American Life in the Seventeenth

Century 1607-1692

The Southern and New England colonies

Unhealthy Chesapeake Many lives shortened by:

Malaria Dysentery Thyphoid (Salmonella Typhi-poisoning due to ingestion

of fecal matter in water and food)

Many immigrants who survived were male, knocking the ratio of male to female to 6:1 and then to 3:2 Naturally, women were not single for long, but married

lives were dampened by early death of a spouse and children

Untimely deaths weakened family ties Pregnant unmarried young girls common because they

had no role models or strong family ties

Eventually, immunities to diseases built up and help populate Chesapeake (Virginia) and MD

Tobacco Economy Chesapeake perfect spot for tobacco cultivation

Because of the demand and profit, planters raised tobacco BEFORE corn

Tobacco ravages soil, so as planters grow more tobacco, they look for fertile areas to plant This means they spread out, provoking Indians

1630s, 40 million pounds of tobacco is shipped from Chesapeake This surplus meant depressed prices, but the planters

continued growing tobacco

Because of this, they need more land and labor At first, labor is found using displaced farmers in

England, many become indentured servants

Tobacco Economy Headright System

Terms: whomever pays the passage for servant workers is entitled to 50 acres of land Benefits masters, not servants

Some masters establish sprawling tobacco plantations These merchants dominate agriculture and commerce

in the southern colonies Have great need for indentured servants to work the

vast lands

Indentured servants life not always happy Some never made enough money to be free from their

masters, and were forced to remain workers for them for low wages

Frustrated Freemen and Bacon’s Rebellion

Masses of impoverished freemen throughout Chesapeake Frustrated by their unsuccessful lives (and

bachelorhood)

Virginia Assembly took their voting rights away because they thought that these impoverished men had no real political interest in the colony

Governor Berkeley hated the “knockabouts”

“Knockabouts” began to hate Berkeley and their failed situations Soon, men would rally together to confront

Berkeley

Nathaniel Bacon 29 year old planter

Frontiersman

He and others like him hated Berkeley’s passive policies with Indians (read p 68)

Berkeley controlled the Indians immensely successful fur trade-so he had a financial motive for being passive to the raiding Indians

After many fierce raids against the Frontiersmen by the Indians, Berkeley doesn’t retaliate

Bacon gathers followers to fight back against the Indians (bloodbath)

Next, they chase Berkeley out of Jamestown and burn down the capital

Chaos grips the colony, freemen and servants go on a pillage rampage

Bacon’s Rebellion Equivalent to a civil war

Bacon contracts dysentery and dies before the rebellion is over With his death, some followers back off, allowing Berkeley to

come back

Berkeley crushes the uprising with immense cruelty Hangs <20 rebels

The English king Charles II, while annoyed with Berkeley’s death sentences, really has no idea how tense it was over here

The results: Wealthy planters now realized how many “malcontents” were

still angry about their lot in life One glaring message from all this: even the poorest people can

come together and create havoc, disrupt trade, and chase out government officials

What are the implications of this?

Colonial Slavery See page 70 for slave import chart

Why did slavery become prevalent in the colonies?1. Wages in England rose, so no need for people to venture to

the New World as indentured servants

2. In addition, Bacon’s Rebellion instilled fear within the planter community about using white servants

3. And, in 1698 the Royal African Company loses its charter, so Americans rush in to take advantage of the slave trade, since they couldn’t before at such a high level

Where did African slaves come from? West coast, mostly

Most captured by rival African tribes and sold to Europeans

Horrific conditions on the slave ships, especially the “Middle Passage”

Africans in America Severe life in the South

Hostile climate, hard labor

Rice and indigo plantations much harder work than tobacco

Rice and indigo plantations were also very vast, more so than tobacco Therefore, slaves rarely had a chance to communicate

with friends and relatives from other plantations

Not so on tobacco plantations They were smaller and closer to each other, making it

easier to communicate with each other

Africans in America Distinctive slave culture develops

Mix of African and American speech, religion, and folkways (traditions) Read page 74-75

Many words attributed to African culture: Goober, gumbo, voodoo

Many lasting traditions from African slaves: Jazz Banjo Bongo Religious dances and shouts

Africans in America Helped to build the country

Carpenters, bricklayers, tanners Toiled at clearing land and draining swamps

Despite contributions, still enslaved but yearned for freedom 1712: NY Slave Revolt (12 whites die, 21

black men executed) 1739: Stono River revolt in SC (stopped by

the militia)

Despite occasional revolts, slaves were more manageable than whites (Bacon’s Rebellion was unmatched)

Southern Society Social Structure develops and widens:

Top of ladder= small, but powerful number of large planters Many of these planters owned much of Virginia (including

Washington’s family) These wealthy elite dominate the House of Burgesses Although rich, most did work very hard

Under the planters= small farmers, who were the majority social group Small plots, one or two slaves Rough existence

Under the small farmers= landless whites

Near bottom of ladder= indentured servants, whose numbers faded when slavery took root

Bottom of ladder= black slaves

Southern Society

Not many cities in the colonial South

Urban, professional class: Lawyers & financiers

Life revolved around plantations

Waterways were principal means of transportation Roads were horrible, often deep with mud

and impassable Family burial plots became the norm because

roads were too bad for funeral processions

New England Family Not as deadly in New England as in Chesapeake

Cooler temperatures Cleaner water Added 10 years to settlers life People fertile

Early marriage, lots of babies Women married by early twenties and gave birth

every two years until menopause 10 pregnancies not unusual

Drained energy from pioneer women, many died during childbirth

Longer lives, and bigger families meant family stability

See pictures on pages 76-77

New England Family More differences then in Chesapeake:

Family stability= nurturing environments Children knew their grandparents Low premarital pregnancies

However…

New England women did not have the financial stability that their Chesapeake counters did. Why? The husbands of the South died much earlier, leaving

plantations to their wives In New England, women gave up their property rights

at marriage They did, however, get some protection when widowed

New England Family Women rights:

Still no vote Protected from abusive husbands Midwifery a common employment

Marriage in Puritan New England: Divorce rare- couples forced to reunite Adulterers- wore a red “A” sewn to their outer

garments as well as whipped in public

Life in New England Towns

Tightly-knit, much in common (religion, geography, enemies-French, Indians, Dutch, and morals)

Towns grew in orderly fashions, unlike Chesapeake Land distributed by “sober-minded” elders (aka-

proprietors)

Towns were organized like this: Meetinghouse (also used as a place of worship) Meetinghouse surrounded by houses Village Green (militia practice)

Families received land including areas for growing crops, grazing, and wooded areas for fuel

Life in New England Towns

Towns with <50 families were required to build a schoolhouse, which raised literacy rates 1636 Harvard College established by Puritans

Meant to train boys for ministry

Puritans controlled their own churches, and practiced democracy in politics as well as in the Congregational Church

Town meetings were held to elect officials (very democratic), schoolmasters, and discuss infrastructure issues

Even T. Jeff remarked at how democratic the Puritans were in New England

Half-Way Covenant Growing population meant spreading out

Spreading out means getting further from authority

Puritans feared that as people moved away, their religious zeal would fade—they were RIGHT! Fewer and fewer people were claiming conversion

(testimony that they rec’d God’s Grace and should be admitted to the church as members of the elect)

This deeply troubled ministers What to do? Jeremiads (a type of fiery sermon)

Sermons scold people for their faiding piety

1662, Half-Way Covenant established Basically, it allows the baptism, but not communion, to

the unconverted children of the church members So, they are meeting the people “half-way”

Half-Way Covenant The problem with admittance to the church w/out full

communion or conversion is: It weakens the distinction between “elect” and others And it weakens the spiritual “purity” of the original

settlers

Eventually, the Puritan church welcomes all people, regardless of their “conversion” or baptismal status Soon there would be no distinction between the

“elect” and other members

In a nutshell: by loosening the requirements to belong to the Puritan church, religious purity had been sacrificed

Fewer men would be members of the church, leaving the majority members to women

Salem Witch Trials Witch Trials was the result of hysterical women bent on

the destruction of other, more prominent women

Accusers of the “witch” were mostly very poor subsistence farmers The fact that the poor were persecuting the more

wealthy is a reflection on the widening class divisions of the time

1692, nineteen women were lynched, one was pressed to death, and two dogs were hanged Read page 80

As the hysteria became prevalent, the governor, whose wife was accused of being a witch, finally put an end to the witch hunts Twenty years after the fact, the persecuted women were

pardoned, and their families received reparations

The New England Way of Life

New England is basically one giant rock

Agriculture not common, but wood and livestock were Because of lack of agricultural opportunity, New

England was less ethnically mixed than the southern colonies—immigrants wanted agriculture, not rocks!

Climate was more fickle—brutally cold winters, brutally hot summers

Slavery did not exist on a large scale in New England, why? Because there were no large plantations

New England Way of Life Unlike the Indians, who believed in using land for

necessities, colonists took ownership of the land and used it for economic purposes

Europeans believed it was their duty to utilize the land for profit They cleared much woodland and pastures, built roads and

fences, and built permanent settlements

The English also brought cattle—pigs, horses, and sheep This meant that they would need even more land for their

cattle They encroached even further onto the Indians land,

clearing even more forests

The results of cattle’s hooves on the environment were devastating: erosion, flooding, and changing local climates

New England Way of Life The vast amount of lumber in New England helped

them establish ship-building companies

They also became successful merchants, since they monopolized the shores of New England

Cod fish was another “gold mine” for the New Englanders

In short, the sometimes harsh, uncooperative climate of New England helped to produce stubborn, yet resourceful colonists

This New England “attitude” helped shape the rest of the nation into the self-reliant character filled with “Yankee ingenuity”

Early Settlers’ Days and Ways

All settlers lived by a cycle: Plant crops in the spring Tend crops in the summer Harvest crops in the fall Prepare during winter to repeat the cycle

Rise at dawn, in bed by dusk Chores done before night time

Women: cooked, cleaned, cared for children

Men: clear land, put up fences, planted, harvested, chopped wood, slaughtered cattle

Children: did a little of everything, plus went to school when they could

In general, people of the New World were better off than most in the Old World