England Comes into Empire

1. England Comes into Empire • After the experience of Roanoke “The Lost Colony” England would wait 20 yrs before attempting again; • 1607—For God, Gold and Virginia Company, England made another attempt at permanent settlement in the New World. • England was assuming the trappings of Empire and needed the raw materials for a burgeoning mercantilist empire.

2. English Settlement • A joint-stock company…(selling shares to investors) …in 1606 several merchants contacted King James I for a charter that would incorporate two companies in an attempt to establish a New World settlement…their company was the Virginia Company. Richard Haklyut first to promote New World settlement.

3. English Settlement • After defeating the Armada, England returned its attention to America—the question—how to convince people to accept such a venture. • England was quickly moving from medieval status to Modern state—as it expanded, many looked to America for land and better conditions; • England in 1600 = 4 million people by 1640 = 5 ½ million it was growing at 30% exponentially.

4. English Social Stratification • 1) Upper Class—Royal family, Nobility, Bishops, Landed gentry—100,000. • 2) Yeoman and Merchants—independent freeholders and Merchants and bankers—10% or 500,000. • 3) Laborers, Cottagers, and Peasants made up the other 4 ½ million—the lower sort.

5. English demographics • Far greater mixture than once thought; Mixture of French, Scot, Irish, Norman, Celtic, Angles, Latin, Nordic, Franks and Germanic; Sort of European melting Pot. • All political, social and economic power rested in the hands of the upper class; • One gave deference or they were put in their place—some fluidity, but very rare.

6. Life in England • Diseases, poverty, infant mortality, accidents, and many other maladies made life tenuous at best. • Poverty wide spread—about 50 to 60% of the people fell into this category. • Beggary, thievery, crime was rampant; corporal punishment and mutilation was legal—alcohol and prostitution wide spread.

7. First Century of Settlement • Emigration became the only hope for many destitute people. • Some came for land and a permanent residence; others hoped to find gold and riches—then return to England wealthy. • Many came for religious and political purposes,—never a sufficient labor force in America—people became a valuable cargo—many would come as indentures and many others as slaves.

8. Who were these People? • About 1/3 or 30% were Yeoman and Husbandmen; • 20% artisans and tradesmen; • 10% laborers; • Women 25% • and gentlemen 1%

9. Demographics • Most were college age 18-24yrs old; • Most were Middle Class socio-economic status; Few were poverty stricken; few were wealthy—mostly the Middling sort—second and third sons of the gentry, artisans and craftsmen(unfortunately no soldiers or farmers). • Chesapeake—many came as individuals; large number of indentured servants—thousands of others came involuntarily

10. The Crossing • One thing is certain, the crossing was a nightmare, very traumatic—3000 miles of unpredictable waterway. • Rich or Poor, Servant or Free—only one mode of transportation—Wooden sailing Ships—almost always a one way ticket.

11. The Crossing • Atlantic very violent; • Typically took 9 weeks but many recorded the journey at 18 to 24 weeks; • Overcrowding an issue; usually around 300 souls aboard; • Ship’s captain always planned for 10 to 12 weeks—so rationing, starvation and dehydration very common

12. The Crossing • The Good Ship “Intent” took 24 weeks; 24 of 300 survived; disease was another specter. • Small pox, sea sickness, scurvy, cholera, typhus etc … Ship was a Petri dish. • One Journal—”terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, fever, dysentery, constipation, boils, cancer, mouth-rot …” • Shipwrecks, bad weather, Pirates—English Jails were safer—once in the New World—no going back.

13. Jamestown • Dec 1606 left England and landed in the New World April of 1607. • Told to find a site with adequate water access well into the interior to avoid pirates and Spanish incursions. • Chose James River and chose a swampy area near the Chesapeake estuary

14. Jamestown • 1st yr Indian attacks, disease, and famine claimed 65 of the 105 settlers. • Capt. John Smith became leader; a dictator. Everyone shared responsibilities—”if you don’t work … you don’t eat.” • Smith realized that the Indians didn’t die as quickly as the Europeans—he also began moving away in the Summer to more cooler spring water spots—he did what the Indians did.

15. Jamestown • 1609 300 more settlers and supplies arrived—together with older members sent Smith and his harsh rules back to England. • Determined to set up a permanent structure-again many died of disease and Indian attacks. Smith warned before he left “watch the Indians and do as they do, or you will die.” • Smith left 500 people at Jamestown; spring of 1610, the supply ship found 60 half starved sick survivors—English arrogance killed more settlers than Indian arrows.

16. Jamestown and Mercantilism • Because it was failing as a financial venture, something needed to be done. • Mercantilism is the idea of colonization to attain national wealth and become self-sufficient so the state can reap rewards of the ventures success. • Nation-state superiority over others by becoming a “Commercial Colony.” It was profit driven.

17. Jamestown and Mercantilism • What else could entice people to move to Virginia??? • Send women!!! Wives for planters… • Africans began to arrive…a labor force!!! • Empty the jails for Indentures—but do something. • The Company sent Gov. Sir Thomas Dale (1610-1611)—placed the colony under Martial Law. Punishments were harsh and meted out for the slightest of infraction

18. 3 Developments in Virginia • 1) 1612—John Rolf began experimenting with Tobacco, found a cash crop. 1614 sent his first crop to England—thereafter tobacco became what Cotton would become for the 19th century. • 2) Gov. Dale—granted each settler a plot of land, introducing private property, ending starvation—any settler who paid for indentures would receive an extra 50 acres of land—this is the “Head Right” System.

19. 3 Developments in Virginia • 3) House of Burgesses; • Met fist time in 1619; it gave landowners a voice in how local government(taxes) would be decided. • So many people had moved onto the frontier away from Jamestown; 11 communities and as Englishmen wanted a voice—initiated Representative Government

20. “… Best of times, … Worst of Times …” • Jamestown was showing an enormous profit. • The House of Burgesses hammered a set of laws and codes and established representative self-government; • People were learning to survive in the harsh climate—economic growth was booming. Population was increasing rapidly.

21. “… Best of times, … Worst of Times …” • An unforeseen problem occurred when the head Right system grew to areas outside of Jamestown…leading to expanded tension with the Indians. • Powhatan’s territory was where the English decided to settle in 1607. • Powhatan was in charge of about thirty tribes…very impressive! • He had at his disposal some 14,000 people with over 3,000 warriors. • Technologically the English were at an advantage…because they had guns!

22. Powhatan Confederacy • Opechancanough(Pocahontas's Uncle) did not like the English. • In 1622…about four years after his brother’s death, hundreds of Indian men traveled to the English settlement where they were caught off guard. • 347 English killed • English fight back…and even burn the cornfields! There was nine years of fighting and the Virginia Company was destroyed! • When you were forced to protect yourself behind the walls of a fortified place there was not an opportunity to make money for the company…bankruptcy followed. • Amazingly there were more who died from starvation than Indian attacks.

23. Powhatan Confederacy

24. Disease and Mortality • So many starved; Why? How? Is it true? • June 1607 104 colonists left healthy; July 6th the misery began—John Asbie died of the “Bloody Flux.” July 9th George Flowre died of swelling. By August 21 died. • Journals record the deaths as “burning fevers, cruel diseases, swellings, bloody fluxes, and wars; But, most died of famine. • January Supply ships returned—38 alive, but mostly skeletal beings, sick and near death.

25. Disease and Mortality • Why? Yes, many were artisans and craftsmen and even second sons of gentlemen and not farmers or soldiers, but that doesn’t explain the high mortality. • Mere famine is inadequate … this suggests a small ration of daily food to survive … • John Smith’s accounts suggested that there was a bountiful supply of food sources.

26. Disease and Mortality • Sturgeon was plentiful; adequately supplied each man 2lbs of fish per day—this would have warded off beri beri, Thiamine diseases and starvation; • Smith and Rolf both logged 600 cattle and Hogs and Chickens—seems to be enough food for a small colony—plenty of Game in the Forrests—the supply manifests suggest large amounts of Corn and Wheat during the Fall harvests.

27. Diseases • Also, if people were dying surely this afforded more food to the survivors. • Gov. Percy (who hated Smith and Dale) blamed famine and poor judgment of his predecessors. His journal listed clinical symptoms, which helps identify the true culprit. • Typhoid, Dysentery, and Salt Poisoning—these maladies bring death on rapidly.

28. Stupid Englishmen • John Smith and Gov. Dale made the colonists disperse during the Summer sick times—going to fresh water zones. • English ethnocentricity—needed a proper organized society, one must have stable well established political and social control—Nomadic wanderings weakened this control and made it less easy to defend against Indian attack. • New Governors made the mistake of re-establishing the political seat at Jamestown as the focal point for political and social control—Tragic re-learning of English mistakes—disease cared little for social theory.

29. New England Settlement • Long lonely coastline, rockbound and rugged—long winters of numbing cold, short sweltering summers, no minerals to mine, no suitable export crops, no large native population to enslave—not suitable for large scale cash crop exploration— • However, a group of religious Zealots called the Puritans welcomed the harshness of New England over religious persecution of Merry Old England.

30. New England Settlement • Puritans were really Presbyterians or Congregationalists; conflict with James I and the Church of England; • Separatists—to cleanse the Church—too Catholic—left for Holland, but their children and church was becoming too Dutch—decided to migrate to the New World

31. New England • Virginia was the destination; but a series of mistakes and navigation errors caused to be off course; • Nov 1620, 88 Separatists(pilgrims) Mayflower anchored off a promontory, they called Plymouth, SE Massachusetts—many were sick with scurvy, malnutrition, dehydration etc … • Many were shaken by the Ship board mutiny—New England looked desolate.

32. Mayflower Compact • To avoid mutinous issues, and to settle land allotments and governance they compromised and signed on Nov 11, 1620—The mayflower Compact—the first charted document of civil government in America

33. Puritan Migration • 1625 Charles I wanted rid of the pesky Separatist—another large migration took place—These guys under direction of John Winthrop wrangled a Royal Charter. • This group made up of Lawyers, doctors, merchants, mechanics, shop owners etc …Very well organized and literate … • Settled in Salem, John Winthrop was the first Gov of Massachusetts Bay Colony

34. Puritan Migration • New England Communities, which saw 21,000 new arrivals from 1630 to 1642. • They were stable because of • Family Life—balanced family units • Settlement Patterns—close proximity • Church Controls—ecclesiastic control • Colonial Governments—Gov; Bi-Cameral Legislature, Male suffrage, Town Meetings.

35. Puritan Politics • Re-fashioned the Charter into a Civil Constitution—gained full control of their future, how their society would be shaped and that their brand of religion would be dominate. • This made New England a political stronghold, kept government from dictating to them. • Hurt them during Independence—they was unity when things benefited them, but great dissension when things benefited the country as a whole over them personally—still that way today.

36. Puritan Religion • Though the individual was important, the Church and family was more important; Church, family, and Town were bound together by religiously collective Covenants. Strict religious doctrine. • All morality and jurisprudence rested on Ecclesiastical authority—yet 52% of Puritan marriages, wife already pregnant—Also developed something called “Moral Capitalism.”

37. Puritan Dilemma • Be self-reliant and self-sufficient—be the best! Maximize production and reinvest and attend to the economically vulnerable—state welfare. Capitalism was beneficial, but destructive due to success and moral righteousness—South richer, but are Mercantilist; • Dilemma—how to emphasize excellence, pride, thriftiness and financial success without succumbing to greed and avarice.

38. Puritan Dilemma • Winthrop made them a more social reliant society rather than self-reliant—they were to do well but remember from whence the success came; • Ascetic Puritanism—cold unemotional austere insistence that to work hard was to gain God’s grace. • Puritans came as close as anyone to enacting “Moral Capitalism”

39. Religious Heretics • Some who clashed with the Church were violently opposed. • Roger Williams was a strict Separatist. • Williams told the Puritans Their very charter was blasphemous. They should renounce the King—as too Popish and instruct him of his sin. • Winthrop did not wish to alarm England. Told Williams to be a quiet Separatist— • Unfortunately he was consumed with a consummate lack of good sense or was too pious to compromise; • Winthrop understood that religious toleration must be bridled to benefit the colony.

40. Religious Heretics • Two things made things worse: • 1) Williams assumed role of full pastor at Salem; • 2) Thomas Dudley became Gov. ousting the moderate and patient Winthrop. • Again, Williams bad timing—he preached against the colonies mandatory “Oath of Allegiance” Many took the Oath as show. • This was blasphemy and heresy against the church of God—this made Massachusetts itself blasphemous—against God.

41. Religious Heretics • Dudley and the Boston Council voted to suspend Land allocations needed by the Salem congregation—economy takes precedence over spirituality—members began to distance from Williams—needed land allocations for growth; • Williams penchant for stupidity took center stage—he demanded that Salem condemn all other congregations as ungodly—more than Boston could take—banished to the Narragansett Bay—gave him a chance to recant—but refused—warrant for treason and sedition.

42. Heretics • Anne Hutchison was a charismatic heretic. Wife of wealthy merchant. • She repeated the sermons of John Cotton in 1634 Boston. • Over time she began to add her own interpretation to Cotton’s sermons. • She claimed that the “elect” had an “inner light.” Anti-predestination • Her chief crime was that she was a woman who didn’t know “her place.”

43. Heretics • Unfortunately she also became God’s key witness and messenger—she alone understood because God spoke to her directly; • She was bright and articulate. She appeared calm and self-assured. • She could see the difference between the antichrist churches and the true churches. • She upset the divine balance of Puritan society. “The Strumpet of Satan.”

44. Halfway Covenant • The halfway covenant allowed for the so-called non-select saints of God to not only join the church, but also supply them with a spiritual avenue to heaven—could not participate fully in communion, but could be baptized; • This led to the dissolution between the strict purity of the Congregational church and a new group—sacrificed principle for wide membership

45. Salem Witch Trials • Appears as a sad and brief history of Salem—it was in essence “witch hunting gone wild!” • However, witchcraft, hexes, curses etc .. Were medieval superstitions—these were frequent reality in New England lives—they fundamentally believed in these things. • After all was it not Satan interfering in people’s lives as the Bible suggested.

46. Salem Witch Trials • Witchcraft was an integral part of everyday life—battle between good and evil; the Puritans believed God would win, but saw no reason to doubt that the Devil would also win a few. • In 1692, 20 were convicted and 19 were hung including 2 dogs; one man was crushed with stones. • It explained the disasters and Indian unrest in the colony—God was displeased with their laxitt of true spiritualism

47. Salem Witch Trials • Demographics: • Female • Middle Aged (40-60) • English and Puritan background • Usually married but with few children or none • Frequently quarrelsome and in conflict with family and community • Petty criminal background (theft or slander) • Low socio-economics (why they conjured and healed; needed money) • Obstinate, recalcitrant, stubborn, contentious, and seemingly resilient in the face of adversity.