The 13 Colonies I Flashcards
Review - Timeline: Creating New Social Orders - Colonial Societies, 1500-1700
1565: Spanish establish St. Augustine in present day Florida (it is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement within the borders of the continental United States). 1607: English settle Jamestown. 1609-1645: Jamestown colonists and Powhatan Indians fight Anglo-Powhatan Wars. 1610: Spanish establish Sante Fe in present day New Mexico. 1620: English Puritans draft Mayflower Compact and found Plymouth Colony. 1675-1676: King Philip (Metacom) wages war against Puritan colonies. 1676: Nathaniel Bacon leads armed rebellion against Virginia governor. 1680: Pope leads Pueblo Revolt in Santa Fe.
Describe British America in the Colonial Period
The British colonies grew tremendously during the late 17th and 18th centuries both from natural increase and immigration from several countries. Overall, America’s colonial population increased from about 250,000 in 1690 to 2.5 million in 1754, fueled by natural increase and political turmoil in Europe. However, they continued to be relatively isolated from one another and developed distinctly different lifestyles due to limited regional functionality. Most people received more news from Europe than from other regions in America. Consequently, each colony grew distinctly from the others, following the local patterns established by the earliest settlers.
Life in the Northern Colonies
The Northern Colonies featured a commercial and industrial economy, tightly-knit communities with intact families, and America’s first public schools. In regards to the economy, natural harbors made fishing, shipping, and shipbuilding profitable; fast-moving rivers ran mills and machinery to manufacture goods and strong working class developed. Pertaining to communities, Immigrants tended to come in families, with ~90% living in small compact villages along these rivers centered around a common building. This compact design allowed New England to be the first region in which public education appeared. Town meetings in a common building engendered democratic government. New England women enjoyed a higher social standing than their counterparts in Europe because a competent wife was an important asset in the New World. Two setbacks disrupted the economy and society of New England in the late 1600s: King Philip’s War and the Salem Witch Trials.
Life in the Northern Colonies - King Philip’s War
In 1675, a Wampanoag chief named Metacomet (known to the colonists as King Philip) organized local tribes in an attempt to exterminate all of the whites. He completely destroyed 12 towns, damaged half of them, and killed more than 10% of the militia before the colonists finally defeated him. King Philip’s War was the last time Native Americans played a significant role in New England history.
Life in the Northern Colonies - Salem Witch Trials
The Puritan church continued its powerful influence over government and daily life by offering the ‘half-way’ covenant, which was partial church membership to those who drifted from the faith. But dedicated Puritans continued to watch themselves and each other for signs of evil. In 1692, a few teenage girls in Salem, Massachusetts, came under scrutiny. They blamed their troublesome behavior on a slave who practiced witchcraft. Soon, they pointed fingers at other people as well. Over the next year, 150 people were arrested on suspicion of witchcraft, a crime punishable by death. In the end 20 people were executed, and at least five more people died in prison. Just as quickly as the hysteria began, the Salem Witch Trials came to an end.
Life in the Middle Colonies
The Middle Colonies were physically and symbolically in the middle of the Northern and Southern Colonies. Many immigrants came in family units and Germans pushed the frontier to the west. Though many of the people were religious, government and society as a whole were not. Agriculture consisted of farms that produced food instead of cash crops. The economy also supported many businesses and had the largest cities. Throughout the middle colonies, land ownership was high and so was productivity. These factors, combined with a healthier climate, created a longer life expectancy than the South. Stable families and society, a healthy population, and a steady influx of new ideas contributed to greater innovation, such as the Kentucky Rifle, Conestoga Wagon, and log cabin. The mid-Atlantic region also became the colonial leader in printing and publishing, with the trial of publisher John Peter Zenger playing a key role in America’s free press (1733-1735). Notable cities included New York, which had connections to the rest of the world since its commercial beginnings under the Dutch Empire; and, Philadelphia, PA, which flourished because of the careful urban planning by its founder.
Life in the Middle Colonies - Freedom of the Press and John Peter Zenger
The Middle Colonies became the colonial leader in printing and publishing. In 1733-1735, when a New York publisher named John Peter Zenger was taken to court for printing unflattering stories about the royal governor, his ‘not guilty’ verdict gave rise to America’s free press, an essential factor in all democracies world-wide.
Life in the Chesapeake Colonies: Virginia and Maryland
By 1700, the Virginia colonists had made their fortunes through the cultivation of tobacco, setting a pattern that was followed in Maryland and the Carolinas. In political and religious matters, Virginia differed considerably from the New England colonies. The Church of England was the established church in Virginia, which meant taxpayers paid for the support of the church whether or not they were Anglicans. But church membership ultimately mattered little, since a lack of clergymen and few churches kept many Virginians from attending church. Religion thus was of secondary importance in the Virginia colony. Virginia’s colonial government structure resembled that of England’s county courts and contrasted with the theocratic government of Massachusetts Bay. A royal governor appointed justices of the peace, who set tax rates and saw to the building and maintenance of public works, such as bridges and roads. In the 1650s, the colonial assembly adopted a bicameral pattern: the House of Burgesses (the elected lower house) and an appointed Governor’s Council. The assembly met regularly, not so much for representative government as for the opportunity to raise taxes.
Life in the Southern Colonies
The rural plantation economy in the South affected every aspect of society. Homes were spread far apart, thus limiting the development of towns, schools, and churches. With few cities, there was only a small middle class, causing very stagnant social mobility with kinship becoming a powerful factor when it came to connections in business or leadership. Land ownership was low, with a majority of the population working as servants, slaves, or yeoman farmers. Average life expectancy in the South was 10 to 30 years lower than other English colonies due to disease and malnutrition. Demographically, there were seven times more men than women who initially immigrated into this region, meaning gender imbalance increased the power and status of women. However, women were still a minority with little participation in politics and female indentured servants were often abused by their male masters without legal recourse. Despite all of the above, an immigrant’s life in the South was allegedly still better than in the Old World.
*An Empire of Slavery and the Consumer Revolution*
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the expansion of slavery in the American colonies from South Carolina to Boston. The institution of slavery created a false sense of superiority in whites, while simultaneously fueling fears of slave revolt. White response to such revolts, or even the threat of them, led to gross overreactions and further constraints on slaves’ activities. The development of the Atlantic economy also allowed colonists access to more British goods than ever before. The buying habits of both commoners and the rising colonial gentry fueled the consumer revolution, creating even stronger ties with Great Britain by means of a shared community of taste and ideas.
Rise of Slave Trade - Describe how slavery in America and Africa differed.
Although slavery has existed throughout time, slavery in the American colonies was much harsher than it had been practiced in Africa. In Africa slaves were generally criminals, debtors, or prisoners of war. They played an important role in society, could hold jobs with authority, and were often seen as members of the extended family. In contrast, slaves in the American colonies came to be seen as property that could be bought or sold as part of a socioeconomic plantation system.
Rise of Slave Trade - Anthony Johnson
One of the original several African indentured servants to arrive in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, Anthony Johnson completed his indenture and went on to buy land and prosper. He later imported his own servants, which included another African man named John Casor. Johnson refused to free Casor after his indenture was completed and claimed he was his slave. In 1655 Johnson went to trial and won, thus becoming America’s first owner of a permanent slave.
Rise of Slave Trade - Triangular Trade Network and the Middle Passage
Slavery was just one piece of England’s triangular trade. English manufactured goods were sent to Africa, where they were traded for slaves. The slaves were then taken to the Americas, where they were traded for raw materials. The materials went to England to be used in the manufacture of more goods. The part of the journey from Africa to America was called the Middle Passage.
Rise of Slave Trade - Survival rate of African captives during the Middle Passage
Half of the captives onboard died because of the horrible conditions, but increasing numbers of enslaved Africans still reached the American shores throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.
Rise of the Slave Trade - Differences between Northern and Southern Slaves
Northern slaves might work as cooks, maids, farm hands, gardeners, drivers, or skilled laborers. These workers were generally healthier, received better treatment, and were more highly valued than their counterparts in the fields. However, they had less privacy, worked seven days a week, and were often ostracized by field hands. In contrast, southern slaves were most likely to end up on plantations. They worked from sunrise to sunset six days a week, worked to their physical limit, were brutally punished, forced into physical relationships to increase the population, and families were often separated. Plantation slaves did have two advantages: they generally did not work on Sundays, and because plantations could have hundreds of slaves, they tended to enjoy a greater sense of community; although there were differences between the task and gang systems.
Rise of the Slave Trade - Task System
The task system is a system of labor under slavery characteristic in the Americas. It is usually regarded as less brutal than other forms of slave labor. Under this system, each slave is assigned a specific task to complete for the day. After that task is finished, the slave is then free to do as he or she wishes with the remaining time. Whether plantation owners organized their slaves on the task or gang system had much to do with the type of crops they harvested. For the task system, coffee, rice, and pimento were comparatively hardier plants where extensive supervision was unnecessary, leading planters to favor the task system on their plantations.
Rise of the Slave Trade - Gang System
The gang system is a system of division of labor within slavery on a plantation. It is the more brutal of two main types of labor systems. The other form, known as the task system, was less harsh and allowed the slaves more self-governance than did the gang system. The gang system allowed continuous work at the same pace throughout the day. The first gang, or great gang, was given the hardest work, for the fittest slaves. The second gang was for less able slaves (teenagers, old people, or the unwell slaves) and this gang was given lighter work. The third gang was given the easiest work. Cotton, tobacco, and sugar cultivation was organized into gangs since those crops required considerable processing and supervision.
Rise of the Slave Trade - Phillis Wheatley
America’s first published black writer was a northern slave named Phillis Wheatley. Imported from Gambia when she was a child, Wheatley was sold to a Boston family who taught her to read and encouraged her to write poetry. Her poems were often religious and written in classical style. Wheatley published her first poem in 1767, when she was just sixteen years old, and later became one of the most famous poets of her time.
Rise of the Slave Trade - Slave Codes
Slave codes, in U.S. history, are any of the set of rules based on the concept that slaves were property, not humans. They were created by slave owners and elites who feared their large populations of slaves and losing their status in their socioeconomic system. Inherent in the institution of slavery were certain social controls, which slave owners amplified with laws to protect not only the property, but also the property owner from the danger of slave violence. The slave codes were forerunners of the black codes of the mid-19th century.
Rise of the Slave Trade - Free African Americans
Even the limited number of free black colonists found their rights being eroded by the slave codes. A trial regarding Anthony Johnson’s death ruled that blacks were not citizens. Although blacks were freer in the North, they were not considered social equals. Slavery existed in the North until the Civil War, but most were freed during the American Revolution. According to a census taking in 1790, eight percent of the U.S. African American population was free.
Developing Economy and Overseas Trade - Mercantilism
Believing that there was a limited source of wealth in the world, the goal of a mercantilist economy was to amass the most silver and gold at the expense of all the other nations. This was done through a favorable balance of trade, so by exporting manufactured goods and limiting the number of imports, nations brought in hard currency. This could help them fight wars against the other nations.
Developing Economy and Overseas Trade - Triangular Trade
A British trade system in which British ships passed through Africa to pick up slaves, traded the slaves in the Americas for raw goods wanted in Britain, then returned to Britain to sell the goods.
Developing Economy and Overseas Trade - Basic Colonial Economics
The colonies were designed to fulfill two roles in a mercantilist system: They provided nearly free raw materials for English manufacturers and a growing market for the consumer goods they produced. Out of necessity, colonists also traded with one another, helping cottage industries to develop. Towns grew to export materials and import goods. In time, tradesmen and merchants flourished.
Developing Economy and Overseas Trade - List the positive and negative effects of the colonies’ trade with England.
This exclusive trade with England had both positive and negative side effects. [Positive Effects] American ships were protected from pirates by the English navy, and colonists could get credit from English banks. The importation of English goods made many New England merchants rich. It kept ports in the middle colonies busy and helped to Anglicize the diverse population. Southerners had a guaranteed market for their tobacco, rice, and indigo. Of course, Great Britain liked this exclusive trade too. They had a growing new market for their manufactured goods and cheap new resources from which to make even more stuff. [Negative Effects] As the colonies began to develop their own identity and economy, England attempted to regulated them via the Navigation Acts, Currency Acts, etc.
