American Life in the 17 th Century

1. American Life in the17th Century Chapter 4

2. Life in 17th Century Chesapeake ColoniesA. The Unhealthy Chesapeake Region • 17th Century Chesapeake colonies grew slowly and suffered repeated epidemics of disease including malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, and dysentery – all taking a terrible death toll • Populations would have declined during this period were it not for the arrival of new immigrants from England – most single men in their late teens and early twenties • Most young men and women arriving in the Chesapeake came as ‘Indentured’ servants – those willing to work under contract for several years in exchange payment of their passage to America and other benefits at the end of their contracts

3. Life in 17th Century Chesapeake ColoniesA. The Unhealthy Chesapeake Region (cont.) • Most of the young men who came to the Chesapeake died soon after arrival – victims of disease or accidents • Most who survived could not find marriage partners for several reasons, including (1) few women came to the Chesapeake, and (2) eligible women who did come were soon married • In 1650, men outnumbered women nearly 6 to 1 – by 1700, that ratio had been reduced to 3 to 1 • Nuclear families were few and easily destroyed by the death of a partner – typically within seven years • Consequently, it was rare to find any children who reached adulthood under the care of both parents – almost none knew a grandparent

4. Life in 17th Century Chesapeake ColoniesB. The Tobacco Economy & Society • Unable to afford African slaves, planters chose indentured servitude and the ‘headright system’ pioneered by Sir Edwyn Sandys in Virginia • This system gave a master 50 acres [the ‘headright’] for each indentured servant he brought over – thus the master reaped the benefits of land ownership

5. Life in 17th Century Chesapeake ColoniesB. The Tobacco Economy & Society (cont.) • By 1700, Chesapeake planters had imported nearly 100,000 indentured servants – ‘white slaves’ who accounted for over 75% of all European immigrants to Virginia and Maryland in the 17th Century • Servant life was hard because, (1) they did not control who bought their contracts, (2) they could be bought and sold several times, (3) there were severe punishments for breaking laws and rules, (4) females could not marry until their contract was up, and (5) they suffered a high mortality rate from disease, accidents, contaminated water and other factors

6. Life in 17th Century Chesapeake ColoniesC. Frustrated ‘Freemen’ & Bacon’s Rebellion (cont.) • Bacon’s Rebellion left behind a legacy of hostility between Chesapeake planter elites and the large numbers of freemen – a factor that prompted the planters to look for a more controllable, less threatening source of labor

7. The Atlantic Slave TradeA. African Slaves in the American Colonies (cont.) • It was the Dutch who first introduced African slaves to North America – in 1619, a Dutch warship sold 20 slaves to buyers in Jamestown • By 1670, there were approx. 2,000 slaves in Virginia out of a total population of nearly 35,000 – the high cost of African slaves convinced most planters to contract for less costly indentured servants • Three factors intervened to influence the cost of labor and the slave trade, (1) Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, (2) rising wages in England during the 1680s which convinced more potential emigrants to stay in England, and (3) the Royal African Company lost its slave trade monopoly in 1698

8. The Atlantic Slave TradeA. African Slaves in the American Colonies (cont.) • Most slaves in the Southern colonies came from Africa’s West Coast – [Angolans, Gambians, Bambaras, Mandingas, Igbos, Akans, Asantes and other tribal cultures] • During the ‘Middle Passage’, mortality rates varied, but averaged between 15% and 20%

9. The Atlantic Slave TradeA. African Slaves in the American Colonies (cont.) • Africans resisted life under slavery by (1) working slow, (2) sabotaging tools and machinery, (3) committing acts of petty theft against the master, (4) running away, and (5) committing violent acts of resistance or rebellion – which were rare and never successful

10. The Southern Colonies: Land of SlaveryA. Southern Society (cont.) • These merchant-planters controlled the economies and politics in their colonies and were hard working businessmen who closely managed their plantations • Next in the social pyramid were the small ‘yeoman’ farmers – those with smaller acreages who lived a subsistence lifestyle, worked their own land, and owned few if any slaves • Privately, the big planters looked down upon the lesser white ‘yeoman’ farmers – but treated them as equals publicly

11. The Southern Colonies: Land of SlaveryA. Southern Society (cont.) • ‘Yeoman’ farmers generally resented the planters – but appreciated the occasional favors and social order maintained by them • Below the ‘yeoman’ farmers were landless whites – former indentured servants [‘freemen’] with little money and few prospects of rising higher in the South’s social pyramid • Next in the hierarchy came ‘indentured servants’ working off their contracts to their masters – followed by African slaves at the bottom of the South’s social pyramid

12. New England: From Puritan Settlers to Yankee TradersA. Family & Life in New England (cont.) • In 1636, Massachusetts Puritans established Harvard College to train young men for the ministry • New Englanders developed trade networks connecting them to each other, Boston merchants, money lenders, and to Atlantic commerce – something they came to value dearly

13. Evolution of New England SocietyA. Religious Controversy & Economic Changes (cont.) • In 1622, the Puritan [Congregational] church adopted the ‘Half-Way Covenant’ - a hoped-for solution in which, (1) unconverted children became ‘halfway’ members in the church without voting privileges, and (2) they could baptize their infants in the church but could not take communion • The ‘Half-Way Covenant’ diluted distinctions between the ‘elect’ and others - an unintended consequence which illustrated the difficulty of maintaining religious zeal • In time, Puritan churches relaxed membership even more by welcoming all, whether converted or not - a fact corresponding to the rise of women as a majority in the church

14. Evolution of New England SocietyA. Religious Controversy & Economic Changes (cont.) • Puritanism’s failure to achieve complete success in fulfilling the promise of a Godly society ultimately undermined its appeal - a fact manifested in the Salem witch trials of 1692 • In 1692, more than 100 people were accused of witchcraft - most were middle-class women (from merchant families) charged with worshipping Satan and bedeviling those who had accused them

15. Evolution of New England SocietyA. Religious Controversies & Economic Changes (cont.) • Their accusers came from poorer subsistence farm families on the town’s outskirts • Of those accused of witch-craft, 20 were executed by various means - most by hanging and one who was pressed to death

16. American Colonies at the End of the 17th Century