Putting Down Roots Opportunity and Oppression in Colonial Society 1619–1692

1. 3 Putting Down RootsOpportunity and Oppression in Colonial Society1619–1692

2. The Mason Children David, Joanna, and Abigail, c. 1670. An early portrait of three children from a wealthy Massachusetts Bay Colony family. (Source: The Freake-Gibbs Painter, American. “The Mason Children: Davis, Joanna and Abigail,” 1670. Oil on canvas, 39-1/2" 42-11/16.” The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, III.)

3. Putting Down Roots1619–1692 • Social Stability: New England Colonies of the Seventeenth Century • The Challenge of the Chesapeake Environment • Race and Freedom in British America • Blueprint for Empire • Colonial Political Revolts

4. Families in the Atlantic Empire • New Englanders migrated to America in family groups • Easier for young people to marry and start families

5. Social Stability: New England Colonies of the 17th Century

6. Sources of Stability: New England Colonies of the 17th Century • New Englanders replicated traditional English social order • Contrasted with experience in other English colonies • Explanation lies in development of Puritan families

7. Immigrant Families and New Social Order • Puritans believed God ordained the family • Reproduced patriarchal English family structure in New England • Huge population growth caused by high life expectancy more than high fertility

8. Immigrant Families and New Social Order (cont’d) • Greater longevity in New England resulted in “invention” of grandparents • Multigenerational families strengthened social stability

9. Puritan Women in New England • Women’s roles • Farm labor, although not necessarily same tasks as men • Often outnumbered men 2:1 in church membership • Women could not control property

10. Puritan Women in New England (cont’d) • Divorce difficult for a woman to obtain • Both genders accommodated themselves to roles they believed God ordained

11. Establishing a New Social Order • Absence of very rich necessitated creation of new social order • New England social order: • Local gentry of prominent, pious families • Large population of independent yeomen landowners loyal to local community • Small population of landless laborers, servants, poor

12. Establishing a New Social Order (cont’d) • Only moderate disparities of wealth • Servitude was more an apprenticeship

13. The Challenge of the Chesapeake Environment

14. The Challenge of the Chesapeake Environment • Despite similarities in background and timing with New England, Chesapeake settlements were very different • High death rate most important source of distinctiveness of Chesapeake

15. Families at Risk • Normal family life impossible in Virginia • Mostly young male indentured servants • Most immigrants soon died • In marriages, one spouse often died within seven years

16. Families at Risk (cont’d) • Extended families common • Mortality rates so high that without immigration, population would have declined

17. The Structure of Planter Society • Tobacco the basis of Chesapeake wealth • Large landowners had to have labor under their control • Gentry intermarried and become colony’s elite leaders

18. The Structure of Planter Society (cont’d) • Freemen-largest class in Chesapeake society • Most freed at the end of indenture

19. The Structure of Planter Society (cont’d) • Lived on the edge of poverty • Indentured Servants—Servitude a temporary status • Regarded their bondage as slavery • Planters feared rebellion • Post-1860s Stability

20. The Structure of Planter Society (cont’d) • Demographic shift after 1680 created Creole elite • Ownership of slaves consolidated planter wealth and position • Freemen found advancement more difficult

21. Race and Freedom in British America

22. Race and Freedom in British America • Indians decimated by disease • European indentured servant pool waned after 1660 • Enslaved Africans filled demand for labor

23. Roots of Slavery • First Africans came to Virginia in 1619 • Status of Africans in Virginia unclear for fifty years

24. Virginian Luxuries Undated, unsigned, and hidden on the back of another painting, the two-part painting Virginian Luxuries depicts a white man kissing a black woman and whipping a black man.

25. Roots of Slavery (cont’d) • Rising black population in Virginia after 1672 prompted stricter slave laws • Africans defined as slaves for life • Slave status passed on to children • White masters possessed total control of slave life and labor • Mixing of races not tolerated

26. Map 3.1 Origins and Destinations of African Slaves, 1619–1760Although many African slaves were carried to Britain’s North American colonies, far more slaves were sold in the Caribbean sugar colonies and Brazil, where, because of horrific health conditions, the death rate far exceeded that of the British mainland colonies.

27. Constructing African American Identities • Slaves developed new Creole languages • Enduring kinships mitigated hardships • Developed new music and folk art with African roots • Adapted Christianity to include African religious influences

28. Aboard a Slave Ship This watercolor, Slave Deck of the Albanoz (1846), by naval officer Lieutenant Godfrey Meynell, shows slaves packed with cargo in the hold of a ship after being taken captive in West Africa.

29. Slave Auctions This public notice announces a slave auction to be held at the Charles Town wharf (1769).

30. Blueprint for Empire

31. Blueprint for Empire • English leaders ignored colonies until 1650s • Restored monarchy of Charles II recognized value of colonial trade • Believed colonists should be more controlled by mother country

32. Response to Economic Competition • “Mercantilism” • One country’s gain is another country’s loss • Countries gain by control of world’s scarce resources • English trade regulations more ad hoc responses to particular problems than coherent mercantilist policy

33. Response to Economic Competition (cont’d) • Varieties of motivation • Crown wanted money • English merchants wanted to exclude Dutch • Parliament wanted stronger navy—encouraged domestic shipbuilding industry • Most people preferred more exports, less imports

34. Wedding in the Slave Quarters Old Plantation, a watercolor by an unknown artist (about 1800), shows that African wedding customs survived plantation slavery.

35. Regulating Colonial Trade • Parliament passed Navigation Act in 1660 • Aimed at removing Dutch role in commerce • 1696—Admiralty Courts and Board of Trade created • Navigation Acts eventually benefited colonial merchants

36. Colonial Political Revolts

37. Colonial Political Revolts • English colonies experienced unrest at the end of the 17th century • Unrest not social revolution but a contest between gentry “ins” and “outs” • Winners gained legitimacy for their rule

38. Civil War in Virginia: Bacon’s Rebellion • Discontent with Governor Berkeley’s rule • Green Spring faction controlled lucrative economic activity • Frontier population felt that Berkeley did not protect them from Native Americans

39. Civil War in Virginia: Bacon’s Rebellion (cont’d) • Nathaniel Bacon united this discontent into rebellion in 1676 • Rebellion allowed small farmers, blacks and women to join, demand reforms

40. Civil War in Virginia: Bacon’s Rebellion (cont’d) • Rebels burned capital, caused great disorder • Governor William Berkeley regained control, but was recalled to England

41. Civil War in Virginia: Bacon’s Rebellion (cont’d) • Rebellion collapsed after Bacon’s death • Gentry recovered positions and united over next decades to oppose royal governors

42. The Glorious Revolution in the Bay Colony • Population divided by increased trade • Brought non-Puritan settlers • Navigation Acts inflicted direct royal presence • 1675—Metacomet led Wampanoag-Narragansett alliance against colonists

43. The Glorious Revolution in the Bay Colony (cont’d) • Colonists struggled to unite, to defeat Indians • Deaths totaled 1000+ Indians and colonists

44. Contagion of Witchcraft • Charges of witchcraft common • Accused witches thought to have made a compact with the devil • Salem panic of 1691 much larger in scope than previous accusations • Twenty victims dead before trials halted in late summer of 1692

45. Contagion of Witchcraft (cont’d) • Ministers outside Salem condemned practice of using “Spectral Evidence” in trials • Causes included church factionalism, economic jealousy, misogyny, and fear of Native American attack

46. Cotton Mather The publication of Cotton Mather’s Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions (1689) contributed to the hysteria that resulted in the Salem witchcraft trials. Mather is shown here surrounded by some of the forms a demon assumed in the “documented” case of an English family besieged by witches.

47. Conclusion: Foundations of an Atlantic Empire

48. Conclusion: Foundations of an Atlantic Empire • By 1700, England’s attitude toward the colonies had changed dramatically • Sectional differences within the colonies were profound • They were all part of Great Britain but had little to do with each other

49. Timeline