Colonial Society to 1750

1. Colonial Society to 1750 Mrs. Lacks: AP US History

3. Politics in the Colonies • 1775: 8 colonies had royal governors, 3 under proprietors (MD, PA, DE), and 2 under self-governing charters (CT, RI) • Used bicameral legislatures – upper house (council) chosen by king, lower house by elections • Self-taxation through elected legislatures was highly valued • Conflicts between Governors & colonial assemblies: withheld governor’s salary to get what they wanted, had power of purse

4. Dominion of New England • Forced by King James II (+NY+NJ) • Goals? • Sir Edmund Andros • Gained control • Implemented taxes without consent • Eliminated town meetings, schools, etc • Collapsed after Glorious Revolution

5. Great Awakening • Jonathan Edwards • George Whitefield

6. Great Awakening • Old Lights believed… • New Lights believed… • Formed new denominations like… • Also… • Crossed class barriers, emphasized equality for all, spread Christianity to blacks and natives

7. Higher Education • Harvard, 1636—First colonial college; trained candidates for ministry • College of William and Mary, 1694 (Anglican) • Yale, 1701 (Congregational) • Great Awakening influences creation of 5 new colleges in mid-1700s • College of New Jersey (Princeton), 1746 (Presbyterian) • King’s College (Columbia), 1754 (Anglican) • Rhode Island College (Brown), 1764 (Baptist) • Queens College (Rutgers), 1766 (Dutch Reformed) • Dartmouth College, 1769, (Congregational)

8. New colleges founded after the Great Awakening

9. British North America, a melting pot

10. British North America, a melting pot

11. Triangular Trade

13. Slavery in British N. America

14. Slavery • Slavery has existed since the beginning of time • Almost every culture, every race has been enslaved or taken slaves • Often people were enslaved as POWs or later, over religion (ex. Muslims enslaved Christians, Christians sold Muslims)

15. African Slave Trade • Began between African kings & Muslim traders (869 AD) • Muslims sold goods to African kings who paid with their own kin

16. African Slave Trade • African law recognized slavery and the right of owners to alienate slaves • Private wealth usually derived from control of dependents – children, wives, and slaves

17. African Slave Trade • Dutch were first Europeans to trade in West Africa • Dutch brought manufactured items, African kings paid with kin (ex. Ashanti sold Bobo & Mende) • African kings had people captured and sent to slave fortresses, where they were brought across the Atlantic to the West Indies, and then sent to ports throughout the colonies to be sold.

18. African Slave Trade • Spanish brought Africans to Central & South America, and Spanish Florida first, then later to British N. America in mid-1700s • Dutch were first to sell Africans in British N. America (1619), but didn’t catch on until later

20. African Slave Trade • As the economy of British North America grew, more colonists could afford slaves (still a small percentage of the population) • Slavery existed in every colony originally

21. African Slave Trade • Scholars estimate that about 12,000,000 Africans were sold by Africans to Europeans (most of them before 1776) and 17,000,000 were sold to Arabs • Majority of Africans stayed in the Caribbean or went to Brazil • Became illegal in late 1700s/early 1800s in Britain • British navy patrolled West African shores to stop trade

22. Amistad • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXS6JAhMe1Q

23. Slaves in the US • American plantations were dwarfed by those in the West Indies. • Most slaves were living with a family that maybe had one other slave • About a quarter of U.S. slaves lived on farms with 15 or fewer slaves. In 1850, just 125 plantations had over 250 slaves. • In 1860, only 1.4% of people in the US owned slaves

24. Life as a slave • Life depended on the job • House slaves had better lives than field slaves • Single home slaves usually lived with the family • Many slaves did additional odd jobs to make money – artisans, carpenters, etc. (eventually bought freedom) • Slaves on large plantations in the deep South typically had the worst lives

25. Black Slave Owners • In 1830, approximately 3,775 owned 12,760 slaves. • One in ten free black household heads owned at least one slave.

26. Major Revolts • New York City, 1712 • Slaves gathered on the night of April 6 and set fire to a building near Broadway • While the white colonists tried to put out the fire, the enslaved African Americans attacked them and ran off (later caught, tried, and executed) • Slave laws in NYC became more strict

27. Major Revolts • Stono Rebellion, 1739 • The Spanish empire enticed slaves of English colonies to escape to Spanish territory. • In 1733 Spain issued an edict to free all runaway slaves from British territory who made their way into Spanish possessions. • On September 9, 1739, about 20 slaves, mostly from Angola, gathered under the leadership of a slave called Jemmy near the Stono River, 20 miles from Charleston. • 44 blacks and 21 whites lost their lives. • South Carolina responded by placing import duties on slaves from abroad, strengthening patrol duties and militia training, and recommending more benign treatment of slaves.

28. Major Slave Revolts • Gabriel’s Rebellion, 1800 • Richmond • 1,000 slaves • Expected poor whites and govt republicans to join • Torrential downpoors prevented everyone coming together • Denmark Vesey’s Conspiracy, 1822 • Charleston, SC • Plan for Vesey and his conspirators to execute white owners and then escape to Haiti • Two slaves exposed his plot, Vesey and 35 other conspirators were hanged

29. Major Slave Rebellions • Nat Turner, 1832 • Southampton, VA • Highest # of fatalities by a slave rebellion in the South • About 60 white men, women, children killed