Early Colonial Era Review

1. Early Colonial Era Review 1600 to 1750

2. The Chesapeake (Virginia & Maryland) • Jamestown (1607) • Joint-Stock Company • Economic • Profit motive for settlement • Tobacco was staple crop • Plantation system • Free labor, indentured servitude, slavery • Political Structure • Planter aristocracy, representative assembly, House of Burgesses (1619), Early Native American relations ok but expansion caused problems • Social • Young single men, instability, isolated communities • low life expectancy, limited natural population growth, “Starving Time” (1609-1610) • Anglican but not super religious

3. New England Colonies (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut) • Pilgrims • Massachusetts Bay Company (1629) • Economic • Subsistence farming done by small families • Lumber, fishing, livestock (diversified economy) • Free labor, indentured servitude, very limited amount of slavery • Political Structure • Religious hierarchy, General Court, town meetings • Early Native American relations ok but expansion caused problems • Social • Religious motives for settling (John Winthrop’s “a city upon a hill”) • Families led to stable environment, natural population growth, varied skill sets • Puritan ethics infiltrated all aspects of life • Examples of religious intolerance • Roger Williams • Anne Hutchinson

4. Carolinas (1670) Goals: grow foodstuffs for sugar plantations in Barbados Rice became main cash crop Charleston most active seaport in South Some religious toleration North Carolina created 1712 as refuge Treated Indians ruthlessly but otherwise most democratic Georgia (1733) Founded by James Oglethorpe Founded as haven for debtors and buffer against Spain New York Dutch occupied since 1624 1664, English captured New Amsterdam & renamed New York Governor & local councils Religious toleration existed Autocratic authority The Other Colonies

5. Other Colonies Continued . . . • Pennsylvania (1681) • Motive for founding: Haven for Quakers (non-conformists, simple, pacifists) • “Holy Experiment” Religious toleration among denominations • Penn had good relations with natives • Representative gov’t, property needed to vote • Freedom of worship existed, against slavery

6. Slavery in the Colonies • Early years • 1st record of African American in Virginia (1619) • John Rolfe→ tobacco (labor intensive, requires extensive land) • Headright system (1618), indentured servitude (cheap labor)→ plantation aristocracy • “societies with slaves” shift to “slave societies” • 1660s laws created legally separating blacks and whites • Later years • Slaves seen as easier to control • Dark skin was a sign of inferiority • Unfamiliar with land (unlike Natives) • Caribbean to Carolinas • Grew rice in South Carolina • 500,000 brought to North America • 1750 slavery replaced indentured servitude • Triangle Trade/Middle Passage • Grew tobacco, rice, indigo

7. Great Awakening Religious revival of 1730s and 1740s Response to Enlightenment Jeremiads would hopefully renew piety Renew relationship with God to receive grace John Wesley George Whitefield Emotionalism/Evangelism Jonathan Edwards Calvinist/ Predetermination Divided congregations between new lights and old lights Enlightenment Reason & science led to progress Rationalism over spirituality Importance of education ↑ Harvard (1636) & William and Mary (1693) Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, James Madison Influenced America’s legal system John Peter Zenger Trial Great Awakening & Enlightenment

8. Salutary Neglect (1650-1750) • Little interference in colonies leading up to French and Indian War (1754-1763) • Sir Robert Walpole thought colonies were most profitable when left alone • Mercantilism • Colonies benefit Great Britain • markets & sources of raw materials (lumber, fish, timber) • Goal was a favorable balance of trade • Tariffs helped achieve goals (Navigation Acts, 1651-1673) • Colonies smuggled goods • Positive and negative effects • British responded with vice-admiralty courts and Board of trade

9. Major Concepts for 17th Century Colonial America • Importance of Protestant Reformation to the creation of America • Puritans established religiously pure colony • Most of early America was Protestant • Protestant work ethic, church structure and religious toleration defined American culture • Important events that led to the growth of democracy • Virginia House of Burgesses (Rep. Assembly) (1619) • Mayflower Compact (1620) • Townhall meetings & colonial governments • Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) • Maryland Act of Toleration (1649) • Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) • New York Chapter of Liberties (1683) • Leisler’s Rebellion (1691) • John Peter Zenger Case (1734) • Enlightenment ideals

10. Similarities among all 13 colonies Mostly English Had Anglo-Saxon freedoms Self-government Religious tolerance Some degree of education Religion in the colonies 1:7 people in North belonged to church Toleration a result of non-church members Separation of church and state after American revolution Anglican Church Church of England, tax supported Est. College of William and Mary (1693) Congregational Church Grew from Puritans All citizens paid taxes Presbyterian church Not official religion in colonies Associated with congregationalist Quakers (PE, NJ, DE, RI) Differences among three colonial regions New England (MA, NH, RI, CON) Puritan dominated, less religiously tolerant, more restrictions of civic participation, more industry, less farmland Middle Colonies (NY, NJ, PE, DE) Ethnically diverse, religiously tolerant, democratic, lumber, ship building, trade, fur trapping Southern Colonies (MAR, VI, NC, CS, GE) Plantation economy, aristocratic, slavery existed, cash crops, some religious toleration but mostly Church of England Major Concepts Continued . . .