Chapter 3England and Its Colonies

The Scots and Scotch-Irish• Great Britain was

formed in 1707: England, Wales, Scotland.– This meant some Scots

became colonial officials and royal governors.

• 3 Streams of Immigration – Highlands– Lowlands– Ulster, Northern Ireland with

mixed peoples– 250,000 arrived in the 1700’s

The Germans– 100,000 immigrants– Protestant– Came from the Rhine Valley

in SW Germany and Northern Switzerland

• They came to escape war, taxes, and religious persecution.

• 1682, William Penn recruited Germans to help settle an area of Pennsylvania.– An immigrant in PA could

obtain a farm 6 times larger than a typical peasant in Germany.

Africans Transported To America

• Growing colonies= growing crops= need for labor

• Early 1600’s, Africans were mostly treated as indentured servants.– Freed blacks could own land, vote, even buy

enslaved Africans on their own.

• Mid 1600’s, most colonies began to pass laws that supported the permanent enslavement.– “All servants imported…who were not

Christians in their native Country…shall be accounted and be slaves.”

– Children of slaves were also considered slaves.

– Change in legal status promoted a racist idea that people of African origin were inferior to whites.

Transatlantic Slave Trade– Once established, slavery expanded rapidly.

– During the 1700’s, the British colonies imported approximately 1.5 million slaves from Africa.

– The majority went to the West Indies, but at least 250,000 came to America.

– Africans were kidnapped or taken in wars and sold

• 3 part voyage= Triangular Trade– Traders sailed from Europe to Africa

where they traded manufactured goods for Africans.

– Then, in the Middle Passage, shippers carried the Africans across the Atlantic to the colonies.

– After selling the slaves for colonial goods, the traders returned to their home countries to repeat the process.

Slavery in the North and South

• In New England most slaves were farmhands, dockworkers, and house servants.

• In the Southern colonies most worked in fields on plantations growing tobacco, rice, indigo, sugar.

• Most adopted Christianity from their masters, blending it with some of their own religious traditions.

Rebels and Runaways• Stono Rebellion in South

Carolina– 100 slaves tried to escape

and killed 20 white peoples before being caught and executed.

• Some fled to Indian villages, mostly in Florida where the Spanish welcomed them with food, land, and freedom.– They did this because they

thought it would weaken the British colonies and strengthen their own militia.

• Other forms of rebellion:– Working slowly– Faking illness– Pretending ignorance– Breaking tools

Magna Carta• Document English nobles

forced King John to accept in 1215.– It protected the nobles by

limiting the king’s ability to tax them and by guaranteeing due process, or the right to a trial.

– Before instating a tax, the king needed permission from the nobles.

– These nobles gained power and evolved into Parliament.

• House of Lords (inherited mostly through rank and blood line)

• House of Commons (elected commoners)

Why does England have such an interest in the

colonies?• Economic wealth

– Exporting of raw materials and importing British made goods

– The colonies were being used to provide the materials England lacked

• Mercantilism- nations seek to increase wealth and power by acquiring gold and silver through a balanced trade.

Change in Policy

• Colonists were shipping goods to other countries including England.– Spain, France, Holland– They were making money

• England viewed this as a threat.

• Parliament, or England’s legislative body, passed the Navigation Acts.

Navigation Acts

•The Acts restricted colonial trade:

Navigation Acts

All trade between the Colonies and Europe

must go through an English port.

Colonies could onlyexport certain products to

England.

Crew members And Captains had

to be ¾ English.

Trade permitted on English or

Colonial ships.

Positive Effects• More jobs for English dock workers• Import taxes on goods = more money

for English Treasury• Ship-building industry in the colonies

Negative Effects

• Colonial merchants did not like trade restrictions•They smuggled goods

• England punished colonists for smuggling

• Massachusetts gets its charter revoked

• Northern colonies are combined to make one colony – The Dominion of New England

– King James II

• King James chose Sir Edmund Andros to be governor– He was highly disliked

– Questioned the lawfulness of Puritan beliefs

– Strictly enforced Navigation Acts

– Outlawed local assemblies and levied taxes without consent from local leaders

Glorious Revolution• King James was a

Catholic• Most of England and the

colonies were Protestant• James had a son who

would eventually become heir to the throne and rule as a Catholic

• England did not want another Catholic monarch

• Parliament decided to do something about the situation

James II

Glorious Revolution• William and Mary

– Mary was James’ daughter and she was married to William

– Mary was Protestant

• Parliament voted out James II and put William and Mary onto the throne– This ensured the

continuation of a Protestant England

William and Mary

• When the colonies found out about the Glorious Revolution they arrested Andros

• Parliament did away with the Dominion of New England and restored the colonies to what they were before.

• Salutary Neglect- England relaxed its enforcement of most regulations in return for the continued economic loyalty of the colonies.

• The King appointed a governor for each colony.– Colonists paid his salary.

– Governor appointed an advisory council a local assembly.

• Colonists were developing a taste for self-government.

The Enlightenment and

Great Awakening

Enlightenment• Philosophers in Europe began

using reason and the scientific method to gain more knowledge of the world around them.

• Scientists looked beyond religious doctrines to investigate how the world worked.

• Who did this influence?– Sir Isaac Newton

– Galileo Galilei

– Nicolaus Copernicus

– They soon determined the Earth revolved around the sun and not vice versa.

– They also concluded the world is governed not by chance or miracles, but by fixed mathematical laws.

Enlightenment• These ideas traveled across Europe and

eventually to the colonies.– People read about this in books and pamphlets.

– Literacy was high in New England. Puritans supported education so that people could read the Bible.

• Benjamin Franklin was the colonist who embraced this movement the most.– He thought he could obtain truth through

experimentation and reasoning.

– Franklin believed human beings could use their intellect to improve their lives.

– How did Franklin’s intellect better his life and ours?

• Lightening Rod

• Bifocals

• Franklin Stove- heating system

Enlightenment• Had profound effect on

politics

• Colonial leaders such as Thomas Jefferson used reason to conclude that individuals have natural rights, which governments must respect.

• These principles led to colonists questioning authority of the British monarchy.

Great Awakening• The Puritan church had lost its grip on

society, and church membership was in decline.

• People were more focused on their current world and not as worried about the next stage of life.

• Jonathan Edwards was from Northampton, Massachusetts and a member of the clergy.– He wanted to revive the intensity and commitment

of the original Puritan visions and beliefs.– He preached that church attendance was not

enough for salvation– People needed to acknowledge their sinfulness and

feel God’s love for them– Gave the famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of

an Angry God”• Described God’s mercy

– Other preachers traveled to multiple villages stirring people to rededicate themselves to God.

Great Awakening• More colonists, Native Americans,

African Americans were now into more organized religions.

• Some colonists abandoned their old Puritan or Anglican congregations and sought different denominations– Baptists, Methodists

• Led to an increase in higher education– Different colleges: Princeton, Brown,

Columbia, Dartmouth to train ministers.

Similarities• Both caused colonists to question traditional authority.• Stressed the importance of the individual• Colonists questioned Britain’s authority over their lives.