Ch. 4 - American Life in the Seventeenth Century

The Unhealthy Chesapeake the early Chesapeake Bay settlers face harsh conditions: malaria took of cruel toll the population grew mostly from fresh immigration the population in these colonies grew very slowly

The Tobacco Economy Chesapeake is exceptionally hospitable to tobacco cultivation profit hungry settlers often planted tobacco to sell before they planted corn to eat Enormous production of tobacco depressed the price solution planting more! More tobacco met more labor, African slaves is the only solution but it is very expensive the settlers sought another solution: indenture servants (Englands displaced farmers) both Virginia and Maryland employed to Head Right System to encourage imports of indenture servants Under this new system will ever paid the passage of a labor received the right to acquire 50 acres of land. Masters, not servants, plantation owners reaped the benefits of land ownership from the Head Right System 1700: Chesapeake planters acquired some 100,000 indenture servants

Frustrated Freemen and Bacons Rebellion the accumulation mass of footloose impoverished indenture servants was drifting this contently about the Chesapeake region 1670: the Virginia assembly disfranchised most of the landless Virginias Gov. William Berkeley lamented how miserable that man is that governs a people where six parts of seven at least are poor, indebted, discontent, and armed 1676: Nathaniel Bacon led about 1000 Virginians into a rebellion against the policies. Resented Berkeleys friendly policies towards the Indians When Berkeley refused to retaliate for a series of savage Indian attacks, Bacon and his followers took matters into their own hands. They killed many Indians and forced Berkeley from Jamestown Chaos swept the colony as frustrated freemen and resentful freemen went on a rampage of plundering Berkeley crushed uprising with brutal cruelty, hanging more than 20 rebels the rebellion is suppressed but tensions remain the resentful servants is what pushed landlords to acquire slaves instead

Colonial Slavery Middle Passage: the trans-Atlantic sea voyage brought slaves to the New World a majority of slaves from Africa were shipped to the West Indies 1680: rising wages in England shrink the pool of penniless folks willing to gamble a new life as indenture servants in America + planters were growing increasingly fearful of the multitudes of potential he meets in his former servants = imported African slaves 1698: the Royal African Company lost its crown granted monopoly on the slave trade Americans, especially Rhode Islanders, rush to cash in on the lucrative slave trade of the number of slaves increase in a new world legal difference between a slave and the servant was beginning to emerge the distinction is made purely on the basis of race: the slave codes may blacks and their children the property for life of their white masters. Some states made it a crime to teach a slave to read or write, not even conversion to Christianity qualifies slave freedom.

Africans In America slaves had the hardest time in the South and an easier time in the Chesapeake region on the Sea Islands on the South Carolinas coast, blacks he evolved a new language a blend of English with several African languages slaves eventually contributed to the development of jobs 1712: a slave revolt erupted in New York City the cost of the lives of a dozen whites 1739 South Carolina blacks along the Sentinel River exploded and revolt a try to escape to Spanish Florida No slave uprising in the American history match the scale of the Bacon rebellion. Overall slaves are more easily manageable than indenture servants

Southern Society Planters ruled the regions economy and virtually monopolize political power Before the Revolutionary war, 70% of the leaders of Virginia legislature came from families established in Virginia before 1690. Most planters are very hard-working Below the planters there were small farmers, the largest social group. They only made enough to feed themselves and their families and live very modest lifestyles on the next level there is the landless whites, most of them are unlucky former indenture servants on the bottom theres black slaves we eventually replace the presence of indenture servants Few cities sprouted in the colonial cell: therefore fewer professionals such as lawyers are financers existed Waterways provided the principal means of transportation. Roads were so bad that funeral parties cannot even reach the church in bad weather

The New England Family clean water and cool temperature, very few diseases the life expectancy in these colonies are fairly high New Englanders tend to migrate not as single individuals but as families families became the center of New England life early marriages are encouraged, this contributed to the booming birthrates families are extremely large sum of largest 20 people families are very stable in new England colonies women enjoyed fewer rights in new England at the South lawmakers worried that recognizing womens separate property rights will undercut the unity of married persons by acknowledging conflict of interest between the husband and wife midwives, was a virtual female monopoly Puritan new England defend the integrity of managers, divorce was exceedingly rare because commonly authorities order separated couples that reunite adultery was a serious crime

Life in the New England Towns New England receive all the tightly knit society based on small villages and farms Puritanism likewise made the unity of purpose and for the concerned about the moral health of the entire community, it was no doubt that the 19 century crusade for abolishing black slavery spring forth from new England conscience in the Chesapeake region, the expansion of settlers was some are random and usually undertaken viable Wolf planters on their own initiative; however, new England society grew in a more orderly fashion process of making new towns: town fathers (proprietors) secure a legal charter front colonial authorities the proprietors move themselves and their family to the new town and laid out plots for settlement (similar to towny in minecraft) each family receive several parcels of land, including a woodlot and track suitable for growing crops, and finally another for pasturing animals towns of more than 50 families were required to provide elementary education 1636: Massachusetts Puritans established Harvard College, the first college Puritans ran their own churches and democratic political governments, in town meetings of both males met together and each men voted

The Half-Way Covenant and the Salem Witch Trials The flame of the original Puritan beliefs started fading a new sermon began to rise: Jeremiad (taking from the Old-Testament prophet Jeremiah) Man have decline conversions claiming they have received Gods grace and therefore deserve to be admitted to the church as members of the elect 1662 Half-Way Covenant offering partial membership rights to people no yet converted Puritan churchs woefully open to all comers whether converted or not a group of adolescents girls in Massachusetts claimed to have been bewitched by older women 1692: 20 people are lynched due to the witch trials the Terrier Massachusetts grew not only from the superstition of the age but also from unsettled social and religious conditions of the rapidly evolving Massachusetts village witch hunting pass into the American vocabulary as a metaphor for often dangerously irritation or urge to find a scapegoat for social resentments

New England Way of Life summers are hot and winters are very cold the soils of new England encouragement at diversity of agriculture and industry Staple products like tobacco did not flourish Black slavery was not profitable No broad, fertile expanses comparable to those in South Indians recognized the need to use land but to own land was a foreign concept to them English settlers condemned the Indians for wasting the earth by and are underutilizing is bounty used this excuse to exploit the land Introduction of livestock: pigs, horses and sheeps clearing of forest for grazing land Ship building was a main part of the economy Fishing was the goldmine for New England

The Early Settlers Days and Ways the cycle of the seasons and the sun set the schedule for all the earliest American colonists chores might be performed after nightfall only if they were worth the candle woman: wove, cooked, cleaned, care for the children men: cleared land, fenced, planted, cropped it, cut firewood, and butchered livestock Life was humble but comfortable Land was cheap People who enjoy wealth and security are not likely to migrate and expose their lives in the wilderness. On the same note, poor family could not pull enough starting cash to start the new life No class distinctions because life was hard for everyone