The First Century of Settlement in the Colonial North

Cartier and Champlain—oft-sought Northwest Passage, Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia), Quebec, New France

Cartier meets the natives on the St.

Lawrence, a major gateway to

the interior of North America.

Samuel de Champlain and followers looking for furs and passage to Pacific.

“Hey, this’d be a good place for Quebec.”

“Sit down and shut up! You’re rocking the boat.”

The Jesuits—Counterreformation

targets Huguenots and Indian converts;

Coureurs du bois (most successful)

Saint Ignatius Loyola, founder of Jesuits.

Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu (Louis’s head of government) began work to make New France a “proper” colony, not just an

outpost, but the French never took to wholesale colonization.

Coureurs du bois, “runners in the woods,” working the fur trade amongst the Native Americans.

Jesuit missionary, willing to sell his life to convert the Indians.

The Founding of New England

Presbyterians and Congregationalists—both Puritan: difference?

Predestination

Puritan calls for reform—Church of England includes all, Puritans include only godly; Separatistsare Congregationalists who just want to be left alone

Some were always going to Hell from the day they

were born, but how do you know who’s who?

And is it me?

John Calvin

Early difficulties for the Pilgrims— you

name it, they did it wrong, including landing

in wrong place

Mayflower Compact

--governor, assistants,

elections

William Bradford,

whose wife jumped

ship.

Mayflower and “Plimouth” colony recreations.

The men sign Mayflower Compact—along with Virginia’s House of

Burgesses, the beginnings of the self-government tradition. An estimated 35

million are direct descendants.

New England Communities

Establishing the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s

government—able, professional leadership with

governor, assistants, freemen, General Court

(legislature and judicial court)

The “Great Migration” of Puritans—

much better planned than Pilgrims—how?

Long-lived New Englanders—Puritans “invented” the idea of grandparents

Patterns of Settlement—everyone

owns a patch, but no commercial

agriculture so no slaves—tough to get rich

Hierarchy in village settlement—inequality based on “town fathers,” but women much more literate than in Europe due to Bible study

Nurse homestead in Salem village. In homes like this 20 % of men lived to 80.

John Winthrop,

first governor of

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Church Membership—must experience a convincing “spiritual rebirth”: communion, baptism

Separation of Church and State—intertwined, but better than Europe: ministers not office holders, no church property

Punishments—stocks and pillory for civil and religious wrongs

Conflict over religious differences—Hooker, New Haven (more liberal/less liberal)

Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson—Williams: purchase land from Indians; Hutchinson: outward doesn’t indicate inward

Quakers of New England

—“Light Within”; no need for clergy

Legal Barriers for Women

—Rights? You have no

stinking rights

Anne Hutchinson and Roger

Williams, two dissenters

exiled from Massachusetts

Bay.

Man in a pillory—discomfort and humiliation.

Quakers being led to execution, a

rarer but sometimes-

used punishment.

Witchcraft

*Bewitched by Salem Village

"Oh Lord, help me! It is false. I am clear. For my life now lies in your hands.…”—Rebecca

Nurse

What It Was Like

Similarities between Puritans and Indians—more

alike in lifestyle/leadership than cared to admit War—English played tribes against each other; tribes

seldom allied—e.g.—King Philip’s War could have been a near thing

Effects of Old World diseases on Indians—European microbes a virtual genocide

End of ReadingMetacomet or King

Philip. His head was put on display for twenty-five years

after his death at the end of the war.

The Mid-Atlantic ColoniesEthnic and religious diversity (+/-) in New Amsterdam—poor leadership and support, almost begging for takeover; Duke of York

James, Duke of York, was given a proprietary charter over what was New Netherlands by his brother Charles II. The Dutch surrendered their colony without firing a shot.

A slave auction in the streets of New

Amsterdam, which was on the

southern tip of Manhattan.

The Indian trade—fur trade part of Indian

power play / anti-French alliance

Iroquois women—matrilineal kinship / shared

authority in united League of the Iroquois—why?

Quaker beliefs—odd?: women get public roles,

severe dress, no signs of respect, oaths, or war

(Penn)(sylvania) established—good for

Quakers, good for quintrents; (Deustch)

Quakers and Indians—Lenni Lenapes or “true men” got true dealings

Penn’s compromises—discontent:

Charter of Privileges alters ideals;

Penn’s end: defrauded and disillusioned

Penn pens agreements with the Lenni Lenapes, purchases land, bans sale of

alcohol: “And we’ll sweeten the deal with all the Quaker Oats you can eat.”

William Penn as young and older man. Perhaps a debt owed his

father by Charles II earned him control of Pennsylvania Colony,

or Charles just wanted to ship out the Quakers.

Adjustments to Empire

Control over the colonies tightened—Lords of Trade and Plantations to oversee uncontrolled colonial freedoms, consolidate colonial governments

Dominion of New England—Sir Edmund Andros (unpopular) strips colonists of rights and privileges, Glorious Revolution, William and Mary

The Dominion overthrown—representative assemblies allowed again but then Leisler’s rebellion, execution

*Leisler's rule was short-lived. A new governor was dispatched by William III in 1691. Leisler was convicted of treason by English jury and sentenced to be executed.

In May 1691, Leisler and an associate were taken to the public square, which today is City Hall Park in New York City. There, before a hymn-singing crowd, they uttered their final remarks and were hanged. The bodies were taken down – the associate semiconscious – and their heads were hacked off by the executioner's axe. Supporters removed pieces of hair and clothing from the corpses as mementos, while the opponents had Leisler's heart cut out and held aloft. The heads were sewn back on the bodies and they were buried.

Mary and husband William (Dutch Duke of Orange) replace her father

James II (Catholic and anti-parliamentarian).

Closer regulation of trade—Board of Trade replaces Lords of Trade—strict measures lessen smuggling, increase trade via England

The limits of royal power—3,000 mile distance perpetuated independent spirit; period of “salutary neglect”