The Colonial Period

Settlers and Native Americans A. New England Native Americans at first provided assistance with crops and were valuable trading partners B. The small native population was almost extinguished by European epidemics. C. Settlers wanted more land, hunted the wild animals, and allowed domesticated animals to roam freely.

D. Pequot War: 1637, fought over. trade with the Dutch and friction D. Pequot War: 1637, fought over trade with the Dutch and friction over land E. King Phillip’s War: 1675, fought over land and colonial attempts to enforce English laws on the natives

II. Colonial Government A. Types of Colonies 1. royal 2. company 3. proprietary B. each colony independent of the others C. Privy Council: royal advisors who set up policy for the colonies

D. Colonial assemblies 1. modeled after Parliament with a bicameral legislature 2. submitted legislation to the colonial governor for approval 3. had the power to raise taxes, organize local governments, and control the military 4. also paid the governor’s salary

E. Town meetings 1. New England 2. selected officials to make the town’s decisions

F. Colonial courts 1. usually based on English common law 2. John Peter Zenger: freedom of the press to report something harmful if it could be proven true

III. Mercantilism: creating and maintaining wealth by carefully controlling trade A. balance of trade: having fewer imports than exports B. Colonies would supply raw materials and provide a market for England’s manufactured goods

C. Benefits of mercantilism: 1. protected market for colonial goods 2. provided finished products to colonies D. Problems of mercantilism: 1. supply and demand 2. smugglers:

E. triangular trade: Africa, West Indies, Colonies 1. West Indies sold sugar, molasses, slaves to… 2. the colonies who sold fish, grain, beef, and horses in return. Colonists then exchanged rum with 3. Africa for slaves. 4. Middle Passage: three month journey across the Atlantic

F. Navigation Acts: 1650s 1. closed the colonies to all trade except that carried in English ships 2. required the colonists to export certain items only to England or English possessions aboard English ships 3. all goods being shipped from the colonies had to pass through England in order to be taxes 4. imposed duties on the coastal trade among the colonies

IV. Increasing Crown Control A. Charles II stripped Massachusetts of its authority over New Hampshire and created another colony B. The Dominion of New England: 1. James II combined several of the upper and middle colonies as a single government 2. eliminated colonial assemblies 3. Sir Edmund Andros: appointed governor

D. The Glorious Revolution C. James’ heirs: 1. Mary, Anne, Catholic son D. The Glorious Revolution 1. Parliament invited William and Mary to assume the throne together 2. colonies revived their representative assemblies

V. The Colonial Economy A. The Southern Economy 1. exported raw materials for building ships overseas and to the northern colonies 2. sold naval stores such as pitch, turpentine, and tar

a. cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo 3. agriculture a. cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo b. difficult work required a large labor force c. plantations 1. early in the colonies, work was done by indentured servants 2. by the 1700s, enslaved Africans were the main force c. Eliza Lucus Pinckney

4. early dependence on large-. scale cash crops led to little 4. early dependence on large- scale cash crops led to little commercial of industrial growth 5. few cities developed

B. The New England Economy 1. harsh climate, rocky soil, and few navigatable rivers were unsuitable for cash crops 2. fishing: food 3. whaling: oil for lighting, food 4. shipbuilding: fishing and merchant vessels

5. trading: pickled beef, pork, fur 6. skilled craftsman a. blacksmiths, weavers, shipwrights, printers b. apprentices: learned under a master craftsman 7. slaves were held, but not an important part of the economy

a. fairly modestly sized because most finished products were imported 8. industrialization: a. fairly modestly sized because most finished products were imported b. included cobbling, blacksmithing, printing, ironmaking c. restricted by British laws against it: 1. the Woolen Act of 1699 2. the Hat Act of 1732 3. the Iron Act of 1750

1. combined both New England and southern characteristics C. The Middle Economy 1. combined both New England and southern characteristics 2. commerce 3. agriculture, staple crops: wheat, barley, oats

4. slavery a. needed for farm labor b. also worked in cities as skilled craftsmen 5. mainly indentured servants filled the labor needs which led to a rapidly expanding population

D. The Rise of Colonial Commerce 1. obstacles: a. no medium of exchange b. uncertainty that goods would be produced in sufficient quantity c. uncertain in the market for the goods d. little exchange of information 2. elaborate coastal and transatlantic trade: see triangular trade route 3. SEE MERCANTILISM

1. filled a variety of roles a. managing farms b. keeping shops E. Women and labor 1. filled a variety of roles a. managing farms b. keeping shops c. practicing medicine 2. colonial laws restricted women a. a married woman had to have husband’s permission b. husband had a right to the wife’s wages

3. most worked in the home 4. indentured servants and slaves worked both inside and outside of the home

VI. Colonial Culture A. The Scientific Revolution 1. began in mathematics and astronomy 2. affected all areas of natural science 3. Galileo Galilei: confirmed Copernicus’s theory that planets revolve around the sun

4. Sir Isaac Newton: a. The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, the foundation of physics b. motion and gravity theories 5. the scientific method: observation and experimentation with natural events in order to form theories that could predict other events or behaviors

a. Philadelphia the center for the study of science 6. Colonial Scientists a. Philadelphia the center for the study of science b. the American Philosophical Society: 1743, to study science and to maintain communication between colonial scientists

c. David Rittenhouse: designed a variety of mathematical and astronomical instruments d. Benjamin Banneker: 1. wrote a popular annual almanac 2. also predicted a solar eclipse 3. a free African American

e. John Bartram: a botanist who traveled widely and established the first colonial botanical garden

2. apprenticed to his brother 3. moved to Philadelphia at 17 f. Benjamin Franklin 1. born in Boston 2. apprenticed to his brother 3. moved to Philadelphia at 17 4. the Pennsylvania Gazette 5. published Poor Richard’s Almanack 6. founded the first circulating library in the colonies

7. founded an academy that later became the University of Pennsylvania 8. helped for the American Philosophical Society 9. proved lightening was electricity and identified the positive and negative charges of electricity 10. invented the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, bifocals

B. the Enlightenment: the Age of Reason 1. Characteristics of: a. thinkers applied reason and logic to the study of human nature and the improvement of society b. philosophers developed new theories about how government should work to best serve the people c. affected political and religious thought

d. sometimes attacked organized. religions (“Crush the infamous thing d. sometimes attacked organized religions (“Crush the infamous thing! -- Voltaire) e. at its height during the 18th century

2. Great Thinkers a. Thomas Hobbs, English: 1. influenced by English Civil War of the 1640s

2. published Leviathan a. outlined his political philosophy of natural law (unchanging moral and political law in the universe b. social contract (from Calvinist roots): a contract between the people and their government in which the government ensures order and the people obey the government. (People are obligated to obey government no matter how bad public policy is because government is better than anarchy)

b. John Locke, English: 1. believed that people had rights to equality and liberty 2. social contract: people voluntarily obeyed their rulers only when the state fulfilled its responsibility to protect people’s life, liberty, and property 3. influenced Thomas Jefferson

c. Voltaire 1. a deist 2. distrusted democracy

d. Baron de Montesquieu, French 1. wrote The Spirit of the Laws to describe the ideal constitution (similar to the moderate constitutional monarchy of Britain) 2. felt that a separation of powers between three branches of government—executive, legislative, and judicial—was best 3. influenced James Madison

e. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French: 1. “foresaw” the American and the French Revolutions 2. most radical—others interested in moderation; supported democracy 3. influenced Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry

3. The Enlightenment in America a. Thomas Jefferson: 1. the Jefferson Bible which removed the miracles from religion 2. believed Jesus to be history’s greatest moral philosopher 3. felt that if the government does not provide the three basic rights, he argued that the people have a right to abolish it

b. John Adams: Christianity is to be used as a moral construct c. James Madison: 1. wrote “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Moral Assessments” against tax for religion because he felt is was not good for either religion or the state 2. believed in separation of church and state

d. Deism, the “natural religion” 1. Founders were usually deists (belief in God based solely on religion) 2. God exists based on religious observations of the world.

d. Democracy or Republicanism 1. opposed by many European Enlightenment thinkers who felt that representative government was rule by the mob 2. yet in the colonies, Enlightenment thinkers felt representative government was a good thing

C. The Great Awakening 1730s and 1740s 1. reaction against the Enlightenment 2. incorporates Enlightenment ideals: a. emphasis on individuals and their relationship with God b. institution of church de- emphasized c. very different from Orthodox Christianity

3. the northern colonies more religious than the southern colonies 4. movement began in New England in 1734

5. Jonathan Edwards: Yale. graduate whose dramatic 5. Jonathan Edwards: Yale graduate whose dramatic sermons emphasized that sinners must ask forgiveness for their sins or face eternal punishment 6. George Whitefield: English minister who made seven tours of the colonies

7. ministers preached a. everyone is a born sinner b. that salvation could only be gained through the acceptance of God’s grace and the confession of sins c. everyone has an equal chance to be saved 8. revivals: public church gatherings often held in open fields

9. a widespread movement of evangelical 9. a widespread movement of evangelical Christian sermons and church meetings 10. traditionalists felt that the enthusiasm of the Great Awakening was inappropriate 11. particularly helped with religion on the frontier where there were few churches 12. attracted people of all classes and races 13. led colonists to question traditional church practices and to discuss politics and social issues

D. Colonial Writers and Artists 1. prose: religious writings by Jonathan Edwards, John Cotton, Cotton Mather 2. nonfiction: Robert Beverley the History of the Present State of Virginia

3. poetry: a. Phyllis Wheatley: freed slave who wrote elegies using religious language and imagery b. Anne Bradstreet: The Tenth Muse wrote about her love for her family and her dedication to her faith

4. painters: a. John Smibert: held the first art exhibition in Boston b. Robert Feke: student of Smibert c. most were portrait painters 5. architecture: wealthier colonists constructed homes of brick in elaborate British styles 6. furniture: reflected the increase in the standard of living of colonists

VII. The Colonial Population A. The early population 1. a few were members of the upper classes (usually younger sons of lesser gentry) 2. some members of the emerging middle class who moved for religious or commercial reasons 3. mainly English laborers who came for religious of commercial reasons

4. indentured servants: 1600s to 1670s though continued into the 1700s a. temporary servitude b. four or five years c. received passage to America, food, and shelter d. most were voluntary e. did include some shiploads of convicts, prisoners of war, victims of kidnapping, and “undesirables” (orphans, vagrants, paupers)

5. enslaved Africans 6. Europeans and Africans became the dominate population group along the Atlantic coast by the late 1600s

B. Birth and Death 1. earliest arrivals could anticipate inadequate food, frequent epidemics, early death 2. immigration the earliest form of increase

3. in the Chesapeake region: a. men immigrated first b. increase mainly by immigration c. high mortality rates 1. 1 in 4 children in infancy 2. ½ before the age of twenty 3. average life expectancy: forty 4. in New England: a. families immigrated b. natural increase became most important source of growth by 1650s c. average life expectancy: seventy

C. Women and Families 1. In the Chesapeake: a. high male to female ration b. women married around twenty c. high mortality rate led to an undermining of male authority

d. sex: 1. indentured servants a. could not marry b. females could expect heavy fines or harsh whippings, extra year or two of service, and the loss of their children 2. over one third of marriage occurred with the bride already pregnant 3. average wife became pregnant every two years and had an average of eight children 4. childbirth a frequent cause of death

e. females could frequently choose their own husbands f. often left widows who then managed the farm or plantation g. seldom remained unmarried for long h. complex households of stepchildren, half- siblings i. large number of orphans: Maryland Virginia created special courts and institutions to protect them

j. By the early 1700s 1. life expectancy increasing 2. indentured servitude decreasing 3. sex ratio more equal 4. life less dangerous 5. families more stable and the patriarchal family revived

2. In New England: a. Family structure more stable b. the female role basically the same c. lower infant mortality d. few children could choose spouses entirely independent of their parents e. men needed land/ women needed dowries f. premarital pregnancy twenty percent

g. powerful church defined roles: 1. women respected for their roles within the families 2. expected to serve the needs of her husband and household 3. duties included child-rearing, gardening, raising poultry, tending cattle, spinning, weaving, cooking, cleaning, washing 4. popular names were Prudence, Patience, Chastity, Comfort

D. Changing Sources of European Immigration 1. mainly English and Africans until the early 1700s a. better economic conditions b. restrictions on emigration because of depopulation 2. French Huguenots for religious freedom

3. Germans a. religious freedom b. wars with France c. precarious economy d. settled in New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina

4. Scotch-Irish a. Ulster: settled by Scottish Presbyterians in the early 1600s b. England outlawed exports of wool and the Presbyterian religious c. leases on land expired and rent tripled. d. settled on the outer edges of the colonies 5. in 1700 non-Indian population was 250,000; by 1775 it was 2 million

E. The Beginnings of Slavery in North America 1. the process a. native African chieftains captured members of enemy tribes b. tied them in coffles c. sold them in slave marts on the African coast d. Middle Passage: conditions varied

2. Portuguese traders mainly served colonies in 2. Portuguese traders mainly served colonies in the Caribbean and South America during the 1600s 3. trade developed between the colonies and the Caribbean first 4. Royal African Company of England: kept prices high and supplies low until the mid- 1690s 5. by 1763, 16000 in New England; 29,000 in the middle colonies; 250,000 in the South

6. early treatment a. laborers worked with whites in relative equality b. some were freed c. some became landowners/slaveowners themselves 7. by the early 1700s, the assumption spread to make African bondage permanent 8. from the early to the late 1700s, African immigrants outnumbered European immigrants

9. slave codes: limited the rights of blacks in 9. slave codes: limited the rights of blacks in law and ensured almost absolute authority to white masters

10. the origins of slavery: a. Oscar and Mary Handlin, “Origins of the Southern Labor System,” 1950: resulted in efforts to increase the available labor force b. Carl Degler, “Slavery and the Genesis of American Race Prejudice,” 1950: Africans were never treated the same as white servants; slavery the result of racism c. Winthrop D. Jordan, White Over Black, 1968: racism immigrated from Europe and shaped the nature of the slave system from the beginning

d. George Fredrickson: racism did not d. George Fredrickson: racism did not precede slavery but actually outlived it and grew stronger e. Peter Wood, Black Majority, 1974: studied South Carolina; blacks and white worked together early but white labor to do arduous work became hard to find landowners had to turn to slavery f. Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, 1975: the slave system arose to secure a reliable, stable work force and that racism was the means to justify slavery

g. David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery g. David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1975: while prejudice had a long history, racism as a systematic ideology was crystallized during the American Revolution

h. Robin Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery, 1996: 1. flourished in European colonies when it was almost dead in Europe 2. easier to justify enslaving someone who looks different 3. a slave-labor system in a labor- intensive agriculture world was more profitable than a free-labor system 4. enriched planters, benefited all of colonial society, and provided capital for England 5. served the interests of planters, merchants, governments, industrialists, and consumers

Works Cited Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey. Vol 1. Boston: McGraw-Hill College, 1999. Lemmons, Russ. Jacksonville State University. 25 April 2002. Stuckey, Sterling, and Linda Kerrigan Salvucci. Call to Freedom: Beginnings to 1914. Austin, Texas: Holt, Rinhart, and Winston, 2000.