely, they assimilated with the local Indian tribes

•The only evidence left was the word “Croatoan” scrawled on a tree

•Raleigh quickly lost his enthusiasm for colonization and gave up

•Moral of the story: England really needed to plan better before attempting to colonize

JOHN WHITE

EASTERN WOODLANDS: POWHATANNot one people, but a complex chiefdom

32 tribes under Wahunsunacaugh (Powhatan): 14,000-21,000 people at time of contact

Tsenacommacah: “densely inhabited land”-- 18,000 sq miles

Matrilineal: kinship and inheritance passed through female

Social status determined by inheritance or achievement

Extensive trade network featuring luxury goods

JAMESTOWN

JAMESTOWN and VIRGINIA

•In the first year, disease and lack of food killed 66 of the original 104 settlers; of those, only 10 able to work

•200 more settlers came the next year

•After the winter of 1610, only 61 settlers remained of nearly 500 immigrants

•Most died of starvation and disease

•Of the nearly 8,500 people who came to the settlement between 1607 and 1625, only 1,281 remained

•Unclear until 1624 that the colony would survive

A worlde of miseries ensewed as the Sequell will expresse unto yow, in so mutche thatt some to satisfye their hunger have robbed the store for the which I Caused them to be executed. Then haveinge fedd upon our horses and other beastes as longe as they Lasted, we weare gladd to make shifte with vermin as doggs Catts, Ratts and myce all was fishe thatt Came to Nett to satisfye Crewell hunger, as to eate Bootes shoes or any other leather some Colde come by. And those beinge Spente and devoured some weare inforced to searche the woodes and to feede upon Serpentts and snakes and to digge the earthe for wylde and unknowne Rootes, where many of our men weare Cutt of and slayne by the Salvages. And now famin beginneinge to Looke gastely and pale in every face, thatt notheinge was Spared to mainteyne Lyfe and to doe those things which seame incredible, as to digge upp deade corpes outt of graves and to eate them. And some have Licked upp the Bloode which hathe fallen from their weake fellowes.

JOHN SMITH AND POCAHONTAS

JOHN SMITH AND POCAHONTAS

“CARE YE FOR SOME TOBO?”•John Rolfe ships first crop of tobacco back to England in 1614

•Ironically, King James I considered tobacco “harmful to the brain and dangerous to the lungs”

•However, he did not have any problem with selling it to make a profit

•Tobacco later becomes the ‘cure-all’ for medicinal purposes in the 17th century

•By 1624, 200,000 pounds were grown and exported

•By 1680, 15 million pounds were grown and exported

•Essentially, tobacco becomes the new gold for English in North America

•The tobacco boom was partially responsible for the establishment of colonial government in Virginia

Eventually, a social and political elite was established: Virginia’s white society came to resemble that of England, with a landed gentry at top, small farmers in the middle, and an army of poor laborers—indentured servants and former servants without land —at the bottom.

VIRGINIA COLONY AND THE CHESAPEAKE•Social Conditions•1625 census reveals that 5% of the population were “gentlemen”•½ were listed as “servant”•8% were native-born•17% of population under the age of 15•Barely 1% over the age of 40•Men outnumbered women 7 to 1

EARLY SLAVERY (?) IN THE CHESAPEAKE

•Slavery in the colony•The number of slaves slowly climbed during the mid-17th century•1619-- First “twenty and odd” Africans arrived in Virginia–“Angela”•1623 – 23 of 1200 Virginians were black•1660 – 900 of 24,000•Before 1660, blacks were able to acquire freedom and land (similar to indentured servitude)•Some freedmen became very wealthy and had property rights similar to whites•Anthony and Mary Johnson: “Angola”

VIRGINIA'S GREAT MIGRATION1645-1665: Population triples during Gov.

Berkeley's tenure

Recruits from “the distressed Cavaliers”

of the English Civil War

Migrants came from higher and lower ranks of English society

– Most of lower rank: 75% indentured servants

– 2/3 were unskilled laborers

– 30% listed as artisans

– High illiteracy rates

– 3 out of 4 were between the ages of 15 and 24

– Females were outnumbered 4 : 1, in some years, 6 : 1

NEW ENGLAND

PLYMOUTH COLONY•Puritans: Diverse group of English Protestants united by their belief that the Anglican Church retained too many doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church

•“Congregationalists”

•After staying in Holland, they believed their children were too influenced by the Dutch: set sail for Virginia. Ooops.

•However, they landed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in November, 1620

•Mayflower Compact

•All adult men aboard the Mayflower signed a compact indicating that they would obey “just and equal laws” enacted by representatives of their choosing

PLYMOUTH COLONY

•Initial Problems•They faced a similar situation to Jamestown; starvation•They arrived 6 weeks before winter with no food or animals, and then randomly sailed the MA coast, not disembarking until 21 December•45 of the 102 aboard the Mayflower died the first winter•Tisquantum and Hobomok taught the English where to fish, plant corn, and helped them form an alliance with the Wampanoag chief Massassoit•Plymouth remained independent until 1691 when it was absorbed by Massachusetts Bay

MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY

MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY•Economy

•Per capita, wealth was pretty evenly distributed (significantly better than Virginia)

•Those who had emigrated from England were mostly from the middling class of English society-- yeoman, husbandmen, artisans, craftsmen, merchants

•Less than 25% of emigres were servants, 5% “laborers”

•About 11% identified as “gentlemen”

•The majority (50%-60%) had been engaged in a skilled craft or trade

•URBAN migration

•The economy was primarily centered on farming

•Fishing and timber exportation were large industries though

•A merchant class that traded with England rose gradually

•This did not bode well for some of the most conservative Puritans

•Merchants that continually clashed with Puritan authorities left to establish Portsmouth, New Hampshire

MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY

•Most immigrants came over in family groups

•Somewhat even sex distribution-- 150 males: 100 females

•Family Life

• Structurally patriarchal; hierarchy of age, not gender or rank

• Women were expected to be subordinate to their husbands at all times: “I am but a wife and therefore it is sufficient for me to follow my husband.”

•True freedom for Puritan women meant submission to authority

•Reasoning:

• Biblical in nature: Eve was the evil temptress that caused man to fall into sin

• However, women were allowed full church membership and could divorce

• More females than males were full church members

PEQUOT WAR: 1637•Roots in 1632: dispute over control of the CT River valley between Dutch fur traders and Plymouth officials. •Result: a defensive compact known as the United Colonies of New England (Mass Bay, CT, New Haven, Plymouth)John Adams considers this the prototype of the Articles of Confederation

NEW ENGLAND'S GREAT MIGRATION

Begins in 1630, continues until 1640

Size, wealth, and organization without precedent in the English colonization of North America

–80,000 leave England-- 21,000 people migrate to New England

•Economic depression, epidemic disease, Charles I rules without Parliament

Migration reverses in 1640 as many Puritans sail home to serve in the English Civil War

New England's population also grows through natural increase: population doubles every generation for two centuries

Chesapeake? New England?