1. American Life in the 17th Century
Chapter 4
American Life in the 17th Century

2. The Unhealthy Chesapeake
Settlements in the Chesapeake area grew slowly in the 17th Century
Half of the people in early Virginia and Maryland did not survive to celebrate their 20th birthday ☹
Urban development was slow to emerge

3. The Unhealthy Chesapeake
Due to the diseases of Malaria, dysentery, and typhoid → life expectancy of settlers was low
Women were allowed to retain title to husband’s property because southern men frequently died young ☹
Weak family ties were reflected in many teenage pregnancies among unwed young girls.

4. Tobacco Economy Tobacco growing depletes nutrients from the soil
Planters always looking for new land to plant more tobacco
Indians on the attack
By 1630, 1.5 million pounds of tobacco exported and end of the century 40 million exported (this lowered the prices)
Planters had to grow even more tobacco in order to make more money

5. Tobacco Prices:

6. Tobacco Economy
More tobacco meant more labor so indentured servants came
Most immigrants to Chesapeake colonies were indentured servants
Virginia became the most populous colony by 1700

7. How English Came to the New World…
Paid for their passage
“Headright” System was begun in order to encourage settlement.
Stated that whoever paid for the passage of a laborer received the right to acquire fifty acres of land
Indentured Servitude –
Given passage to America
A suit of new clothes
A few barrels of corn
A small parcel of land (sometimes)
Found it increasingly more difficult to live

8. Indentured Servitude

9. Bacon vs. Berkeley
Bacon Accuses Berkeley

10. Nathaniel Bacon’s Rebellion: 1676
Nathaniel Bacon - Planter
Governor William Berkeley

11. Bacons Rebellion 1676: Led by Nathaniel Bacon
1,000 Virginians got out of control
Why? Native Americans were attacking frontier settlements, but Berkeley didn’t help
Unhappy laborers set the area on fire, pushed Berkeley out, and attacked the Indians
Bacon dies of disease.
Berkeley hangs 20 of the rebels
Result = look for cheaper labor that wouldn’t complain.

12. Beginnings of Slavery Indentured servitude (1619-1660)
1660 – Durante Vita
A cheap labor force was needed that wouldn’t rebel
Durante Vita = refers to the time after 1662 when the status of Africans changed from indentured servants to slaves; the slaves and their children are property for life to their white masters

13. Slavery in the English Colonies
Increasing wages in England caused less laborers to want to go to the New World.
1698: The Royal African Company lost its crown- granted monopoly on carrying slaves to the colonies. The supply of slaves increased
Most slaves came from the west coast of Africa
Slave Codes made the slaves and their children property of their “masters” for life
A crime to teach a slave to read or write

14. Middle Passage

16. Slave Trade

17. Question

18. “Middle Passage” can best be described as…(choose two answers)
The trip from the West African coast, across the Atlantic, to the colonies
The easiest part of their journey to America
The journey from American parts to their new homes
A gruesome ocean voyage
The passage of the indentured servants

19. “Middle Passage” can best be described as…
The trip from the West African coast, across the Atlantic, to the colonies
The easiest part of their journey to America
The journey from American parts to their new homes
The gruesome ocean voyage to America
The passage for the indentured servants

20. Social Structure in the South
Slaves
Indentured Servants
Landless Whites
(Largest group in South -- 1 or 2 slaves)
Small Farmers
(20 or more slaves)
Great Planters
Southern Life: Revolved around the plantations
Waterways used for transportation
Few cities

21. Slavery Decreased in the North
There was little profit on small farms
The climate and land features were less adaptable to large-scale farming
New England economy depended more on fishing, shipbuilding, and commerce.

22. Puritan Migration

23. New England Families Family was the center of life
Early marriage and many children encouraged
New England- women gave up property rights when they married
Divorce was rare
Those convicted of adultery were whipped in public and forced to wear a capital letter “A”
1850: Book by Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter

24. Life in New England Towns
A land grant was given by the colonial government
Settlers tended to migrate with their families
A meeting house was built (used as a church and Town Hall)
A village green was laid out
Schools were required in towns of more than 50 families
Population grew from natural birthrate
Settlers lived longer than those in the Chesapeake

25. Half-Way Covenant Made due to declining church enrollment:
What is a religious covenant? An agreement between two parties: God and the people, or between two people or groups
Loosened the rules for baptism – agreement that all children, not just the converted ones can be baptized
What is conversion? An individual receiving God’s grace of salvation
An attempt to bring more people into the Puritan church and have more church participation

26. Question…

27. Which one is not a consequence of the Half-Way Covenant?
It weakened the distinction between the “elect” and others
It maintained the original agreement of the covenant
It conferred partial membership rights in the once-exclusive congregations
It increased the numbers of church membership
Women became the majority in the Puritan congregations

28. Which one is not a consequence of the Half-Way Covenant?
It weakened the distinction between the “elect” and others
It maintained the original agreement of the covenant
It conferred partial membership rights in the once-exclusive congregations
It increased the numbers of church membership
Women became the majority in the Puritan congregations

29. Salem Witch Trials

30. Salem Witch Trials
In 1692 …

31. Rebecca Nurse’s House

32. Salem Witch Trials

33. Salem Witchcraft Trials
Began with adolescent girls claiming to have been “bewitched” by some older women
1692: 20 people were lynched (most hanged)
Most of the accused witches were property- owning women of whom many were jealous
The result of unsettled social and religious conditions in rapidly evolving Massachusetts.
Ended around 1693 when the governor prohibited further trials and pardoned those convicted