1. Chapter 4: American Life in the 17th Century 1607-1692

2. The Unhealthy Chesapeake
People had a shorter life expectancy due to the spread of disease
IE: Malaria, dysentery, typhoid
50% people did not live until age 20
Few people had grandparents
25% of the remaining people hardly made it to age 50, and for women, age 40
The ratio of men to women was about 6 to 1 in 1650
They were still outnumbered about 3 to 2 at the end of the century
Virginia, with 59,000 people, became the most populous colony

3. The Tobacco Economy Tobacco exhausted land
People moved westward onto Native land
Conflict and attacks
About 1.5 million pounds of tobacco was hauled out of Chesapeake Bay in the 1630s
This equaled about 40 million pounds a year by the end of the century
More tobacco = more labor
The right people for the job became indentured servants
Indentured Servants - paid passage in exchange for several years service.
Headright System - 50 acres of land to whoever (plantation owner) pays the passage of an immigrant (indentured servant).

4. Bacon’s Rebellion
Late 1600s, many free, poor, landless, single men were frustrated by the lack of money, land, work, and women.
In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a few thousand of these men in a rebellion against the hostile conditions, attacking Indian settlements, refusing to retaliate.
People were promised land & disliked Virginia governor, William Berkeley’s, friendly approach towards Indians.
Bacon died of disease causing Berkeley to end the uprising.
Bacon’s legacy lived on, giving frustrated poor folks ideas for rebellion, creating paranoia.

5. Colonial Slavery
As early as 1619, African slaves were brought over to the United States.
many landowners used white servants.
Mid 1680s – black slaves outnumber white servants for the first time.
By blacks accounted for nearly half of the Virginian population, and in South Carolina, they outnumbered whites 2:1.
Most of the slaves were from West Africa, commonly from places like Senegal and Angola.
Interestingly, some of the earliest black slaves gained their freedom and some became slaveholders themselves.
The earliest Slave Codes made sure slaves and their children would remain slaves to their masters for life, unless purposefully freed.
In 1698, the Royal African Company, lost its monopoly on carrying slaves to the colonies.
Many Americans, including many Rhode Islanders, rushed to cash in on the slave trade.
Eventually, Rhode Island became the first state t abolish slavery.

6. Africans in America
Slave life was hard, as rice growing was much harder than growing tobacco.
Blacks in America evolved their own languages, blending their native customs with English.
Blacks also contributed to music .
Instruments like banjos and bongo drums.
In 1712, a slave revolt in New York City killed a dozen whites and twenty one blacks were executed.
In 1739, South Carolina blacks revolted and attempted to march to Spanish Florida, but were stopped by local militia.

7. Southern Society A noticeable social gap began to widen.
In Virginia, a clutch of extended clans dominated the House of Burgesses.
They came to be known as the First Families of Virginia.
In Virginia, there was often a problem with drunkenness.
The largest social group was the farmers.
Social Triangle
Great Planters-owned many slaves and vast domains of land; ruled the region's economy and monopolized political power.
Small Farmers-largest social group, may have owned a couple slaves.
Landless Whites- many were former indentured servants.
Black Slaves – forced to complete grueling tasks.
Few cities sprouted in the South.
Schools and churches developed slowly.

8. The New England Family
New England - clean water and cool temperatures, disease was not as predominant as in the South.
First New England Puritans had an average life expectancy of 70 years.
Unlike the Chesapeake, the New Englanders migrated as a family, instead of individually.
Women usually married in their early twenties and gave birth every two years.
A typical woman could expect to have ten babies and raise about eight of them.
Death in childbirth was not uncommon.
In the South, women usually had more power, since the Southern men died young.
Southern women could inherit the money,.
The opposite of the above was true in New England.
When a man died the Church inherited the property, not the woman.
In New England, men did not have absolute power over their wives, but they did have some power over women.
New England law was very severe and strict.
For example, adulterous women had to wear the letter “A” on their bosoms if they were caught (as with The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne).

9. Life in the New England Towns
New England life was organized.
New towns were legally chartered by colonial authorities.
A town usually had a meetinghouse surrounded by houses and a village green.
Towns of more than 50 families had to provide primary education.
Towns of more than 100 had to provide secondary education.
In 1636, eight years after Massachusetts was established, Puritans created Harvard College to train men to become ministers.
In 1693, Virginia established their first college, William and Mary.
Puritans ran their own churches and democracy.

10. The Half-Way Covenant and the Salem Witch Trials
As Puritans began to worry about the loyalty and faith of their children, a new type of sermon came about called “jeremiads.”
In jeremiads, earnest preachers scolded parishioners for their waning piety in hope to improve faith.
Paradoxically, troubled ministers announced a new formula for church membership in 1662, calling it the “Half-Way Covenant.”
In the Half-Way Covenant, all people could come and participate in the church, even if they fell short of the “visible-saint” status and were somehow only half converted (with the exception of a few extremely hated groups).
Early 1690s, a group of Salem girls claimed to have been bewitched by certain older women.
Led to a hysterical witch-hunt resulting in the executions of 20 people, 19 of which were hanged, 1 pressed to death, and two dogs.
Back in Europe, larger scale witch-hunts were already occurring.
Witchcraft hysteria eventually ended in 1693.

11. The New England Way of Life
Due to the hard New England soil, people had difficulty growing crops.
New Englanders turned to trading as an occupation.
New England was less ethnically mixed than its neighbors.
Due to the rough soil.
The climate of New England encouraged diversified agriculture and industry.
Black slavery was attempted, but didn’t work.
It was unnecessary since New England was made of small farms rather than plantations, like Southern areas.
Rivers were short and rapid.
The Europeans in New England chastised the Indians for “wasting” the land, and felt a need to clear as much land for use as possible.
Both groups had two very different views on the land; the Indians viewed the land as sacred and not to be messed with.
Fishing became a very popular industry.
It is said New England was built on “God and Cod”.

12. The Early Settlers’ Days and Ways
Women- wove, cooked, cleaned, and cared for children.
Men cleared land; fenced, planted, and cropped the land; cut firewood; and butchered livestock as needed.
Resentment against upper-class pretensions helped to spark outbursts
Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 in Virginia
uprising of Maryland's Protestants toward the end of the 17th century
New York, animosity between lordly landholders and aspiring merchants fueled Leisler's Rebellion, an ill-starred and bloody insurgence that rocked New York City from
In 1651, Massachusetts prohibited poorer folk from "wearing gold or silver lace”.
Farmers rose at dawn and went to bed at dusk.
Few events were done during the night unless they were “worth the candle”.
Life was humble but comfortable, at least in accordance to the surroundings.
The people who emigrated from Europe to America were most typically lower middle class citizens looking to have a better future in the New World.

13. Makers of America: From African to African-American
Arrival into the New World brought new languages, music, and cuisines to America.
Africans worked in the rice fields of South Carolina due to their background and their resistance to disease, compared to Indians.
The first slaves were men; some eventually gained freedom.
1740 –
large groups of African slaves lived together on plantations
female slaves were expected to spin, weave, and sew.
Most slaves became Christians, though many adopted elements from their native religions.
Many African dances led to modern dances.
Jazz is the most famous example of slave music entering mainstream culture.

14. Estimated Slave Imports to the New World (1601-1810)
Region
17th Century
18th Century
Total
Percent
Spanish American
292,500
598,600
871,000
11.7
Brazil
560,000
1,891,400
2,451,400  33
British Caribbean
263,700
1,401,000
1,664,700
22.5
Dutch Caribbean
40,000
460,000
500,000  
6.7
French Caribbean
155,800
1,348,400
1,504,200 
20.3
Danish Caribbean
4,000
24,000 
28,000
0.4
British North America and future United States
10,000 
390,000
400,000  
5.4
TOTAL X
7,419,300
100