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Chapter 4: American Life in the 17 th Century

Chapter 4: American Life in the 17 th Century. Scott Marburger. English Colonies Prior to 1763. The Unhealthy Chesapeake. Life was “Nasty, brutish and short” – Thomas Hobbs Half the people born in early Virginia and Maryland did not live past 20.

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Chapter 4: American Life in the 17 th Century

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  1. Chapter 4: American Life in the 17th Century Scott Marburger

  2. English Colonies Prior to 1763

  3. The Unhealthy Chesapeake Life was “Nasty, brutish and short” – Thomas Hobbs Half the people born in early Virginia and Maryland did not live past 20. Common diseases were dysentery, malaria, typhoid

  4. Life in the Chesapeake • Ratio of adult men to adult women was 6:1 • Family ties were fragile at best; many children were raised in single-parent households because the death rate was so high

  5. Introduction of Tobacco The Chesapeake was the first permanent English New World settlement. The cultivation of tobacco helped stabilize its economy By the 1630s, 1.5 million pounds of tobacco were being shipped out of the Chesapeake Bay every year

  6. Tobacco • Led to an increase in the number of indentured servants in the colonies. • Tobacco is very rough on the soil • This caused colonists to move west in search of more land

  7. Indentured Servents • No other stable source of labor; slaves too expensive, and birthrate too low • In exchange for working, they received transatlantic passage and eventual "freedom dues", including a few barrels of corn, a suit of clothes, and possibly a small piece of land. • However, most did not receive these freedom dues

  8. Freedmen Freed servants had no possessions and had to settle on the frontier Growing problems with Indians Governor Berkeley did not help fend off the Indian attacks

  9. Frustrated Freemen House of Burgesses: colonial elected assembly in Virginia colony 1670: Landless whites (primarily freed indentured servants) lose the right to vote in colonial assemblies Growing restlessness among landless whites; felt ignored and unimportant This frustration led to many things, such as Bacon’s Rebellion

  10. Land Disputes With Indians Indians saw and as communal; no ownership, just rights of some to use certain land Colonists saw land as property Conflict caused by colonists clearing land for planting; required constant expansion Clashes with Indians on frontier

  11. Bacon’s Rebellion • Nathaniel Bacon, a planter, led 1,000 Virginiansagainst Governor Berkeley • Disliked the friendly policies towards the Indians.  • Berkeley refused to retaliate for a series of savage Indian attacks on frontier settlements (due to his monopolization of the fur trading with them) • The crowd attacked Indians, chased Berkeley from Jamestown, and torched the capitol. • As a result of the rebellions and tensions started by Bacon, planters looked for other, less troublesome laborers to work their tobacco plantations.  • They soon looked to Africa. Propaganda for burning of Jamestown

  12. Slavery • 1619-first slaves in America • However, most slaves sent to West Indies. • Switch from indentured servants to slaves after the 1660s • troublesome indentured servants • waning supply of indentured servants as conditions in England improved • break of monopoly of Royal African Company • Barbados slave code • Slaves used in Southern colonies for rice and indigo cultivation

  13. Slavery (continued) • 1698- Royal African Company, which was first chartered in 1672, lost its monopolyon carrying slaves to the colonies.  • Americans rushed to cash in on the slave trade. • cost went down as supply went up • Blacks made up half of the Chesapeake population by 1750 • Middle Passage: voyage between Africa and Americas • 20% death rate • slaves packed tightly in and transferred under horrible conditions

  14. Triangular Trade • England, West Africa, and the Americas • Exchange of goods between the continents; provided each with an economic need • Major stimulant of the slave trade in the Americas as most North American slaves came from Africa • Senegal to Angola, mostly Senegal and Gambia

  15. Thriving Slavery • As supply of slaves arriving to America begins to go up, cost of slaves begins to go down • Rhode Island becomes leading colony in slave trade • Ironically, Rhode Island will become the first state to abolish slavery • Dependence on slave labor, especially in the South

  16. Slave Codes • Blurred line existed between slaves and indentured servants • Slave codes were adopted to clearly define the legal status of slaves • Beginning in Virginia in 1662, these earliest slave codes made blacks and their children the property of the white masters for life • Modeled after Barbados Slave Code

  17. Preservation of African Culture • Although Slavery began solely for economic purposes, it was accompanied by racial discrimination • to combat their growing sentiment, slaves tried to retain some of their own culture • Gullah: combination of Angola (African region) and English off of South Carolina’s coast • Ringshout: West African dance that would later contribute to jazz movement

  18. Stono Rebellion Example of increasing slave unrest More than 50 slaves tried to march to Spanish Florida, which promised them freedom in attempt to weaken the British Stopped by local militia, returned to masters, and the South Carolina assembly enacted a harsh slave code

  19. Southern Hierarchy • Southern society consisted of:1)Large landowners: small group; lots of land and slaves2) Small Landowners: largest group; one or two slaves3) Landless Whites: freed indentured servants4) Indentured Servants5) Black Slaves • FFV’s: First Families of Virginia – families who arrived in VA before 1690; made up 70% of leaders before Revolutionary War • Controlled most of the wealth and political prowess in the colony

  20. Southern Colonies • Center of society was the plantation, very little industry • Very few cities • Low life expectancy • high number of widows • women had more property rights • Economy dependent upon on slavery

  21. New England Colonies • The combination of Calvinism, soil, and climate in New England made for energy, purposefulness, sternness, stubbornness, self-reliance, and resourcefulness. Longer life expectancy; clean water and towns; population growth Organized in building cities; each had a meeting house, school, church Puritan cause united colonists Less diverse

  22. Religion in New England Colonies -Increase Mather: advocated Half-Way Covenant • Jermiad – a new type of sermon preached by New England’s ministers in the middle of the century • scolded parishioners for their lack of piety and the waning importance of religion. • “Half Way Covenant” encouraged church membership • become a member now, have spiritual conversion later

  23. Salem Witch Trials A group of adolescent girls in Salem, Massachusetts claimed to have been bewitched by certain older women.  A witch hunt ensued and led to the legal lynching of 20 women in 1692 Witchcraft hysteria ended when the governor of Massachusetts prohibited any further trials and pardoned those already convicted

  24. Family Life in New England Colonies Women married young (before twenty); high birth rates First of the colonies to begin to confirm their own populations by birth rather than by immigration

  25. New England Industry • Poor soil in Northern Colonies that was rocky and hard to till • Poor climate • Not as hospitable to agriculture as the South • Caused Northern colonists to get involved in fledgling industries • lumber and fishing

  26. Work in the Colonies • Colonists worked from dawn till dusk, and only at night if it was “worth a candle” • Women performed domestic duties • Men worked primarily in agriculture, • although some small industries (lumber, fishing) existed in New England • Very little schooling for children, especially in the southern colonies

  27. Migration to America 17th century English home • Population in colonies originally based on immigration to colonies; later they would confirm their own populations by birth • “Dukes don’t emigrate”-most white emigrants came from neither the poor nor the rich. • people who came to colonies did not tend to be previously wealthy in England

  28. Leisler’s Rebellion leader of rebellion: Jacob Leisler 1689-1691: revolt in New York Hostility between lordly landholders and aspiring merchants Merchants revolt violently against wealthy large landowners (created by patroonships – similar to headright system) Caused by growing aristocracy in Northern colonies

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