THANK YOU!!

 

Hello everyone! I want to take the time to thank all of my readers, those who read this regularly and those who just wander here while surfing the web, for taking the time to read this blog. It has come to my attention that I have surpasses 57,000 page views, and that is huge. This blog started off as a project for a class that taught future teachers how to integrate technology into their classrooms, which I got the idea for because a few of my friends had trouble with history class in high school. After the class was over, I kept with it, and I'm really glad that I did. Now I have people like the New York State Historian who reads my blog, which is a nice little ego boost for me.

So, again, thank you everyone for taking the time to read this blog. It means a lot to me that I can get this many views, or any views really, and shows that the field of history is definitely something I want to be involved in for as long as possible.

So, What Made The New England Colonies Different?

After having written about both the New England colonies and the Chesapeake colonies, what are some ways in which the New England colonies were different?

The New England colonies differed greatly from those of the Chesapeake in many ways. The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies were unique in that, unlike the Dutch, French, Spanish, and the Jamestown settlers, the Puritans and Separatists came to North America in family units. Although all of the early settlers faced hardships, the New England colonists came prepared to stay for a long period of time--they built proper shelter, they learned to farm and fish in the new climate, and they built a comraderous relationship with the Natives who occupied the area.

The Spanish and the settlers of Jamestown sought three things when they came to the Americas: God, glory, and gold. They were sent to search for gold and make their respective mother countries rich, they were expected to convert the Natives to the respective religions, and they wanted to make names for themselves (thus, glory).

The French and Dutch were primarily interested in trade and making moolah, although the French did make attempts to convert the Natives to Catholicism.


So, that's about it. Stay tuned for more posts soon!

Additional Expansion in British North America

In the era leading up to the French and Indian War, the British were known for their land expansion in North America. In this blog post, I will discuss the expansion that was occurring in Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, and a brief description of the Transatlantic "Triangle" slave trade.

Pennsylvania

• In 1681, King Chalrles II grants William Penn and his family a huge tract of land as a payment of debt. Penn, unlike other land grantees, bought the land from the indigenous residents and attempted to work in partnership with them. Pennsylvania was much less violent than other English colonies in its early settlement.
• Pennsylvania was religiously liberal (the colonists had freedom of conscience and worship) and was politically inclusive by the standards of the time.
• Virtuous citizens were the foundation of Penn's society.
• An elected assembly, inclusive suffrage laws, and relatively inexpensive land meant that most Pennsylvania free men could vote in local elections.
• Pennsylvania was a major exporter of grain to the Caribbean and had a deep water port (Philadelphia). The population grows rapidly and attracts people from all over Europe--particularly German-speaking Protestants.

The Carolinas

• The Lord's Proprietor (which I'm going to refer to as LP for the remainder of this post)
• Sugar planters from Barbados have gotten exceptionally rich off of the sugar trade in the 1640s and 1650s.
• They are the wealthiest men in the kingdom. When Charles II comes to power, the LP will get whatever they want, politically speaking.
• They bankroll the Second Anglo-Dutch War; Charles II gives eight of them huge land grants in North America (and they act as a barrier to Spanish northward expansion).
• Carolina--a huge land grant--included the present states of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, a small part of Missouri, most of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, the southern half of California, the southern tip of Nevada, the northern part of Florida, and a slice of northern Mexico. Wow, that's a lot of land!

• Making Carolina Pay
• The LP created a vertically organized set of businesses that connect all aspects of their Atlantic trade interests--some in Africa, some in England, and some in Barbados.
• They invested in shipping lines, they were given a monopoly on the slave trade, and they began to import massive numbers of slaves to the Caribbean and mainland; they bought sawmills for the pine trees on their land in Carolina (and used timber and pine tar to build more ships); they opened gun works and cloth works in England (so they could manufacture the goods that they would trade in exchange for African slaves); they bought rice and beef from planters in Carolina and fed their workers in the Caribbean.

Before I give you some information about the "Triange Trade" (also known as Trans-Atlantic Trade, Atlantic Trade, Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and Atlantic Slave Trade...you really can't go wrong here), I would like to pose a question. I will not be giving my answer, it's just something to think about for in/when you read this, learn about this subject in school, or study it on your own: Which came first: slavery or racism?

The "Triange Trade" Develops

• Bristol became the second largest city in England--merchant capital--importer of all colonial goods (rum, sugar, tobacco, etc), source of English colonial credit, huge naval base, slaving ships, armories, and textile works.
• Africa--slaves are exchanged for guns, cloth, and rum
• Caribbean--slaves are purchased and sugar is produced to be sold elsewhere
• Coast of mainland North America--slaves are purchased, tobacco is planted and harvested, sugar is turned into rum, and English goods are dropped off

The Royal African Company shipped about 100,000 Africans to North America between 1672 to 1689. After they lost the monopoly in 1692, Bristol merchants imported slaves even faster.

Colonies in Crisis continued...

Continuing from the previous "Colonies in Crisis" post...

Why did the English want the Hudson Valley?

• Security--the Hudson Valley was the backdoor to Massachusetts Bay and they had a very heavily armed military power (Five Nations of the Iroquois) on the border.
• Territory--the English were interested in expanding their territory. They out-numbered the Dutch and were already setting up towns in Western Massachusetts, but they wanted more land.
• Trade--the port at the end of the Hudson could provide military and trade advantages; there were also bountiful beaver populations which the English could make money by hunting them, skinning them, and selling their pelts to make hats and other clothing items for the people over in England.
• Food production--the Hudson could be used to export food to the English landholdings in the Caribbean Islands.

The First Anglo-Dutch War (1652--1654): A Global War with Local Effects

• The Dutch West India Company (DWIC) realized that the English of Massachusetts Bay out-numbered them greatly and were looking to take control of the Hudson Valley.
• The Dutch strengthened the upriver site of Fort Orange (which had been is serious disrepair) and repaired the wall around their settlement in the New Amsterdam (the wall is where Wall Street in New York City gets its name).
• The DWIC also stepped up its munitions trade with the Mohawks, depending on them to be a "wall of flesh" against the English.
• Dutched tried to prove that they are actually in control of the Hudson Valley by the leading attacks on the Esopus Indians (located near modern-day Kingston, NY)--this decade of warfare goes so badly for the Dutch that they demonstrated their weakness and ineptitude, not their strength.  

The International Rivalry Heats Up: England and the Netherlands Go At It Again in the 1660s

• In 1660, King Charles II is invited back to power at the death of Cromwell. Charles had been a refugee for 12 years and lacks administration experience.
• With a weak king in charge of a nation, there are sure to be many problems. Poplation is still divided as a legacy of the recent Civil War, unemployment (although getting better) is still high; the kingdom is broke and he needs money but cannot tax. England has lost ground in a colonial race to claim North America and Africa because of Dutch gains.
• He needs friends to keep him in power and money to finance the war.
• The people who were in a position to loan him money were merchants with extensive investments in the Caribbean.
• In exchange for loaning money, they want:
• more land in the Caribbean
• lands on the mainland on which to grant freedom dues for former indentured servants and on which to grow crops to feed their workers
• unlimited access to slave trading in Africa (controlled by the Dutch)
• secure shipping lanes for their global investments
• All of these conditions argue for war with the Dutch. Again, a global war with local effects. In 1664, the English take the Hudson.

English Takeover and its Effect

• The Dutch lose the Hudson as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1664
• The Puritans living on Long Island rowed over to take over Manhattan without firing a single shot.
• The resident population is not interested in loyalty--they want to make money and believe that they can do that jst as well with an English colonial governor as they have been doing with a Dutch colonial governor.
• The reason for the name New York was because the colony of New Netherland was given to James, Duke of York.
• At first, the English administration leaves the Dutch property and trade laws in place, which was especially good for frontier tradespeople and tenant farmers. This lead to pluralism (diversity if views), but with soldiers to protect them and not being terribly loyal to the Dutch government anyhow, this was a profitable and fairly easy transformation for people used to doing international business in other nation's territories.

Long-term Consequences of the Anglo-Dutch Wars for North America

• The English consolidate coastal areas of middle North America; they are able to get vital naval building supplies and can thus better control the shipping lanes.
• The imperial contest in North America will hereafter be between the Spanish (Florida and west of the Mississippi River), the French (Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes, and Canada), and the English (mostly centered within 100 miles of the Atlantic coastline).
• The Dutch will remain an international powerhouse, but not in North America. They will be redirected to the more lucrative areas of the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.
• The Dutch lost control of the monopoly on the African slave trade. The English will develop the Royal African Company and many more slaves will be directed from Africa to colonial America.
• Although they have not been good at it in the past, the English now have to manage diversity of all kinds.

I think this is a good place to stop with this particular blog entry, and I hope it keeps you yearning for more historical knowledge but also tides you over until the next entry. I cannot guarantee that I will be able to post it soon, as I start classes for the spring semester on Monday, but I hope to have the time to post entries on a semi-regular basis.

WOW!!

I logged in for a minute to see when I posted my last entry since I knew it had been a while, and just wanted to say that I think it's amazing this little blog has received almost 52,000 views! To my followers and to the others who have stopped by and checked out this blog, thank you for your support! It's almost midnight and I'm exhausted, but there WILL be at least one new (and relevant) post here tomorrow!

Colonies in Crisis: Imperial Rivalries, Expansion, Diversity, and Unexpected Problems in Governance

Well, after a long hiatus, I'm back! So, let's get right to work, shall we?

Overview of Main Points

• In the 1650s, the English government was rebounding from a civil war led by Oliver Cromwell and now had a newly powerful Parliament.
• They perceived significant economic benefits for England through trade (such as mercantilism) and competition against the Dutch.
•  In 1660, King Charles II was restored to power. However, he needs money and fears going back to war with the Dutch. He sought to cultivate wealthy investors and merchants and would exchange to them land titles in North America for loans. This, along with renewed warfare with the Dutch, results in more colonial expansion--England gained additional colonies in the Caribbean, as well as New York, the Carolinas, and Pennsylvania.
• King Charles II will also authorize new trade ventures (such as the Royal African Company, which was a monopoly on slave exportation to North America).
• The English government is now more committed to English settlers expanding the backcountry, although that would trigger many rebellions in the 1670s. To administer this rapidly changing, super-diverse place, the Crown will try to impose a more strict form of governance after 1676. English officials will discover that the settlers are eager to protect their "liberties".

English Politics-- 1640s and 1650s

• 1642-1651--English Civil War--King Charles I was beheaded by order of Parliament, monarchy was abolished, and civil war rages between the King's supporters (who want the monarchy restored) and the Puritans (who want more representation by a godly government).
• 1653-1659--Oliver Cromwell is in charge and Puritans dominate Parliament.
•  Because so many Puritans have migrated to the Caribbean and sugar plantations are making so much money, English become very pro-Caribbean. Money made over-seas keeps domestic tax rates lower.

~ Change in economic policies.


Economic Policy

Mercantilism--The belief that colonies exist for the sole benefit of the mother country.

Navigation Acts

• Series of provisions passed by Parliament in the 1650s and 1660s designated to bolster English trade position internationally, boost the navy, and strengthen economic connection to the Atlantic colonies.
• Goods from the colonies are shipped to England in English ships, with English crews.
• Goods to the colonies had to originate from English ports.
• Creates huge numbers of job in England over time, lessens the "push" out of England, starts England down the road to becoming a naval superpower.
• Tightens connection between England and its North American colonies.
• Makes North American colonies economically valuable and worth keeping. A broader bunch of people are now interested in success of the North American colonies.
• Dutch interpret Navigation Acts as hostile and are one step away from declaring war.

Rivalry with the Dutch

Anglo-Dutch Sources of Conflict

• England and the Netherlands want the same things
• They are pursuing the same methods (overseas expansion, Caribbean plantation, increasing their naval forces)
• They are trying to settle and trade in the same places
• They share, at the highest level of government, an unflinching Calvinistic conviction that God is on their side militarily and prosperity is a sign of God's favor
• Conflict between these two Protestant nations seemed inevitable--they will go to war several times in the 17th centry

Opening the doors to diversity

• The Dutch had accepted all religious and political refugees into New Amsterdam--they wanted to attract a sizeable population

Long Island in the 1650s

• South end--Dutch
• North end--5,000 or so Puritan families
• English believe Long Island is controlled by the Plymouth colony (Separatists)
• Dutch believe Long Island is under their control and try to tax it
• The in-migrating English are strong and a potentially troublesoe group

In the 1650s, the English go on the offensive

• Navigation Acts--a series if provisions designed to bolster English trade position internationally, boost the navy, strengthen economic connection to the Atlantic colonies
• These Acts provoke Dutch traders
• The English get aggressive in the Caribbean--they expand to control more sgar islands (fighting the Dutch and Spanish for prizes, like Jamaica and the other islands, which were the most lucrative properties in North America.
• The English use pirates to policce their coastlines when necessary--periodically, they will license pirates as mercenary military contractors (they get to keep what they can steal, they get to disrupt other nations' businesses, and they get to create terror and bad conditions for investments).
• The English also have their eye on the Hudson Valley.

Sorry it has taken me a while to post. I know my hiatus was long, but I have been very busy with school, writing for Examiner.com, and interning with the New York State Historian. It has been a stressful and hectic past few months, but now that I'm on break for a month from school I should be able to update this blog on a more regular basis!
 

The Founding of Boston, Massachusetts

"God Almighty in his most holy and wise providence, hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, others mean and in submission." ~~ A Model of Christian Charity ~~The Honorable John Winthrop, 1630 ~~Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor Boston, Massachusetts was founded in 1630 by English Puritans fleeing religious persecution. On March 29, 1630, a fleet of eleven ships carrying 700 people sailed from England to Massachusetts, and their leader was the Honorable John Winthrop. In 1630, before embarking on their journey to New England, Winthrop gave a sermon which he called A Model of Christian Charity but is more commonly known as "the city on a hill sermon" in which Winthrop preached that the Massachusetts Bay Colony should be a shining example of...Christian charity. The colonists forst settled in Charlestown but later relocated to Trimoutain, which was renamed Boston after Boston, England where most of the settlers hailed from. The Puritans hoped to create a godly society but instead created a society just as intolerant as the one they had left. They were persecuted for their religious beliefs but in turn, they persecuted the Quakers, who they called a "cursed sect". Between October 1659 and June 1660, three Quakers were hanged in Boston. Despite that, the new colony flourished. In 1631, the first sailing ship built in America was launched from Boston and soon the shipbuilding, fishing, and whaling industries thrived. So many historic events happened in Boston and there are many important landmarks around Boston. We'll learn about them in future posts. Until then, keep making those oh-so-important historical connections!

A Very Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials

From June through September 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted off to Gallows Hill for their punishment--hanging; another man was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on charges of witchcraft; and hundres more faced accusations of witchcraft. These months, which are known for the period of the infamous Salem Witch Trials, was the unfortunate product of mass hysteria that swept through Puritan Massachusetts. In 1689, Samuel Paris, a wealthy Barbados planter and reverend, traveled to Salem, Massachusetts to take over the congregation and preach there with his wife, daughter Elizabeth (whose nickname was Betty), neice Abigail Williams, and slave Tituba. Betty and Abigail began acting strangely in 1692, convulsing and having high fevers. Four years earlier, in 1688, a 13-year-old girl named Martha Goodwin exhibited the same behaviors after having an argument with luandress Goody Glover. Two days later, the other two Goodwin children started exhibiting the same behaviors. Glover was arrested, tried for bewitching the Goodwin children, and later hanged. A doctor who attended to Betty and Abigail suggested that witchcraft may have been the cause of their strange behavior. At the request of a neighbor, Tituba baked a "witch cake" (a cake of rye and the urine of the "afflicted" girls) and fed it to a dog. According to an old English folk remedy, feeding a dog this kind of cake would counteract the spell put on Betty and Abigail. The reason the cake is fed to a dog is because the dog is believed to be a "familiar" to the Devil. Being pressured to say who caused their odd behavior, Betty identified Tituba and two other woman named Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne and accused them of witchcraft. This accusation, along with petty jealousies and hatred of the young girls towards citizens in their town, was the start of the Salem With Trial. Although dozens were arrested and tried before her, Bridget Byshop (or Bishop), who was hanged at Gallows Hill on June 10, 1692, was the first to be convicted of witchcraft. She owned two taverns in Salem, wore bright red dresses often, and would flirt with the men of the village. But was she, or any of the other 18 women and men who lost their lives due to witch hysteria, really a witch? We may never know the answer.

The Founding of Massachusetts Bay Colony

Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The colony was founded by the Massachsetss Bay Company, which included inestors in the failed Dorchester Company, which had established a short-lived colony on Cape Ann in 1624. However, the second attempt at colonization, which began in 1628, was very successful with over 10,000 people migrating to New England in the 1630s. The population was mostly Puritan and its government was run by leaders who were strongly influenced by Puritan beliefs. Before the arrival of the English, the area of Massachsetts Bay was the territory of several Algonquin-speaking tribes including the Massachusett, Nauset, and Wampanoag. The Pennacooks occupied the Merimack River valley to the north and the Nipmuc, Pocumtuc, and Mahican occupied the western lands of present-day Massachusetts; however, some of these tribes were under tribute to the Mohawk who were expanding aggressively from upstate New York. Early in the 17th century, famed European explorers Samuel de Champlain (known for the settlement of New France, which is present-day Quebec City in 1608 when he was only 21-years-old) and John Smith (a leader of the Virginia Colony based at Jamestown between September 1608 and August 1609) chartered the area. The first five ships to the Massachusetts Bay Colony sailed from England in 1629 and by 1642 more than 21,000 Puritans had emigrated to Massachusetts. This event, known as the Great Migration, established the basis for a stable and thriving society.

The Founding of Plymouth Colony

In November 1620, the first Puritans to emigrate to America were a group of separatists known as the Pilgrims. They had already fled to the Netherlands in 1608, but they eventually came to believe that the Dutch were corrupt. A decade later, fearing that their children were being drawn into the culture, they decided to emigrate to the Virginia Colony (which is MUCH larger than the state we know today). The expedition was financed by a group of investors who hoped to establish a base for profitable trade. In September 1620, the Mayflower, carrying 150 settlers and crew, embarked on its journey to Virginia. However, the ship was blown off course and landed hundreds of miles north on Cape Cod. The 102 people who survived the journey established the colony of Plymouth. Before landing, the Pilgrim leaders drew up the Mayflower Compact--the first written frame of government in what is now the United States. William Bradford and Edward Winslow, two of the colony's leaders, published an account of their adventures aboard the ship and in the New World titled Mourt's Relation in 1622.

Hey y'all!

After a long hiatus due to school, I am glad to be back and have plenty of time to update this blog and help all of you learn more about American history and help you all continue to be able to make the connections you need to make between the past so you can know how we got to where we are now. This past semester at school has given me some amazing things which I hope will shine through my writing, especially in later posts when I discuss the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. I also had the pleasure of working with children in the local high school and helping them to understand that history is more than just facts, names, and dates. However, academics aside, this month has brought me some amazing opportunities. I won an essay contest held by Brad Meltzer, author and host of "Brad Meltzer's Decoded" on the History Channel, the write-up he did of my winning entry can be seen here: http://bradmeltzer.blogspot.com/. Also, I will be starting tutoring in social studies at my local branch of the public library, and I have an upcoming job interview with the New York Public Interest Research Group to help put an end to hydraulic fracturing (also known as hydrofracking) in the state of New York. Keep an eye out here for updates on all things American history. New blog posts will be up soon!

Bacon's Rebellion

The Context
~~Tobacco prices were dropping due to over-production
~~Backcountry farmers were being bombarded with new taxes
~~There were no political opportnities because there hadn't been elections in more than a decade
~~There were struggles over the hogs; the Susquehannok began to raid the freely roaming animals which belonged to the backcountry farmers
~~The backcountrymen ask Governor Berkley and the House of Burgesses for immediate action; the backcountrymen want all Indians killed and want war against "all Indians in general for they are all enemies"
~~Governor Berkley and the coastal elites want to build forts...next year...on lands owned by elite speculators; they also want to use "friendly" Indians (the groups who trade with the English) as a buffer against "hostile" Indians (the groups who trade with the French) further down.

Nathaniel Bacon agrees to lead an alread-convened militia to kill Indians, without the approval of Governor Berkley. War against the Indians turns into a war against the coastal elite power. Bacon's army marches on Jamestown and burns it, wreaking havoc on coastal Virginia. Coastal slaves are promised freedom by both sides, but Bacon is on the rise. In late summer 1676, Africans join the poor whites in the rebellion. Berkely, desperate to regain control, strikes out at Bacon's army and at all Indians (killing Indians was his key to establish his credibility with the backcountry farmers). Bacon dies suddenly and there is a leadership vacuum; eventually, the armed rebellion collapses but not before entire backcountry race relations are destabilized. Governor Berkley, to set an example, hangs a few of the rebellion leaders, but he does pardon hundreds more.

Consequences of Bacon's Rebellion
~~Backcountry Englishmen gain political clout; now the government can't ignore their wishes.
~~Genocidal assumptions shape backcountry culture--Indian killing becomes a rite of passage for young Englishmen and is described as "defense", such as killing wolves or "other pests".
~~Indians leave and go over the mountains, joining with the Shawnee of Kentucky. The Indians who stay in the backcountry will assimilate or live in near-isolation.
~~There is an immediate sharpening of the color line and the outlawing of miscegenatory marriages; this in turn tightens race-based servitude and expands political participation of white men regardless of class status.
~~English completely stop importing indentured servants from Europe.
~~Race will trump class as a marker of social standing in the colony.

The Colonial Chesapeake: The Land of the Haves and Have Nots

In the Colonial Chesapeake, coastal planters were the "ruling class". They were early arrivals to the Chesapeake and thus had control over the cleared lands on the riverfront. They were closer to ports, abundant in political influence, and were "orderly" families that would intermarry frequently to create a dense network of political power and wealth, known as a "little commonwealth". The coastal planters would often buy both servants and slaves to work, multiplying their plantations' productivity. It is also important to say that these coastal planters lived upriver because in other parts of the Colonial Chesapeake, such as the backcountry, life was a whole different story.

What is a backcountry?
~A backcountry is territory beyond the core settlements (think borderlands); the territory is usually on the peripheries of imperial power (meaning, the Crown didn't pay a lot of attention to what was going on in the backcountry).
~Because of the weak imperial presence, the colonial governments had to be satisfied with influence rather than control.
~The backcountry was usually the leading edge of colonial expansion, and therefore was often more volatile because the colonists were trespassing on Indian lands.
~There was a greater frequency of intercultural contact, interdependency, and cultural bleeding in the backcountry.

Where is the backcountry?
~The backcontry's location changes over time as the colonists expand further west.
~In the Atlantic colonies of the 17th century, English and African migration reaches only about 100 miles beyond the coast by the 1640s--although peripheral, but the Empire's center is in England.
~After the final defeat of the Powhatan in 1644, the English (and a few African) settlers spread up right to the foothills of the Appalachian range. The coastal rim was now well-established. Now the interior becomes the periphery and culturally distinct.

Why do backcountries form?
Backcountries form for a lot of different reasons, here's the reasons for why the Chesapeake backcountry formed.
~Because of loss to the indigenous population there was less populated land.
~Export crop production (tobacco) requires a lot of land.
~Land in the interior is generally cheaper than on the shore, or free.
~Late arrivals to the colonies cannot find well-wooded land on the coast.
~Some colonists were lured there by greater opportunities for trade; there were animal-rich rivers and eager customers who might be blocked from coastal trade.
~Some English settlers do not want the burden of government (no tax officers, no land lords, no overseers of the poor, no one to make one fence in cows and other livestock, and no one to prosecute you if you killed an indigenous trespesser or steal a feral hog).

The Chesapeake Backcountry (1620-1675)
~Elites invest in the fur trade with the Susquehannock Indians in the interior--Virginia and Maryland elites wanted to encourage Indian residency and productivity (buying corn so that they can plant more tobacco), and wish to limit English settlement.
~Cheap lands for tocacco cultivation lures poor men and former indentured servants into the interior. Tobacco is difficult and expensive to transport once above the "fall line" and they are forced to gorw more if they want to make a profit.
~Livestock is a predictable supplement to their incomes--they don't fence in their cattle and hogs, which creates a mess in the Indians' fields.
~The indigenous are triple-pressured--there is an increased commodity of hunting for pelts, radical transformations of the landscape by these new European animals, and there is competition for lands.

Gender, Race, and the Chesapeake Backcountry
~The English sex ratio was skewed--there were far fewer Englishwomen in the backcountry than there were men, and there were some miscegnatory (interracial) marriages.
~Without women and children, the colonists who lived in the backcountry needed to purchase laborers, but they had very little cash to do so.
~There was an overrepresentation of enslaved Africans in the coastal areas--this causes a great resentment among backcountry farmers.
~Backcountry Englishmen felt disenfranchised by laws that connected proof of ownership (a paper title) with a political voice.

Although living in the backcountry was fine for some, there was a lot that could have gone wrong because:
~There was very little military protection--the backcountry was often the front line of conflict because it was often the source of conflict itself.
~There were few guarantees that one's property claims (pre-emption rights) would be recognized--farmlands might have to be forfeited if someone with a paper title shows up.
~The colonists who lived in the backcountry were perceived as "wild" or "rude" or "uncivilized" by one's coastal countrymen--they were sometimes referred to as "our wood kern".

Backcountry Pressures Lead to War
Metacom's War (1675) was a war provoked by livestock, land competition, language, religion, and culture. Metacom is Massasoit's second son--when Massasoit died, his son Wamsutta took over but died mysteriously on a visit to the English. Metacom is increasingly annoyed at the English's sights and swagger. Metacom mobilizes in 1675; it was a multinational coalition which made a series of devastating raids.Early victories went to Metacom and his forces; because of his forces, parts of western New England burned to the ground. At first, the English were not very coordinated and suffered appalling losses. It wasn't until Metacom's supplies were running low, and the English had formed an alliance with the Five Nations of the Iroquois to form the Covenant Chain, when the tides of Metacom's War had changed. The English benefitted greatly from using Iroquois troops as a mercenary force. In 1676, Metacom was killed and the English won.

England and Africa: A Vexed History (1500-1650)

Initially, the British had a clandestine trading relationship with the African Kingdoms, which grew more open as the British naval forces grew. England and Africa were connected in an Atlantic world of commerce and information in what was called the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, more commonly known as the Triangular Trade. Through the Triagular Trade, as you can see from the map above, goods and slaves were traded among Africa, England, the Caribbean, and the Colonies. This was a product of merchanitlism. Merchantilism is when lumber is used to make products and those products are sold throughout the Colonies and the known world all to the benefit of the Mother Country (England, in this case).

Because of the Triangular Trade, there was a creation of Creole Culture. Creole Culture was a fusion of African and European trading practices, dress, and languages. It featured powerful African traders, knowledgeable African translators and clerk, and Africans as human merchandise. People transported in the first half of the 1600s have a greater knowledge of their captors and the religious/cultural systems that they’ll be enslaved in. The British had a grudging respect for African kingdoms and African trading partners during this period. However, the African slave trade was growing increasingly violent; regions plunged into chaos and prosperous peoples have wound up very poor. The British began to imagine that the Africans were just poor, violent, disorderly people and refused to see (for the most part) their own role in creating these conditions.

A Very Brief History of Slavery

It may seem like I am digressing by compiling this post but, I assure you, I am not. To write about American history and to study and learn about American history, one must also learn about slavery. Slavery is often said to be a dark spot on America's history, but it also helped to sculpt our identity as well.

Slavery wasn't just present in the English settlement of Jamestown, slavery was also present in Africa. However, there were differences in African and Old World Slavery compared to the slavery system utilized in the Chesapeake. I will explain the differences in all three slave systems in this blog post.


Traditional African Slavery
~There was no permanent slave status and slaves were socially absorbed into the lineage after the first generation.
~Bartering of adults during famine was common.
~People would pawn themselves in hope for a better life or because of an inability to pay a debt.
~Compensation for serious crimes was paid in people.
~Criminals were sold out of the kin group--no one wanted criminals in their "family".
~Kidnapping was practiced by the Saharan Tuareg.

There were different uses for for African slaves, such as:
~To provide extra wives to expand the kin group through reproduction.
~To provide labor for gold mining.
~To work in salt pits for Trans-Saharan Trade.
~To increase soldiers in king's army.
~To serve as domestics.
~Agricultural production.
~Court officials (eunuchs).
~Menial work.

Old World Slavery
~Ethnically diverse --> had nothing to do with race.
------Saxons, Angles, and various Germanic groups were sold in European slave markets throughout the Middle Ages.
------Christian slaves were sold in the Mediterranean basin to Muslims where they built mosques.
------Muslim slaves were sold to Christians where they built Catholic Churches.
~Slavery was often a result of warfare.
------Rulers of the Greek and roman Empires gained their slaves through warfare...think "Spartecus".
------After the fall of Rome, slavery continued in Europe as continual fighting ensued between various groups and monarchies.
------Manhunts for Celtic slaves occurred.
------Eastern European peoples were raided frequently-- "Slav" is the root term for "Slave".
~Slaves used for diverse reasons.
~Social mobility was possible.
~Church condoned and owned slaves.
~Slavery was not necessarily hereditary.
~Manumission was a decision made by the owner.
~By the 11th century, manumission became frequent and serfdom replaced slavery. By 1200, slavery disappeared in England and much of Northern Europe all together.

Colonial Slavery
~British colonizers viewed North America as a place for the younger sons of the English gentry to make their fortune (ie: have economic freedom).
~English authorities also desired to rid England of undesirable elements from their population such as the poor, landless, unemployed, and the rebels.
~English desired to check the spread of Catholicism.
~People were kidnapped and shipped to the New World without their consent.
------France--brought women to their settlement in Louisiana where the sex trade and prostitution in New Orleans ran rampant.
------England--brought poor to the colonies to get them out of the country.

Colonial slavery was ever evolving, starting first with indentured servitude, as already briefly explained in a previous post and then changing to the exploitation of Native Americans before settling on African Slavery with the first 20 African slaves arriving in Jamestown in 1619.

From the 1620s to the 1660s, Africans were considered servants and had the same freedoms that the indentured servants had. During the 1660s, there was a recorded 1700 free land-owning Africans in the Chesapeake. After the codification of slavery, free blacks lost many of their rights; no longer were they able to own land, carry guns, raise livestock, serve in the local militias, or vote. Free blacks were subject to special taxes and often times, they were also sold back into slavery and their land was confiscated. The mixed race children of black men and white women were enslaved for 13 years.

To maintain a race-based society in the Chesapeake, the romantic and reproductive choices of women had to be controlled. The Planters didn't want to have to compete with a mullato race. Adoption and abortion rates both increased because of the harsh penalties white women endured if they became pregnant and/or gave birth to a mixed-race child of African or Native American decent. However, there was still affection under s system of oppression; white fathers of mullato children often left something to the children in their wills.

Characteristics of the Chesapeake

Each part of the New World was unique and each of what would later be the Thirteen English Colonies had their own characteristics.

1) Periodically, the Chesapeake was really violent, with many revolts and battles between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan.

2) Because of the overproduction of tobacco, there were freqent boom/bust cycles.

3) Because more men came over to the New World seeking economic freedom and glory, the Chesapeake was extremely unequal when it came to the sexes.

4) There was an extreme wealth gap--the wealthy planters known as the Gentry were early arrivals who survived to transmit their wealth to the next generation. They were able to get the few English women and start families, they were able to buy laborers, they were able to get into politics, they lived on the favorable land near the coast, they were able to diversify into Indian trade, and they were able to make policies that benefitted the Gentry class. The poor got the crappy land in the backcountry, had no wife and no kids, and had no money to buy labor.

5) There were huge plantations on the coast and tiny hard-scrabble farms upriver because everyone needed water access to move good around.

6) There was very little to no "natural increase"--adult men died quickly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The women lived longer and would marry multiple times, amassing comfortable fortunes.

7) Immigration is how the population builds.

8) The settlers were not at all religious--there were no missionaries and very few churches.

9) Racial inequality grows between the 1640s-1670s due to indentured servitude and the start of African slavery.

The Founding of Jamestown: England's First Permanent Colony con't...

The Introduction of Tobacco

In 1620, John Rolfe and other new settlers came to Jamestown, Virginia to make a difference. Once they arrived there, they came across a down-trodden group of colonists...all that remained of the settlers of Jamestown was about 1/10th of its original population when they had arrived and set up the colony, thanks to the lack of proper food, water, shelter, and diseases. The difference that John Rolfe was set on making was that he would find some other way for the colony of Jamestown to prosper, as it was evident that looking for gold wasn't going to be the way.

John Rolfe had brought tobacco seeds from the Spanish Caribbean to the colony. Tobacco was a cash crop and a vast amount of the English were addicted to it, to the point where King James had even had it banned. But it wasn't just in England where tobacco was a luxery product, there was great demand for it all over Europe.

Although tobacco demanded large investments (presses, barrels, laborers, etc.) and the planters had to plant huge fields to maximize the profits, tobacco promised exceptional profits. The planters planted more and more tobacco crops in eagerness; however, the disease climate made them feel, rightly, that the life expectancy in the colony was short. Because of how intensive the tobacco crops were and how qickly they used up the nitrogen in the soil, the fields had to be moved every three years. This action fueled the demand for land and created great tension between the English settlers and the Powhatan nation. "Tobacco Culture" created more than just social friction between the English and Powhatan people, it also shaped colonial Chesapeake society geographically, socially, and ideologically. And, although there was a need for labor, the English prided themselves on not enslaving the Powhatan (much).


The Headright System of Colonization

Due to the cultivation of tobacco, there was a shortage of labor as more and more land had to be used, so the English created the headright system. What this meant was that the English advertised the colonies as an economic opportunity and the planters received huge tracts of land for sponsoring indentured servants to go to the colonies and work for them for a period of time before becoming freed peoples and receiving freedom dues.

Most indentured servants, both male and female, served for four to seven years. The masters were obligated by law to provide adequate food, clothing, and shelter to all of the servants. Once the servant finished serving their allotted amount of time with the master, the master presented them with freedom des which included land, money, clothes, and a gun to protect them against the Indians.

The servants of Jamestown were from the British Isles, meaning that they were primarily English, Welsh, Scots, and Irish. Some people were not obtained legally. Many were kidnapped and shipped to the colonies without their consent. The French were running a sex trade and prostitution was rampant in New Orleans. The English brought their poor to the colonies to get them out of the country. The Africans who had arrived prior to the codification of slavery also served as servants and later became free people. The servants worked, lived, and slept together in the early years of the 1610s to 1660s.

During the 17th century, servants, slaves, and masters worked side-by-side. However, as profits increased, masters became harsher towards the servants and slaves. After the codification of slavery, free blacks lost their rights to own land, carry guns, raise livestock, serve in the militia, and vote in the House of Burgesses. Free blacks became the subject of special taxes and were even sold back into slavery. Mixed-race children of black men and white women were enslaved for 13 years. To maintain a race-based society, the romantic and reprodctive choices of women had to be controlled because the planters/masters didn't want to compete with a mullato race.


English Beliefs About Land, Farming, Animals, ect (Received vs. Acquired)

1) Owning property made you a cut above the wandering poor
2) Strong solid buildings=Rich
3) Owning livestock was a good way to become prosperous (meat, milk, fertilizer, increase in herds every couple of years)--it's the mark of civilization
4) Poor men who didn't work must be lazy (they thought the Indian men were poor)
5) Laziness was a sin AND against the law if one was poor; only the Elites could lay around hunting, smoking, and having fun
6) There were no predators in the Chesapeake big enough to harm a cow or tough enough to harm a pig; cows and pigs can therefore roam in the woods and fend for themselves
7) There's an inexhaustible supply of land, wood, etc. For this reason, the English expanded rapidly; their population rose (both through natural reproduction and immigration) and they used a lot of land since every man wanted at least 100 acres.

Changes in Tactic

After the death of Pocahontas in England and the death of her father, Powhatan, Opecancanough took over. With his take over of the Powhatan people, the era of appeasement ended and the Second Anglo-Powhatan War (1622) occurred.Despite the war, the English slowly grew dominant. Their territory expanded and settlement (both forced and voluntary) quickly overwhemed the Powhatan and other interior nations. In 1644, another precision strike occurred by resisting Indians acting in alliance with the Powhatan people, but this was quickly put down. The survivors of Powhatan's village empire withdrew to assimiliate into interior tribes where their ethnogenesis continued...in fact, we'll see these guys again later on.

The Tessentass Arrive--The Chesapeake--The Founding of Jamestown, England's First Permanent Colony

The Chesapeake was a for-profit corporation headed un the Virginia Company founded to make money for English investors; however, the Crown would take over in the 1620s for reasons I will get to later on.

The Chesapeake was founded near a strong coastal empire controlled by the Powhatan Indians who had already acquired immunity to some European diseases. The Powhatan initially reach out to the settlers of the Chesapeake for trade and tribute, but the English are aggressive and are clumsy using diplomacy with people they feel are inferior to themselves.With the introduction of tobacco and livestock, competition for land increases and intercultural violence also increases. With the migration of strangers, mostly poor whites who had no other options, Jamestown was not a very socially cohesive or community-minded place. There was a short life expectancy, so Europeans introduced African slavery in 1619, although it was not dominant until the 1690s. Jamestown was a very unequal society.

The Powhatan Indians were led by a man named Powhatan--he and his family built the empire out of many villages over the last half-century before the English arrived and their empire was held together by strong family networks and the mutual need for protection. The Powhatan Indians were survivors of several decades of pandemic collapse; and they inhabited the most densely populated part of the Eastern seaboard.


Early Contact 1608-1611 (from the Powhatan view)

At first, the Powhatan perceived the English settlers to be a remnant band of survivors, because the English came without women and were thought to be culturally broken, so they made attampts to assimilate the English into their society and permitted them to occupy the swampy undesirable lands. The Powhatah and the English engaged in trade. At first, unequal exchanges were temporarily tolerated by the Powhatan because they understood the trade as tribute offerings by a weak and struggling people. The also engaged in pawn exchange, where adolescents from each group go to live among the others for a given amount of time.


Early Contact (from the English view) a la Professor William-Searle at the College of Saint Rose

~~We're from a much superior culture than you are
~~We've got better technology than you do
~~Of course, you're eager to trade with us and be friendly
~~You guys are suckers. What a bad deal you made. This must mean that your stupid.
~~Hey, why aren't you trading with us anymore?
~~You're lucky all hundred or so of us don't come and kick your butts...
~~Wait, we're all getting sick
~~And no one knows how to famr really...
~~Oh wow, we're really hungry
~~Maybe we can steal some food from the Powhatan



Diplomacy to Avert War

John Smith, one of the settlers of Jamestown, was captured by the Powhatah in 1609. Unlike Disney would like to tell us, John Smith and Pocahontas was never married. When they first met, she was 12-years-old and Powhatan was going to have Smith killed. Pocahontas interceded for his life, as is her right to do as an important woman. Instead of letting her father kill Smith, Pocahontas stopped it and she and Smith were put through a ritual adoption ceremony. By incorporating Smith into his kin network as a subordinate, the werowance (Indian chief of Virginia or Maryland, in this case, Powhatan) hoped to formalize the tribute relationship and make Jamestown one of the Powhatan villages. This, however, did not work and in 1611, the first Anglo-Powhatan War was in full swing as desperate Englishmen, who will not plant corn and do not know how to hunt, attack villages in order to get food.

Roanoke--the Lost Colony

When I first heard about the lost colony of Roanoke, Virginia (now a part of the Carolinas) I was in the fifth grade and I found it fascinating how a colony could just vanish and all that was left behind was the word "Croatoan" carved into the bark of a tree. Even today, it's unknown what happened to the colonists of Roanoke, but one thing is for certain and that is that colony of Roanoke is the first English colony established in North America.

Virginia Dare was born in the short-lived English colony of Roanoke on August 18, 1587. She was the first English person born in America.

Plans for America

And now we come to the bread and butter of this blog, the English colonization of North America, where the rest of the 'story' can now unfold from.


King James I came to the throne in 1603 and rules until 1625, not only was he the king of England, but he was also the king of Scotland, so he united the two--hence, the "United Kingdom" or "Great Britain".

King James wanted to raise revenues but didn't want to spend his own money to do so. So, he began to charge licensing fees for overseas companies and this looked like a good, low-risk bet. He began to allow various people to travel to the Americas so they could colonize them. Some of the early colonies, as you will see, will not be as successful as the ones made famous in this time period such as Jamestown and later Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth.