Colonial Ways of Life (1608-1763)

1. Colonial Ways of Life (1608-1763) Chapter 3

2. The Southern Colonies

3. Southern Economy • Tobacco was a cash crop in Virginia & Maryland • South Carolina grew rice & indigo • Plantation – large commercial (for profit) estate where labors lived and cultivated crops for owner • Indentured Servants – VA & MD had plenty of land, but not enough labor. England had poor willing to come to America • Indentured Servant: laborers bound to land owner working off debt of travel, • Contract lasted 4-11 years

4. Southern Society • Plantations were self-contained communities that had schools, churches, and workshops • 1600s, plantations small; 1700s, plantations large due to slave labor • Small land owners lived in the backcountry (frontier), close to Native American land • Small farmers known as yeoman • Practiced subsistence farming: only growing enough crops for themselves • Corn, beans, potatoes, barley, rye

5. Social Classes in Southern Society

6. Bacon’s Rebellion • Sir William Berkeley – governor of Virginia • Allowed wealthyplanters to dominate society • Controlled by appointing supporters to the governing council and giving land to burgesses • Restricted vote to wealthy land owners – almost ½ lost right to vote • Angered backcountry farmers and tenant farmers • NativeAmerican relations will spark the rebellion

7. Bacon’s Rebellion: Crisis Over Land • LAND!!! *That’s why people came to America! • Indentured servants & tenant farmers wanted to own land eventually • Backcountry farmers wanted to expand their land holdings • Colonists did not want war with Native Americans • Berkeley asked burgesses for $$ to build forts along the frontier to protect backcountry farmers

8. Bacon Leads a Revolt • Backcountry farmers will meet at Nathaniel Bacon’s house • Bacon member of governor’s council but he took up cause of small farmers because he had been attacked by Native Americans • Organized a militia (army) • Berkeley restored voting rights to all FREE men • Changes did NOT satisfy Bacon & his men, they went to Jamestown, seized power, and charged Berkeley with corruption

9. Slavery in the Colonies • 1450-1870: 10-12 million Africans enslaved • 1450-1870: 2 million will die in transit • 500,000 taken to North America – first arrive in 1619 • Chattel Slavery – humans owning other humans; slaves first treated like indentured servants; enslaved because they weren’t Christian

10. Slavery in the Colonies • Maryland was the first to formally recognize slavery when it denied Africans same rights as English citizens • 1705, VA enacted a slave code • Set of laws to regulate rights and behaviors of slaves • Because slaves played an important role in growth of colonies plantation economy

11. New England & Middle Colonies Section 2

12. Puritan Society • Puritan law banned: card games, dice, plays, dancing • Salem & Witchcraft • Devout Puritans believed Satan used witches to work evil in the world • Salem, MA 1692: 20 residents of Salem were charged with witchcraft & executed • Began because a group of teenage girls accused an African servant of being a witch

13. Trade & Rise of Cities • New England wanted to buy: ceramic plates, hardware, fine cloth, and linens • Triangular Trade • New England bought goods from England by selling NE products to foreign countries in exchange for goods England wanted • Bill of exchange: credit slips English merchants gave planters in exchange for sugar – could buy English goods with them

14. Triangular Trade • This trade made many New England merchants wealthy. • Many of these wealthy merchants built factories to refine raw sugar & distill molasses into rum • NE will sell their rum to Southern colonies for rice, tobacco, and indigo

15. The Imperial System Section 3

16. Mercantilism • Mercantilism: a set of ideas about the world economy & how it worked; popular in the 1600s-1700s. • Country had to keep a favorablebalance of trade • Country should be self-sufficient in raw materials • Should establish colonies where raw materials were available • Raw materials in exchange for manufactured goods • Negative: colonies could not sell goods for gold or silver – NE turned to triangular trade & smuggling

17. Navigation Acts • Mercantilists policies simple in 1600s, English government tried to encourage exports and restrict imports • Charles II, king in 1660, wanted to change the lax policies & enact a navigation act • All goods imported/exported had to be shipped on British ships • Specific raw materials could only be sold in England: sugar, tobacco, lumber, cotton, wool, & indigo

18. Navigation Acts • 1663, Parliament passes the Staple Act • All merchants bringing European goods to the colonies had to stop in England to pay taxes • Colonial merchants were frustrated with the new acts & broke the laws • As a colonial power, England had the authority to appoint customs officials/inspectors who directly reported to the English government • In response to colonial disobedience, Parliament & the king created the Dominion on New England

19. Glorious Revolution • English were suspicious of their new king James II. He insisted on his divine right to rule • King chosen by God & given all power to rule • James II angered people by rejecting advice of Parliament, prosecuted bishops in the Anglican Church, revoked charters of English towns/corporations, and offended the people by practicing Catholicism

20. Bloodless Revolution • Fearful that James II could turn England back to Catholic nation, Parliament asked Mary & William to succeed James II to the throne • In response to invitation, James II fled England • Exchange of power = Glorious Revolution • Before taking the throne William & Mary had to sign the English Bill of Rights • Guaranteed: freedom of speech (in Parliament), no excessive bail, no cruel punishment, illegal for king to tax or raise army without Parliament’s ok

21. Legacy of John Locke • Glorious Revolution set a precedent – it showed a revolution against the king was (sometimes) justified • During the turmoil, English philosopher, John Locke, wrote a book called The Two Treatises of Government • Locke argued king’s right to rule came from the consent of the governed (the people)

22. Legacy of Locke • Locke believed everyone had certain natural rights: life, liberty, & pursuit of property • People form a contract with government in exchange for protection • Locke said if rights of people were violated, then people were justified to rebel & replace the government • U.S. Constitution & Declaration of Independence – based on Locke’s ideas

23. Legacy of Locke • Mayflower Compact & FundamentalOrders of Connecticut were examples of how colonists understood the contract between government & the people • Colonists will use Locke’s ideas when they rebel in 1775 against England • Thomas Jefferson will use Locke’s ideas in the Declaration of Independence in 1776

24. Diverse Society Section 4

25. The Enlightenment • Enlightenment Period: challenged authority of church in science & philosophy while elevating the power of human research • Enlightenment thinkers believed in natural laws – could be applied to political, social, and economic relationships • Rationalism: focus on logic • Rousseau wrote The Social Contract– argued govt should be formed from consent of people & people should make laws

26. The Enlightenment • Baron de Montesquieu proposed three types of power in government: judicial, executive, and legislative & each power should be separate! • Three branches to protect the power of the people • Separation provided a system of checks and balances that would prevent government from abusing its authority • Ideas influenced the U.S. Constitution

27. The Great Awakening • Stressed dependence on God – appealed to farmers, works, and enslaved people • Revival spread from England – movement stressed piety • Pietism: focus on devoutness & emotional unity with God • Revival: large public meetings for preaching & prayer

28. Great Awakening • Many preachers felt religion was decreasing due to focus on reasoning and not a reliance on God • NE preacher – Jonathon Edwards • Person had to be “born again” • Having a personal internal emotional experience that brought a person to God was a central part of Great Awakening • Had a profound effect on the South – Baptists let their slaves attend revivals where preachers condemned brutality of slavery and all people were equal in eyes of God

29. Overall Effect of Enlightenment & Great Awakening • E. last two cultural movements in the colonies before the American Revolution • F. Both movements emphasized individualism which supported independence. Enlightenment provided arguments against British rule and Great Awakening undermined allegiance to a traditional authority.