1607-1763
Part 2
Early Colonial Settlementand Society
Portugal and Spain rigid societies Slavery ended in Brazil 1881 Spain: Vice Royalties, Viceroys,
Audiencias The only European country to find
true wealth Society very rigid Women little freedom Creoles, Mestizos, Mulattos A true blending of cultures
The Dutch and New Netherlands Had trading posts along the Hudson
Bay, etc Experimented with colonization in
New Netherlands New Amsterdam: First permanent
Dutch colony in New World…much toleration, freedom The Patroon System
Dutch were ousted by the English in later 1680’s by the Duke of York = New York
Dutch smugglers had make it impossible for the English to enforce their colonial trade regulations
The Swedes and Palantine Germans
Germans brought the Conestoga Wagon (Prairie Schooner)
The Swedes ax, log cabin, Pennsylvania rifle
The French First permanent French Colony in
New World was Quebec 1608 Very small and slow-growing
Huguenots settled in the Carolinas Society not as free as the Dutch and
English but much freer than Spain and Portugal
The Scotch-Irish Settled in the Va. Backcountry Had been ruined by the English
version of mercantilism (the wool trade)
Were as ruthless toward Native Americans as they had been to the Irish
The English Motives: Wealth, religion, beggars,
convicts, idle women, land, primogeniture, entail
Economic problems made people move out
War created taxes Population explosion but fewer
farms and higher food prices (enclosure)
Highwaymen: large force of unemployed farm workers were wandering the countryside
1601 Queen Elizabeth’s Poor Laws were draining the treasury
The English Cabot brothers explored for the
English (1497) Henry VIII not much interest Elizabeth I encouraged private
enterprise
English colonies were founded with little help or interference from the crown
Different for Spain and France
English advantages in Colonization
More capital for investment by private co’s like merchant companies (Dutch too) due to larger middle class
Greater social mobility Relative freedom for women Lust for land Government let religious dissenters
go Government encouraged permanent
settlement
The English Self government allowed:
Mayflower Compact, Virginia House of Burgesses, growing religious tolerance especially after William and Mary signed the English Bill of Rights during the Glorious Revolution
Early English Attempts Queen Elizabeth 1 and Sir Walter
Raleigh (and Sir Francis Drake and others)
1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert ( partnered with ½ brother-Raleigh) took an expedition to Newfoundland and traveled down the coast but was lost at sea.
Raleigh failed to get $ from Elizabeth but claimed the land as Virginia anyway.
Early English Attempts 1585 Raleigh’s cousin and new
partner…Sir Grenville settled a small group at Roanoke in N. Carolina.
They terrorized the Indians before they left for more supplies.
Drake arrived some months later with supplies but the settlers decided not to stay and went back to England
Roanoke Raleigh made one more attempt (on
his coin) It will bankrupt him 1587 Raleigh brought 91 men 17
women and 9 children to Roanoke. Virginia Dare was born there…first
European child to be born in the New World.
Habitations were built, some crops planted and Raleigh went back for supplies promising to return within a few months
Roanoke Before the ship left for England the
settlers were told to carve a message on a certain tree if they had to relocate. If they had to leave in a hurry, they were to carve a cross in the tree…
When the ship returned to England, Elizabeth would not allow it to return with supplies to America until 1590.
She needed all of her ships and men to fight the Spanish in the War of the Spanish Armada (1588)
Roanoke In 1590, Virginia Dare’s grandfather
hired a ship going to the west Indies to stop at Roanoke.
No one was there! Carved on the tree was CROA
There WAS a tribe nearby called the Croatoans
Did they join the tribe? Did the Croatoans attack them?
Roanoke A true History Mystery… The ship captain refused to stay and
help to look so grandpa got onto the ship and went to the West Indies and no one else ever went back to look
BUT later… reports of Native Americans using certain English words…reports of blond Indians
1606 King James … Issued charters to two merchant
companies to settle in the New World. Private investors could raise large sums of
$ to finance such ventures
The London Company to settle in the Southern Region
The Plymouth Company to settle in the Northern Region
1607 Jamestown: the first permanent English colony
in the New World The London Co. (later will be called
the Virginia Co.) sent 144 men on three ships to Virginia
The Godspeed, Susan Constant, and the Discovery
These men were young and in good physical shape and were indentured servants
Only 104 survived the trip
Jamestown, Va. The London Co. had hoped that
these men would be able to mine gold, silver, and other precious metals
They wanted the same kind of wealth that Spain had found
When the ship landed, it was too late in the season to plant. These were not landless farmers anyway.
Jamestown They did not know how to hunt, fish
and were not sure what plants were safe to eat.
They settled in a malaria swamp in the Chesapeake Bay Area
By 1608 only 38 survived (cannibalism)
Religion was not a factor in this settlement.
All men had agreed to attend the Anglican Church
Captain John Smith Arrived and organized the men into
work parties for farming and minin g.
He taught them to hunt, fish and deal with the natives
Less that a dozen died the next winter but Smith went back to England to be treated for powder burns
In the Meantime… The London Co. investors wanted to
see some profit.
600 more people were sent to Jamestown in 1609 along with a ship full of supplies (which sunk on the way)
More died of starvation and malaria
The London Co. Believed that the settlers were
slackers so they sent Sir Thomas Dale to supervise
Dales 3 rules: No slacking No dealing with the Indians No sweating Violations were punishable by death
Jamestown Even Dale could not save Jamestown John Rolfe saved it by introducing a
mild form of West Indian tobacco to the land in 1611
Tobacco caught on but by the time it was a money-maker, the London Co. was SOL because the original indentured period had passed
Jamestown So…The London Co. renamed itself
the Virginia Co. and hoped to still make a profit by attracting more settlers to colonize
They offered a Headright system Similar to the Dutch Patroon System…(55 to 100 acres of land for nothing. One could get a deed for the land if they established boundaries, planted crops and built a habitation.
1619 The Virginia Co sent 100 women to
Va. who could be purchased for 120 pounds of tobacco!
Also, in 1619, a Dutch ship brought 19 African slaves to Va for sale. No one wanted them! They preferred Indentured servants…the Dutch ship had loaded up with other supplies so the Africans simply wandered away!
Indentured Servitude Was the preferred form of unfree
labor in the first 3 quarters of the 17th Century.
Slavery will begin to replace indentured servitude after Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
Tobacco exhausted the land but was the main export crop in the 18th C.
Bacon’s Rebellion 1622 The Virginia Co. went broke 1624 Virginia became a Royal
colony
1642 Governor Berkley (a royal governor representing the crown) was sent to rule Va.)
Berkley and his friends (called the Green Spring Group) cut deals with the Indians at the expense of the frontiersmen
Bacon’s Rebellion Va. Grew rapidly By 1660 40,000 were there
Rapid growth was a problem because more land was needed and the Native Americans were constantly on the attack
1673 Nathaniel Bacon arrived
Bacon’s Rebellion Bacon was country gentry and was
miffed when not invited to join the Green Spring Group
His farm was hit by Indian attacks and he insisted that Berkley do something about it
Berkley refused Bacon formed his own army
(neighbors and indentured workers)
Bacon’s Rebellion Berkley called Bacon “a rebel” and
Bacon’s army attacked Jamestown…burned it to the ground
Berkley went into hiding and then…
Bacon dropped dead of dysentry (not pretty)
Why was this important?
Results of Bacon’s Rebellion
Since Bacon’s army was made up of Indentured Servants, many believed that African slaves would be less dangerous and easier to control.
So…slavery began to replace indentured servitude
The Importance of Bacon’s Rebellion
Bacon’s Rebellion reflected conflict on 3 levels:
The colonists v the Native Americans The colonists v British authority The rural population and the urbanites
Jamestown The Virginia Co. also offered limited
Self-Government leading to :
The Virginia House of Burgesses (1619): the first legislative body in the colonies