Crises in the Chesapeake and New England Colonies, 1676-1750

EMPIRE AND INEQUALITY

Break up into small groups.Talk about and answer these questions:Based on your readings, particularly in the

documents, what hierarchies of power developed in the colonies. 

How were they similar or different than what the British were used to at home in Europe?

Were people happy with these developments?

HIERARCHIES OF POWER

What forces—political, economic, military, social, cultural—gave shape to the English empire?

What roles did the colonies play in the empire? What were relations like between colonies and the

mother country and how did they change over time?How did changes within colonies aff ect the larger

empire?How did power, wealth, and class develop in the

colonies?What is a slave society, and how did Virginia become

one? How did imperial politics—in particular the contest

between England and France and England's larger geopolitical objectives—aff ect the lives of ordinary men and women in the colonies?

MAJOR QUESTIONS

THE PLAN OF EMPIRE: BENIGN NEGLECT?

Insignificance – “So long as the mainland colonies contributed little to the national wealth and cost the government less, the government was willing to exercise only the loosest of controls and permit each of the colonial societies to develop in its own way.”

Instability in England - “The result was a period of significant instability at the end of the seventeenth century, as local colonial governments struggled to control their own inhabitants, police their borders, and establish successful economies.”

Result? – Benign neglect of colonies – could do largely as they pleased for most of 17th-century

King Charles II (r. 1660-1685); King James II (r. 1685-1688)

“In the middle decades of the seventeenth century, the British government was thrown into turmoil as Parliament and the king struggled over the future direction of the nation.”

Two overlapping points of contention: religion and royal power

English Civil War (1642-1660) Result: Colonial issues on the backburner, largely

ignored and allowed to develop own institutions

TURMOIL IN ENGLAND

The Political Economy of Mercantilism: Goals and Realities

Theory of mercantilism:Competition among nations for finite amount of wealth

Creation of colonies and empires to generate wealth for motherland

Dependent relationship – motherland’s wellbeing came first

Navigation Acts – all trade must go through motherland, only British ships, goods taxed to benefit crown

Colonies provide raw materials; motherland produced finished goods of higher value

MERCANTILISM

GODANGELS

MORTALS(DIFF. LEVELS OF HUMANS)

BIRDSFISHES

MAMMALSPLANTS

Great Chain of Being

Atlantic Triangle Trade

EFFECTS OF NEGLECT ON COLONIAL ECONOMIES?

How did benign neglect affect colonial development?

Colonial ideas about economy, society, and politics?

Tobacco Economy – land and labor hungryBacon’s Rebellion in Virginia and Maryland

Class conflictConflicts with Native Americans

New England – Puritan ProblemsReligious dissentersEconomic growth and issuesWars with Native AmericansTroubled relations with England

CRISES IN THE COLONIES: 1600S

THE TRANSFORMATION OF VIRGINIA

“At the same time that a newly invigorated England was planting new colonies, those established earlier were reshaped…[as a result of] political and sometimes social instability.”

THE TRANSFORMATION OF VIRGINIA

Problems of colonial development in the ChesapeakeRising Inequality in Virginia (and Chesapeake)

Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676Virginia Became a Slave SocietyIncrease in freedom for whites in colonial America

Decrease in freedom for others

Inequalities of wealth and power developed quickly in the Chesapeake in 17 th-centuryReflected in land ownership patterns –

wealthy snatched up best lands near waterWealthy: more land, close to water, lower

transport costs = more tobacco, more profitsWealthy: political connections, offi ces, taxes Indentured servants lacked wealth and power Indentured servants mistreated, beaten,

worked to death in hot, humid, backbreaking labor

Terms of service could be extended for minor infractions, pregnancy

GROWING INEQUALITY IN VIRGINIA

PLANTATION = SYMBOL OF WEALTH & POWER

Tobacco Economy Dictated Land Use and Settlement Patterns

GODANGELS

MORTALS(DIFF. LEVELS OF HUMANS)

BIRDSFISHES

MAMMALSPLANTS

Great Chain of Being

Main question: How did American context aff ect class relations?

Paternal relations in England – the Great Chain of Being

Traditional class relations: royalty, aristocracy, peasantry – supposedly unchanging

But new wealth in America = new social classes How did new economy aff ect class relations? What confl icts and how were they worked out? Who would have power in America if there was

no settled aristocracy or king present?

NEW CLASS RELATIONS IN AMERICA

Causes?

Demands?

Eff ects?

BACON’S REBELLION, 1676

Sir Nathaniel Bacon – member ofthe VA gentry

How do you think Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 was related to the growth of slavery in the Chesapeake colonies?

BACON’S REBELLION AND SLAVERY?

“Significantly, the rebels sought not to overthrow the social and political order but to secure economic opportunity and a legitimate government that protected that opportunity. In its aftermath, Virginia became a slave society.”

Opportunity for whom?Lack of opportunity for whom?

EFFECTS OF BACON’S REBELLION

Native Americans enslaved throughout North and South America – died from disease, escaped, not reliable source of labor

Portuguese slave colonies: plantation modelDutch slaves – N.A. colonies, NY, Brazil,

Caribbean, African slave tradeIn 1680, only 7 percent of VA population was

African of origin (some of those were servants, not slaves)

By 1700, 28% of pop. was African, 14% slaveWhat changed in two decades?

EARLY SLAVES IN NORTH AMERICA

Hard plantation labor performed by indentures (white and black) and slaves from 1620s to late 1600s

Not yet a “Slave Society” or slave-based economy

Some social mobility for first Africans in North America Some bought and owned land and slaves in Chesapeake Close living and relations between white and black servants Same rights as other settlers - right to sue in court

Gradual institution of racial slavery – laws distinguished between whites (free) and black slaves Eventually early black settlers lost rights and had to conform

to new “slave society” By late 17 th-century, Chesapeake had become slave-based

economy

A “SOCIETY WITH SLAVES”

1639 law guaranteed “all inhabitants of this Province being Christians (Slaves excepted)” all the rights and liberties of “any natural born subject of England.”

First mention of difference in application of law to slaves vs. free whites

Page 100 in textbook – timeline of legal definition of slavery over time

FIRST MD SLAVE LAW

Plantation labor, formerly provided by indentured servants (white and black), was, by the 1700s, work only suited to African slaves

Slavery developed differently in English colonies:diff. than other European colonies and other past societies with slaves

Hereditary, passed from mother to childRarity of manumissions – freeing – of slaves compared to other slave societies

African (or Indian) = slave; white = freeFreedom of whites compared to lack of freedom of slaves

No matter how poor, a white person was still free, solely based on skin color

AMERICAN SLAVE SYSTEM

Problems in the “City Upon a Hill”?Religious dissenters – problems of

inclusion and exclusion, purity and tolerance

Land Hunger – conflicts with Native Americans

Economic problemsRelations with England/CrownQuestions: What issues or problems

strengthened the Puritan covenant? Which weakened it?

CRISES IN NEW ENGLAND

George Henry Boughton, “The Early Puritans of New England Going to Church,” 1867

Puritan Economic Angst

Economic changes in 18 th-century New EnglandHow could Puritans maintain purity of

religious purpose with economic change?Increased Atlantic commerce: Triangle Trade

based on wealth created by West Indies slave-grown and

slave-produced sugarGrowth of N.E. shipping industry and ports, trade

with England and other coloniesPuritans took part in consumer revolution - tea,

household goods, ostentatious consumer goods, slaves

New England increased bonds of unity with England in this period

New class differences among Puritans, less cohesiveness

ECONOMIC TRENDS AND PROBLEMS

Atlantic Triangle Trade

Problem of declension (decline) from religious focus and farming (competency)

Less land available – how will children get competency (enough to live upon)?

Opportunities for wealth through commerceBelief in hierarchical society anyway, so

justified differences in wealth and powerBut commerce conflicted with P beliefs in

communityIncreased inequality, relationship of rich to poor One solution: Wealthy started own churches so

they wouldn’t have to feel badQuestions: Did Puritans become the very thing

they had left in England? What did economic change do to the covenant?

ECONOMIC ISSUES AND CONFLICTS

Benign neglect during 17 th century - ignoredEnglish Civil War in 1640s – Puritans (in England) took power and killed king

Throne restored, however (raised questions of what would happen to N.E. Puritans who had supported civil war in England)

1664 Charles II granted New England, and New Netherlands to his brother James

James allowed New England to keep its own lawsWhy was England’s neglect of N.E.

important?

PROBLEMS WITH ENGLAND

Mercantilist goals of England – force colonies to guide economic benefits to mother country

Raw materials from coloniesColonies should then buy finished goods from

EnglandNavigation Acts in 1660s to enforce mercantilism:

English ships, sailors, goods to and from EnglandBut N.E. didn’t have much raw materials or a

plantation economy to send to EnglandInstead, N.E. had shipping which competed with

British ships, got around laws, traded with competing nations

N.E. wanted more free trade, not mercantilism

Puritans not obeying Navigation Acts, so England taxed them and reorganized govt.

PURITANS AND MERCANTILISM

Atlantic Triangle Trade

England unhappy w/ N.E. circumvention of Navigation Acts, so created new colony, Dominion of New England from Maine to NJ

Got rid of colonial assemblies and enforced religious toleration

During Glorious Revolution, 1688-89, Puritans retook colonies from Anglicans/Royalists

But with reinstatement of monarchy, English asserted tighter control, creating Royal Colony of MA, new navigation acts and taxes

Later in 1715 Parliament took control of colonies, virtual representation in Parliament

MA and other New England colonies had same structure, but actual representation

Outcome? Trajectory? Where was this headed?

FIGHT FOR CONTROL

George Henry Boughton, “The Early Puritans of New England Going to Church,” 1867

Relations with England: Looking into the Future

NEW COLONIES, NEW PATTERNS

“As a rule, the most successful colonies offered the most opportunity to free white people and the greatest amount of religious toleration.”

New Netherland Became New York, 1664 - King Charles gave his younger brother James, the Duke of York, title to the land With a large show of force, the British forced the Dutch

colonists to surrender their land to British rule.

Diversity and Prosperity in Pennsylvania William Penn was granted 1681 charter from Charles II

Diversity and prosperity were generated in both colonies

NEW COLONIES, NEW PATTERNS

Indians and Africans in the Political Economy of Carolina

The Carolina constitution designed by Anthony Ashley Cooper (the Earl of Shaftesbury) combined democratic and feudal elements: A representative government and toleration of religion Hereditary rules, which placed an elite group of nobles at the top and

hereditary serfs (and black slaves) at the bottom

“As might have been predicted…the only aristocracy that the Carolinas developed was one of wealth, supported by the labor of slaves.”

The Barbados Connection – English immigrants from Barbados brought slaves and harsh slave code to Carolinas Carolinas developed staple crop, rice, and became slave-

based society – majority slave in many areas

Main ideas? Goals?

FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS OF CAROLINA, 1669

What impact would the conflict between different empires have on colonial life?

What effects did imperial conflicts have on relations between the colonies and the mother country?

What role did Native Americans play in these conflicts? On whose side?

CONTINUING ISSUES AND QUESTIONS