The English In North AmericaBy: Josh KessnerHistory 140Professor Arguello

Chapter 7 – Chesapeake Colonies

• Chesapeake Colonies were very persistent in maintaining African slaves as laborers since there was a decline in the amount of white laborers. • Planters had purchased many slaves for better productivity on the farm land• It was understood by the owners of the slaves that fear and punishment was the most powerful way to cause the slaves to work faster with better output• Eventually it became more of a market of slave owners that participated in the planting business because the families who didn’t own slaves couldn’t keep up with the productivity of multiple cultivators

Chapter 7 – Chesapeake Colonies

• Slavery was partly brought about because of the high demand for labor and lack of colonists willing to partake in the tobaccos fields• With the higher demand and poor care of the workers, colonists turned to slave purchasing because they were more capable of working in the harsher conditions• Slaves were also purchased and sold between the owners, some even sold to pay off gambling debts.• Slave ownership was seen as more of an investment of property rather than the caring of another worker under their responsibility• Emigrants were given advantages in coming to the Chesapeake Colonies • Slaves were further manipulated by the court system and given longer serving time to their masters instead of the court punishing the owner

Chapter 7 – Chesapeake Colonies

• As difficult as it was for many of the servants to work in the fields, eventually many lived long enough to enjoy some freedom• Freed slaves often tried to start their own farms• After defeating the Indians, the Chesapeake colonies maintained more land that was capable of crops simply because it lied close to nearby water supplies.• With this new fertile land colonists and freed slaves were able to expand further and create greater plantations of tobacco•The colonial government demanded high taxes to be paid upon these plantations and because of this rebellions broke out amongst the planters• In 1673, the Dutch came with warships with the intention of burning many of the English tobacco ships• They were successful in burning a good couple dozen, and added to the economic downfall

Chapter 7 – Chesapeake Colonies

• The Chesapeake Colonies had a power system with a distant king at the head of reign• Although there was a distant king, a lot of the decisions were made by the local government which was comprised of mostly the wealthiest of planters• In the system that the Chesapeake colonies had, wealth was the major identifier of one’s social status• Below that of local government, were the county courts within each county• And at the bottom of the legislation, was the family household• Tobacco harvesting and cultivation was the heart of the way the colonists gained their wealth

Chapter 9 – Puritans and Indians

• Initially Puritans had looked at the Indians as hunters and that they had no hope in agriculture• Later they discovered that the Indians actually had a superior way of growing crops and cultivating their food• The Puritans feared that if they were involved with the Indians for a substantial period of time, that they would gain traits and attributes of the natives•This was looked at in a negative way because the Puritans didn’t see the native Indians as anything to look up to• The goal of the puritans, as far as working with the Indians, was to convert them to their beliefs and have them follow their way of life.

Chapter 9 – Puritans and Indians

• The Indians seemed far more experienced and understanding of their environment then the Puritans•They would use fire to maintain their forests and harvest nuts• Also, the men would go out and hunt while the Indian women would harvest and plant the crops• This was far more productive because you know had both man and woman participating in food outcome• As beneficial as all of this hunting and gathering was though, the downfall was the lack of material possessions

Chapter 9 – Puritans and Indians

• As the Puritans continued to pour into the native lands, they brought with them disease• The disease definitely had an effect on the native Indians and the power struggle began between native groups• Another affect of the many Puritans arriving was that their goods were looked at as possessing a spiritual power• As the population of the colonists began to grow, wars began to break out between the Indians and the Puritan armies• The Puritans continued to expand their colonies by winning battles between enemy Indians, but they did also help some natives defeat other enemy Indians

Chapter 9 – Puritans and Indians

• Again the productivity of the native Indians was astonishing to the Puritans• The Indian men would hunt, fish, create weapons such as bows, spears, nets• Also they would craft canoes•Indian women would maintain homes as well as weave baskets and mats•They also gathered berries, roots, herbs, and stored animals• The way that the families would work together showed much productivity, yet the puritans saw to it as an exploitation of working women• The viewpoint of the Indians to the Puritans were that they were mean and selfish destructive people