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Norton Media Library

Give Me Liberty!

AN AMERICAN HISTORYTHIRD EDITION

by

Eric Foner

Norton Media Library

Chapter 4

Eric Foner

Slavery, Freedom,

and the Struggle for

Empire to 1763

Give Me Liberty!: An American history, 3rd Edition

Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company

The Old Plantation, a late-

eighteenth-century

Slavery and the Empire:• Slave trade a regulated business of European merchants, African traders, American

planters

• Rising demand for sugar, tobacco, rice, coffee leads to the rapid growth of the Atlantic

Slave Trade

• Triangular Trades: In 18th century Caribbean remained commercial focus of British

empire

• Triangle trade - British manufactured goods are shipped to Africa and Colonies,

Colonial products tobacco rice and sugar brought to Europe, African slaves brought to

Colonies

• NY, Mass, RI merchants profit greatly from the shipping of slaves

• Atlantic commerce consisted primarily of slaves, crops produced by slaves, or goods

going to slave societies

• 1762 abolitionist John Woolman writes "the idea of slavery being connected with the

black color, and liberty with the white"

Triangular Trades:• In 18th century Caribbean remained commercial focus of British

empire

• Triangle trade - British manufactured goods are shipped to Africa and

Colonies, Colonial products tobacco rice and sugar brought to Europe,

African slaves brought to Colonies

• NY, Mass, RI merchants profit greatly from the shipping of slaves

• Atlantic commerce consisted primarily of slaves, crops produced by

slaves, or goods going to slave societies

• 1762 abolitionist John Woolman writes "the idea of slavery being

connected with the black color, and liberty with the white"

The Triangular Trade

Africa and Slave Trade:

• African rulers helped the slave trade immensely and made

great profits by playing the European nations off one another

• Few Europeans went inland from the coast instead slaves were

brought to them by African rulers and dealers

• Guns brought by Europeans only helped to further the slave

trade because in order to get guns you needed to produce slaves

• The yearly loss of tens of thousands of young men and women

in their prime greatly hurt the society and economies of West

Africa

Middle Passage

The Middle Passage:• Called Middle passage because it is second leg of the Triangular

pattern

• Men, women, and children crammed tightly together to maximize

profits

• Chained to decks by necks and legs

• Disease spread rapidly one in five die before reaching colonies

• Only 5% headed for Colonies most were going to Brazil and West

Indies

• By 1770 1/5 of the 2.3 million people living in colonies were

Africans or their descendants

The Middle Passage

Chesapeake Slavery:

• Virginia and Maryland most closely linked colonies to Britain on the eve of the

revolution

• Supplied valuable raw material, imported large amounts of British goods,

closely linked culturally and politically

• As demand for tobacco increases so does demand for slaves

• As tobacco farming spread west so did slavery

• Nearly half of Virginias families owned at least one slave in 1770

• Tobacco planters, tobacco merchants, lawyers who defend their interests

become dominating forces of Chesapeake society and politics

Chesapeake Slavery:

• Best land taken by plantation owners making less economic opportunities for

whites

• Bottom rung of Chesapeake society - convicts, indentured servants, tenant

farmers (1/2 white households in 1770)

• Planters make laws that give them more power and restrict any chances for

freedom of slaves

• Free blacks viewed as dangerous and undesirable, unable to own guns, hire

white servants, have to pay special taxes

• 1723 Virginia revokes voting rights for land owning blacks

• Free blacks make up less the 4% of Virginia society in 1750


Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & CompanyA mid-eighteenth-century image of a

Woman going to church in Lima



A detail from a 1768 map of Virginia and Maryland

Illustrates a tobacco wharf.

The Rice Kingdom:• Rice production in South Carolina and Georgia

• By 1730 2/3 population of South Carolina was black

• Indigo staple crop requires large scale cultivation and slaves

• Africans who taught English how to cultivate rice which then becomes

basis of slave system

• South Carolina planters own more land and slaves then their Virginia

counterparts

• Watery Rice fields filled with malaria infested mosquitoes so planters

leave their slaves under the control of overseers and other slaves

Slavery in the North:• Small farmers dominate

• Slaves work as farm hands, in artisan shops, loading and unloading ships, as personal

servants

• Early 18th century 3/4 of urban elite own at least one slave

• Small slave population in north makes it so their is no fear of major revolt so laws in the

north are much less harsh

• New England - Slave marriages recognized by law, sever physical punishment of slaves

is prohibited, slave could go to court and testify against whites, own property and pass it

along to their children

• 30% of laborers in NY were slaves in 1746

• Urban economies that expand and contract based on the market. This leads employers

to determine they are better off with wage earners then slaves

• Wage earners can hired and fired while slaves are a long term investment



Slave Sale Broadside.



Slavery existed in the eighteenth century

in all the colonies

Becoming African American:• 300k Africans brought to mainland during 18th century came

from different cultures, spoke different languages, had different

religions

• Their bond was the experience of slavery

• Over the years they begin to identify themselves as African

Americans through music, art, folklore, language and religion

• Good conditions in the Chesapeake lead to slaves reproducing and

creating an environment for families Centered communities

• Chesapeake slaves have much interaction with whites so they

learn English and get swept up in English religion like the Great

Awakening

• On Rice plantations in SC and GA life was much more

harsh and slaves did not reproduce as much, they had

little contact with whites and created much more

African based societies (houses, names, language)

• Slaves in Charleston and Savannah who worked as

servants or skilled laborers had much more interaction

with whites and assimilated quicker in to European

culture

• Slaves in the north were much fewer and more spread

out and had more freedom then ones down South so it

took them longer to develop a distinct African American

culture

Resistance to Slavery:

• Common link is experience of slavery and desire for

freedom

• Colonial newspapers filled with ads for runaway slaves

• Fugitives mostly young men who had recently arrived

• In SC & GA they try to make it to Spanish Florida

which had uninhabited swaps or to Charleston or

Savannah were they could blend in with free mulatto

population that had sprung up because of masters and

women slaves sexual liaisons



An advertisement seeking the return of a

run away slave from Port Royal

• First slave uprising in NYC 1712 - slaves set fire to houses then

kill first 9 whites who arrived on scene

• Some conspirators were tortured or burned alive in public to

intimidate the black community

• Battles between European empires and Indians during 1730s and

1740s opened door to slave resistance

• Crisis of 1739 - 1741 during War of Jenkins Ear (England v.

Spain) SC slaves rise up and begin marching towards Florida

were Spain had offered them exile along the way they burnt

houses, barns and killed whites. The upraising was finally put

down and lead to severe tightening of SC slave codes

An Empire of Freedom:• British Patriotism

• Despite slave economy GB prided itself on being world most advanced and

freest nation with great navy, commercial power, complex government with a

Parliament representing interests of landed aristocracy and merchant class

• Common law, common language, and (with few exceptions) common devotion

to Protestantism

• France was now seen as England's main rival and aggressions between the two

countries help lead to a greater sense of national identity against a common foe

• Symbols of British identity begin to become stronger in 18th century - songs

like "God Save the King" and international rules for cricket

• Expanding British overseas commerce was a point of great pride


Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & CompanyEven though less than 5 percent of the

British population enjoyed the right to vote

The British Constitution:

• House of Commons, House of Lords, King all acted as checks on each others

power

• Freedom from over use of government power becomes and essential part of

British understanding of freedom

• View other nations of Europe as enslaved to popery, tyranny, or barbarism

• People across the empire begin to look at liberty as something that no longer

has to do with class but rather as a right of all Englishmen

• They begin to have demonstrations against what they view as abuses of power

like merchants raising the price of bread or the British governments practice of

impressments



The Polling, by the renowned eighteenth-century

British artist William Hogarth

Republicanism and Liberal• Two Views of 18th Century freedom: Republicanism and Liberal

• Republicanism: active participation public life by economically independent citizens

• Only property owning citizens had virtue to do what is right for the public good

• This view is associated with a group called "Country Party" Whose support came from

landed gentry

• Condemn government appointees in House of Commons, rising national debt, and

growing wealth of speculators in commercial economy

• This growing sense of luxury and political manipulation they saw as a threat to liberty

• Writings such as "Cato's Letters" (1720) had little impact in England but were

devoured by Colonists who sympathized with idea of independent landowner and threat

of big government infringing upon liberty

• Second group – Liberalism

• Individual and private - John Lock leading philosopher "Two Treatises on

Government" (1680) he argues against common held view of government being set up

like a family in which power came from the top

• Instead a "Social Contract" a mutual agreement among equals - in which people

surrender part of the right to govern themselves in order to enjoy benefits of rule of

law...in which their property would be protected

• Locke's ideas of individual rights, consent of the governed, right to rebel against unjust

or oppressive government become familiar on both sides of Atlantic in 18th century

• While Locke believed in a government run by propertied white men. He defended

property rights for women and condemned slavery. He also helped right constitution of

Carolina which set up oppressive slave codes and he was an investor in Royal African

Company which had a monopoly on slave trade

• Regardless his ideas opened the door for poor, women, and even slaves to challenge

limitations on their freedom using his arguments

Republicanism and Liberal



The British political philosopher John Locke



The title page of John Locke’s

• Both republican and liberalism

ideas in 18th century overlapped

and had many compatible aspects

such as protection of property,

constitutional government,

individual rights....both spread to

America and would help to divide

the empire

The Right to Vote:• America has more democratic quality then British with different voting

requirements suffering from colony to colony but property qualification is still

the linchpin

• Property requirements insured that men with an economic stake in government

determined it's policies

• Slaves, tenants, servants, wives, sons living at home all lacked a "will of their

own"

• Because of the greater distribution of property in colonies many more people

had the right to vote then in the Old World

• 50 - 80% of adult white colonial males could vote in 18th century number was

less then 5% in Britain

• Voting was primarily a white Protestant propertied male thing and excluded

women, free blacks, Indians, Catholics, and Jews

Political Cultures:• Members of colonial assemblies remained out of touch with their constituents

• Competitive elections only norm in middle colonies

• Power was with those who held appointed not elective office

• Governors and councils appointed by Crown in 9 royal colonies and by proprietors in

Pennsylvania and Maryland

• Only in RI and CT were these offices of Governor and council elected

• Laws passed by assemblies could vetoed by Governors or in London

• Property qualifications for voting much higher for holding office then for voting

example SC 50 acres to vote 500 acres to hold office

• While many people had the right to vote there was an ingrained sense among ordinary

people that wealth, education, and social prominence carried with it a right to public

office

Thomas Jefferson's first

campaign for House of

Burgesses in 1768: he

hired two people for the

job of "bringing up rum" to

the polling places

Colonial Government:• SALUTARY NEGLECT - because of events in Europe the British governments

during first half of the 18th century left the colonies alone to govern themselves

for the most part

• With weak imperial power - large landowners, merchants, and lawyers who

controlled local assemblies claimed the right and will of the people to make

local decisions

• Because assemblies controlled levying taxes that paid Governors salaries many

governors quickly learned that they had to work with the assemblies

• THE RISE OF ASSEMBLIES

• 17th century governor focal point of political authority

• 18th century elite demand that local assemblies have same power as House of

commons

POLITICS IN PUBLIC• 18th century sees widening of the "public

sphere" of people debating and discussing

political matters outside of the assemblies

• Ben Franklin founds the Junto club in 1727

weekly discussions on political and economic

matters

• Taverns and coffee houses become important for

political debates

THE COLONIAL PRESS

• Expands rapidly in 18th century

• Widespread literacy sparks demand

• By 1776 3/4 of free adult male colonist could read and write

along with 1/3 of free women

• Free circulating libraries spring up in the colonies

• 25 colonial newspapers by 1765



The first page of the New York Weekly Journal

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

AND IT'S LIMITS

• Freedom of speech is first a belief that was only given to members of Parliament while

they were debating in parliament

• Not intended to be a universal right of an Englishman

• Governments believe freedom of the press was a dangerous idea

• Publishers or individual journalist could be prosecuted for "seditious libel" of

government officials

• Colonial newspapers fight for right of freedom of press

• Reprint selections from Cato's Letters "with out freedom of thought there can

be no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty, without

freedom of speech"

THE AMERICAN

ENLIGHTENMENT

• Enlightenment thinkers believe every human institution,

authority, and tradition be judged against the bar of

reason

• Ben Franklin many pursuits establish him as the most

well known American in the world

• Thinkers believe that reason not religion should govern

human affairs (bloody religious wars of Europe in 17th

century)



A portrait of Benjamin Franklin in

fur hat and spectacles



Benjamin Franklin’s quest for self-improvement

THE GREAT AWAKENING

• Religion remains central to 18th century American life

• Sermons, bibles, theologians writings were most printed

material in the colonies

• Religious disputes gain more public attention than political

ones

• Yet religious leaders worried as economic growth soon turned

more colonists to worldly affairs

RELIGIOUS REVIVALS• Ministers worry that westward expansion, enlightenment, commercial

development, and decrease in church attendance is under ing religious

devotion

• 1730s religious revivals sweep colonies known as Great Awakening

• "religion of the heart" more personal and emotional Christianity then

former colonial religion

• Intensely emotional style of preaching

• Jonathan Edwards sermon "Sinners In The Hands Of Angry God"

• Only a "new birth" of immediately acknowledging ones sins and pleading

for divine grace could save one from hell



Jonathan Edwards, one of the most prominent

Preachers of the Great Awakening.

• English minister George Whitefield sparks Great Awakening arrives

in America in 1739

• Preaches from Georgia to New England asks listeners to look into their

own hearts and ask the question "am I saved?" if not you must repent

your sins and surrender life to Jesus

• Revival events become the first major inter-colonial events in North

American history

• Preachers threaten established churches who publish literature

Condemning them

• CT passes laws to try and stop preachers

• Revivals bring the Emergence of new denominations - Baptist,

Methodist, Presbyterian and others

• Defend religious freedom as one which government should not restrict

through tax supported established churches



George Whitefield



This 1740 pamphlet by Gilbert Tennent,

AWAKENINGS IMPACT• Revivals reflect existing social tension, question authority, and inspire criticism of

colonial society

• Attract men and women of modest means

• Criticize commercial society urge listeners to seek salvation not profit

• Speaking in southern backcountry to small farmers they criticized planter elite,

gambling, and lavish entertainment on the Sabbath

• Some preachers denounce slavery which importantly brought some slaves to

Christianity which is an important step in them becoming African Americans

• Newspaper wars caused by the Great Awakening help to spread circulation of

newspapers

• Give idea to common man that he has a right to make judgments act for himself

• This idea of an "independent frame of mind" had great political ramifications

IMPERIAL RIVALRIES

• Colonies of England's rivals

covered immense territories but

were thinly populated and far

weaker economically

BATTLE FOR THE CONTINENT• 18th century sees the Western frothier of births north America become the focal point

of imperial rivalries

• Ohio River Valley becomes battleground of British, French, Rival Indian tribes, and

settlers and land companies

• Indians had learned that direct military confrontation with Europe meant suicide so

they turn to forming alliances and attempt to play the powers off one another

• Iroquois become masters of balance of power diplomacy

• In 1749 Virginia Government awards an immense land grant to the Ohio Company

(George Washington a member as well as the Lee family)

• At the time their were very few whites in the area so this moves threatens the Indians

and the French who bolster their presence in the region

• This beef is the beginning of the Seven Years War first to begin in the colonies and first

to have a decisive victor

THE SEVEN YEARS WAR• By 1750s British trade reaches all around the world

• Existence of global empires meant that war would stretch around globe

• What starts in the Ohio River Valley would eventually spread to Europe, Africa, and

Asia

• 21 year old George Washington is sent to persuade French to abandon a fort they were

occupying on what Virginia believed was it's land

• In 1754 GW builds Fort Necessity he loses 1/3 of his men and is forced to surrender

• Soon General Edward Braddock attempts to take Fort Duquesne (Pitt) the French and

Indians kill or wound him and 2/3 of his 3k men

• First 2 years of war is bad for British as the French capture their forts in North

America

• Both sides expelled people's from their land

The Seven Years War

• Prime Minister William Pitt (1757) takes office pours money, men, and naval

forces into the war and turns tide in favor of the British

• Pitt pays money to Austria and Prussia to hold off Spain and France in Europe

so that Britain could focus on crushing the French in North America

• America was won in Europe as French get bogged down in war and can't send

reinforcements to

• their weak colonies

• In 1760 last outpost of New France surrenders

• British also gain control of French Caribbean islands and French holdings in

India



What was the impact of the Seven Years’ War

on imperial and Indian–white relations?

A WORLD TRANSFORMED• Treaty of Paris 1763

• France gives Britain Canada in return for sugar islands in Caribbean

• Spain gives Britain control of Florida in return for Philippines and Cuba which

Britain had seized during the war

• France gives Spain Louisiana territory

• This ends Frances 200 year old North American empire

• Everything East of the Mississippi is now in hands of the British

• The war lead to a financial crisis in France that lasted 3 decades and helped

lead to the French Revolution

• British attempt to recoup losses of war by raising taxes on the colonies



In this lithograph from 1816, Indians perform

a dance at Mission

PONTIAC's REBELLION • With the French gone e Indians can no longer play the rival powers off one another

• Indian's see British victory as a threat to their freedom

• Indians had fought on both sides of war but primarily the French

• French cede land that Indians thought was their own

• 1763 Indians of Ohio Valley wage war on encroachment of British settlers onto their

land

• Neolin a religious prophet told his people to reject European technology, stop taxing

with whites, stop wearing white clothes, reject alcohol, and drive invaders from their

land

• Pan Indian Identity - belief that all Indians were the same people and only through

tribal cooperation could they regain their independence

• Mixing of Indian warriors into French army helps develop this idea of Pan Indian

Identity



The cover of a magazine published in Pennsylvania

THE PROCLAMATION LINE

• Proclamation of 1763 prohibits British settlement west of the

Appalachian Mountains and bans sale of Indian lands to

private individuals only colonial governments could make

these purchases

• British looking to avoid an all out war against the Indians

• Law outrages settlers and speculators who believed they had

won this land in the war and that it was rightfully theirs

• Colonists ignore the law (including GW)

COLONIAL IDENTITIES

• Colonist like the Indians emerge from the war with a

heightened sense of collective identity

• Greater bonds among colonies and colonists who had

little interaction before war

• Ben Franklin "join or die" cartoon

• Also brings tensions between professional British

soldiers who look down on untrained colonial militia

Norton Media LibraryIndependent and Employee-Owned

Give Me Liberty!

AN AMERICAN HISTORY

THIRD EDITION

This concludes the Norton Media Library

Slide Set for Chapter 4

by

Eric Foner

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