Colonial North America in a Day (more or less)

Actually the Vikings reached North America 600 years before Jamestown

Reconstruction of Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows in modern-day Newfoundland, Canada

First “successful” English Colonies: Jamestown and Plymouth Colonies

Jamestown 1607: Who were the settlers and why were they there?

Virginia: Early Settlement Created to provide revenue to the English king 75 percent of the people who came over to Jamestown/Virginia in the 1600s were servants Rigid class structure, similar to England’s at least initially, Most people poor; 25 percent convicts. Very high mortality. 80% of the first 7,000 colonists (tassantassas, or “strangers” in local Native dialect) who came from England 1607-1624 died of starvation, disease, Indian attacks. Introduction of European crops and animals greatly affected local ecosystems

Indentured Servants

“It was a complex chain of oppression in Virginia “It was a complex chain of oppression in Virginia. The Indians were plundered by the white frontiersmen, who were taxed and controlled by the Jamestown elite. And the whole colony was being exploited by England, which bought the colonists’ tobacco at prices it dictated and made 100,000 pounds a year for the King.” ~Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States

Women in Jamestown

Women First of all, there were not that many. “mail-order brides” had to marry Valued for fertility Often treated as commodities, worth 150 pounds of tobacco at first.

Early NE colonies

Plymouth Colony 1620: Founded on the site of a deserted Native village with fields already cleared. Why was it deserted?

The Great Dying Before the English settlers arrived, plague kills many natives in NE, leaving many villages as ghost towns.

The Puritans: a group of English Reformed Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to "purify" the Church of England from practices and rituals that they considered too similar to Roman Catholicism.

Early New England Colonies About half the early colonists were not seeking religious freedom but came for commercial reasons Class system: Church elders and merchants/large landowners were on top Under them were smaller landowners Then apprentices and hired servants At the bottom were people forced into servitude because of debt or conviction of a crime Later “strangers” a collection of indentured servants, Indian slaves captured in wars, and African slaves formed the lowest classes

Tabletop discussion How does each reading discuss the class structure of the colonies? How are they different? Do they contradict each other? Which is more believable to you? Why? Write down your responses. One per table group.

During the 1600s, 21,000 colonists arrived in NE vs 120,000 in the Chesapeake area (Virginia and Maryland) but by 1700, the white population of NE was greater. Why do you think this was?

Pequots: Powerful Tribe in Connecticut

The Pequot War 1637 English settlers (and Indian allies) massacre three Pequot villages in 1637. Most of the surviving Pequots are sold into slavery. Set the pattern for settler-native interaction for the next 250 years. Confrontation not cooperation.

Colonies in the South Southern colonies had a more favorable climate/soil for growing. Developed larger scale plantations growing, initially rice and indigo (a blue dye)

The thing is, you need a labor force for these plantations…

Slavery in North America 1619-1776

What about indentured servants from Europe They died in huge numbers due to climate and disease. Their price was going up due to English Civil War in the mid-1660s

As in NE, slaves in Carolina, initially, were generally not Africans, but Native Americans. South Carolina was an exporter of (Native American) slaves in its first decades. Most valuable export for S.C. was slaves. Mostly exported to the West Indies

Planters purchased Indian slaves from other Indians in exchange for guns/weapons, fueling wars between tribes and leading to chaos.

One estimate is that white merchants bought 30,000-50,000 Native Americans from 1670-1720, most for export out of Charleston, S.C.

“Problems” with enslaving Natives Due to a lack of immunity, Native Americans were highly likely to catch European diseases (and die). They were familiar with the land and could escape more easily (and they often had a “place” to escape to. Indians resisted

Finally Indian slavery in the Carolinas comes to an end due to Indian resistance and disease.

Reasons for using enslaved African labor It only took 2-6 weeks to get to the colonies from the Caribbean at first. (European indentured servants had to come much farther) Africans had a genetic advantage over Europeans and Indians. Immunity to malaria (and other diseases). Europeans had a much higher death rate than Africans. A dead servant is expensive!! Experience-Africans had previous experience and knowledge working in sugar and rice production. Low escape possibilities-They did not know the land, had no allies, and were highly visible because of skin color..

The Beginnings of Slavery in North America Early chattel slavery starts in 1400s on sugar plantations on islands off West Coast of Africa. The Portuguese and Spanish had already brought large numbers of Africans to South and Latin America. In 1619, the first Africans were brought to Jamestown colony by a Dutch ship.

Slavery in the Colonies New England colonies, Massachusetts first to legalize slavery in 1641!-no large plantations; slaves lived in cities and on small farms. Indians exchanged for slaves in the Caribbean. Chesapeake Bay colonies, including Virginia. At first, Africans were indentured servants. Tobacco farms, small but labor intensive: 1 slave-to several dozen slaves. Carolinas and Georgia-large rice and indigo (a blue dye) operations, and later cotton plantations. Becomes the heart of slavery in the 13 colonies.

Colony of Carolina founded in the mid-1600s, major city is Charleston Colony of Carolina founded in the mid-1600s, major city is Charleston. 40 percent of the slaves imported into North America came through Charleston

Slavery on the eve of the Revolution 500,000 slaves in the 13 colonies out of a total population of about 3 million. 1 in 6. Most in the southern colonies. In South Carolina blacks soon outnumber whites

Slavery in the New World “Although slavery in the colonies began for economic reasons, it became firmly rooted in racism.” What does this quote about the development of racism in the colonies?