English Religion and Rebellion in North America 1607-1700

What were special characteristics of the Chesapeake region in the 17th century, and how did they affect life there?

How did various systems of labor take hold in the Chesapeake?

Compare the Indian Rebellion and Bacon’s Rebellion. What were consequences of each for Virginia?

Settling the New World

• Unlike other Europeans, English were able to make successful, populated colonies in North America

• Roanoke colony— “The lost colony”

1606

• After failure of Roanoke, merchants replace gentry as leaders of English expansion– King James and British ministry approve venture to

North America by the Virginia Company to settle region from (present-day) North Carolina to southern New York

– Allows for more autonomy in trade, settlement

• Commerce, not settlement, was the goal of Virginia company– First expedition in 1607 (Jamestown) was limited to

male traders, employees of the company

Threat in Jamestown

• Initially dispatched to ship gold, exotic crops and merchandise to England, the workers found no gold

• In the swampy environment, the men resorted to stealing and conflicts with local tribes for food and survival; only 38 of 120 lived by 1608

• 1611—1,200 settlers sent to Jamestown; less than half survive the “starving time”– Alliance with Powhatan of Algonquins turns to

breaking point; marriage of his daughter Pocahontas to John Rolfe supposed to spark trade and end conflict

Tobacco—a turning point

• Rolfe had brought tobacco seed from West Indies, which thrives in swampy Chesapeake, creating a cash crop for England

• Tobacco becomes basis of economic life and permanent settlement of Jamestown by 1617– To encourage settlement, Virginia Company creates

“headright system”—50 acre parcels of land given to colonists who brought indentured servants into America

– System of representative government formed with House of Burgesses in 1619; 4,500 new colonists arrive by 1622 attracted by land, self-government, and judicial system

Impact of Tobacco in the Chesapeake

“All our riches for the present do consist in tobacco” (1630)

• Exports: 3 million lbs. 1640 to 10 million lbs in 1660

• New arrivals continue to expand up James and Chesapeake, creating large plantations

• However, families were scarce– Disease; death in childbirth; orphans

Expansion of English colonies

• Influx of settlers sparked war with natives in the area, especially over land

• Powhatan’s brother and successor, Opechancanough, resisted any English attempts to take land or convert natives

• In 1622, coordinates attack of 12 tribes, killing nearly 1/3 of English settlers– English fight back, “destroying them

who sought to destroy us”

New Directions

• Uprising leads King James to revoke Virginia Company charter, making Virginia a royal colony

• Church of England established in Virginia, property owners support clergy through taxation

• All royal colonies afterward would be overseen by a royal governor, elected assembly (House of Burgesses) and Anglican Church

Baltimore’s colony

• Following the success of Jamestown, Charles I (James’ successor) wanted a new tobacco colony bordering the Chesapeake

• 1632 Land was granted through a royal charter to Charles Calvert (Lord Baltimore)– Colony was to be sympathetic to

Catholics persecuted by Anglican Church (Charles I sympathizer)

– Grant was called Maryland, after Charles I’s wife

– 1634 first settlers arrive in Maryland

Maryland’s religion

• Maryland became a refuge for Catholics and Protestants

• Tension between religious groups threatened colony’s solidarity—leads to Toleration Act of 1649, granting religious toleration to all Christians

Slaves in the Chesapeake

• Majority of migrants to Chesapeake were indentured servants—subject to harsh punishment, not able to marry, many never escape poverty (only 25% succeed)

• African workers, who first arrived in 1619, remained a small part of the population

• Some Africans, like indentureds, could aspire to near equality with settlers and become planters– Although most served masters for life, not legally enslaved;

common law did not legalize chattel slavery (buying/selling of slaves as property)

– It was only after a collapse of the tobacco industry in the 1660s that laws were passed lowering status of Africans in the region and establishing slavery

Seeds of Rebellion

• With large influx of tobacco in the market, collapse of boom in 1660s– Leads to market for cheap labor, “blacks can make it cheaper

than whites… “Negro and Slave had by custom grown Homogenous and convertible”

• In effort to exclude other European nations from taking part in tobacco market, Parliament passes Act of Trade and Navigation (Navigation Acts) in 1651– Limits Dutch, who had paid highest prices for tobacco, sold best

goods, provided cheap shipping– Required colonists to ship all products (including the newly, high-

demand sugar) only to Britain, destroying most profits• Tobacco planters increase, but Chesapeake no longer

offers upward social mobility to whites or blacks– Region now dominated by white planter-elites/merchants

Corruption of Berkeley

• Governor William Berkeley became corrupt, creating a spoils system that gave tax-free land to members of his council and jobs in return for loyalty

• Indian conflict also started social conflict among poor white freeholders and landless whites– Wanted local Indians removed from the treaty-guaranteed lands

along the frontier, so that they could own land– Wealthy planter-merchants opposed removal; they wanted

continued cheap labor and Indians to trade with– Freeholders form militia and begin killing natives in 1675;

retaliation forces Berkeley to make a decision to avoid war• Berkeley attempts to solve conflict by creating frontier

forts– However, settlers saw this plan as a plot to impose higher taxes

and take control of tobacco trade

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)• Nathaniel Bacon, a member of

Berkeley’s council, led a protest against Berkeley– Bacon and his men kill a number of

peaceful natives after governor refuses to grant military commission

• Supporters threaten violence; Berkeley agrees to political reforms, restores voting to landless freemen as a solution (not enough in eyes of poor and reformers)– Issue “Manifesto and Declaration

of the People” demanding removal of Indians and end to rule of the “wealthy parasites”

Results of Rebellion and Conflict

• Bacon’s Rebellion prompts tax cuts, reduction of corruption in government, opening of public offices to yeomen, expansion into previously protected Indian lands

• To reduce chances of another rebellion, Chesapeake planters turn away from indentured servitude, Burgesses legalizes practice of chattel slavery in 1705

Big Ideas• Colonial drive for wealth led to growth of tobacco as a

cash crop• This led to the policy of a headright system• Land-grabbing and planting led to encroachment on and

conflict with local Indian populations (Opechancanough war in 1622, 1644; Indian War 1676)

• Dispersion of land holdings, along with poverty and the environmental obstacles led to undermining of traditional British social order and gender roles

• Creation of class system and demand for political rights leads to social rebellion– Bacon’s Rebellion and reforms

• Fear of social rebellion leads to legalization of slavery – Changes in market, rise of wealth, and shifting patterns

of migration enable system of slavery to become common place by early 18th century