1. CHAPTER 2 American Experiments 1521‒1700
Copyright © 2014 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. I. Spain’s Tribute Colonies
A. A New American World 1. Encomiendas – Large Spanish estates and natives were forces to work them and the mines. 2. Precious metals- large amounts of gold & silver were taken back to Spain, which resulted in inflation in both Spain & Europe. 3. Society in New Spain- “casta system” in which racial purity was socially stratified (Spanish, Mestizo, Mulatto, and Zambo).
I. Spain’s Tribute Colonies
A. A New American World
1. Encomiendas – Leading conquistadors received these land grants from the crown, allowing them to claim tribute in labor and goods from Indian communities; prominent Spaniards controlled vast resources and exploited Indian labor.
2. Precious metals – Mexican gold and Andes silver poured into Spain; Spaniards spent their wealth on Eastern silks, spices, and ceramics, and on Catholic churches; eventually the wealth triggered ruinous inflation in Spain.
3. Society in New Spain – Between 1500 and 1650, at least 350,000 Spaniards, two-thirds of them men, and 250,000–300,000 Africans migrated to Mesoamerica and the Andes; racial mixture was widespread; mestizo (Spanish-Indian), mulatto (Spanish-African), and zambo (Indian-African) populations developed, along with a “casta system” that differentiated among the principal groups. Indians were in the majority and Spanish priests converted them to Christianity en masse.

3. Chronology of European settlement in the Americas

4. I. Spain’s Tribute Colonies
B. The Columbian Exchange: 1. Diseases-Diseases – European and African diseases ravaged Indian communities, decimating populations in both densely and sparsely populated areas; Columbus’s sailors carried a virulent strain of syphilis back to Europe from the New World. Which disease had the most devastating impact? 2. Plants and animals - Foods from the Western Hemisphere (maize, potatoes, manioc, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes) increased agricultural yields and spurred population growth on other continents; European livestock (cattle, swine, horses, oxen, chickens, and honeybees) transformed the Americas. What is the term we use to identify this exchange process?
I. Spain’s Tribute Colonies
B. The Columbian Exchange
1. Diseases – European and African diseases ravaged Indian communities, decimating populations in both densely and sparsely populated areas; Columbus’s sailors carried a virulent strain of syphilis back to Europe from the New World.
2. Plants and animals – Foods from the Western Hemisphere (maize, potatoes, manioc, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes) increased agricultural yields and spurred population growth on other continents; European livestock (cattle, swine, horses, oxen, chickens, and honeybees) transformed the Americas. 4

5. Ask students to examine this engraving which depicts the impact of smallpox on a Native American village in Brazil in the 1550s.
1. Who are the people featured in the image, and what are they doing?
(Answer: They are Tupinambá Indians who are coping with an outbreak of smallpox. Man in hammock is ill and being tended by another; two men struggle to carry the body of a dead villager; women are wracked with grief and attempting to comfort one another.)
2. What does the image suggest about the impact of European diseases such as smallpox on the lives of Native Americans? (Answer: Image shows that smallpox was devastating and all-consuming, physically and emotionally.)

7. I. Spain’s Tribute Colonies
C. The Protestant Challenge to Spain 1. Spain’s status in Europe – Phillip II to be Spanish is to be Catholic, thus lots of wars with Protestants. 2. The English Reformation – Henry VIII broke with Rome and founded the Church of England (Anglican Church). 3. English expansion – Henry’s daughter Elizabeth I privately sponsored English merchants (pirates) like F. Drake to disrupt Spain’s trade. With the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Spain declined economically and England rose economically because of mercantilism. What is mercantilism? 4. By 1600, England had the resources needed to challenge Spain’s control of the Western Hemisphere.
I. Spain’s Tribute Colonies
C. The Protestant Challenge to Spain
1. Spain’s Status in Europe – Spain had vast American dominions and wealth, as well as powerful enemies that challenged it continuously; the Protestant Reformation sharpened conflicts as Spanish King Philip II sought to defend Spanish wealth and Catholicism.
2. The English Reformation – In 1534, King Henry VIII broke with Rome and founded the new Church of England; from 1558–1603, Protestant teachings spread during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry’s daughter and successor.
3. English Expansion – Elizabeth supported English seafarers (e.g., Sir Frances Drake) in their aggressive actions against Spanish control of American wealth; she supported military expeditions to impose English rule over Catholic Ireland and defeated the Spanish Armada. While Spain declined economically, England grew significantly through population increase, expansion of commerce and manufacturing, and mercantilism. By 1600, England had the resources needed to challenge Spain’s control of the Western Hemisphere.

9. II. Plantation Colonies
Brazil’s Sugar Plantations:
1. The diminished Indian population’s inability to provide sufficient labor led colonists to import growing numbers of African slaves; by 1620, Brazil was a sugar colony based on a slave labor system.
II. Plantation Colonies
A. Brazil’s Sugar Plantations – By 1590, Portuguese colonists transformed coastal Brazil into a sugar plantation zone; plantations included both sugar cultivation and milling, extracting, and refining operations. The diminished Indian population’s inability to provide sufficient labor led colonists to import growing numbers of African slaves; by 1620, Brazil was a sugar colony based on a slave labor system.

11. II. Plantation Colonies
B. England’s Tobacco Colonies:
The Jamestown Settlement - In 1606, James I issued a charter was granted to the Virginia Company of London. Headed by John Smith.
Joint Stock Company (investors shared in profits and losses of colony). Originally came looking for gold but eventually tobacco, introduced by John Rolfe, became the cash crop.
Establishes 1st colonial legislature House of Burgesses
Exhausted the land, began to encroach on Indian land
2. The Indian War of 1622: 1/3 of Jamestown's population was killed by Indian attacks. English retaliated. Jamestown became a royal colony in 1624 and colonists then had to pay taxes to support the Church of England.
II. The English Arrive in the Chesapeake
B. England’s Tobacco Colonies
1. The Jamestown Settlement – In 1606, a charter was granted to the Virginia Company for land from present-day North Carolina to southern New York; primary goal was trade with native people. In 1607 traders (all men) sent for economic venture; settlement failed horribly; only 38 of 120 men were alive after nine months; many destroyed by disease, warfare, and famine. Powhatan (Algonquin) forged relations with later settlers, marrying his daughter Pocahontas to John Rolfe; Rolfe produced tobacco in the region; production of tobacco and availability of land grants encouraged migration to the region. In 1619, House of Burgesses convened to make laws and levy taxes.
2. The Indian War of 1622 – Powhatan’s brother Opechancanough [O-pee-chan-KA-no] led an unsuccessful uprising in 1607; captured John Smith; later became chief and vowed another uprising; 1622 revolt killed 347 English settlers; King James revoked the charter and made Virginia a royal colony in 1624; settlers now followed English rule: appointed governor, elected assembly, formal legal system, and the Anglican Church.
3. Lord Baltimore Settles Catholics in Maryland – A second tobacco-growing colony was created by King Charles’s granting of land to Lord Baltimore (Cecilius Calvert); became a refuge for Catholics; population grew quickly; 1649 Toleration Act granted all Christians in the colony the right to religious freedom. 11

15. II. Plantation Colonies (cont.)
3. Lord Baltimore granted a royal charter in1634, settles Catholics in Maryland as A proprietary colony.
High number of Protestants came and felt threatened because of overwhelming rights given to Catholics.
Toleration was thus passed in 1649, guaranteed toleration to all CHRISTIANS.
Decreed death to those who denied the divinity of Jesus [like Jews, atheists, etc.].
In one way, it was less tolerant than before the law was passed!!

16. 1. Who are the three people in this painting
1. Who are the three people in this painting? What is the painting’s purpose? (Answer: Man is Lord Baltimore, the founder of the Catholic colony of Maryland. The small child is his grandson Cecil Calvert. The older child is an African servant, perhaps a caretaker for Cecil Calvert. The painting celebrates Lord Baltimore’s founding of Maryland and the Calvert family’s wealth and status.)
2. Consider the placement of Lord Baltimore and his grandson in the painting. What does the artist’s presentation of the pair convey? (Answer: Lord Baltimore and his grandson are front and center, conveying their status and power. Lord Baltimore is tall and imposing, but the small grandson’s face and clothing exude light, demonstrating that even young children in high-status families are potentially powerful. Baltimore seems to be handing the map of Maryland to his grandson, indicating the hereditary nature of power and authority in England and America in the seventeenth century.)
3. What is the significance of the African servant in the image? What does it reveal about the status of Africans in Maryland in the 1670s? (Answer: The servant foretells the importance that African slaves would play in the plantation colony of Maryland. His presence in the painting and his fine dress indicate that he occupies a higher status than a slave, however. In 1670, slavery was not yet an entrenched institution in the Chesapeake region.)

18. MD Toleration Act, 1649

19. II. Plantation Colonies
C. The Caribbean Islands: 1. European colonization – In 1624, the English, Dutch, and French, had colonies along with the Spanish. 2. Plantation economies - after experimentation with tobacco, indigo, cotton, cacao and ginger, many planters shifted focus to sugar cultivation wherever possible.
II. Plantation Colonies
C. The Caribbean Islands
1. European colonization – In 1624, English and French colonists occupied St. Christopher (St. Kitts) in the Caribbean; by 1655, French also occupied Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Bart’s; English occupied Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, Anguilla, Tortola, Barbados, and Jamaica; Dutch occupied St. Eustatius.
2. Plantation economy – England, France, and Holland established plantation economies in the region and, after experimentation with tobacco, indigo, cotton, cacao and ginger, many planters shifted focus to sugar cultivation wherever possible.

20. 1. Who are the people depicted in this image. What are they doing
1. Who are the people depicted in this image? What are they doing? (Answer: Image depicts the process of sugar refining in the French West Indies. It includes European sugar planters—white people in European dress. It also includes plantation laborers who are black and dressed in minimal clothing appropriate for a tropical setting.)
2. What does this image suggest about the process of sugar refining and the people who controlled it? (Answer: The size and complexity of the machinery suggests that it was expensive and required substantial capital. Image suggests that Europeans on sugar plantations acquired the machinery and played some role in supervising the plantation workforce, but that they did not participate in the actual processes of work.)
3. What does the image suggest about the people who actually worked on sugar plantations? (Answer: Workers here are black and probably enslaved. They are clearly working hard, driving animals, loading the mill, and overseeing the juice as it emerges from the mill. They have strength for manual labor, but also substantial skills necessary for driving animal power, tending machinery, and refining sugar.)

21. II. Plantation Colonies
D. Plantation Life:
1. Indentured Servitude - Plantation’s grew in part, due to the Headright System:
Gave 50 acres of land to someone who paid for an immigrant passage- benefited the rich.
Indenture Contract: Popular in Chesapeake, work for 5-7 years., Promised “freedom dues” [land], Forbidden to marry. ½ die before they became free.
These people could not read or write, so were often cheated in the fine print. Also, girls were abused by their employers.
II. Plantation Colonies
D. Plantation Life
1. Indentured Servitude – By 1700, more than 100,000 English migrants had come to Chesapeake as indentured servants; many were men seeking land and opportunity who could not afford passage; some were women; all were valuable but severely exploited; many died before their indenture had ended; those who survived rarely received what had been promised.
2. African Laborers – In 1619, John Rolfe noted first Africans sold in the Chesapeake; at first these men were not legally enslaved; by 1660s status was changing; value of tobacco declined and landowners desired ways to make a profit despite declining prices; African labor was “cheaper” than white labor, they concluded; residents of the Chesapeake became increasingly race conscious, referring to color (white-black).

23. II. Plantation Colonies
2. African Laborers –
Initially, In 1619, John Rolfe noted the first Africans men sold in the Chesapeake were not legally enslaved, but by the 1660s status their was changing.
Used more heavily in the Caribbean (Sugar)
Used more in Chesapeake due to Bacon’s Rebellion and it was cheaper than indentured servants.
Strict laws develop that promote racism and regulated behavior of blacks.

25. III. Neo-European Colonies
A. New France: 1. Fur trade - the French traded (via trading posts) manufactured goods and guns to Native Americans in the region for beaver pelts and other furs which were popular in Europe. 2. Jesuit missions - conversion failed when Indians did not see results from the use of Christian prayers. 3. Life in New France - In 1662, King Louis XIV made New France a royal colony, but migration and farming languished; New France’s population remained small.
III. Neo-European Colonies
A. New France
1. Fur trade – In the 1530s, Jacques Cartier ventured up the St. Lawrence River and claimed it for France; in 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded the fur-trading post of Quebec; the French traded manufactured goods and guns to Native Americans in the region for beaver pelts and other furs which were popular in Europe.
2. The Jesuit missions – From 1625–1763, hundreds of French Jesuit priests lived among the Indian peoples and came to understand and respect them; conversion failed when Indians did not see results from the use of Christian prayers.
3. Life in New France – In 1662, King Louis XIV made New France a royal colony, but migration and farming languished; New France’s population remained small. France eventually claimed a vast quantity of land from St. Lawrence Valley through the Great Lakes and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; by 1718, Robert de La Salle had founded the port of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi.

27. III. Neo-European Colonies
B. New Netherland: 1. Hudson River settlement - New Amsterdam (Manhattan) was a small colony but engaged in significant commerce. Like the French, the Dutch traded furs and focused on business profits and not land acquisition. 2. England invades - England invaded and took control of the colony in Dutch culture remained but political control belonged to England and the name was changed to New York.
III. Neo-European Colonies
B. New Netherland
1. Hudson River settlement – In 1609 with Dutch support, Englishman Henry Hudson located a wealth of fur along a river in present-day New York; in 1621, Dutch founded the colony of New Netherland, sending farmers and artisans to the region to build a community; the new colony failed; the small population of Holland meant few migrants would go to North America; West India Company granted land to wealthy Dutch along the Hudson who were unsuccessful in populating the estates.
2. England invades – Settlers had hostile relations with Algonquin neighbors; formed an uneasy alliance with Mohawks. Dutch focused on business profits and not land acquisition. New Netherland had a diverse population of Dutch, English, and Swedish; England invaded and took control of the colony in 1664; leadership was uncertain in the years that followed, as Dutch culture remained but political control was contested; in 1699, a colonist observed region was “like a conquered Foreign Province.”

30. III. Neo-European Colonies
C. The Rise of the Iroquois: 1. Iroquois domination 2. Alliance with English settlers
III. Neo-European Colonies
C. The Rise of the Iroquois
1. Iroquois domination – The Five Nations of the Iroquois bartered with French and Dutch traders for European guns; Iroquois grew their population quickly and became powerful with the use of European weapons; aggressively attacked other groups, ritually killing the men and capturing women and children. In the 1660s, New France committed to all-out war against the Iroquois; in 1667, the Five Nations in New France admitted defeat, accepted Jesuit missionaries into their communities, and settled in St. Lawrence Valley.
2. Alliance with English settlers – Iroquois in NY survived war with France and forged new alliance with Englishmen who had taken control of New Netherland; they remained a dominant force in politics of the Northeast for generations to come.

31. III. Neo-European Colonies
D. New England: 1. The Pilgrims - The Pilgrims were “Separatists” that wanted to break away from the Church of England. led by William Bradford aboard the Mayflower; Landed at Plymouth, where the climate was better than Chesapeake. A representative self- government was established under the Mayflower Compact. 2. John Winthrop and Massachusetts Bay – Non separatists tat wanted to “purify” the Church of England. wanted to create an ideal “City upon a Hill”; Puritans l limited voting rights to those who were members of the church. Puritanism as the state-supported religion. Not religiously tolerant of others.
III. Neo-European Colonies
D. New England
1. The Pilgrims – Religious separatists who left the Church of England; lived briefly among Dutch Calvinists in Holland; 35 then migrated to America along with 67 who left England; led by William Bradford aboard the Mayflower; first winter extremely harsh, only half survived until spring; built a community of houses and planted crops; by 1640, Plymouth had 3,000 settlers because of worsening religious tensions in England.
2. John Winthrop and Massachusetts Bay – In 1630, Winthrop led 900 Puritans to America and became the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony; wanted to create an ideal “City upon a Hill”; joint-stock corporation was transformed into a representative government with council and assembly, ruled by “the godly”; Puritans limited voting rights to those who were members of the church; unlike Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay established Puritanism as the state-supported religion.
3. Roger Williams and Rhode Island – Massachusetts Bay was purged of all dissenters; Williams was a Puritan minister in Salem who opposed establishing Congregationalism as official religion of the colony and advocated tolerance; he also questioned the practice of taking Indian land; was banished in 1636; established Providence on land purchased from Narragansett Indians. In 1644, a new colony was established, Rhode Island, with no legally established church and religious tolerance.
4. Anne Hutchinson – Wife and mother of seven; held weekly prayer meetings for women and made accusations against Boston ministers; believed in a “covenant of grace” not “works”; declared that God “revealed” divine truth to individuals and not only through ministers. Puritan belief that women were inferior to men hastened officials’ anger towards Hutchinson; she was banished in 1637; settled in Rhode Island.

32. III. Neo-European Colonies
3. Roger Williams and Rhode Island - Massachusetts Bay was purged of all dissenters; Williams was a Puritan minister who was opposed to Winthrop’s ideas and advocated separation of church and state & religious toleration. He was kicked out and founded Providence.
4. Anne Hutchinson - Seen as a major threat to Puritans, because she challenged gender roles in church, and claimed that revealed divine truth to individual believers. A “covenant of good works,” which Winthrop promoted, was false. She stated that John Calvin’s Predestination doesn't work that way. Thus, she too was Banished from Mass. Bay Colony and went R.I. She was later killed by Natives and Winthrop claimed that it was a sign from God.

34. III. Neo-European Colonies
D. New England (cont.)
5. Puritanism and Witchcraft - Hysteria throughout MA in late 17th Century.
The accused tended to be wealthy, widowed, and middle-aged. It was reflective of the religious (puritans and non puritans) and social tensions (wealthy and non wealthy people) between neighboring townships (Salem Village vs Salem Township) as the population in Massachusetts grew.
19 of the 175 people who were arrested were put to death. However, after the hysteria ended, prosecution for witchcraft declined.
Many colonists then started to embrace ideas of the Enlightenment.
III. Neo-European Colonies
D. New England (cont.)
5. The Puritan Revolution in England – Religious war broke out in England; English Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians demanded religious reform and parliamentary power; after years of civil war, Oliver Cromwell emerged victorious. In 1649, a republican Commonwealth was declared; elaborate rituals and bishops were banned from the Church of England. The crown was restored in 1660 after Cromwell’s death; restoration of the monarchy dashed Puritans’ hopes to return to England; the Puritan colonies now stood stand as outposts of Calvinism and the Atlantic republican tradition.
6. Puritanism and Witchcraft – Puritans saw signs of God and Satan in the physical world (birth defects, storms, unusual events, etc.). Many Christians incorporated some pagan practices into their daily lives; condemned those who claimed powers as healers or prophets. Between 1647 and 1662, fourteen New Englanders were hanged for witchcraft. The 1692 episode in Salem was America’s most dramatic episode of witch-hunting; after young girls claimed to experience seizures and accused neighbors of bewitching them, accusations spun out of control. Massachusetts Bay tried 175 people for witchcraft and executed 19 of them. Debate continues among historians as to whether the witchcraft hysteria was the result of class differences or efforts to control/limit the activities of women in the colonies. Charges of witchcraft were significantly reduced as colonists began to adopt the philosophies of the European Enlightenment, including rational and scientific thought.
7. A Yeoman Society, 1630–1700 – Proprietors received tracts of land from the general courts of the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut and then distributed the land to male heads of household; all families received some land; most adult men could vote in town meeting (local government); largest plots of land went to men of high social status; the possibility of land ownership made New England a place of great opportunity for men.

36. IV. Instability, War, and Rebellion
A. New England’s Indian Wars
1. Puritan-Pequot War - Pequots were allied w/ the Dutch, hated English Settlers. Some 500 men, women, and children were massacred by Indians. The English retaliated and gained more land.
Death from disease and poor treatment of Indians was justified as “God’s will” (Winthrop). They were not saved according to Predestination ideals.
2. Metacom’s War, 1675–1676 – Last ditch effort to stave off European migration on their lands. It too failed.
IV. Instability, War, and Rebellion
A. New England’s Indian Wars
1. Puritan-Pequot War – In 1637, a combined force of Massachusetts and Connecticut militiamen, accompanied by Narragansett and Mohegan warriors, attacked a Pequot village and massacred five hundred men, women, and children; acting on the belief that their presence was divinely ordained, Puritans drove surviving Pequots into oblivion and divided their lands; only rarely did Puritans make effort to convert Indians to Puritan religion.
2. Metacom’s War, 1675–1676 – The Wampanoag leader Metacom (known to English as King Philip) wanted to expel Europeans; forged an alliance with the Narragansetts and Nipmucks to attack settlements in New England; Indians destroyed one-fifth of the English towns in Massachusetts and Rhode Island; nearly 5 percent of the adult population in New England was killed; approximately 4,500 Indians died and more were displaced from land; Metacom was killed by Mohegan and Mohawk warriors hired by Massachusetts Bay leaders.

38. IV. Instability, War, and Rebellion
B. Bacon’s Rebellion: 1. Frontier War - Poor freeholders and former indentured servants in the Chesapeake wanted lands occupied by Native Americans in Virginia. In 1675, fighting broke out when vigilante Virginia militiamen murdered thirty Indians. Natives retaliated by killing three hundred whites. Gov. Berkeley’s proposed defensive strategy as a plot to impose high taxes on the poor for defense. 2. Challenging the Government - Nathaniel Bacon, an English migrant with a position on the governor’s council, emerged as leader of Virginia rebels; disagreed with Berkeley on frontier policy; demanded a military commission but was denied; organized a militia to attack Indians on the frontier.
IV. The Eastern Indians’ New World
B. Bacon’s Rebellion
1. Frontier War – Poor freeholders and former indentured servants in the Chesapeake wanted lands occupied by Native Americans in Virginia; in 1675, fighting broke out when vigilante Virginia militiamen murdered thirty Indians; intensified when group defied Governor Berkeley’s orders and killed five Susquehannock leaders; Susquehannocks retaliated by killing three hundred whites. Settlers dismissed Berkeley’s proposed defensive strategy as a plot to impose high taxes on the poor.
2. Challenging the Government – Nathaniel Bacon, an English migrant with a position on the governor’s council, emerged as leader of Virginia rebels; disagreed with Berkeley on frontier policy; demanded a military commission but was denied; organized a militia to attack Indians on the frontier. Political struggle began between Bacon and the governor; Bacon issued “Manifesto and Declaration of the People,” calling for death or removal of Indians and an end to rule by wealthy “parasites” in Virginia. Bacon’s army burned Jamestown and plundered the plantations of wealthy. Bacon died suddenly in October 1676 of dysentery; 23 of his followers were hanged. Wealthy leaders in Virginia realized that they had to appease the poor and landless: cut taxes, expelled Indians from the frontier, increased importation of slaves while decreasing use of indentured servants. In 1705, House of Burgesses legalized chattel slavery.

39. IV. Instability, War, and Rebellion
Political struggle began between Bacon and the governor; Bacon issued “Manifesto and Declaration of the People,” calling for death or removal of Indians and an end to rule by wealthy “parasites” in Virginia. Bacon’s army burned Jamestown and plundered the plantations of wealthy. Bacon died suddenly of a high fever ( dysentery, poison???) in October 1676; 23 of his followers were hanged.
Wealthy leaders in Virginia realized that they had to appease the poor and landless: cut taxes, expelled Indians from the frontier, increased importation of slaves while decreasing use of indentured servants. In 1705, House of Burgesses legalized chattel slavery.

40. The Atlantic Slave Trade

41. Goods Traded with Africa

42. Big Idea Questions
In what ways did Europeans transfer familiar cultural patterns and institutions to the colonies?
In what ways did it create a new American world?
How did native Americans adapt to the presence of Europeans?