1. American Life in the Seventeenth Century, 1607-1692 Ch.4, p.68-74,

2. The Unhealthy Chesapeake

3. Life in the American wilderness was harsh.
Diseases like malaria, dysentery, and typhoid killed many.
Few people lived to 40 or 50 years.

4. The population of the Chesapeake colonies throughout the first half of the 17th century was notable for its scarcity of women. So scarce that men fought over them. A 6:1 male to female ratio is a good guide.
Few people knew any grandparents, and due to the high death rate in the Chesapeake colonies, families were both few and fragile.
A third of all brides in one Maryland county were already pregnant before wedding (scandalous!).
Virginia, with 59,000 people, became the most populous colony.

5. The Tobacco Economy

6. The Chesapeake was very good for tobacco cultivation.
Chesapeake Bay exported 1.5 million pounds of tobacco yearly in the 1630s, and by 1700, that number had risen to 40 million pounds a year.

7. More availability led to falling prices, and farmers still grew more.
The headright system encouraged growth of the Chesapeake. Under this system, if an aristocrat sponsored an indentured servant’s passage to America, the aristocrat earned the right to purchase 50 acres land, undoubtedly at a cheap price. This meant land was being gobbled by the rich, and running out for the poor.

8. Early on, most of the laborers were indentured servants.
Life for them was hard, but there was hope at the end of seven years for freedom. At least indentured servants could reasonably expect a suit of clothes, a few barrels of corn, and at times, a small parcel of land.
Conditions were brutal, and in the later years, owners unwilling to free their servants extended their contracts by years for small mistakes.

9. Frustrated Freeman and Bacon’s Rebellion

10. By the late 1600s, there were lots of free, poor, landless, young single men frustrated by the lack of money, work, women, and the inability to acquire land.
In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a few thousand of these men in a rebellion against the hostile conditions.

11. These backwoods farmers wanted land and were resentful of Virginia governor William Berkeley’s friendly policies toward the Indians.
Bacon’s men murderously attacked Indian settlements after Berkeley refused to retaliate for a series of savage Indian attacks on the frontier.

12. Then, in the middle of his rebellion, Bacon suddenly died of disease, and Berkeley went on to crush the uprising.
Still, Bacon’s legacy lived on, giving frustrated poor folks ideas to rebel, and so a bit of paranoia amongst the wealthy went on for some time afterwards.

13. Colonial Slavery

14. For those Africans sold into slavery, the “middle passage” can best be described as the gruesome ocean voyage to America.

15. In the 300 years following Columbus’ discovery of America, only about 400,000 of a total of 10 million African slaves were brought over to the United States.
By 1680, though, many landowners were afraid of possibly mutinous white servants (ie. Bacon’s Rebellion) and began to turn to less troublesome laborers.
In addition to this fear, African slave labor in colonial America also rapidly increased because:
Higher wages in England reduced the number of emigrating indentured servants.
The British Royal African company lost its monopoly on the slave trade in colonial America, so……..
Americans subsequently rushed to cash in on the slave trade.
As a result, by the mid 1680s, for the first time, black slaves outnumbered white servants among the plantation colonies’ new arrivals.
After 1700, more and more slaves were imported, and in 1750, blacks accounted for nearly half of the Virginian population.
Most of the slaves were from West Africa, from places like Senegal and Angola.

16. Some of the earliest black slaves gained their freedom and some became slaveholders themselves.
Eventually, to clear up issues on slave ownership, the slave codes made it so that slaves and their children would remain slaves to their masters for life (chattels), unless they were voluntarily freed.
Some laws made teaching slaves to read a crime, and not even conversion to Christianity might qualify a slave for freedom.

17. Chapter 4
Page 75-81
Africans in America
Southern Society
The New England Family

18. Africans in America

19. Slave life in the Deep South was very tough, as rice growing was much harder than tobacco growing.
Many blacks in America evolved their own languages, blending their native tongues with English.
Blacks also contributed to music with instruments like the banjo and bongo drum, all of which directly contributed to the evolution of jazz as perhaps the first truly original American music.

20. A few of the slaves became skilled artisans (i. e
A few of the slaves became skilled artisans (i.e. carpenters, bricklayers and tanners), but most were relegated to sweaty work like clearing swamps and grubbing out trees.

21. Revolts did occur.
In 1712, a slave revolt in New York City cost the lives of a dozen whites and 21 Blacks were executed.
In 1739, South Carolina blacks along the Stono River revolted and tried to march to Spanish Florida, but failed.

22. Southern Society
Just before the Revolutionary War, 70% of the leaders of the Virginia legislature came from families established in Virginia before 1690.
Social Scale-
Great Planters-owned gangs of slaves and vast domains of land; ruled the region's economy and monopolized political power.
Landowning Small Farmers-largest social group of the colonial American South; tilled their own modest plots and may have owned one or two slaves.
Landless Whites-many were former indentured servants.
Black Slaves
Urban development in the colonial South was slow to emerge.

23. The New England Family
In contrast with the Chesapeake, the New Englanders tended to migrate in families as opposed to single individuals, thus the New England family was very stable institution.
There were low premarital pregnancy rates, in contrast with the Chesapeake
Because southern men frequently died young, leaving widows with small children to support, the southern colonies generally allowed married women to retain separate title to their property and gave widows the right to inherit their husband's estates. 

24. But in New England, Puritan lawmakers worried that recognizing women's separate property rights would undercut the unity of married persons by acknowledging conflicting interests between husband and wife.  When a man died, the Church inherited the property, not the wife.
New England women usually gave up their property rights when they married.  In contrast to old England, the laws of New England made secure provisions for the property of widows and even extended important protections to women with marriage.
Above all, the laws of Puritan New England sought to defend the integrity of marriages.

25. Page 82-87 Chapter 4 Life in New England Towns
The Half-Way Covenant and Salem Witch Trials
The New England Way of Life
Early Settlers Days and Ways

26. Life in the New England Towns
New towns were legally chartered by the colonial authorities in the following fashion:
- a land grant was given by the legislature.
- a meeting house was built (often the church or town hall, sometimes the same place)
- Every family received several parcels of land.
Towns of more than 50 families had to have an elementary school. 
Just 8 years after Massachusetts was formed, the colony established Harvard College, in  Virginia established its first college, William and Mary, in 1693.
Puritans ran their own churches, and democracy in Congregational Church government led logically to democracy in political government.
Massachusetts was at the front of the colonies attempting to abolish black slavery

27. The Half-Way Covenant and the Salem Witch Trials
About the middle of the 17th century, a new form of sermon began to be heard from Puritan pulpits - the "jeremiad.“
Troubled ministers in 1662 announced a new formula for church membership, the Half-Way Covenant.  This new arrangement modified the covenant, or the agreement between the church and its adherents, to admit to baptism-but not "full communion"-the unconverted children of existing members.  This move upped the churches' memberships.  This boost in membership was just what the money-stricken church needed.

28. A group of adolescent girls in Salem, Massachusetts, claimed to have been bewitched by certain older, property-owning women, a threat to male-dominated Puritan New England.  A witch hunt ensued, leading to the legal lynching of 20 women in 1692.
In 1693, the witchcraft hysteria ended when the governor of Massachusetts prohibited any further trials and pardoned those already convicted.  In 1713, the Massachusetts legislature annulled the "conviction" of the "witches" and made reparation to their heirs.

30. The New England Way of Life
The soil of New England was stony and hard to plant with.
There was less diversity in New England than in the South because European immigrants did not want to come to a place where there was bad soil.  The summers in New England were very hot and the winters very cold.
The Native Americans recognized their right to USE the land, but the concept of OWNING was unknown.

31. ECONOMY
The New England economy depended heavily on fishing, shipbuilding, and commerce.
They became experts at shipbuilding and commerce due to the timber found in the dense forests.  They also fished for cod off the coasts.
The combination of Calvinism, soil, and climate in New England made for energy, purposefulness, sternness, stubbornness, self-reliance, and resourcefulness.

32. The Early Settlers’ Days and Ways
Women, slave or free, on southern plantations or northern farms, wove, cooked, cleaned, and care for children.  Men cleared land; fenced, planted, and cropped the land; cut firewood; and butchered livestock as needed.
Resentment against upper-class pretensions helped to spark outbursts like Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 in Virginia and the uprising of Maryland's Protestants toward the end of the 17th century. 
New York, animosity between lordly landholders and aspiring merchants fueled Leisler's Rebellion, an ill-starred and bloody insurgence that rocked New York City from
In 1651, Massachusetts prohibited poorer folk from "wearing gold or silver lace," and in 18th century Virginia, a tailor was fined and jailed for arranging to race his horse-"a sport only for gentlemen." 

33. The English justified taking land from the native inhabitants on the grounds that the Indians:
- wasted the earth.
All in all, compared with most 17th century Europeans, Americans lived in affluent abundance.

35. Chronology 1619 - First Africans arrive in Virginia
1636                        - Harvard College founded
1662                        - Half-Way Covenant for Congregational Church membership established
1670                        - Virginia assembly disfranchises landless freeman
1676                        - Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia
1680s                      - Mass expansion of slavery in colonies
               - Leisler's Rebellion in New York
1692                        - Salem witch trials in Massachusetts
1693                        - College of William and Mary founded
1698                        - Royal African Company slave trade monopoly ended
1712                        - New York City slave revolt
1739                        - South Carolina slave revolt

36. New England vs. Chesapeake
Similarities and Differences between New England and the Chesapeake
Similarities: Both of these settlements were populated by the English.
Both settlements would face conflict with the Native Americans in the area - the Pequot War for New England and the conflict with the Powhatan Confederacy for the settlers of Chesapeake.
Both settlements brought flocks of people from England seeking a better life.
Both colonies also retained a predominance of English culture.

37. Differences: Social: Family Size: Families in New England were much larger, and consisted of both males and females. In contrast, families of the Chesapeake were primarily men brought over to work the fields.
Social: Age: Ages of settlers in New England ranged wildly, seeing as immigrants came in family groups. Chesapeake settlers were all in the same general age range.

38. Social: Health: Since New England was spared the tropical diseases of the south, its inhabitants were considerably healthier. Immigrants to New England actually gained five years on their life expectancy, while immigrants to the Chesapeake lost about ten years. Most women in Chesapeake were married, because there were more men than women. They were only able to bear one to three healthy children because they suffered from mild malnutrition.

39. Social: Religion: Chesapeake and New England differed greatly in their religions. Chesapeake was primarily Protestant and Catholic, whereas New England would be Puritan separatists or congregationalists. Chesapeake primarily did not persecute people of different faiths, focusing more on their crops and disputes with the Natives. The settlers of New England, on the other hand - with the exception of those in Rhode Island - felt that God had chosen them for this "special task", which led to religion being extremely important in public life, to the point that at times you could not vote on anything if you did not attend church regularly. Rhode Island, unlike the rest of New England, kept church and state separate and tolerated colonists of all religions.

40. Religion - New England “We will be that city upon a hill” – Winthrop
Dominated by Congregational Church (ex. Rhode Island)
Founded for religious colonies

41. Religion Chesapeake
Chesapeake: Rural environment makes schools + churches more difficult
Church of England established, no Puritans
Founded for commercial interests
Maryland as Catholic refuge

42.  Social: New England:
Education - Puritans believed education = better study bible.
Bible would help out of salvation.
First public education system, best education, highest literacy rate in world.
Social stability – Immigrated in communities, more social stability
Less 20 something males, immigrated in groups.

43. Social: Chesapeake
Due to plantation economies - Slavery  - aristocratic atmosphere
Social instability - 75% of early immigrants were indentured servants
20 something males
Education: Not emphasized as plantations wide spread
Lowest literacy levels
Aristocratic atmosphere except N. Carolina and Georgia

44. Economic: New England consisted of skilled merchants who began to develop commercial business in the region. On the other hand, the Chesapeake was vast agricultural tobacco land, which was extremely spread out and was connected by the waters of the Chesapeake bay.

45. Economic: Crops: Colonists in the New England region soon discovered that they did not have the soil suitable for growing tobacco, as those from Chesapeake did. New England colonist women planted crops, but they did not need much attention in the first few months after they had been planted. Also, those in the New England used the same fields for a few seasons, instead of rotating like those in the Chesapeake.

46. Economic New England – Less agriculture, more industry
Small scale farming à long winters, poor rocky soil
Fishing, lumber, shipping, shipbuilding, whaling, not focused on tobacco in south w/ fertile fields.
Mostly industrial region, manufacturing
No plantation colonies = more manufacturing of cities, has many large cities including Boston. Most industrious of American colonies

47. Economic Chesapeake
Primarily based on agriculture
Large plantations, very little industry
Fertile land, fertile agriculture
Could plant staple crops including tobacco, rice, indigo.

48. Political: Towns: The settlements of New England were much more compact than those of Chesapeake, and the houses were meant to last. The towns in New England closely resembled the towns in England from which the immigrants had come, while the towns of the Chesapeake were large, spread-out plantation towns. The Chesapeake had much less development due to the fact that the region had no new development of roads, as water was already the primary transportation source in the region.

49. Political: Land Grants: In the Chesapeake, the colonists followed the Headright System. This, of course, would be abused by the early colonists, as they would encourage indentured servitude, which would give them more workers and land. New England, however, used the Communal land-grant system. This meant that men would have to apply as a group, and were not guaranteed the grant. If the group was granted land, then they would split it themselves, with the best among them getting the choice cuts, and the most lowly getting rather small plots. Though slightly unfair, this system guaranteed that everyone received land.

50. Political: New England: More democratic –
Compact towns - town meetings, “franchise” to free white Puritan males.
Colonies founded based on religion; Puritans persecuted in groups.
No aristocratic dominated assembly

51.  Political Chesapeake –
Legislative owned by aristocrats
More spread out, only county governments
Backcountry farmers under represented.
Charleston South Carolina only notable big city

52.
Jamestown: If Jamestown had not survived long enough to nurture the roots of British colonization, had the Spanish, French, or Dutch colonized the mid-Atlantic, the English might never have settled in New England. Instead of Plymouth, the Pilgrims might have ended up in Guyana in South America (which they had considered as an alternative). Massachusetts settlers might have joined other Puritan groups off the coast of Central America, and islands in the West Indies. The United States evolves out of British America--they are 13 British Colonies, and if you trace back that line of development, it takes you back to Jamestown.

53. Other Jamestown legacies are less positive
Other Jamestown legacies are less positive. Hostilities between the English and the Indians began a cycle of violence and exploitation that would last for nearly three centuries. Tobacco became a cash crop, which helped saw the colony, but still causes 400,000 deaths yearly in the U.S. alone.
To maximize production and profits, the first African slaves were imported in 1619, which presaged the beginning of a system of exploitation and oppression that blighted the lives of countless Africans and their African-American descendants and stigmatized American society.

54. By the end of the 17th century, the Jamestown settlement that began the English experiment in North America had all but vanished. Today it has a permanent population of two--an archaeologist and his wife although a Jamestowne Society of living descendants still exists.

55. While the original settlers vowed never to leave, those who survived eventually scattered. Jamestown was England's first sustained experiment in establishing profitable commercial enterprises and stable political and social forms in the New World.
Jamestown is important because it is about coming to terms with our shared past, a past painful and conflicted, but which ultimately laid the foundation for modern America.

56. http://nationalhumanitiescenter. org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/legacy
Puritan influences have been powerful and enduring in American culture and they have become part of American identity. Many people in other countries identify American as puritans, and in spite of the high percentage of the population of the United States that has come from abroad, many of them embrace the some of the puritan values such as long hours of hard work, few vacation and days off, pride in not missing work, education, and they pass these values onto their children

57. As the Puritan Founders understood, the meaning of America is a promise always remaining to be fulfilled, and whether it was the promise of religious freedom or of economic opportunity, it was a dream that made the dangers of the Atlantic and an unknown wilderness worth risking.

58. While works of American literature may often lament the failure of the American dream and portions of the population may at times become disillusioned with its false promises, parents, especially of recent immigrants, continue to teach their children to have faith in the possibilities, to work hard, and to remain optimistic about the future because the dream may be fulfilled for them. As long as such belief persists, the puritan rituals of national repentance, reawakening, and renewal will continue.

59. American Life in the Seventeenth Century, 1607–1692
Chapter 4
American Life in the Seventeenth Century, 1607–1692

60. Question All of the following were true of Indentured servants EXCEPT
they voluntarily mortgaged themselves for several years to Chesapeake masters.
in exchange for their service, they received transatlantic passage and eventual freedom dues.
upon completion of their indenture, they received 50 acre plots of land with which to begin their lives as freeholders.
their freedom dues included a few barrels of corn, a suit of clothes, and perhaps a small parcel of land.

61. Answer All of the following were true of Indentured servants EXCEPT
they voluntarily mortgaged themselves for several years to Chesapeake masters.
in exchange for their service, they received transatlantic passage and eventual freedom dues.
upon completion of their indenture, they received 50 acre plots of land with which to begin their lives as freeholders. (correct)
their freedom dues included a few barrels of corn, a suit of clothes, and perhaps a small parcel of land.

62. Question The Headright system stipulated that
upon completion of their indenture, servants received 50 acre plots of land with which to begin their lives as freeholders.
only the heads of households had the right to own land in the New World.
towns with more than 50 families must provide for free public education for all children.
whoever paid the passage of a laborer received the right to acquire fifty acres of land.

63. Answer The Headright system stipulated that
upon completion of their indenture, servants received 50 acre plots of land with which to begin their lives as freeholders.
only the heads of households had the right to own land in the New World.
towns with more than 50 families must provide for free public education for all children.
whoever paid the passage of a laborer received the right to acquire fifty acres of land. (correct)

64. Question All of the following were true of Bacon’s Rebellion EXCEPT
about a thousand Virginians broke out of control in 1676, led by a twenty-nine-year-old planter, Nathaniel Bacon.
Bacon successfully unseated Berkeley from his governorship, and set up his own, short-lived proprietary colony in Virginia.
many of the rebels were frontiersmen who had been forced into the untamed backcountry in search of arable land.
the rebels fiercely resented Berkeley’s friendly policies toward the Indians, whose thriving fur trade the governor monopolized.

65. Answer All of the following were true of Bacon’s Rebellion EXCEPT
about a thousand Virginians broke out of control in 1676, led by a twenty-nine-year-old planter, Nathaniel Bacon.
Bacon successfully unseated Berkeley from his governorship, and set up his own, short-lived proprietary colony in Virginia. (correct)
many of the rebels were frontiersmen who had been forced into the untamed backcountry in search of arable land.
the rebels fiercely resented Berkeley’s friendly policies toward the Indians, whose thriving fur trade the governor monopolized.

66. Question The term Middle Passage referred to the
middle leg of the so-called Triangular Trade between American, Britain, and the Caribbean.
passage from Boston in New England, through New York and Philadelphia in the Middle Atlantic colonies, then south to Charleston.
transatlantic sea voyage that brought slaves to the New World.
passage of one’s soul from the Middling state of the Halfway Covenant into the saving grace of the Elect in Calvinist doctrine.

67. Answer The term Middle Passage referred to the
middle leg of the so-called Triangular Trade between American, Britain, and the Caribbean.
passage from Boston in New England, through New York and Philadelphia in the Middle Atlantic colonies, then south to Charleston.
transatlantic sea voyage that brought slaves to the New World. (correct)
passage of one’s soul from the Middling state of the Halfway Covenant into the saving grace of the Elect in Calvinist doctrine.

68. Question The South Carolina slave revolt involved
more than fifty resentful blacks along the Stono River, revolting and trying unsuccessfully to march to Spanish Florida.
an abortive plot, led by a blacksmith named Gabriel, to attack local slave owners.
a failed plot, led by a slave named Denmark Vescey, to take over the city of Charleston.
a revolt of over 200 slaves, led by a charismatic preacher, that killed 55 whites before the revolt was overthrown.

69. Answer The South Carolina slave revolt involved
more than fifty resentful blacks along the Stono River, revolting and trying unsuccessfully to march to Spanish Florida. (correct)
an abortive plot, led by a blacksmith named Gabriel, to attack local slave owners.
a failed plot, led by a slave named Denmark Vescey, to take over the city of Charleston.
a revolt of over 200 slaves, led by a charismatic preacher, that killed 55 whites before the revolt was overthrown.

70. Question
All of the following were true of the Half-Way Covenant EXCEPT it
modified the covenant, or the agreement between the church and its adherents.
admitted to baptism—but not full communion—the children of baptized but not-yet-converted existing members.
weakened the distinction between the elect and others, further diluting the spiritual purity of the original settlers’ godly community.
was largely responsible for the revived spirituality, which later engendered the Great Awakening.

71. Answer
All of the following were true of the Half-Way Covenant EXCEPT it
modified the covenant, or the agreement between the church and its adherents.
admitted to baptism—but not full communion—the children of baptized but not-yet-converted existing members.
weakened the distinction between the elect and others, further diluting the spiritual purity of the original settlers’ godly community.
was largely responsible for the revived spirituality, which later engendered the Great Awakening. (correct)

72. Question
All of the following were true of the Salem Witch Trials EXCEPT
they grew not only from the superstitions and prejudices of the age, but also from the turmoil of the Indian Wars.
they arose from the fear of many religious traditionalists that the Puritan heritage was not sufficiently supportive of Yankee commercialism.
most of the accused witches came from families associated with Salem’s burgeoning market economy.
the accusers came largely from subsistence farming families in Salem’s hinterland.

73. Answer All of the following were true of the Salem Witch Trials EXCEPT
they grew not only from the superstitions and prejudices of the age, but also from the turmoil of the Indian Wars.
they arose from the fear of many religious traditionalists that the Puritan heritage was not sufficiently supportive of Yankee commercialism. (correct)
most of the accused witches came from families associated with Salem’s burgeoning market economy.
the accusers came largely from subsistence farming families in Salem’s hinterland.

74. Question Leisler’s Rebellion involved
tensions between lordly landholders and aspiring merchants in New York.
resentment against upper-class pretensions in Virginia.
American blue bloods resenting the pretensions of the meaner sort and passing laws to try to keep them in their place in Massachusetts.
ill-feelings over scarcity of land in Pennsylvania.

75. Answer Leisler’s Rebellion involved
tensions between lordly landholders and aspiring merchants in New York. (correct)
resentment against upper-class pretensions in Virginia.
American blue bloods resenting the pretensions of the meaner sort and passing laws to try to keep them in their place in Massachusetts.
ill-feelings over scarcity of land in Pennsylvania.

76. Question William Berkeley would have been most likely to say
“That old fool has put to death more people in that naked country than I did here for the murder of my father.”
“No country yields a more propitious air for our temper than New England.”
“How miserable that man is that governs a people where six parts of seven at least are poor, endebted, discontented, and armed.”
“It being one chief project of the old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures…”

77. Answer William Berkeley would have been most likely to say
“That old fool has put to death more people in that naked country than I did here for the murder of my father.”
“No country yields a more propitious air for our temper than New England.”
“How miserable that man is that governs a people where six parts of seven at least are poor, endebted, discontented, and armed.” (correct)
“It being one chief project of the old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures…”

78. Question
All of the following places saw major class-based or slave revolts EXCEPT
Western Virginia.
Philadelphia.
South Carolina.
New York City.

79. Answer
All of the following places saw major class-based or slave revolts EXCEPT
Western Virginia.
Philadelphia. (correct)
South Carolina.
New York City.