History 1301-8

Chapter 3 and 4

Immigration

Scots-Irish Colonists • Scots-Irish-Settlers who

came from Ireland, where Scottish Presbyterians had been sent by England. They were from the high country in Scotland. They were independent, stubborn and liked to live out in the western part of the colonies.

• “Official Bulldozers” of the colonies. Largest group of non English settlers.

Pennsylvania Dutch

• Settlers in Pennsylvania who actually came from Germany. (Deutsch)

• They were not from Holland, they were from Germany and were the second largest group of non-English settlers.

Triangular Trade

• Colonial trade on the high seas involving three countries and multiple commodities.

• Mostly, slaves traveled from Africa to the Americas; sugar and raw materials would be shipped to England; tobacco, timber, and foodstuffs would be shipped from North America to the West Indies. 

• New England colonies profited most because they are the primary shipping giants of the New World. Another development that would aid the North during the Civil War.

Triangular Trade

Triangular Trade

Triangular Trade

The French inNorth America

• In the 1530’s French Sailor Jacques Cartier established France’s claim to present-day Canada through his explorations of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River.

• He later sailed down the Mississippi River to the Central U.S. The majority of the French were Catholic and single men, not families, so there was sparse population in those areas.

Jacques Cartier

• Cartier, despite his contributions to a better understanding of North American geography, was regarded as a failure. No gold was discovered and no lasting settlements were created. The areas he explored would remain largely untouched by Europeans until the early years of the 1600’s.

Cardinal Richelieu

• Under Louis XIII he had great power.

• Made famous by Alexandre Dumas in the Three Musketeers

• Appointed Samuel de Champlain's to his post in the new world.

THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA

• It is Samuel de Champlain's determination to succeed in establishing a French colony in America that earned him the title, "The Father of New France". He was also integral in opening North America to French trade, especially the fur trade and the French colonization on the shores of the St. Lawrence River.

FUR

• Fur made the French colonies successful.• French fur trappers lived in the north where it

was very cold. Furs there were very heavy and thick and therefore very valuable.

• The trappers went alone to hunt. They were cold and lonely. Two bad things.

• The French developed friendships and assimilated with Indian tribes. This bond led to their alliance in the French & Indian War.

Dangerous

• Life was dangerous and deadly peril could lie behind any rock or tree.

• The next slide shows a dangerous polar bear attack.

• While polar bears did not come this far South, it is an example of the animal savagery that these early pioneers faced.

ACADIANS

• Early French settlement in 17th century.

• Became British (1716-1720)

• Renamed area Nova Scotia

• Great expulsion

Acadians

• Acadia was the first permanent French settlement in North America, established at Port-Royal in 1604.

Robert de LaSalle

• The Original French Texan, in 1682 he canoed down the Mississippi River and claimed Louisiana for France, reversed his journey and returned to France.

• When he later returned via the Gulf of Mexico he missed the delta and settled in the area now known as Corpus Christi.

Pennsylvania Long Rifle

• A deadly necessity for any frontiersman.

• Either plain or with ornate design, the demand for a Pennsylvania Long Rifle developed quickly as settlers pushed west in the eighteenth century.

The Enlightenment • Thinkers and writers, mostly in London

and Paris, believed that they were more enlightened than their compatriots and set out to enlighten them.They believed that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world. Their principal targets were religion (embodied in France in the Catholic Church) and the domination of society by a hereditary aristocracy.

• Many of the most distinguished leaders of the American revolution--Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Paine--were powerfully influenced by English and--to a lesser extent--French Enlightenment thought.

• The God who underwrites the concept of equality in the Declaration of Independence is the same deist God Rousseau worshipped, not that venerated in the traditional churches which still supported and defended monarchies all over Europe.

• Jefferson and Franklin both spent time in France--a natural ally because it was a traditional enemy of England--absorbing the influence of the French Enlightenment.

• The language of natural law, of inherent freedoms, of self-determination which seeped so deeply into the American grain was the language of the Enlightenment, though often coated with a light glaze of traditional religion, what has been called our "civil religion.“

• This is one reason that Americans should study the Enlightenment. It is in their bones. It has defined part of what they have dreamed of, what they aim to become.

• Separated geographically from most of the aristocrats against whom they were rebelling, their revolution was to be far less corrosive--and at first less influential--than that in France.

Who?

• René Descartes, in the 17th century, attempted to use reason as the schoolmen had, to shore up his faith; but much more rigorously than had been attempted before. He tried to begin with a blank slate, with the bare minimum of knowledge: the knowledge of his own existence ("I think, therefore I am").

Who?

• Isaac Newton, (1642-1727), had published his theory of gravitation, which laid the foundation for a scientific vision of the universe and argued that events occur in accordance with natural laws, mathematician and physicist, one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time.

The Enlightenment

• Aristocracy in France embraced the new thoughts simply because they were new thoughts, not once considering the logical extension of these ideas that years later contributed to the French Revolution.

• Many of the most distinguished leaders of the American revolution--Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Paine--were powerfully influenced by English and--to a lesser extent--French Enlightenment thought.

John Locke

• John Locke applied the new scientific understandings of the world to the study of society and government. Locke came up with an idea he called the Theory of Contract under Natural Law, in which he argued that kings and queens did not hold their positions because of God’s divine will but because of an accident of birth. In other words, kings had simply gotten lucky.

John Locke•

 Locke further explained that all humans had certain natural rights such as the rights to life, liberty, and property, and that no government could deny its constituents these rights.

• Locke’s theory on government had an enormous influence on American political thought. Locke argued that the people “contracted” with the government to protect their interests. If the government failed to do so, then the government had broken the contract and should be disbanded. Colonists quickly picked up on this idea, eventually using it to justify the American Revolution against England. In fact, Thomas Jefferson used very similar language in the Declaration of Independence when he wrote that everyone had the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 

Ben Franklin

• Benjamin Franklin, one of the “founding fathers” of the country, personified the ideas of the Enlightenment. Franklin owned his own print shop, published his own newspaper, and had published his Poor Richard’s Almanac all by the time he had turned twenty-six.

Great Awakening (1730’s)

• With the Great Enlightenment many people in American turned away from religion.

• As Puritan influence decreased, a new spirit of Evangelism featuring pastors who were dynamic and dramatic appealed very strongly to colonists’ emotions.

Jonathan Edwards

HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION Preacher who wrote SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD. Not theatrical, he inspired people to religious action through the use of fear. He would fill his sermons with vivid descriptions of the torments of hell and the pleasures of heaven.

John and Charles WesleyBrothers in the Faith

• Developed a college club that met regularly with a specific method of Bible study, prayer, and self-examination.

• John is known as the Father of the Methodist Church.

• Inspired with camp meeting revivals.

George WhitefieldStirring Evangelist of the Great Awakening. Perhaps on a par with Billy Graham. Spoke before huge crowds of people all across the colonies. Very dramatic in his presentations, which was seen by some as criticism. Started an orphanage in Georgia.

Whitefield’s LegacyNew Light Presbyterianism spread in the 1750’s and then the Baptists really experienced growth in the 1760’s.

Renouncing finery and ostentatious display and addressing each other as “brother” and “sister” the Baptists reached out to thousands of unchurched people. They focused on a conversion experience.

Legacy of the Awakening

• Created Religious pluralism-nourished the idea that all religions were legitimate.

• With pluralism came the decline of the state supported church which further fueled the idea of the separation of church and state.

• Made community diversity acceptable

NEW COLLEGES

• Before 1740 there existed only Harvard, Yale and William and Mary.

• Between 1746 and 1769 six new colleges were added: Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton, and what are now Columbia, Rutgers and the University of Pennsylvania. None was controlled by an established church.

Legislatures Challenge for Power

• Over time, colonial 18th century legislatures grew to the point where they disbursed public funds.

• They won the power of the purse. The authority to initiate money bills, specifying how much money should be raised by taxes and how it should be spent.

• They became governing bodies reflecting the wishes of the electorate.

John Peter Zenger

• No case of law in American  history stands as a greater landmark on the road to protection for freedom of the press than the trial of a German immigrant printer named John Peter Zenger. 

Zenger

• Zenger published a newspaper called the New York Weekly Journal.

• He wrote an article about the Governor of the New York Province, William Cosby. He was indeed a corrupt politician who had many of the rich and powerful in his pocket.

• Zenger was arrested, and jailed on a charge of "seditious libels.”

Zenger

• His bail was set at an outrageous amount which turned out to be a real plus because it raised a lot of interest and public opinion to his side.

Zenger

• The two judges had been handpicked by Cosby for the case. Those in power thought that the jury had been hand picked as well.

• Zenger’s two attorneys were disbarred when court opened for challenging the courts authority.

• Things looked very, very bad for Mr. Zenger.

Zenger

• But losing his two attorneys turned out to be a good thing, because he got a new one.

Zenger’s Attorney

His new attorney was Andrew Hamilton, perhaps the greatest trial lawyer of the time.

Zenger

• In spite of the fact that the truth was no defense, Hamilton began his arguments.

• In spite of the fact that the judges gave a clear direction to the jury that they were to find Zenger guilty,

John Peter Zenger

– On August 5, 1735, twelve New York jurors, inspired by the eloquence of Hamilton, ignored the instructions of the Governor's hand-picked judges and returned a verdict of "Not Guilty" on the charge of publishing "seditious libels."  The Zenger trial is a remarkable story of a divided Colony, of a free press the beginnings, and the stubborn independence of American jurors.