American Life in the 17 th Century 1607 - 1692. Chesapeake Colonies: Virginia, Maryland, Delaware Lots of disease shorter life expectancy Families were.

American Life in the 17th Century

1607 - 1692

Chesapeake Colonies:Virginia, Maryland, Delaware

Lots of disease shorter life expectancyFamilies were few and fragile

Men outnumbered women

By 1700, Virginia was most populous colony

Tobacco EconomyAs prices dropped, production increased which created demand for more labor

1630’s – exported 1.5 million pounds1700 – exported 40 million pounds

Tobacco Labor Indentured servants = “white slaves”• 100,000 by 1700

“Headright” system: merchant – planter class• Whoever paid the passage of a laborer received

the right to acquire 50 acres

Conditions worsened over the course of the 17th century• Freed indentured servants didn’t

receive promised land• Hard to find single women to start families

Problems Arise 1670 – Impoverished freemen of Virginia were disfranchised

Governor William Berkeley of Virginia – believed poor people should be excluded

Bacon’s Rebellion 1676Rebellion of frontiersmen against Gov. Berkeley Led by Nathaniel Bacon

forced into backcountry to find landAngry with Berkeley: friendly with Indians who attacked the frontiersmen & monopolized fur tradeBacon retaliates/ chases Berkeley out of Jamestown, burns the capital

ResultsIgnited the smoldering unhappiness of landless former servants against the gentry

Bacon died of disease, Berkeley hung 20+

Planters looked for less troublesome source of labor - slaves

Colonial SlaveryDecrease in indentured servitude after 1680’s

Better economy in England

Need for slavery increases after 1680’sRhode Island rushes to cash in on slave trade

Most of the slaves came from the West Coast of Africa

Coastal tribes captured inland tribes in Africa & sold them into slavery

Middle Passage – 20% death rateTriangular slave trade

Slave Ship

Conditions for SlavesSlave codes

Made Africans & their children property/ chattels for lifeLaws about reading, writing, & religion

Conditions were most harsh on South Carolina’s rice & indigo plantations

lonely, harder work, separated from familyChesapeake – easier on slaves

Slave RevoltsNew York City –1712South Carolina – 1739No slave uprising in American history matched the scale of Bacon’s Rebellion

Slavery started off for economic reasons, end of 17th century, racial discrimination played a role

Southern Society Planter Aristocracy:FFV’s (First Families of Virginia)

Owned gangs of slaves & vast domains of landsMonopolized political power

Yeomen farmers: landowning small farmersLandless white: former indentured servantsWhite indentured servants

Black slaves

New England Family Life

Healthier environment – longer life spanFamily was the center of life – stability

Migrated as families

Early marriage – booming birthrate

New England Family “invented” grandparentsLow premarital pregnancy rateWomen gave up property rights

Southern women allowed to retain separate titles & inherit their husband’s estates

Divorce – rareWomen had limited rights – husband’s power was not absolute

Life in New England TownsTightly knit society – small villages & farmsMeetinghouse (worship & town hall)Education

Town with 50+ families - required to have elementary schoolColleges

• 1636 – Harvard college established • (1693 – William & Mary established in Virginia)

Town meeting “The best school of political liberty the world ever saw.” Thomas Jefferson

Religious Problems in New EnglandSermons scolded parishioners for their waning piety - “Jeremiads”

Decline in conversions

1662 – “Half-Way Covenant” led to widening church membership

Partial membership rights to people not yet convertedShows difficultly of maintaining religious devotion of founding generation

Women made up the majority of Puritan churches

Salem Witch Trials 1692Salem, Massachusetts

Adolescent girls claimed to be bewitched by older women

Witch hunt led to lynching of 20 persons (+2 dogs!)

Accused witches – Salem’s prosperous merchant classAccusers – poorer families in Salem’s agricultural class

Hysteria ended in 1693 when governor’s wife was accused

Weakened the prestige of the Puritan clergy

The New England Way of Life

Premium placed on industry & frugalityLess ethnically mixedExtremes of weatherDiversified agriculture & industry

Natural harborsExperts in shipbuilding & commerceExploited the fish industry – “Gold mines of New England”

New England Legacy Calvinism, soil & climate Prided themselves on being God’s chosen people & boasted that Boston was the “Hub of the Universe”

New England pioneers re-created New England towns from Ohio to Oregon

Early Settler LifeSchedules set by the seasons & sun

Spring – plant/ summer – tend crops/ fall-harvest/ winter- prepare to begin planting

Compared to most Europeans, Americans lived in affluent abundanceLand was relatively cheap

Increased Social UnrestResentment against upper-class

1676 – Bacon’s Rebellion (Virginia)1689-91- Leisler’s Rebellion

• Animosity between lordly landholders & merchants• Bloody insurgency that rocked New York City

End of the 17th century – Protestant uprising (Maryland)