Lesson 2 US Flashcards
Reasons for colonisation
Land Opportunities
The way heritage works means that only the eldest, the heir would inherit estate
Religious freedom
What were the most important exports?
Tobacco
Pelts
Other things (?)
How did the indenture system worked?
The settlers that were too poor to pay for the trip to the new world had to contractually indenture themselves to someone with enough money and power.
Reasons to indenture oneself:
Cannot pay trip
Have debts
Want to flee somewhere
What were the different regional identities on the East coast?
-New England (Pilgrims and Puritans)
-The Middle Colonies (Quakers)
-The south with the adventurers
Describe the New England settlement
Pilgrims and Puritans
Plymouth 1620
Massachusetts Bay 1630
New Hampshire
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Describe the Middle Colonies
Quakers
New York
New Jersey
Delaware
Pennsylvania
Very fertile land
Développement of agriculture wheat and corn
Describe the Southern Colony
Adventurers
Five colonies:
Virginia
Maryland
North and South Carolina
Georgia
The dream of these settlers was to get rich, mainly by seeking for gold or a passage to the Indies
Then after the Gold Rush died down, they mainly grew tobacco. Also rice and indigo (the blue dye)
It was a rural economy, organised around large plantations, with slavery
What does proto-industries mean?
In New England
Pre industrialisation industries
Craftsmanship
Mining textile
Naval Construction
What do Quakers stand for?
What kind of group is it?
A Protestant Christan religious group
They did not agree with the Church of England.
They believe God has a relation individually with each person. There is no need for hierarchy
William Pen (Founder of Pennsylvania)
What were the first institutions in in the new World?
British authority
English bureaucracy
Governors and colonial administrators
New England and Middle colonies
The laws from the English parlement would also apply to these colonies, even though the settlers had also some specific laws but they weren’t represented in the parliament
What was the system of governance in the early days?
A theocracy
Puritans and Quakers thought that religion should shape politics and the economy. To create a path to the afterlife.
Les voies du seigneur sont impénétrables so they had to satisfy god through their own individual path
What was the Model of Christian Charity?
By John Winthrop in 1630. A book/sermon
In it, there were two ideals described.
-Common welfare should be prioritized over personal needs.
=> Creating the holy commonwealth (a political community that would create a new Israel and a New Eden)
-An ideal society as a model
Voir Les documents Sur Madoc
For them religious freedom meant that they would submit willingly to God’s will and authority, and not the Church of England’s
He said that there should be a social hierarchy in the social order. It was for the good of the community and it was determined by god.
Quote from “Model of Christian Charity”
“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.”
It refers to the concept of American exceptionalism
What is the American exceptionalism?
The ideas that American values are unique, and America is destined to play a key role in the world. They should be an example.
What could the American Dream be defined?
That children have better conditions of living compared to the parent. Society should forever improve.
In reality, how was society in the early days?
America “was” intolerant and inequal.
Gender, race, ethnicity would dictate your rank in the new world.
Dominated by white men
What was the societal pyramid back then?
Farmers and Merchants at the top
Then shopkeepers and craftsmen
And at the bottom were the stevedores, the longshoremen, unskilled workers, indentured servants and slaves
Who were the Stevedores?
The people that work in the harbor and move cargo
Who could own land?
Farmers and Merchants mainly
Who could vote?
Landowners exclusively so 5% of the population of New England.
They believed that social and/or economic dépendance did not allow for them to get political and social equality.
They were a lot of white people that couldn’t vote.
Wage laborers, apprentices, slaves, servants, paroled convicts.
Also women couldn’t. They were smaller in number than men
Who were the longshoremen?
What is “Couverture”?
What were “femme coverts”?
Married women. They did not have indepence from their partner.
What were women allowed to do?
What were they prohibited from doing?
Couldn’t vote. Represent themselves in court.
Could not claim property. Could not sue for divorce or claim responsibility for the children if the husband divorced.
Unlike black people though, they still shared their husbands’ possessions
The Massachusetts’ body of liberties… Of liberty
They were on the same legal standing as children, idiots, and mentally handicapped
How were black people treated?
They were treated as compliant workers and nothing more.
They had no legal existence.
Couldn’t marry, inherit, vote own land, sue and appeal to authorities for mistreatment.
They could be sold away from their families.
When did the first Africans arrived in the US?
1619, in Jamestown, Virginia
What was Chattel Slavery?
“Chattel” is a synonym for a piece of property.
Started around the 1660s
What were the relations between the natives and the settlers?
Thanksgiving
Tisquantum He helped the pilgrims when they arrived in New England. He spoke English and taught agriculture, hunting and fishing to the settlers.
Pocahontas saved the life of a man called John Smith and married John Rolfe
The first relationships were friendly.
But then, a lot of people came and they took land from the natives because they needed them for trade etc.
What happened to the Natives between 1492 and 1750?
90% of the natives died because of germs and wars
What were the American fundamental myths?
Promised land
Protestant work ethic
Manifested destiny
What group was associated with the early form of the American Dream by the historian Andrew Delblanco?
The Puritans
What is manifested destiny?
1492
Discovery of America by Christopher Colombus
1607
Jamestown, Virginia was founded
1619
1st African slaves thought to Virginia
1620
Mayflower and other things
Americanyawp.com
