American Society in the Making

• Why did those that came to America become different?

• Isolation = construction of new life

• Evolving process involving landscape, challenges, populations, chance

• Life shaped mainly by Franciscan friars

• Mission settlements worked by local Indians

• Treatment of Indians led to numerous rebellions – most notable led by pueblo Indians

• By mid-1690’s Spanish regained control

• Climate major factor in diseaseSeasonal malariaDysentery from polluted

waters in summer• Life expectancy was 45 or

lower• Most children lost at least one

parent before reaching maturity

• Remarriage common – widows could easily remarry

• Land was used to attract settlers – but land worthless without labor

• Virginia Headright System Each “head” entering the colony issued a right

to any 50 acres of unoccupied landTo receive title to the land holders had to

mark boundaries, plant a crop, and construct a dwelling

Quitrents were later demanded but they were resented and difficult to collect

• Headright system encouraged migration to colony

• Indentured servant system developed to allow migration and supply labor

• Contract usually 5-7 years

• Women servants were forbidden to marry or become pregnant – time pregnant was added to contract

• Servants could be harshly treated – lacked political and civil rights

• Servants could sue planters who failed to abide by terms of contract

• The headright issued to servants coming into the colony went to whoever bought their contract – impacted Southern social structure

• When contracts were fulfilled servants usually were given an “outfit”

• Choice land already taken – forced servants to edges of colony (frontier)

• Some became squatters – often having to fight for the land when owners turned up

• First slaves sold in Virginia probably 1619

• May have been kept and released under servant contracts

• By 1640 some blacks were slaves – by 1660’s local statutes had slavery firmly emplaced in Virginia and Maryland

• Africans looked down upon – color negro/black

• Initially white servants had higher social value – slaves costlier also

• Better economic conditions in England dried up flow of indentures – made slavery more attractive

• Unlike indentures, slaves could not compete politically or economically

• Cash crop necessary for lasting prosperity

• Tobacco – labor intensive but lucrative

• King James I – anti-tobacco

• River plantations stifled growth of towns and roads – most transactions with ships

• Overproduction led to drop in prices – forcing out small farmer in favor of large landowners

• Tobacco used up soil – large landowners could shift production to other holdings but small farmers had to move to new lands (usually frontier)

• Settlers had little regard for authority

• Planters on frontier increasingly angry at royal governor Governor, Sir Wm Berkeley, and “Green

Spring” faction corruptWesterners looked down upon as vulgar and

crudeGovernor would not sanction expedition

against raiding Indians

• Westerner Nathaniel Bacon raised army of 500

• Bacon murdered some peaceful Indians – marched on Jamestown and forced Berkeley to legitimize his authority – then headed west to kill more Indians

• Bacon later returned to Jamestown and burned it down

• Berkeley fled and the Baconites plundered the estates of the “Green Springs” faction

• The rebellion ended when Bacon died of disease (dysentery?)

• British troops arrived - restored order

• Rebellion did not make any political change but did commit the region to slavery

• Slave ownership created gap between wealthy and poor – those who succeeded in accumulating 20 or more slaves grew richer

• The majority of white planters struggled – most becoming poorer

• Southern whites differed in wealth and influence but all agreed Africans should have neither

• North Carolina tended towards tobacco growing while South Carolina developed rice and indigo (English bounty) as a cash crop

• Both were sources of naval stores for England (lumber, tar, resin)

• British agents filled orders for trade goods in return for commodities from the Carolinas

• This relationship only inhibited the growth of manufacturing in the South

• Urbanization was also inhibited – despite the presence of naval stores the South had little shipbuilding industry

• SlaveryHarsh labor conditions in the rice fields

brought about influx of black slaves By 1730 three of every ten people south of

Pennsylvania were blackBlacks in South Carolina outnumbered whites

2 to 1As the black populations increased so did the

severity of regulations governing their behavior

The South Carolina Negro Act denied slaves • Freedom of movement• Freedom of assembly• Freedom to grow their own crops• Freedom to earn their own money• Freedom to learn to read English

Punishments also became more severeComparison with ancient Sparta?

Acculturation needed to make slaves more efficient – slaves learning needed skills

• But skilled slaves were also more apt to run away and pass as free

• The more valuable a slave was the harder he was to control

Organized slave rebellions were rare – threat grossly exaggerated by whites

Feared sexual threat actually on other side

Assignment

• Read Home and Family in the South pages 60 and 61

• Read The Puritan Family, Puritan Women and Children, Visible Puritan Saints, and Higher Education pages 62-64, and 66-70

• Create a chart that compares the South with the Puritan North

Topic The South The Puritans

The Home

Women

Children

Education

Religion

• BeginningsLast colony founded by EnglishSeen as refuge for London’s poorBy 1700’s social reform had replaced religion

as motivation for colonizationFounder was James OglethorpeColony granted in 1730 to settle London’s

poor – also as buffer between Carolina and Spanish

1733 – Oglethorpe and other wealthy men founded Savannah

Georgia to be multi-purpose colony• Part reform experiment• Part buffer• Part Protestant refuge• Part silk producer

Planning done by wealthy men in London without regard to realities on ground

Poor family in London cost government 20 L a year – in Georgia family could grow rice and raise cattle taking in 60 L a year – logical?

Interviews of potential colonists conducted – only unemployed wanted

Money invested by wealthy and parliament

Plans were neat with land to be parceled out in squares

Land was prohibited for sale and inheritanceSlavery and alcohol prohibitedDream versus realityCrown supported colony = no taxes = no self-

government Colonists could do nothing with land so most

fled to other colonies

Trustees slow to make changes – inheritance not allowed until 1750

Georgia had little to trade except timber – best market West Indies – only item to trade for was rum

Laws against alcohol prohibited possible lucrative trade

Trustees handed back charter in 1752Many settlers abandoned Georgia for better

opportunitiesBy Revolutionary War, Georgia least

populated and prosperous colony

• During reign of Charles II and James II England sought to bring colonies under more effective control – New England colonies becoming too independent

• All colonies north of Pennsylvania became part of the Dominion of New England under Royal governor Edmund Andros in 1684

• Andros intent on abolishing colonial assemblies and land grant systems in favor of quitrents to king, and to enforce religious toleration of Anglicans

• 1688 Glorious Revolution ends power of Andros

• Andros thrown in jail• Dominion dissolved

and colonies restored with royal charters

• New England had wealth of food (grains and game) but little that was desired by Europe

• Puritanism – views against excess “profit” and usury were anti-business

• But gap between Puritan ideals and reality becoming apparent

• Fish (especially cod) gave opportunity for trade in New England

• Involvement in “Triangular” trade

• Maritime trade including ship-building became driving force in New England – New England port towns became larger and faster-growing

• Boston was most important port

• New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware

• Mix of cultures of South and New England – had both slaves and town hall meetings

• More dispersed than NE (large farms v. villages) but also more diverse than the South (towns, cities, and manufacturing)

• Middle colonists more “American” due to ethnic and religious heterogeneity – Scots, Irish, Germans, Dutch, Swedes, and French Huguenots

• Scots flocked to the Appalachian back country

• English vastly outnumbered in Middle colonies

• Pamphlets recruited Europeans to Pennsylvania – claims true

• Few ethnic conflicts due to vast opportunities for all – farming, artisans, shipping, and businesses

• By 1750 Philadelphia surpassed Boston as largest city in colonies

• New YorkLeisler’s RebellionNew York Weekly Journal

• John Peter Zenger – issue over salary of Governor Cosby

• Journal contained ads attacking governor• Governor shut down paper – Zenger arrested and

charged with seditious libel• Zenger acquitted

• Pennsylvania Conflict between proprietor and

assembly (Quakers) parties 1763 Paxton Boys uprising

• Eastern indifference to Indian attacks in west

• Paxton Boys murdered village of Indians and marched on Philadelphia

• Group met by Benjamin Franklin who acknowledged their grievance and promised to vote for bounties on Indian scalps

• Conflicts between tidewater and frontier