Colonial Society in New England and Chesapeake: Family, Society, and Slavery

1. 3 Putting Down Roots: Opportunity and Oppression in Colonial Society

2. New England in the Seventeenth Century • All colonies developed in different ways • New England colonies settled by Puritans • Puritans believed God ordained the family and viewed family as essential to colony • Reproduced English customs and traditions mainly because of family structure • Key to growth - Huge population growth caused by long life expectancy – good health - more than high fertility

3. Commonwealth of Families • Longevity resulted in invention of grandparents – multigenerational families strengthened social stability • Most New Englanders married neighbors with similar values • Households produced their own needs and surpluses – most farmers • New England towns were collections of interrelated households

4. Commonwealth of Families • Church membership associated with concept of predestination - freeman status • Form of Church Government - Join church in order to vote – twice as many woman in church as men but couldn’t vote • Education provided by the family/Harvard • “Half-Way Covenant” lessened requirements for baptism and for joining Church

5. Social Hierarchy in New England • New England social order: • Local gentry of prominent, pious families • Large population of independent yeomen landowners loyal to local community – land ownership is widespread • Small population of landless laborers, servants, poor • Moderate disparities of wealth • Apprenticeships

6. The Challenge of theChesapeake Environment • Despite similarities in background and timing with New England, Chesapeake settlements were very different • Most important reason: high mortality rate

7. Family Life at Risk • Normal family life impossible in Virginia – much fewer families than New England • Mostly young male indentured servants • Most immigrants soon died • In marriages, one spouse often died within seven years • Extended families common • Mortality rates so high that without immigration, population would have declined

8. The Structure of Planter Society: The Gentry • Tobacco the basis of Chesapeake wealth • Large landowners had to have labor under their control • Great planters few but dominant • Arrived with capital to invest in workers • Amassed huge tracts of land • Gentry intermarried and become colony’s elite leaders

9. The Structure of Planter Society • The largest class in Chesapeake society were poor • Most freed at the end of indenture period • Lived on the edge of poverty • Wide gap between rich and poor

10. The Structure of Planter Society: Indentured Servants • Servitude a temporary status • Conditions harsh • Servants regarded their bondage as slavery

11. The Structure of Planter Society: Post-1680s Stability • Before 1680, the rank of gentry was open to people with capital • Ownership of labor consolidated planter wealth and position • Freemen found advancement more difficult – wide gap between rich and poor • By 1680, Virginia was a plantation society, dominated by a slaveholding elite

12. The Structure of Planter Society: A Dispersed Population • Large-scale tobacco cultivation required: • Great landholdings • Ready access to water-borne commerce • Result: population dispersed along great tidal rivers • Virginia a rural society devoid of towns • Education system was seen as unnecessary and got little attention

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

14. Roots of Slavery • First Africans came to Virginia in 1619 • Status of Africans in Virginia unclear for fifty years • Early 1600s Blacks came as indentured servants and some some became planters • Bulk of slaves brought to America by British Company • Economic decision after 1670s for slaves • Life expectancy in Chesapeake improved • British started to bring slaves to Chesapeake

15. Roots of Slavery • 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

16. Origins and Destinations of African Slaves, 1619–1760

17. Constructing African American Identities: Geography’s Influence • Slave experience differed from colony to colony • 60% of South Carolina’s population black • Nearly half of Virginia’s population black • Blacks much less numerous in New England and the Middle Colonies • Blacks most able to preserve African culture in South Carolina

18. Constructing African American Identities: African Initiatives • Older black population tended to look down on recent arrivals from Africa • All Africans participated in creating an African American culture • Required an imaginative re-shaping of African and European customs. • By 1720, African population and culture were self-sustaining

19. Constructing African American Identities: Slave Resistance • Widespread resentment among slaves • Armed resistance such as South Carolina’s Stono Rebellion of 1739 a threat – most serious rebellion during colonial time • Black mariners linked African American communities and brought news of outside world to American slaves

20. Rise of a Commercial Empire • English leaders ignored colonies until 1650s • Restored monarchy of Charles II recognized value of colonial trade • Navigation Acts passed to remove Dutch as a commercial competitor

21. Response to Economic Competition • “Mercantilism” • One country’s gain is another country’s loss • Countries gain by control of world’s scarce resources (gold and silver) • One country controls trade of another – favorable balance of trade (one nation’s success is another nation’s loss) • English trade regulations more ad hoc responses to particular problems than coherent mercantilist policy

22. Response to Economic Competition • Varieties of motivation • Crown wanted money and to monopolize trade with colonies • English merchants wanted to exclude Dutch • Parliament wanted stronger navy— encouraged domestic shipbuilding industry • Most people preferred more exports, less imports (favorable balance of trade)

23. Regulating Colonial Trade: The Navigation Act of 1660 • Ships engaged in English colonial trade • Must be made in England (or America) • Must carry a crew at least 75% English • Enumerated goods only to English ports • 1660 list included tobacco, sugar, cotton, indigo, dyes, ginger • 1704–1705 molasses, rice, naval stores also

24. Regulating Colonial Trade: The Navigation Act of 1663 • The Staple Act • Goods shipped to English colonies must pass through England • Increased price paid by colonial consumers

25. Regulating Colonial Trade:Implementing the Acts • Navigation Acts aimed at removing Dutch role in English commerce • Planters hurt by Navigation Acts • New England merchants skirted laws – most flagrant violation from New England • English revisions tightened loopholes

26. Colonial Factions Spark Political Revolt, 1676–1691 • English colonies experienced unrest at the end of the seventeenth century • Unrest not social revolution but a contest between gentry “ins” and “outs” • Winners gained legitimacy for their rule

27. 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 • Nathaniel Bacon united this discontent into rebellion in 1676 • Rebellion allowed small farmers, blacks and women to join, demand reforms

28. Civil War in Virginia: Bacon’s Rebellion—Outcome • Rebels burned capital, caused great disorder • Governor William Berkeley regained control, but was recalled to England • Rebellion collapsed after Bacon’s death • Gentry recovered positions and united over next decades to oppose royal governors

29. The Glorious Revolution in the Bay Colony: King Philip’s War • Massachusetts divided by increased non-puritan population from England and merchants with close contacts in England • Political crisis in colony between puritans who want little contact with England and Non-Puritans and merchants wanting close ties with England • Navigation Acts inflict direct royal presence • Midst of crisis, war develops with Indians

30. The Glorious Revolution in the Bay Colony: King Philip’s War • 1675, Metacomet united Indians in alliance against colonists – King Philip’s War • Main issue – fight over land • Colonists struggled to unite and to defeat Indians • Deaths totaled over 1000 Indians and colonists • Colonists won but paid high price

31. The Glorious Revolution in the Bay Colony: The Dominion of New England • 1684—King James II established “Dominion of New England” • Colonial charters annulled • Colonies from Maine to New Jersey united • Edmund Andros appointed governor, ruled tyrannically • 1689—news of James II’s overthrow (Glorious Revolution) sparked rebellion in Massachusetts

32. The Glorious Revolution in the Bay Colony: Outcomes • Andros deposed when word of revolution in England reached New England • Dominion of New England split up in 1691 • William III and Mary II gave Massachusetts a new charter • Incorporated Plymouth • Voting rights based on property and wealth, not church membership

33. 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 – 19 victims hung

34. Contagion of Witchcraft • Ministers outside Salem condemned practice of using “Spectral Evidence” in trials • Increase Mather and other leading ministers urged caution and restraint • Speculation on causes but no one knows for sure what caused this – still a debate among historians

35. The Glorious Revolutionin New York • Underlying tension between older Dutch elite and newly wealthy Anglo-Dutch merchants • 1689—news of James II’s overthrow prompts crisis of authority in New York • Jacob Leisler aligned with Dutch elite seized control causing much bloodshed

36. The Glorious Revolutionin New York • Maintained position through 1690 • March 1691— New King William and Mary sent Governor Henry Sloughter to arrest and execute Leisler

37. The Glorious Revolutionin Maryland • 1689—news prompted John Coode to lead revolt against Catholic governor • Coode’s rebellion approved by King William • Coode’s rebellion successful

38. The Glorious Revolutionin Maryland • Maryland as Royal colony • Maryland taken from Calvert control • Anglican official church; Catholics barred from office • 1715—proprietorship restored to the Protestant fourth Lord Baltimore

39. Local Aspirations within 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