Chapter 3: The First Century of Settlement in the Colonial North
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Transcript of Chapter 3: The First Century of Settlement in the Colonial North
Chapter 3: The First Century of Settlement in the Colonial North
Preview: “Europe’s religious rivalries shaped seventeenth-century colonies along America’s northern rim: the Protestant Reformation stamped
English Puritan settlements from Maine to Long Island, and the Catholic Counter-Reformation encouraged the less numerous settlers of French Canada. New
England’s stable societies, with their strong family bonds and growing tradition of self-government, contrasted with the more prosperous and ethnically diverse
colonies of the mid-Atlantic.”
The Highlights: The Founding of New England
New England Communities The Mid-Atlantic Colonies
Adjustment to Empire
Europe in the New World
Breaking Away Rapid social change in seventeenth-
century England English population mobile Different motives for migration
• religious versus economic• personal: to escape bad marriages, jail
terms, or lifelong poverty
The Stuart Monarchs
Four Colonial Subcultures The Chesapeake New England Middle Colonies The Carolinas
The Founding of New England
The Puritan Movement• Puritans consisted of Presbyterian and
Congregationalist believers• Puritans, like all Calvinists, emphasized
predestination• Puritan calls for reform lead to their
separatist band sailing for America• 1620: “Pilgrims” establish Plymouth
Colony
Reforming England in America Pilgrims
• Separatists who refused to worship in the Church of England, fled
• Escape persecution in Holland 1620--Plymouth founded Mayflower Compact Plymouth a society of small farming
villages bound together by mutual consent
1691--absorbed into Massachusetts Bay
“The Great Migration” Puritans
• Wish to remain within the Church of England, work to eliminate all remaining vestiges of the Roman Catholic past
1629--Puritans despair as King Charles I begins Personal Rule
1630--John Winthrop leads Puritan group to Massachusetts, brings Company Charter
“A City on a Hill” 1630-1640--16,000 immigrated Settlers usually came as family units Area generally healthy Puritans sacrifice self-interest for the
good of the community Congregational Church Order
• Church members had to prove their experience with “conversion”
• In spite of the level of religiosity in New England, the separation of church and state was advanced compared to Europe
“A City on a Hill” (2) Puritans establish Congregationalism
• a state-supported ecclesiastical system in which each congregation is independently governed by local church members
Puritan civil government permits voting by all adult male church members
Elected officials not to concern themselves with voters’ wishes
“A City on a Hill” (3) Local, town governments
autonomous Most participated in public life at
town level Townships commercial properties,
shares of which could be bought and sold
Village life intensely communal Laws and Liberties passed in 1648 to
protect rights, ensure civil order
New England Communities Stability and Order in Early New
England• Life expectancy in Puritan New England
twice as long as in Virginia• By 1700, population of New England
was 100,000—most from natural increase
• More stable families, which led to a more stable society with defined patterns of settlement
• Hierarchy in families reflected in village leadership
Women’s Lives in Puritan New England
Women not legally equal with men Marriages based on mutual love Most Women contributed to society
as• wives and mothers• church members• small-scale farmers
Women accommodated themselves to roles they believed God ordained
Goodwives and Witches• Defined gender roles in Puritan society—
woman restricted to domestic work• Significant legal barriers for womena. Turned over all property to husbandsb. Could not sue or be suedc. Divorce was nearly impossibled. Could not vote• Only in churches did Puritan woman
command semi-equal standing with men
Contagion of Witchcraft Charges of witchcraft common
• accused witches thought to have made a compact with the devil
Salem panic of 1691 much larger in scope than previous accusations
20 victims dead before trials halted in late summer of 1692
Causes include factionalism, economics
Whites and Indians in Early New England
• Puritans made few efforts to covert Indians
• Compelling similarities between Puritan and Algonquin societies
• Bitter tensions culminated in Pequot’s War (1636-37) and King Philip’s War (1675-76)
• Disastrous impact of Old World diseases
King Philip’s War
1675--Metacomet leads Wampanoag-Narragansett alliance against colonists
Colonists struggle to unite, defeat Indians
Deaths total 1,000+ Indians and colonists
Limits of Dissent: Roger Williams
An extreme Separatist Questioned the validity of the
colony’s charter Champions “liberty of conscience” Williams expelled to Rhode Island,
1636
Limits of Dissent:Anne Hutchinson
Believed herself directly inspired by the Holy Spirit
Believed “converted” persons could live without the Moral Law
Charged that Congregational ministers preached a “covenant of works”
Banished to Rhode Island by General Court
Mobility and Division New Hampshire--insignificant until
eighteenth century Rhode Island--received dissenters
from Massachusetts Connecticut--founded by Thomas
Hooker New Haven--absorbed into
Connecticut Tensions with Quakers
Sources of Stability: New England Colonies of the
Seventeenth Century New Englanders replicated
traditional English social order Contrasted with experience in other
English colonies Explanation lies in development of
Puritan families
Commonwealth of Families Most New Englanders married
neighbors of whom parents approved New England towns collections of
interrelated households Church membership associated with
certain families Education provided by the family
Social Hierarchy in New England
Absence of very rich necessitates creation of new social order
New England social order becomes• local gentry of prominent, pious families• large population of independent yeomen
landowners loyal to local community• small population of landless laborers,
servants, poor
Immigrant Families and New Social Order
Puritans believed God ordained the family
Reproduce patriarchal English family structure in New England
Greater longevity in New England results in “invention” of grandparents
Multigenerational families strengthen social stability
New England Colonies, 1650
Diversity in the Middle Colonies New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware
Middle Colonies, 1685
Anglo-Dutch Rivalry on the Hudson
Location: Hudson River New Netherlands originally property
of Dutch West Indies Company Population included Finns, Swedes,
Germans, Africans, as well as Dutch 1664--English fleet captured colony
Anglo-Dutch Rivalry on the Hudson (2)
New York made personal property of James, Duke of York
Property included New Jersey, Delaware, Maine, and various islands
Inhabitants had no political voice beyond the local level
James derived little profit from the colony.
Confusion in New Jersey Colony sold by Duke of York to Lord
Berkeley and Sir George Carteret Settlers refuse to pay rents
• grounds: New York governor had promised representative assembly
Berkeley splits colony by selling out to Quaker group
Confusion in New Jersey (2) West Jersey becomes Quakers’
colony Democratic system of government
introduced Diverse, contentious Neither Jersey prospers, reunited by
the crown in 1702
Quakers in America Pennsylvania founding inseparable
from Quakers “Quaker” a derogatory term for those
who “tremble at the word of the Lord”
Members call sect “Society of Friends”
Quaker Belief and Practice Founder: George Fox (1624-1691) Believed in “Inner Light”
• Rejected idea of original sin, predestination
• Each may communicate directly with God
• Each has responsibility to cultivate Inner Light
Persecuted as dangerous anarchists
Penn's "Holy Experiment" Aristocrat William Penn converts to
the Society of Friends Obtains a charter for Pennsylvania "Holy Experiment"--a society run on
Quaker principles Promotes religious toleration Protects rights of property-less
Settling Pennsylvania Immigrants recruited from England,
Wales, Ireland, and Germany Quaker population racked by
contention Non-Quaker population does not
share Penn’s ideals 1701--Penn grants self-rule to
Pennsylvania colonists, independence to Delaware
Patterns of Settlement• Population in Pennsylvania consisted
of indentured servants, small farmers, and artisans
• Majority were Quakers, but also people of other faiths settled
• Unique peace between settlers and Indians, the Lenni Lenapes
Quakers and Politics• Constant tension among Penn, his
council, the legislative assembly, and farmers
Rise of a Commercial Empire English leaders ignore colonies until
1650s Restored monarchy of Charles II
recognized value of colonial trade Navigation Acts passed to regulate,
protect, glean revenue from commerce
Response to Economic Competition
“Mercantilism” a misleading term for English commercial regulation
Regulations emerge as ad hoc responses to particular problems
Varieties of motivation• crown wants money• English merchants want to exclude Dutch• Parliament wants stronger Navy—encourage
domestic shipbuilding industry• everyone wants better balance of trade
Glorious Revolution: The Dominion of New England
1684--King James II establishes “Dominion of New England”• colonial charters annulled• colonies from Maine to New Jersey united• Edmund Andros appointed governor • Governor Edmund Andros used ruthless
policies and leadership to enforce the authority of the English government
• Andros engendered hatred from nearly everyone
The Glorious Revolution in the Bay Colony: Outcomes
• 1688: James II deposed in favor of Protestant daughter, Mary, and her Dutch husband, William of Orange
• New Englanders take cue from the revolution and depose Edmund Andros
• Dominion overthrown; colonies given new charters, 1689-91
Massachusetts a new charter • incorporates Plymouth• transfers franchise from "saints" to
those with property
The Glorious Revolution in New York
1689--News of James II’s overthrow prompts crisis of authority in New York
Jacob Leisler seizes control Maintains position through 1690 March 1691--Governor Henry
Sloughter arrests, executes Leisler
COMMON EXPERIENCES, SEPARATE CULTURES
Purpose Families Ethnicity Economy
New England
Religious Nuclear families
Mostly English
Family farms
Middle Colonies
Mixed Nuclear families
Mixed European
Family farms
Chesapeake Gain wealth
Extended families
English (majority)& African
Market plantations (tobacco)
Lower South Gain wealth
Extended families
English & African (majority)
Market plantations (rice, indigo)
Local Aspirations Within an Atlantic Empire
By 1700 England’s attitude toward the colonies had changed dramatically
Sectional differences within the colonies were profound
They were all part of Great Britain but had little to do with each other
• 1696: Parliament initiated closer regulation of trade in the colonies
• By 1700, members of colonial assemblies understood the limits of royal power
• Growing threat to English colonies by ascendant France
Royal Authority in America to 1700
Regulating Colonial Trade: The Navigation Act of 1660
Ships engage in English colonial trade• must be made in England (or America)• must carry a crew at least 75% English
Enumerated goods only to English ports• 1660 list included tobacco, sugar,
cotton, indigo, dyes, ginger• 1704-05 molasses, rice, naval stores
also
Regulating Colonial Trade: The Navigation Act of 1663
Goods shipped to English colonies must pass through England
Increased price paid by colonial consumers
Regulating Colonial Trade:Implementing the Acts
Navigation Acts spark Anglo-Dutch trade wars
New England merchants skirt laws English revisions tighten loopholes 1696--Board of Trade created Navigation Acts eventually benefit
colonial merchants