slavery and empire focus question: how did african slavery differ regionally in eighteenth-century...

Slavery and Empire

Focus Question:

How did African slavery differ regionally in eighteenth-century North America?

Slavery and Empire

• Atlantic Trade– Slave trade vital part of world economy

• 1492-1820 = 7.7 million Africans transported

• Slave plantations– Enabled production of mass consumer goods

• Colonial merchants large part of the trade

Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 4th EditionCopyright © 2013 W.W. Norton & Company

The title page of Olaudah Equiano’s account of his life

Slavery and Empire

• Africa and the Slave Trade– Slave trade made Africa major market

• Textile and guns

– Encouraged slave trade and warfare• Weakened West African economy and society

Slavery and Empire

• The Middle Passage– 1 in 5 slaves died

– Death rate higher in Brazil and West Indies• 400,000-600,000 slaves imported to North

America by 1770– 1/5 of colonial population

Slavery and Empire

• Chesapeake Slavery– Large tobacco plantations

• Largest and oldest plantation system

– Transformed Chesapeake society• Large planters• Small planters and yeoman farmers• Indentured servants, tenant farmers and slaves

Slavery and Empire

• Freedom and Slavery in the Chesapeake– New laws protect slave institution

• Harsher penalties • Race was line of social division

– Free blacks seen as danger to the system• Limitation of rights• Leave the colony

Slavery and Empire

• Indian Slavery in Early Carolina– Main source of labor and trade

• Creeks participated in trade– War to secure captives

• Tribes feared enslavement

– Turn to African slaves

Slavery and Empire

• The Rice Kingdom– Prompted import of African slaves to South

Carolina• First colony with black majority

• Rice and Indigo plantations– “Task” system

Slavery and Empire

• The Georgia Experiment– Founded in 1733 by James Oglethorpe

• Colony for the “worthy poor”• Defense against Spain

– Banned alcohol and slaves

• 1751 – crown colony– Began to resemble South Carolina

Slavery and Empire

• Slavery in the North– Slavery not central

• Worked as farm labor, as personal servants, on the docks

– More rights in the North• Bring suits in court• Slave marriage recognized

Slave Cultures and Slave Resistance

Focus Question:

What factors led to distinct African-American cultures in the eighteenth century?


• Becoming African-American– Slave from diverse African cultures

• Most slaves in the 18th century born in Africa

– African-American culture emerged slowly• Through common experience of slavery


• African Religion in Colonial America– Forced to change to Christianity

• Familiar with Islam and Christianity

– African religious practices• Resembled Native American practices

• Formed unique religion


• African-American Cultures– Chesapeake

– Natural reproduction and family centered

– South Carolina and Georgia– Low birthrates and more autonomy

– Northern colonies– Culture based on small groups


Slave population as percentage of total population of original thirteen colonies, 1770


• Resistance to Slavery– Most common form – to run away

– Less common – rebellions• 1712 – New York• 1730s and 1740s – Louisiana and West Indies


An advertisement seeking the return of arunaway slave from Port Royal in the SeaIslands of South Carolina


• The Crisis of 1739–1741– 1739 – War of Jenkins’ Ear

• Stono Rebellion– Tightening of slave laws

– 1741 – New York• Series of fires led to arrest of 1500 blacks and

some whites

An Empire of Freedom

Focus Question:

What were the meanings of British liberty in the eighteenth century?


• British Patriotism– Most free and advanced nation in the world– Greatest naval and commercial power

– Celebrated for widespread prosperity and individual liberty


• The British Constitution– Liberty central to British identity

• Rule of law, legislation, and individual rights– Britain had a “balanced constitution”

– Liberty not universal


Even though less than 5 percent of the British population enjoyed the right to vote, representative government was central to the eighteenth-century idea of British liberty.


• The Language of Liberty– Expanded to all members of society

• More than just a privilege

– Liberty – general right to resist tyrannical governments


• Republican Liberty– Participation in public life

• Economic independent citizen

– Citizen with property had “virtue”• Subordinate self-interest to common public

good


The Polling, by the renowned eighteenth-centuryBritish artist William Hogarth


• Liberal Freedom– John Locke – Two Treaties of Government

• Social contract– Individuals surrender parts of the right govern– Benefit from the rule of law: security of life, liberty,

and property• Liberty as a universal right

– Excluded many individuals

The Public Sphere

Focus Question:

What concepts and institutions dominated colonial politics in the eighteenth century?

The Public Sphere

• The Right to Vote– Wide distribution of landownership

• High number of population had the right to vote

– Some colonies allowed free blacks to vote– Limitation on religious minorities

• Native prohibited

The Public Sphere

• Political Cultures– Election of privileged people

• High property qualifications

– Most government officials were appointed• Exception in Rhode Island and Connecticut

The Public Sphere

• Colonial Government– Policy of salutary neglect

– Large landowners, merchants and lawyers able to control local colonial politics

The Public Sphere

• The Rise of the Assemblies– Growing power of American elites

• Assertive assemblies

• Assemblies invoke liberal and republican notions of liberty

The Public Sphere

• Politics in Public– Debate of politics in public

– Emergence of political clubs• 1727 – founding of “Junto”

– Benjamin Franklin – American Philosophical Society

The Public Sphere

• The Colonial Press– Highly literate population and vibrant press

• Spreading of information• Expanding the public sphere

– Benjamin Franklin• Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728

The Public Sphere

• Freedom of Expression and Its Limits– 1695 – possible to print books, newspapers,

and pamphlets• No government permission

– Government still able to censor print matters• Punishment of critical newspapers

The Public Sphere

• The Trial of Zenger– 1735 – John Peter Zenger arrested for

seditious libel• Alexander Hamilton

– Jury should judge accuracy of Zenger’s accusations– Zenger found not guilty

– Popularized freedom of expression

The Public Sphere

• The American Enlightenment– Benjamin Franklin

– Criticism of established churches• Arminianism

– Reason alone could form basis of religion• Deism

The Great Awakening

Focus Question:

How did the Great Awakening challenge the religious and social structure of British North America?

The Great Awakening

• Religious Revivals• Westward expansion, commerce and

Enlightenment threatened religious devotion

– Great Awakening• Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards

– Emotional and personal experience– “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”


Jonathan Edwards, one of the most prominentPreachers of the Great Awakening

The Great Awakening

• The Preaching of Whitefield– Colonial tour, 1739

– Promoted by newspapers• 1st major intercolonial event

– Tens of thousands of visitors

The Great Awakening

• The Awakening’s Impact

– Transformation of religious life• Old Lights vs. New Lights

• New Churches– Baptist, Methodists , and Presbyterians

Imperial Rivalries

Focus Question:

How did the Spanish and French empires in America develop in the eighteenth century?

Imperial Rivalries

• Spanish North America– Territorial large, but small population

• From Pacific, to New Mexico, Texas and Florida

• After 1763 – Louisiana

Imperial Rivalries

• The Spanish in California– Fear of Russian settlement

– Colonization of California• Missions and presidio

– Near total devastation of native population


In this lithograph from 1816, Indians performa dance at Mission San Francisco in California.

Imperial Rivalries

• The French Empire– French Canada

• Fur trade expanded into Great Lakes region

– French Louisiana• 10,000 settlers and slaves

– Sugar plantations

Battle for the Continent

Focus Question:

What was the impact of the Seven Years' War on imperial and Indian-white relations?


• The Middle Ground– Ohio Valley becomes battleground

– Natives of the Ohio Valley• Diplomatic games• White settlers threatened Valley’s Indians


• The Seven Years’ War– 1754 – fighting began in the Ohio Valley– 1757 – William Pitt

• Britain and Prussia

– 1760 – British took French possessions in the Caribbean, India and New France


A map of upstate New York presented to Governor William Tryon of colonial New York


• A World Transformed– Peace Treaty of Paris, 1763

• Canada to Britain• Guadeloupe and Martinique to France• Spain ceded Florida• Spain received Louisiana


• Pontiac’s Rebellion– Natives saw British victory as threat

– Reject European goods and tried to expel British

– Rebellion led to pan-Indian identity


• The Proclamation Line– Proclamation of 1763

• Prohibited white settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains

• Banned sale of Indian lands to private individuals


Map 4.4 Eastern North America after the Peace of Paris, 1763


• Pennsylvania and the Indians– Seven Years War shattered Quaker

experiment• Ended policy of accommodating Indians• Push into western frontier

– Paxton Boys


• Colonial Identities– 1754 – Albany Plan of Union

– War established sense of collective identity

– War was victory of “Protestant freedom” over “Popish slavery”


Benjamin Franklin produced this famous cartoon in 1754.

Review• Slavery and Empire

Focus Question: How did African slavery differ regionally in eighteenth-century North America?

• Slave Cultures and Slave ResistanceFocus Question: What factors led to distinct African-American cultures in the eighteenth century?

• An Empire of FreedomFocus Question: What were the meanings of British liberty in the eighteenth century?

• The Public SphereFocus Question: What concepts and institutions dominated colonial politics in the eighteenth century?

Review• The Great Awakening

Focus Question: How did the Great Awakening challenge the religious and social structure of British North America?

• Imperial RivalriesFocus Question: How did the Spanish and French empires in America develop in the eighteenth century?

• Battle for the ContinentFocus Question: What was the impact of the Seven Years' War on imperial and Indian-white relations?

slavery and empire focus question: how did african slavery differ regionally in eighteenth-century...

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