The Struggle for Land

1. The Struggle for Land

2. Relations with Natives • In the same time period that slavery gained a permanent foothold in North American, both New England & Virginia fought major wars against Native Americans • Why? • Desire for land • Result? • For both sides • Widespread destruction to the towns • Inflicted human casualties • Left a legacy of bitterness on both sides • For coastal tribes • Disastrous time of defeat and decline • For colonists • Wars contributed to the turbulence of the lat 1600s & early 1700s

3. King Philip’s War

4. Background • Where? • New England • Background: • Following the Peqout War of 1637 in New England, the Wampanoags and Narragansetts, whose fertile land lay within the boundaries of Plymouth & Rhode Island attempted maintain their distance from the New England colonists • Problem: • New Englanders coveted Indian territories • Quarreled among themselves over provincial boundaries • Result: • Colonists gradually reduced the Indians’ land base

5. By 1670s • New England’s population: 50,000 & growing • Younger Indians began brooding over their situation • Metacomet (names King Philip by the English) • Son of Massasoit (Wampanoag who had allied himself with first Plymouth settlers in 1620- died in 1660) • Brother died in 1661 under mysterious circumstances while Plymouth officials questioned him about a rumored Indian conspiracy • King Philip faced one humiliating challenge after another • 1671: • Plymouth forced Metacomet to surrender large amount of guns & accept a treaty of submission acknowledging Wampanoag subjection to English law • Result: • Metacomet convinced that more setbacks would follow and humiliated by the discriminatory treatment of Indians brought before English courts • He began recruiting for a resistance movement • triggering incident- June 1675 • Trial & execution of 3 Indians by Puritan court for an act of tribal revenge against John Sassamon (Christianized Indian who was found murdered)

6. Root cause of war • Rising anger of the young Wampanoag males • Younger Native Americans refused to imitate their fathers (compromise their sovereignty) • Attempt a pan-Indian offensive • Revitalization of their ancient culture through war

7. Events of war • Summer of 1675 • Natives unleashed daring hit & run attacks on villages in Plymouth • Fall of 1675 • Many New England tribes (including Narragansetts) joined Metacomet • Towns all along the frontier reeled under Indian attacks • By November • Mobile Indian Warriors had laid waster to the entire upper Connecticut River valley • March 1676 • Metacomet forces were attacking less than 20 miles from Boston & Providence • Assumptions about English military superiority faded • RESULT: • New England officials passed American’s 1st DRAFT LAWS • Evasion was widespread • Political fraction among New England colonies also hampered a united counteroffensive • Spring 1676 • Metacomet’s offensive faltered: food shortages & disease • Mohawks refused to support them b/c want to protect their fur trade • Summer 1676 • Groups of Indians were surrendering • Indians moved westward seeking shelter among other tribes • Metacomet died in battle

8. War’s End • Several thousand colonists and 2x as many Indians died • Impact on Puritans • Of 90 Puritan towns: 52 attacked and 13 destroyed • 1,200 homes ruined • 8,000 cattle died • Cost of war: exceeded the value of all personal property in New England • Frontier line would not extend past what it was in 1675 until 40 years later • Indians: • Indian towns devastated even more • “Praying Indians” • Some converted to Christianity • Allied with whites • Entire generation of men annihilated • Many sold into slavery in West Indies

9. Bacon’s Rebellion

10. Background • Where? • Virginia • Why? • Struggle between the red and white population AND a civil war within the colony • Caused by arrival of Cambridge educated planter- Nathaniel Bacon • Impact • 100s of colonists and Indians died in Virginia & Maryland • Jamestown (Virginia’s capital) lay smoldered • English troops cross Atlantic b/c King labeled fighting as a rejection of his authority • Source of internal turmoil • Indian Policy of Virginia’s royal governor, Sir William Berkley • 1646: End of the 2nd Indian uprising against the Virginians, the Powhatan tribes had accepted a treaty granting them exclusive rights to territory north of York River, beyond the limits of white settlement • Why governor pass policy? • Stable Indian relations suited the established planters (they traded profitably with Indians) • Problems with policy- seen as obnoxious by: • New settlers in 1650s & 1660s • Indentured servants who had served their time and were hoping to find cheap frontier land

11. Important Events • Summer of 1675 • Violence breaks out over • Land hunger • Dissatisfaction with • declining tobacco prices • rising taxes • lack of opportunity • Frontiersmen used an incident with a local tribe as an excuse to attack the Susquehannocks • Gov. Berkley – denounced attacks but few supported his position • Result: Susquehannocls prepare for war • Winter of 1675-1676 • Indians attack and kill 36 Virginians • Spring 1676 • Bacon became the frontiersmen leaders • Joined by 100s of runaway servants and some slaves • Launch a campaign of indiscriminate warfare on friendly & hostile Indians • Berkley’s actions • Refuse to sanction attacks • Bacon ignored his authority • Bacon declared a rebel and sent out 300 militiamen to get him • Bacon gather more troops

12. Summer of 1676 • Bacon’s & Berkley’s troops maneuver around each other • Bacon’s men continued to attack against Indians • Bacon even captured the capital of Jamestown • Razed the statehouse, church & other buildings • Gov. Berkley took flight across the Chesapeake Bay • Public opinion • Virginians at all levels chafed under Berkley’s rule b/c • High taxes • Increase in gov’ts power at expense of local officials • Monopoly of Indian trade by Berkley and his friends • Attempts to obtain public support • Hold new assembly elections • Extend the vote to all freemen (no property requirement) • New assembly actions • Turned on Berkley • Passed a set of reform laws intended to • make gov’t more responsive to the common people • end rapacious office holding • made enslavement of Native Americans legal

13. Ending of War • Fall of 1676 • Time was on Berkley’s side • Bacon crushed the Indians • Bacon’s followers drifted home to tend to their crops • Berkley’s reports of rebellion brought the dispatch of 1,100 royal troops from England • October 1676 • Bacon had died of disease • Berkley rounded up 23 rebel leaders & hanged them without civil trial • January 1677 • English troops arrive • Most followers melted back into the frontier • Royal investigators: remarked on “genocidal mentality of Bacon’s followers”

14. Impact of rebellion • Hatred of Indians bred into white society became permanent feature of Virginian life • Emerging planter aristocracy annulled most of the reform laws of 1676 • Rebellion relieved much of the social tension among white Virginians • Newly available Indian land created fresh opp for small planters & former servants • Turn to new sources for labor needs (Africa) • A racial consensus united whites of all ranks in common pursuit of a prosperous, slave based economy

15. Impact (outside to Virginia) • North Carolina • Many of Bacon’s compatriots took refuge here • They joined dissident tobacco farmers who were distressed by • Recent Indian uprisings • Export duties on tobacco • Quitrents controlled by a mercenary elite • Actions: • Led by George Durant & John Culpeper • Drove the governor from office & briefly seized the reins of power • Maryland • Protestant settlers chafed under • High taxes • Quitrents (rent) • Officeholders regarded as venal (corrupt), Catholic, or both • Declining tobacco prices • Fear of Indian attacks • Summer of 1676 • Some small planters tried to seize the Maryland gov’t • Two of the leaders were hanged • 1681 • Two former “Baconists” (JosiasFendall & John Coode) lead another uprising • Attempt to kidnap the Catholic proprietor failed • Fendall executed & Coode banished

16. Role of socialite norms in tensions • Description of social life • Peculiar • Family formation retarded by imbalanced sex ratios and fearsome mortality • Geographic mobility was high • Little social cohesion or attachment to community could grow • Missing in southern colonies • Stabilizing power of mature local institutions • A vision of a larger purpose • Presence of experienced and responsive political leaders

17. An Era of Instability

18. Following Native wars- series of insurrections: Why? • Rebellions in colonies triggered by the Revolution of 1688 (AKA- Glorious Revolution)

19. Mercantilism • English assumed- overseas settlements existed to promote National interests at home • AKA: Mercantilist Theory • Colonies = • Outlets of English manufacturing goods • Provided food stuffs & raw materials • Stimulated trade • Exported goods (sugar & tobacco)- had duties • England = • Provide protection • Guarantee markets

20. Steps to Regulation of Colonies

21. (1) 1621: King’s Council forbade tobacco growers to export their crop anywhere but England • (2) 1624: Virginia Company of London became a royal colony • 1st time Parliament considered regulating colonial affairs • (3) 1651: Navigation Act • Order to protect English trade from foreign competition • Why? In reaction to the colonies trading freely with the commercially aggressive Dutch • Suppose to be only temporary • Goods imported or exported by the colonies in Africa and Asia must be shipped out or imported only by English vessels and the crew must be 75% British • (4) 1660: 2nd Navigation Acts • Renewed the 1651 act • More comprehensive • Specified certain enumerable (numbered) articles which could be exported only to the English or to another English colony in 1660 • Among these goods were tobacco, rice and indigo • American shipbuilding thus prospered and there was a stable protected market for producers • Why? • Took aim at Holland’s domination of Atlantic commerce • Increase England’s revenue by imposing duties on enumerated articles • (5) 1663: 3rd Navigation Act • Disallowed importing goods in ships not made and produced by the English • Cont’d prohibiting exporting certain goods anywhere except to England

22. Why the colonists not upset? Lack of enforcement

23. 1685: James II took throne • Former Duke of York • Brother of Charles II- he restored the monarchy following the Civil War • Why was this problem? • Devote Catholic & Flaunted Catholicism • Issued Declaration of Indulgence: granted liberty of worship to all • Unacceptable to Protestants because they believed this was a way to make his appointments of Catholics to high governmental positions acceptable (e.g., command of Navy) • Growing divide: Tories (supporters) v. Whigs (opposition)

24. James’s Actions • 1685: The Dominion of New England est’d • Prepared to go even further to maintain control over colonies • Result: Established unified gov’t for all New England, New York, & New Jersey • Abolish representative assemblies • Facilitate the imposition of the Church of England • 1686- sent Sir Edmond Andros • Quickly alienated New Englanders • Ended trial by jury • Imposed Taxes without legislative consent • Abolished the General Court of Massachusetts (which had met annually since 1630) • Muzzled Boston’s town meeting • Challenged the validity of all land titles • He mocked the Puritans by • converting a Boston Puritan church into an Anglican chapel & holding services there on Christmas Day • Rejected their practice of suppressing religious dissent • 1687: dissolved Parliament • 1688: Son was born (guarantee a Catholic succession) • RESULT: Protestant leaders secretly plot the king’s downfall • Invite William of Orange (Prince of the Netherlands) & his wife, Mary (older daughter of James) to invade England • RESULT: Bloodless Glorious revolution (b/c James abdicated crown) • Creation of a constitutional monarchy

25. Impact on Colonists

26. New England • 1689: Imprison Andros ( a suspected Papist) • For 3 years- an interim government ruled Massachusetts while the Bay colonists awaited a new charter and a royal governor • 1691- the charter of Massachusetts (including Plymouth) restored but as a royal colony (but not as tightly controlled) • Mass & New Hampshire became royal colonies with governors appointed by the king • Connecticut & Rhode Island were allowed to elect their own governors • New royal charter in Mass. Eliminated church membership as a voting requirement • But no internal revolution took place… however: • growing social stratification and the emergence of a political elite led to some disturbing effects • Some citizens challenged the traditional view that those at the top of society were the true guardians of the public interest. • They argued that men of modest means but common sense might better be trusted with power

27. New York • The Glorious Revolution was similarly bloodless at first but far more disruptive • Not necessary to overthrow royal government… it simply melted away • Local militia captain -Jacob Leisler showed up at Fort James & royal Governor Nicholson quietly stepped down • est’d interim gov’t • Ruled with a an elected committee of safety for 13 months until government appointed by King William arrived • Reaction of people • Small landowners and urban laboring people like Leister • Upper class detested him b/c move up from common soldier • Dutch people don’t like rich either b/c felt they were being pushed out of their land • Ethnic friction • Anglo- Dutch hostility • Leisler shared Dutch hatred toward English elite • Actions of Leisler • Leisler freed imprisoned debtors • Planned a town-meeting system of government • Replaced merchants with artisans in important official posts • Fall of 1689 • Leislerian mobs were attacking the property of some of NY’s wealthiest merchants • 1691- new English governor arrived • Anti-Leislerians embraced him & charged Leisler with treason • Leisler hanged for treason

28. Maryland • Ruled by a Catholic proprietor • July 1689: Protestant majority seized on word of the Glorious Revolution • Proprietorship was abolished • Why? • Cleanse Maryland of it’s papish hue • Reform a corrupt customs service • Cut taxes & fee • Extend the rights of the representative assembly • John Coode- former Anglican minister- assumed control • 1692- arrival of 1st Royal governor • 1715: Proprietorship restored when Baltimore family became Protestant & Catholics were barred from office

29. Virginia • Still recovering from Bacon’s Rebellion • Governor (Catholic Lord Howard of Effingham) installed a number of Catholic officials • RESULT: made it easy for rumors to spread that a Catholic conspiracy was hatching • When news of revolution in England- planters attempted to overthrow the gov’t • Uprising quickly faded when the governor’s council asserted itself & took measures to remove Catholics from positions of authority

30. Fight for the Control of North America

31. At the end of the seventeenth century • Follow era of Indian wars & internal upheaval • Confront period of international war • Between Holland, Spain , France & England • North America was less an arena of armed rivalry among the European powers than were the sugar rich islands of the Caribbean

32. French Expansion • 1661: French king, Louis XIV ushered in a new era for New France • Regarded North America & the Caribbean with renewed interest • under leadership of French Governor such as Count Frontenac- • New France population grew • Economic strength • 1670s- Louis Jolliet & Father Jacques Marquette (Jesuit Priest) explored territory watered by Mississippi & Missouri rivers • 1680s- Rene Robert de La Salle canoed down Mississippi to Gulf of Mexico • French had better relationship with Natives than English • RESULT: Growing conflict with English • (1) Commercial Rivalry • (2) Religious hostility • 1689- Begin European Wars

33. Fighting with the English • English struck 3 times at the centers of French power • Port Royal (access to the St. Lawrence River) • Quebec – administrative capital • During King William’s War (1689-1697) • capture Port Royal but returned • fail to gain Quebec • Queen Anne’s War (1701- 1713) • Attack Port Royal 3 times –capture it in 1710 • 1711- fail to capture Quebec again

34. Use of the Natives • European style warfare unsuccessful • RESULT: subcontract military tasks to Indian allies (mercenaries) • More successful for French- sent their own troops into the fray with Indians • Iroquois (English ally) – only in 1st war – sat out 2nd war

35. Results of the War

36. Peace of Utrecht (1713) • English- receive Newrfoundland, Acadia (Nova Scotia), St. Kitts & Nevis • French recognize English sovereignty over Hudson Bay territory • France maintain control over Cape Breton Island (control entrance to the St. Lawrence River) • Spain lost its provinces in Italy, holdings in the Netherlands • English gained business of supplying the Spanish empire in America with African slaves (formerly French controlled)

37. French • Big losers but did not abandon their ambitions in the New World • 1715: Louis XIV died • The Regency government of the duke of Orleans tried to regain lost time in America by mounting a huge expedition to settle Louisiana • Problem? • France had deported many undesirables to the colony • French aristocracy destroyed by wild speculation the stock that financed the project • Result? • Few French immigrants joined the settlement of New Orleans • New France only expanded in Caribbean • By 1750- islands of Hispaniola, Martinique, & Guadeloupe counted 46,000 whites & 250,000 slaves

38. Spain • Retained –on paper- a vast empire in North America • However: its hold was very tenuous on the southern tier of the continent • RESULT: • Thinly people missions & frontier outposts could be crippled or destroyed by Native Americans or invading English • 1st half of 1700s: Settlements were stagnated • Why? suffer from Spain’s colonial policy that regarded colony as • Marginal • Money losing affairs • Seen as only defensive outposts • Priority: • Not to expand its presence in North America • Preserve what it had by keeping other away from it • Increasingly became difficult over time

39. England • New England suffered most • Massachusetts – 1/5th of all able-bodies males participated in Canadian campaigns (1/4th died) • Numerous war widows- poverty became a problem • Price inflation • New York • Lost one of its best grain markets when Spain, allied with France, outlawed American foodstuffs in its West Indian colonies • French navy plucked off nearly 30 New York merchant vessels (1/4 of port’s fleet) • Southern colonies (South of New England) • Remained on the sidelines during most of the war • Lessons of war: Burdens & rewards fell unevenly on the participants • Some men made riches (e.g., William Phips) or increased their wealth (e.g., Andrew Belcher) • Most men (especially those who did the fighting) gained little, however, & many lost all • Most troops taken from lower-class ranks (indentured servants, new immigrants, unskilled laborers, farmers) • Especially harsh in the navy