1. Norton Media Library Slavery, Freedom, and the Struggle for
Chapter 4
Norton Media Library
Chapter 4
Slavery, Freedom,
and the Struggle for
Empire, to 1763
Eric Foner

2. I. Olaudah Equiano

3. II. Slavery and the Empire
The Triangular Trades
British manufactured goods were sent to Africa and the colonies
Colonial products were sent to Europe
Slaves from Africa were sent to the New World
Since trade centered upon slavery in some form, free colonists believed that freedom meant in part the power and right to enslave others
The Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the voyage across the Atlantic for slaves
Slaves were crammed aboard ships for maximum profit
The numbers of slaves increased steadily through natural reproduction

4. II. Slavery and the Empire (con’t)
Chesapeake Slavery
Three distinct slave systems were well entrenched in Britain’s mainland colonies
Chesapeake
South Carolina and Georgia
Nonplantation societies of New England and the Middle Colonies
Chesapeake slavery was based on tobacco
Chesapeake plantations tended to be smaller and daily interactions between masters and slaves were more extensive

5. II. Slavery and the Empire (con’t)
Slavery transformed Chesapeake society into an elaborate hierarchy of degrees of freedom
large planters
yeomen farmers
indentured servants; tenant farmers
slaves
With the consolidation of a slave society, race took on more and more importance as a line of social division
Liberties of free blacks were stripped away

6. II. Slavery and the Empire (con’t)
Slavery in the Rice Kingdom
South Carolina and Georgia slavery rested upon rice
Rice and indigo required large-scale cultivation, worked by slaves
The economy of scale for rice was such that plantations were large
By 1770, the number of South Carolina slaves had reached 100,000, well over half the colony’s population
Georgia was established by a group of philanthropists led by James Oglethorpe in 1733

7. II. Slavery and the Empire (con’t)
Slavery in the North
Since the economics of New England and the Middle Colonies were based on small farms, slavery was far less important
Given that slaves were few and posed little threat to the white majority, laws were less harsh than in the South
Slaves did represent a sizable percentage of urban laborers, particularly in New York and Philadelphia

8. III. Slave Culture and Slave Resistance
African-Americans
The greatest melting pot in American history was the making of an African-American people
Most slaves in the eighteenth century were African by birth

9. III. Slave Culture and Slave Resistance (con’t)
African-American Cultures
In the Chesapeake, slaves learned English, were part of the Great Awakening, and were exposed to white culture
In South Carolina and Georgia, two very different black societies emerged
Rice plantations remained distinctly African
Urban servants assimilated into Euro-American culture

10. III. Slave Culture and Slave Resistance (con’t)
Resistance to Slavery
A common thread for African-Americans was the desire for freedom
Many slaves ran away to Florida or cities
The first eighteenth-century slave uprising occurred in New York City in 1712
Stono Rebellion of 1739 in South Carolina

11. IV. An Empire of Freedom British Patriotism
Despite the centrality of slavery to its empire, eighteenth-century Great Britain prided itself on being the world’s most advanced and freest nation
Britons shared a common law, a common language, a common devotion to Protestantism, and a common enemy in France
Britons believed that wealth, religion, and freedom went together

12. IV. An Empire of Freedom (con’t)
The Rights of Englishmen
Central to this sense of British identity was the concept of liberty
British liberty was simultaneously a collection of specific rights, a national characteristic, and a state of mind
Britons believed that no man, even the king, was above the law

13. IV. An Empire of Freedom (con’t)
The Language of Liberty
All eighteenth-century Britons “reveled in their worldwide reputation for freedom”
It was common for ordinary folk to evoke “liberty” when protesting “in the streets”
Republican Liberty
Republicanism called for the virtuous elite to give themselves to public service
Country Party was critical of the corruption of British politics
Cato’s Letters were widely read by the American colonists

14. IV. An Empire of Freedom (con’t)
Liberal Freedom
The leading philosopher of liberty was John Locke
Lockean ideas included individual rights, the consent of the governed, and the right of rebellion against unjust or oppressive government
Locke’s ideas excluded many from their full benefits in the eighteenth century, but they opened the door for many people to challenge later the limitations on their own freedom
Republicanism and liberalism would eventually come to be seen as alternative understanding of freedom

15. V. The Public Sphere The Right to Vote
Ownership of property was a common qualifier for voting in the colonies
Suffrage was much more common in the colonies than in Britain
Property qualification for holding office was far higher than for voting
By the mid-eighteenth century the typical officeholder was considerably richer than the norm when the century began

16. V. The Public Sphere (con’t)
Colonial Government
During the first half of the eighteenth century the colonies were largely left to govern themselves
The colonial elected assemblies exercised great influence over the appointed officials

17. V. The Public Sphere (con’t)
The Rise of the Assemblies
Elected assemblies became dominant and assertive in colonial politics in the eighteenth century
The most powerful assembly was Pennsylvania followed by Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, and South Carolina
Leaders of the assemblies found in the writing of the English Country Party a theory that made sense of their own experience

18. V. The Public Sphere (con’t)
Politics in Public
The American gentry was very active in the discussion of politics, particularly through clubs
Widespread literacy and the proliferation of newspapers encouraged the political discourse
Freedom of Expression and Its Limits
Freedom of speech was a relatively new idea
Freedom of the press was generally viewed as dangerous
After 1695, the government could not censor print material and colonial newspapers defended freedom of the press as a central component of liberty

19. V. The Public Sphere (con’t)
The Trial of Zenger
John Peter Zenger went on trial in 1735 for seditious libel
Found not guilty
The outcome promoted the ideas that the truth should always be permitted and that free expression ought to be allowed

20. V. The Public Sphere (con’t)
The American Enlightenment
Americans sought to apply to political and social life the scientific method of careful investigation based on research and experiment
Deists and natural laws embodied the spirit of the American enlightenment
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson

21. VI. The Great Awakening Religious Revivals
The Great Awakening was a series of local events united by a commitment to a more emotional and personal Christianity than that offered by existing churches
The Great Awakening was led by flamboyant preachers like Jonathan Edwards
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

22. VI. The Great Awakening (con’t)
The Preaching of Whitefield
English minister George Whitefield is credited with sparking the Great Awakening
He believed that God was merciful
The Great Awakening enlarged the boundaries of liberty

23. VI. The Great Awakening (con’t)
The Awakening’s Impact
The Great Awakening inspired criticism of many aspects of colonial society
A few preachers explicitly condemned slavery, but most masters managed to reconcile Christianity and slaveholding
The Great Awakening expanded the circulation of printed material in the colonies

24. VII. Imperial Rivalries
Spain in North America
On paper a vast territorial empire, Spanish North America actually consisted of a few small and isolated urban clusters
Despite establishing religious missions and presidios, the population in Spanish North America remained low

25. VII. Imperial Rivalries (con’t)
California
Spain ordered the colonization of California in response to a perceived Russian threat
Junipero Serra founded the first mission in San Diego in 1769
California was a mission frontier
The French Empire
The French empire expanded in the early eighteenth century
The French tended to view North America as a place of cruel exile for criminals and social outcasts

26. VIII. Battle for the Continent
The Middle Ground
Indians were constantly being pushed from their homes into a “middle ground” between European empires and Indian sovereignty
The government of Virginia granted an immense land grant in 1749 to the Ohio Company

27. VIII. Battle for the Continent (con’t)
The Seven Years’ War
The war began in 1754 as the British tried to dislodge the French from western Pennsylvania
For two years, the war went against the British
The tide of war turned in 1757 with the coming of British Prime Minister William Pitt
The Peace of Paris in 1763 resulted in the expulsion of France from North America

28. VIII. Battle for the Continent (con’t)
Pontiac’s Rebellion
With the removal of the French, the balance of power diplomacy that had enabled groups like the Iroquois to maintain a significant degree of autonomy was eliminated
In 1763 Indians launched a revolt against British rule
Neolin spoke of a pan-Indian identity
To avoid further Indian conflicts, London issued the Proclamation of 1763

29. VIII. Battle for the Continent (con’t)
Pennsylvania and the Indians
The war deepened the hostility of western Pennsylvania farmers toward Indians and witnessed numerous indiscriminate assaults on Indian communities
The Paxton Boys demanded that Indians be removed from Pennsylvania
Colonial Identities
Colonists emerged from the Seven Years’ War with a heightened sense of collective identity
The war also strengthened colonists’ pride in being members of the British empire

30. The Triangular Trades • pg. 124

31. The Slave Trade in the Atlantic World, 1460–1770 • pg. 126

32. European Empires in North America, ca. 1750 • pg. 152

33. Eastern North America after the Peace of Paris, 1763 • pg. 154

34. Table 4.1 • pg. 131

35. fig04_02.jpg
Page 121: The title page of Olaudah Equiano’s account of his life, the best-known narrative by an eighteenth-century slave. The portrait of Equiano in European dress and holding a Bible challenges stereotypes of blacks as “savages” incapable of becoming civilized.
Reproduced from the Collection of the Library of Congress, LC-USZ

36. fig04_06.jpg
Page 123: An architect’s plan for a slave ship. These drawings illustrate the conditions under which slaves endured the Middle Passage across the Atlantic.
Reproduced from the Collection of the Library of Congress, LC-USZ

37. fig04_14.jpg
Page 137: The Polling, by the renowned eighteenth-century British artist William Hogarth, satirizes the idea that British elections are decided by the reasoned deliberations of upstanding property owners. Inspired by a corrupt election of 1754, Hogarth depicts an election scene in which the maimed and dying are brought to the polls to cast ballots. At the center, lawyers argue over whether a man who has a hook for a hand can swear on the Bible.
By courtesy of the Trustees of Sir John Soane's Museum

38. fig04_15.jpg
Page 139: An anonymous engraving depicting a 1764 Pennsylvania election suggests the intensity of political debate in the Middle Colonies.
Credit: American Antiquarian Society.

39. fig04_17_1.jpg
Page 145: A portrait of Benjamin Franklin in fur hat and spectacles, dated 1777, depicts him as a symbol of America.
Bettmann/CORBIS

40. fig04_20.jpg
Page 151: The cover of a magazine published in Pennsylvania in 1758 depicts English and French attempting to trade with an Indian. The Frenchman offers a tomahawk and musket, the Englishman a Bible and cloth.
Reproduced from the Collection of the Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-5309

41. fig04_22.jpg
Page 157: The Paxton Expedition, a 1764 engraving depicting Pennsylvania farmers who marched on Philadelphia demanding the expulsion of Indians from the colony.
I.N. Stokes Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs, The New York Public Library; Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations

42. fig04_21.jpg
Page 158: Benjamin Franklin produced this famous cartoon in 1754, calling on Britain’s North American colonies to unite against the French.
Library of Congress

43. Go to website

44. Give Me Liberty! An American History
End chap. 4
W. W. Norton & Company Independent and Employee-Owned
This concludes the Norton Media Library
Slide Set for Chapter 4
Give Me Liberty!
An American History by
Eric Foner