1607-1763

Part 2

Early Colonial Settlementand Society

Portugal and Spain rigid societies Slavery ended in Brazil 1881 Spain: Vice Royalties, Viceroys,

Audiencias The only European country to find

true wealth Society very rigid Women little freedom Creoles, Mestizos, Mulattos A true blending of cultures

The Dutch and New Netherlands Had trading posts along the Hudson

Bay, etc Experimented with colonization in

New Netherlands New Amsterdam: First permanent

Dutch colony in New World…much toleration, freedom The Patroon System

Dutch were ousted by the English in later 1680’s by the Duke of York = New York

Dutch smugglers had make it impossible for the English to enforce their colonial trade regulations

The Swedes and Palantine Germans

Germans brought the Conestoga Wagon (Prairie Schooner)

The Swedes ax, log cabin, Pennsylvania rifle

The French First permanent French Colony in

New World was Quebec 1608 Very small and slow-growing

Huguenots settled in the Carolinas Society not as free as the Dutch and

English but much freer than Spain and Portugal

The Scotch-Irish Settled in the Va. Backcountry Had been ruined by the English

version of mercantilism (the wool trade)

Were as ruthless toward Native Americans as they had been to the Irish

The English Motives: Wealth, religion, beggars,

convicts, idle women, land, primogeniture, entail

Economic problems made people move out

War created taxes Population explosion but fewer

farms and higher food prices (enclosure)

Highwaymen: large force of unemployed farm workers were wandering the countryside

1601 Queen Elizabeth’s Poor Laws were draining the treasury

The English Cabot brothers explored for the

English (1497) Henry VIII not much interest Elizabeth I encouraged private

enterprise

English colonies were founded with little help or interference from the crown

Different for Spain and France

English advantages in Colonization

More capital for investment by private co’s like merchant companies (Dutch too) due to larger middle class

Greater social mobility Relative freedom for women Lust for land Government let religious dissenters

go Government encouraged permanent

settlement

The English Self government allowed:

Mayflower Compact, Virginia House of Burgesses, growing religious tolerance especially after William and Mary signed the English Bill of Rights during the Glorious Revolution

Early English Attempts Queen Elizabeth 1 and Sir Walter

Raleigh (and Sir Francis Drake and others)

1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert ( partnered with ½ brother-Raleigh) took an expedition to Newfoundland and traveled down the coast but was lost at sea.

Raleigh failed to get $ from Elizabeth but claimed the land as Virginia anyway.

Early English Attempts 1585 Raleigh’s cousin and new

partner…Sir Grenville settled a small group at Roanoke in N. Carolina.

They terrorized the Indians before they left for more supplies.

Drake arrived some months later with supplies but the settlers decided not to stay and went back to England

Roanoke Raleigh made one more attempt (on

his coin) It will bankrupt him 1587 Raleigh brought 91 men 17

women and 9 children to Roanoke. Virginia Dare was born there…first

European child to be born in the New World.

Habitations were built, some crops planted and Raleigh went back for supplies promising to return within a few months

Roanoke Before the ship left for England the

settlers were told to carve a message on a certain tree if they had to relocate. If they had to leave in a hurry, they were to carve a cross in the tree…

When the ship returned to England, Elizabeth would not allow it to return with supplies to America until 1590.

She needed all of her ships and men to fight the Spanish in the War of the Spanish Armada (1588)

Roanoke In 1590, Virginia Dare’s grandfather

hired a ship going to the west Indies to stop at Roanoke.

No one was there! Carved on the tree was CROA

There WAS a tribe nearby called the Croatoans

Did they join the tribe? Did the Croatoans attack them?

Roanoke A true History Mystery… The ship captain refused to stay and

help to look so grandpa got onto the ship and went to the West Indies and no one else ever went back to look

BUT later… reports of Native Americans using certain English words…reports of blond Indians

1606 King James … Issued charters to two merchant

companies to settle in the New World. Private investors could raise large sums of

$ to finance such ventures

The London Company to settle in the Southern Region

The Plymouth Company to settle in the Northern Region

1607 Jamestown: the first permanent English colony

in the New World The London Co. (later will be called

the Virginia Co.) sent 144 men on three ships to Virginia

The Godspeed, Susan Constant, and the Discovery

These men were young and in good physical shape and were indentured servants

Only 104 survived the trip

Jamestown, Va. The London Co. had hoped that

these men would be able to mine gold, silver, and other precious metals

They wanted the same kind of wealth that Spain had found

When the ship landed, it was too late in the season to plant. These were not landless farmers anyway.

Jamestown They did not know how to hunt, fish

and were not sure what plants were safe to eat.

They settled in a malaria swamp in the Chesapeake Bay Area

By 1608 only 38 survived (cannibalism)

Religion was not a factor in this settlement.

All men had agreed to attend the Anglican Church

Captain John Smith Arrived and organized the men into

work parties for farming and minin g.

He taught them to hunt, fish and deal with the natives

Less that a dozen died the next winter but Smith went back to England to be treated for powder burns

In the Meantime… The London Co. investors wanted to

see some profit.

600 more people were sent to Jamestown in 1609 along with a ship full of supplies (which sunk on the way)

More died of starvation and malaria

The London Co. Believed that the settlers were

slackers so they sent Sir Thomas Dale to supervise

Dales 3 rules: No slacking No dealing with the Indians No sweating Violations were punishable by death

Jamestown Even Dale could not save Jamestown John Rolfe saved it by introducing a

mild form of West Indian tobacco to the land in 1611

Tobacco caught on but by the time it was a money-maker, the London Co. was SOL because the original indentured period had passed

Jamestown So…The London Co. renamed itself

the Virginia Co. and hoped to still make a profit by attracting more settlers to colonize

They offered a Headright system Similar to the Dutch Patroon System…(55 to 100 acres of land for nothing. One could get a deed for the land if they established boundaries, planted crops and built a habitation.

1619 The Virginia Co sent 100 women to

Va. who could be purchased for 120 pounds of tobacco!

Also, in 1619, a Dutch ship brought 19 African slaves to Va for sale. No one wanted them! They preferred Indentured servants…the Dutch ship had loaded up with other supplies so the Africans simply wandered away!

Indentured Servitude Was the preferred form of unfree

labor in the first 3 quarters of the 17th Century.

Slavery will begin to replace indentured servitude after Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

Tobacco exhausted the land but was the main export crop in the 18th C.

Bacon’s Rebellion 1622 The Virginia Co. went broke 1624 Virginia became a Royal

colony

1642 Governor Berkley (a royal governor representing the crown) was sent to rule Va.)

Berkley and his friends (called the Green Spring Group) cut deals with the Indians at the expense of the frontiersmen

Bacon’s Rebellion Va. Grew rapidly By 1660 40,000 were there

Rapid growth was a problem because more land was needed and the Native Americans were constantly on the attack

1673 Nathaniel Bacon arrived

Bacon’s Rebellion Bacon was country gentry and was

miffed when not invited to join the Green Spring Group

His farm was hit by Indian attacks and he insisted that Berkley do something about it

Berkley refused Bacon formed his own army

(neighbors and indentured workers)

Bacon’s Rebellion Berkley called Bacon “a rebel” and

Bacon’s army attacked Jamestown…burned it to the ground

Berkley went into hiding and then…

Bacon dropped dead of dysentry (not pretty)

Why was this important?

Results of Bacon’s Rebellion

Since Bacon’s army was made up of Indentured Servants, many believed that African slaves would be less dangerous and easier to control.

So…slavery began to replace indentured servitude

The Importance of Bacon’s Rebellion

Bacon’s Rebellion reflected conflict on 3 levels:

The colonists v the Native Americans The colonists v British authority The rural population and the urbanites

Jamestown The Virginia Co. also offered limited

Self-Government leading to :

The Virginia House of Burgesses (1619): the first legislative body in the colonies