CRE 151 English Settlements in America

 CRE 151  English Settlements in America

1)      Start of 17^th century -English had not established permanent settlement in Americas

a.      Next century it outpaced its rivals

b.      English encouraged emigration at higher rates than Spanish, French and Dutch

c.      Established nearly a dozen colonies

d.      England experienced a significant population increase in 16^th century

                               i.      Grinding poverty

    ii.      Forced thousands of English people to migrate many arriving in Chesapeake Bay colonies

1.      Virginia and Maryland to work in tobacco fields

2.      Another group -Pious Puritan families

 a.      Believed that scripture demanded them establish colonies in Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, New Haven, Connecticut and Rhode Island colonies in New England

2)      The Diverging Cultures of the New England and Chesapeake Colonies

a.      Promoters of English colonization wrote about the bounty the English would find

              i.      Hoped to get a return on profit

     ii.      Either by importing raw resources

   iii.      Providing new markets for English goods

          iv.      Spread of Protestantism

b.      English migrants made the journey hoped for outcomes

            i.      English migrants establishing Virginia and Maryland decidedly commercial in orientation

 1.      Early Virginians at Jamestown Hoped to find gold

 2.      Quickly discovered that growing tobacco more likely to make money

3.      Thousands of unmarried, unemployed and young Englishmen

4.      A few English women

a.      Hoped for better life on tobacco fields of two colonies

b.      A different group of English men and women flocked to cold climate and rocky soil of New England

1.      Spurred by religious motives.

2.      Often following ministers in a migration beyond the seas

3.      Envisioned a new Rnglish Isreal

a.      Where Reformed Protestantism would grow/thrive

b.      A model to rest of Christian

c.      A counter to Catholic mence

4.      English in Virginia and Maryland worked to expand profitable tobacco fields

5.      Those in New England built towns focused on the church

a.      Congregation decided what was best for itself

b.      Congregational church resulted

                                                   

 ii.      Many Historians believe that the fault lines that eventually separated the North and south in U.S. originated in the differences between Chesapeake and New England colonies 

 iii.      Source of these differences lay in England’s domestic problems

1.      The English state church -Church of England established in 1530

a.      Demanded conformity or compliance with its practices

2.      Puritans pushed for greater reforms

3.      By 1620 the Church of England saw leading puritan ministers and followers as outlaws

a.      A national security threat represented by their opposition to its power

b.      Many decided to relocate to New England to avoid the noose of conformity

4.      Many loyal to the Church of England went to Virginia for economic opportunity (also mocked and ridiculed the Puritans both at home and in New England 

iv.      Civil war broke out in 1640, pitting royalist supporters of King Charles I and the Church of England against Parliamentarians, the Puritan reformers and their supporters in Parliament

v.      1649 the Parliamentarians gained the upper hand

1.      And unprecedented move executed Charles I

2.      England became a republic, a state without a king

 3.      English colonist in America followed closely the events

 4.      Many Puritans left New England and returned home to fight against the king and the national church

 5.      Many English women and men in Chesapeake colonies and elsewhere in the English Atlantic world look with horror at mahem the Parliamentarians, led by Puritan insurgents were unleashing in England

 6.      The Turmoil in England increased the problems with administration/imperial oversight of Chesapeake and New England colonies difficult

 a.      Two regions developed with divergent cultures.

3)      The Chesapeake Colonies; Virginia and Maryland

a.      Served vital purpose in developing 17^th century English empire

      i.      Providing tobacco -a cash crop

          ii.      Early history of Jamestown did not suggest the English outpost would survive

 

1.      Settlers struggled with each other and Native inhabitants (Powhatan)

 

2.      John Smith -took control and exercise near dictatorial powers which only aggravated the squabbling

 

3.      Settlers inability to grow own food only added to the instability

 

a.      They were essentially employees of the Virginia Company of London

 

IV.                A Joint stock company where investors provided capital/assumed risk in hopes of profiting

 

V.                  Most colonists were more interested in finding gold and silver, growing their own food

4)      Early Struggle and the Development of Tobacco Economy

a.      Poor health, lack of food, fighting with Natives -took many lives of original Jamestown settlers

b.      The winter 1609-1610 known as “the starving time” came close to annihilating entire colony

c.      By June 1610 few remaining settlers decided to abandon the area

                                                              i.      Only last-minute arrival of supply ship from England prevented total collapse of colony

                                                             ii.      Ship also brought new settlers

1.      1200 of the 7500 who came to Virginia between 1607 and 1624 survived

5)      Geroge Percy on “The Starving Time”

a.      Forced to eat horse’s, other beast, dogs, cats, rats, and mice

b.      They even ate boots, shoes, and other leather

c.      Serpents, snakes, and roots

d.      I felt like a  savage

6)      By 1620s Virginia had made it through the worst

7)      By 1619 the fledgling colony operating under leadership of a governor, council and house of burgesses

a.      Economic stability came with cultivation of tobacco

b.      Smoking tobacco long standing practice among natives

c.      English and European consumers soon adopted it

d.      In 1614 Virginia began exporting tobacco to England

                                        i.      Earned sizable profit

                                    ii.      Saved the colony

e.      The second tobacco colony in Maryland formed in 1634

                           i.      Granted a charter to the Calvert family fby King Charles for loyal service

                                 ii.      Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, conceived of Maryland as a refuge for English Catholics

f.        Growing tobacco very labor intensive

g.       Colonists required stedy workforce for clearing land, caring for youn plants

h.      The mature leaf of plant had to be cured (dried)

                   i.      Need construction of drying barns

                        ii.      Once cured the  tobacco packaged in hogshead (large wooden barrels)

                              iii.      Loaded aboard ship

                               iv.      All required considerable labor.

i.        Labor needs initially met by indentured servants

                                                              i.      Young, impoverished, often illiterate Englishmen occasionally English women signed in England

1.      Pledged to work typically five to seven years

2.      Growing tobacco in Chesapeake colonies

3.      They received paid passage to America, food, clothing and lodging

4.      At the end of the indenture received freedom dues

a.      Food and other provisions

b.      Sometimes land provided by colonies

c.      Promise of new life in America strong attraction to England’s underclass

5.      In the 1600s some 100,000 indentured servants traveled to Chesapeake Bay

6.      Most poor young men in their early 20s.

7.      Life harsh, indentured servants could not marry, subject to will of the planters who bought their contracts.

8.      Treated like property, contracted servants essentially sold or traded by those who purchased them

9.      Some contract holders did not feed or house their servants well

a.      If indentured servant committed crime or disobeyed those who held their contracts their terms of service could be lengthened Often by several years

                                                             ii.      Those who completed terms of services could begin new lives as tobacco planters

10.  Virginia Company implemented the Headright system =those who paid their own passage to Virginia received fifty acres plus an additional fifty for each servant or family member they brought with them.

11.   

8)       The Anglo-Powatan Wars

a.      choosing to settle on banks of the Chesapeake meant the English unknowingly placed themselves in the center of the Powatan Empire

b.      a powerful Algonquian confederacy of thirty native groups with as many as 22,000 people

c.      territory equally of the Susquehannock people also bordered English settlements at the north end of Chesapeake Bay

d.      Tensions ran high between English and Powhatan -near constant war prevailed

e.      First war -Anglo-Powhatan War (1609-1616) resulted not only from English Colonists’ intrusion onto Powhatan land

                                     i.      Also refusal to follow cultural protocol by giving gifts

f.        English actions infuriated and insulted the Powhatan

g.       1613 settlers captured Pocahontas (also called Matoaka

                        i.      Daughter of a Powhatan headman named Wahunsonacook

                            ii.      Gave her in marriage to Englishman John Rolfe

                   iii.      Their union, her choice to remain with the English helped quell the war in 1614

                        iv.      Pocahontas converted to Christianity, changed her name to Rebeca

                        v.      Sailed with her husband and several other Powhatan to England where introduced to King James

                vi.      Promoters colonization publicized Pocahontas as example of good work of converting here to Christianity.

h.      Peace did not last -war broke out in 1620 the Second Anglo-Powhatan War

                                   i.      Expansion of English settlement nearly one hundred miles into the interior

                                   ii.      Because of continued insults and friction caused by English activities

                  iii.      Powhatan attacked in 1622 killing almost 360 English (about a third) of the settlers

                    iv.      English responded by annihilating every Powhatan village around Jamestown

                      v.      And conflict continued

i.        Third Anglo Powhatan War erupted in 1644 to 1646 began as a surprise attacked in which Powhatan killed 500 hundred Englis colonists

                            i.      Their ultimate defeat forced the Powhatan to acknowledge King Charles I as their sovereign

                                          ii.      The Anglo-Powhatan Wars -almost 40 years -illustrate degree of native resistance that resulted form English intrusion into Powhatan confederacy

9)      Rise of Slavery in the Chesapeake Bay Colonies

a.      Transition from indentured servitude to slavery as main source of labor happened first in the West Indies

b.      A small island of Barbados, colonized in 1620s

c.      English planters fist grew tobacco as their main export crop

d.      But in the 1640s they converted to sugarcane

                                     i.      And increasingly relied on African enslaved people

e.      In 1655 England wrestled control of Jamaica form Spanish

                                   i.      Turned it into lucrative sugar island run on forced labor

f.        Slavery was slower to take hold in Chesapeake colonies

                                i.      By the end of 17^th century both Virginia and Maryland had adopted chattel slavery

1.      Legally defined Africans as property and not people

2.      Dominant form of labor to grow tobacco.

3.      They also enslaved Native people

10)  First Africans arrived in 1619

a.      Slavery did not exist in England

b.      Had not become an institution in colonial America

c.      First group of Africans worked as servants

                                                              i.      Like their White counterparts

                                                             ii.      Could acquire land of their own

                                                           iii.      Some Africans converted to Christianity and became free landowners with White servants

                                                           iv.      Change in status of Africans in Chesapeake to that of enslaved people occurred in last decades of 17^th century

11)  Bacon’s Rebellion

a.      Involved both White and Black people

                         i.      Believed Virginia government impeding their access to land and wealth

                             ii.      Seemed to do little to clear land of Native Americans

                              iii.      Hastened the transition to African slavery in Chesapeake colonies

                      iv.      Rebellion takes name from Nathaniel Bacon

1.      A wealthy young Englishman who arrived in Virginia in 1674

a.      Despite the early friendship with Virginia’s royal governor. Bacon found himself excluded from governor’s circle of influential friends and councilors

b.      Wanted land on the Virginia frontier

c.      But the government fearing warring tribes, forbade further expansion

d.      Bacon marshaled others, especially former indentured servants who believed the governor limited their economic opportunities and denying them the right to own tobacco farms

e.      Bacon’s followers believed Berkeley’s frontier policy did not protect English settlers enough

f.        Worse -they believed that Berkely tried to keep the peace in Virginia by signing treaties with various Native peoples.

g.       Bacon and followers saw native people as obstacles to their access to land and pursued a policy of extermination.

h.      Bacon and other Virginian attacked the Susquehannock without the governor’s approval

IV.                Berkly ordered Bacon’s arrest

V.                  Bacon led his followers to Jamestown, forcing the governor to flee to safety to eastern shore

VI.                Then they burned the city

VII.              Bacon’s Rebellion -produced a vicious struggle between supporters of the governor and those who supported Bacon

VIII.            Reports of the rebellion traveled back to England causing Charles II to dispatch both royal troops and English commissioners to restore order

IX.                By the end of 1676 Virginians loyal to the governor gained the upper hand

X.                  Executed several of the leaders of the rebellion

XI.                Bacon escaped the hangman’s noose but died of dysentery

XII.              The rebellion fizzled in 1676, but Virginians remained supporters of Bacon and continued to harbor grievances over their access to Native land.

                                                             v.      Bacon’s Rebellion catalyzed creation of racial caste system based on slavery in Chesapeake colonies

1.      At time of rebellion indentured srevants made up majority of laborers in region

2.      Wealthy white people worried about large number of laborers

a.      And their relative freedom

b.      Worried about the alliance between Black and white servants forged during rebellion

c.      Replacing indentured servitude with Black slavery diminished these risks

d.      Reduced reliance on White indentured servants

IV.                Who were often dissatisfied and trobulsem

V.                  Creating a caste of racially defined laborers whose movements stric=ky controlled

VI.                Lessened possibility of alliances between Black and White workers

VII.              Racial slavery served to heal the division between wealthy and poor White people

VIII.            Creating the illusion of unity of whiteness

                           vi.      Colonial laws made slavery legal institution

                     vii.      New laws passed curtailed black freedom

                    viii.      Creted racial slavery

                    ix.      Virginia passed law in 1680 prohibiting Free Black people and enslaved people from bearing arms

                     x.      Banning Black people from congregating in large numbers

                    xi.      And establishing harsh punishment fore enslaved people who assaulted Christians or sought freedom

                    xii.      Two lears later -another Virginial law stipulated that all Africans brought to the colony would be enslaved for life

      xiii.      Thus increasing reliance on enslaved people in tobacco colonies

              xiv.      These laws -draconian -institute helped planters meet labor demands

                  xv.      Served to alleviate English fears of an uprising

              xvi.      And reduced the tensions between rich and poor White people

12)  Defining American -Robert Beverley on Servants and Enslaved People

a.      Robert Beverly a wealthy Jamestown planter and enslaver

                             i.      This appeared in his history and present state of Virginia -published in 1705 illustrates the contrast between White servants and enslaved Black people

b.      Their servants -distinguished by names of Slaves for Life and Servants for a time

                                 i.      Slaves are the Negroes

1.      Their posterity

2.      Following the condition of the mother -follows the womb

3.      Called slaves in respect of time of their servitude because it is for life

                             ii.      Servants -serve only for a few years, according to their time in indenture

1.      Or custom of the country

2.      Custom of the country takes place upon such as have no indentures

3.      The law in this case -servants under the age of 19, they are brought into the Court to be adjudged

4.      From the age they are judged to be, they must serve until they reach the age of 24

5.      If judges upwards of 19, they are Servants for term of 5 years.

6.      Male Servants and Slaves of both sexes employed together in tilling, and Manuring the ground, In sowing and Planting tobacco, Corn, and etc.

7.      Some is distinction is made with reference to food and clothing

8.      both works as dictated by the Overseers, the Freemen and Planters

                         iii.      White women rarely or never put to work in the ground

1.      If she be good for anything else

2.      Discouraged all Planters from using any women so -laws imposes heaviest taxes upon Female Servants working in the ground

a.      White women to be absolutely exempted

b.      It is common for Woman slaves to work outside,

IV.                Nor does law make any distinction on her taxes, whether she works in the field or at home

13)  Puritan New England -second major area colonized by English first half of 17^th century

a.      Differed markedly in founding principles from the commercially oriented Chesapeake tobacco colonies

b.      Settled largely by waves of Puritan families in 1630s

c.      Religious orientation from the start

d.      Reform-minded men and women calling for greater changes to the English national church since the 1580s

e.      Followed teaching of John Calvin and other Protestant reformers

                i.      Called puritans because they insisted on purifying church of England

1.      Believed to be un-scriptural, particularly Catholic elements that lingered in its institutions and practices.

                ii.      Many leaders in early New England were ministers -who studied at Cambridge or Oxford

                        iii.      They questioned the practices of the church o fEngland

                              iv.      Deprived of careers by king and his officials in effort to silence their dissenting voices.

f.        Other Puritan leaders -eg. First governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop came from the privileged class of English gentry

g.       Well-to-do Puritans and many thousands left homes in England

                                          i.      Not to establish a land of religious freedom

                                             ii.      But to practice their own religion without persecution

h.      Puritan New England offered opportunity for them to live out their beliefs

                                                i.      As they believed bible Demanded

                                          ii.      Set out to create a model of reformed Protestantism a new English Isreal

i.        Conflict between Puritanism had divided English society

                                     i.      Because Puritans demanded reforms that undermined traditional festive culture

                                          ii.      For example -denounced popular pastimes such as bear bating

1.      Letting dogs attack a chained bear

2.      Often conducted on Sundays when people have few hours of free time.

3.      They called for an end to the theater

a.      Censuring playhouses as places of decadence

b.      Bible itself became part of struggle between Puritans and James 1 -the head of the Church of England

c.      It was this James who commissioned a new version of the bible

d.      In effort to stifle Puritan reliance on the Geneva Bible

IV.                Which followed the teaching of John Calvin and placed God’s authority above the monarch’s

e.      King James Version, published in 1611, instead emphasized the majesty of kings.

4.      During 1620’s and 1630s conflict escalated to the point where state church prohibited Puritan ministers from preaching

a.      View of the Church -Puritans represented national security threat

IV.                Their demands for cultural, social and religious reforms that undermined king’s authority

b.      Unwilling to conform to the Church of England demand many Puritans found refuge in New world

IV.                But in America they were not united

V.                  Some called for complete break with church of Engloand

VI.                Others remained committed to reforming the national church.

14)  Plymouth: The First Puritan Colony -the Pilgrims

a.      Ulike other puritans insisted on complete separation from the Church of England

b.      First migrated to the Dutch Republic in Europe seeking religious freedom

c.      There while they did have more freedom, were concerned with loosing their English culture, as their children began learning Dutch language and adopting Dutch culture

d.      English Pilgrims (and other Europeans) feared another attack on Dutch republic by Spain

e.      In 1620 they moved and founded Plymouth Colony -Present-day Massachusetts

                                     i.      Governor of Plymouth -William Bradford was a separatist

                                  ii.      A proponent of complete separation from English State church.

                           iii.      Bradford and other Pilgrim Separatists represented major challenge to vision of unified English national church and empire

                            iv.      On the Mayflower which landed on tip of Cape Cod -Bradford and forty other adult men signed the Mayflower Compact -presented a religious rather than an economic rationale for colonization.

                                    v.      Compact expressed a community ideal of working together

                          vi.      A larger exodus of Puritans established Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630

                 vii.      Pilgrims of Plymouth welcomed them, and two colonies cooperated with each other.

15)  The Mayflower Compact -first American governing document, predating u.s. constitution by over 150 years

16)  Was it a constitution, how much authority did it convey and to whom

17)  Different labor systems were distinguished early in Puritan New England from the Chesapeake colonies

a.      Expected young people to work diligently at their calling and all members of their large families, including children, did bulk of work necessary to run homes, farms, and businesses.

                              i.      Few migrants from New England came as laborers

                          ii.      New England towns protected their disciplined homegrown workforce by refusing to allow outsiders in

                             iii.      Assuring their sons and daughters had steady employment

                          iv.      Their labor system produced remarkable results

1.      Maritime-based economy with scores of oceangoing ships and crews to sail them

2.      New Englan mariners sailing New England made ships transportd virginaia tobacco and West Indian sugar throughout the Atlantic world.

18)  A city upon a hill -in 1630 English Puritans establishing Massachusetts Bay Colony, New Haven Colony, Connecticut Colony and rhode Island

a.      Were migrant families with young children and their university-trained ministers.

b.      Their aim create model of reformed Protestantism – a city upon a hill a new English Israel

c.      Stated goal -may be soe religiously, peaceably and civilly governed as their good Life and orderly Conversions may win and incite the Natives of the Country to the Knowledge and Obedience of the only true God and Savior of Mankind, and the Christian Fayth

d.      The seal of the Massachusetts bay company shows native American who entreats more of the English to come over and help us

19)  Puritan New England differed in many ways from both England and the rest of Europe

a.      Protestants emphasized literacy so everyone could read the bible

b.      Unlike the Catholics who refused to allow private ownership of Bibles

c.      Puritans placed special emphasis on reading scripture, commitment to literacy led to first printing press in English America in 1636

d.      In 1640 they published the first book in North America -Bay Psalm Book

e.      As Calvinists -Puritans adhered to doctrine of predestination

                                 i.      Few elect would be saved and others damned

                                ii.      Church membership restricted to those Puritans willing to provide conversion narrative telling how they came to understand their spiritual estate by hearing sermons and studying the bible.

                      iii.      Puritans, rather than fighting for religious freedom, were just as intolerant as the English state church

                             iv.      Dissenters including a Puritan minister roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, who challenged Governor Winthrop in Massachusetts Bay in 1630s were banished

1.      Williams questions the Puritans ‘taking of Native land

2.      Argued a complete separation from Church of England

a.      While Puritans in Massachusetts rejected the idea

b.      as well as the state punishing individuals for their beliefs

3.      Williams did not believe the state could compel true orthodoxy

4.      He did not accept the idea that nonbelievers were destined for eternal damnation

5.      Williams was found guilty of spreading dangerous ideas

6.      He wen on to found Rhode Island as a colony that sheltered dissenting Puritans from their brethren in Massachusetts

a.      Williams also wrote favorably about native people

b.      In contrast to how they were viewed by Puritan New England

7.      Ann Hutchinson also criticized evolving religious practices of Puritan authorities in Massachusetts Bay Colony

a.      She held that Puritan ministers taught a shallow version of Protestantism emphasizing hierarchy and actions

IV.                A covenant of work rather than a covenant of grace

b.      As a literate Puritan woman -she presents a challenge to the male ministers’ authority

c.      Her major offense was her claim of direct religious revelation

IV.                A type of spiritual experience that negated the role of ministers.

d.      Because of Hutchinson’s beliefs. And defiance she was convicted of holding false beliefs

IV.                In 1638 she was excommunicated and banished from colony

V.                  Went to Rhode Island in 1642, later to find safety among the Dutch in New Netherland

VI.                A year later she was killed along with her family by Algonquian warriors

V>                Governor winthro9p noted her death as the righteous judgement of God against a heretic.

20)  The Puritans, like many other Europeans believed in the supernatural

a.      Every event app;eared as sign of God’s mercy or judgement

b.      People believed witches allied themselves with the devel to carry out evil deeds

                                    i.      Deliberate harm such as sickness or death of children

                               ii.      Loss of cattle or other catastrophes

c.      Hundreds accused of witchcraft in Puritan New England

                                    i.      Many townspeople whose habits or appearances bothered their neighbors

                                       ii.      Or who appeared threatening for any reason

d.      Women were more targeted, because of belief they were more susceptible to devel because of their weaker constitution

                                           i.      Made up most suspects and those who were executed

                                            ii.      Such as the Salem Witch hunts in 1692

1.      Many of accusers who prosecuted the suspected witches had been traumatized by the Native wars on the frontier

2.      \by unprecedented political and cultural change

3.      Blamed witches as the source of their problems

4.      Executed nineteen people and caused the death of several others.

21)  Puritan Relationships with Native People

a.      Like Spanish and French Catholic rivals -English Puritans took steps to convert native peoples to their version of Christianity

b.      John Elliot Leading Puritan missionary in New England

                                                              i.      Urged Natives in Massachusetts to live in praying towns established by English authorities for converting Native Americans

                                                             ii.      To adopt the Puritan emphasis on the centrality of the bible

                                                           iii.      Reading scriptures, which Eliot had translated into local Algonquian language and published his work in 1663

                                                           iv.      Hoped that some of New England’s native inhabitants would become preachers

c.      Tensions between Puritans and native people still existed

d.      Relationship deteriorated as Puritans continued to expand their settlements aggressively and as they continued to disrupt native lives

e.      These led to King Phillips War (1675-1676) a massive regional conflict that was nearly successful in pushing English out of New England.

22)  Initiall when the Puritans arrived in 1620-30s, local Algonquian people viewed them as potential allies in the conflicts between various rival Native groups

a.      In 1621 the Wampanoag, led by Massasoit, concluded peace treaty with Pilgrims at Plymouth

                         i.      In 1630, puritans in Massachusetts and Plymouth allied themselves with the Narraganset and Mohegan people against the Pequot

1.      In May 1637-Puritans attacked large group of several hundred Pequot along the mystic river in Connecticut

2.      Horrified their Native allies

3.      As the Puritans massacred all but a handful of men, women and children’

                           ii.      By mid 17^th century -Puritans had pushed further into interior of New England

1.      Established outpost along the 0nnecticut River Valley

2.      Seemed no end to their expansion

3.      Wampanoag leader Metacom or Metacomet -aka King Phi8llp among the English was determined to stop English encroachment

4.      Wampanoag, along with Nipmuck, Pocumtuck, and Narraganset -took up arms to drive the English from their land

5.      In the war that ensued Native forces succeeded in destroying half of the frontier Puritan Towns but

a.      In the end, the English with the aid of the Mohegans and Christian Nativ Americans prevailed and sold many captives into slavery in the West Indies

b.      The severed head of King Phillip was publicly displayed in Plymouth

c.      The war forever changed English perception of Native people from then on

IV.                They were vilified as bloodthirsty savages, a new type of racial hatred came into being to define the Nativ-English relationships in the Northeast.

d.