Lecture 3

Hist 110American Civilization I

Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer

Upper Iowa University

Lecture 3 Restoration Colonies

Proprietary colonies Colonies given by King to private

parties to rule essentially as their own property

Maryland: established as the first such colony by Charles I

Charles II rewarded supporters and family with proprietorships

He owed significant debts from his time in exile after the English Civil War

Carolina (1663): given the a group of supporters who failed in their attempt to create a quasi-feudal society there

New Netherlands became New York (1665) under proprietorship of Charles II’s younger brother, James, the Duke of York

Pennsylvania (1681) Given as a proprietorship to William

Penn as payment for a debt that Charles II owed to Penn’s father

Colony became a prosperous refuge for Quakers, and many other groups, including Germans and Native Americans

Lecture 3 England Tightens its Grip

Mercantilism Prevailing economic doctrine of the

17th and 18th century Believed countries must tightly

control international trade to benefit from it

Navigation Acts A series of trade regulations imposed

starting in 1651 aimed at forcing English colonies to trade exclusively with England and its colonies

These laws often ignored by American colonists

Political Centralization Massachusetts Charter revoked in

1684 Dominion of New England: James II

consolidateds New England colonies and New York into authoritarian government under Edmund Andros (with no representative legislature)

Charles II James II

Edmund Andros

Lecture 3 Glorious Revolution

James II’s alienated England’s political elite as well as the American colonists

He openly embraced Catholicism The birth of his son and prospect of a

Catholic dynasty caused Parliament to force James II into exile and to invite his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband, William, to become co-monarchs

Glorious Revolution in America News of James II’s overthrow sparked

rebellions by Protestants in Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York

Massachusetts: Andros overthrown, Dominion of New England dissolved, but old Massachusetts charter not restored

Maryland: Protestants temporarily succeeded in overthrowing the Calvert proprietorship (restored in 1715)

Jacob Leisler led a rebellion in New York, at first winning support, but alienated some supporters and was eventually arrested and hanged for treason

William and Mary

Jacob Leisler

England and her allies, starting in 1689, began to fight a series of imperial wars against France and her allies, that would last until 1815

These wars were fought over dominance not only in North Americas, but also Europe, the Caribbean, West Africa, India and elsewhere

Imperial Wars affecting British North America

King William’s War (1689-1697): parallels War of the Grand Alliance in Europe

Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713): parallels War of the Spanish Succession in Europe

King George’s War (1744-1748): parallels War of the Austrian Succession in Europe Also connected to the War of Jenkin’s

Ear between Britain and Spain French and Indian War (1754-1763):

parallels the Seven Years’ War in Europe

Lecture 3Imperial Wars

Fortress of LouisbourgNova Scotia

A major strategic point

in the Imperial Wars

Lecture 3Atlantic World Economy

British North America part of a larger economic system consisting of legal trade amongst Britain and her colonies in the Atlantic basin

The colonies also had substantial illegal trade outside the British system

Triangular Trade Textiles, rum, and manufactured

goods sent to Africa in return for slaves

Slaves sent to the Americas from Africa

Sugar, tobacco, rice and other commodities sent from the Americas to Europe

Slavery in the Atlantic World Economy

The slave trade played a key role in this Atlantic economic system

Slaves needed to grow plantation crops, sugar in particular, the demand for which in the Atlantic basin was key to driving the entire system

Map depicting the flow of goods

in the Atlantic world economy

Lecture 3Africa and Atlantic Slave Trade

Europeans tapped into already existing markets for slaves in Africa that were controlled by Africans

Europeans, with permission of local leaders established forts on the coast to wait for African slave traders to bring captives for sale

Slaves were sold to European traders for rum, gold, and manufactured goods

They had typically already spent weeks or even months in a forced march from the interior, where had been enslaved, to the coast

They could spend a day or less, or sometimes a year or more in chains at the slave fort on the coast waiting for transportation across the Atlantic

The slaves generally were tightly packed below decks on the slave ships, during the “Middle Passage” of the Triangular Trade

The journey typically last 4-8 weeks, and 1 out of 7 slaves died en route

Lecture 3Development of Slavery in British North America

Chesapeake Africans first arrived in Virginia in

1619 For several decades they were not

treated very differently than white indentured servants, with some becoming planters Read about Anthony Johnson

The status of Africans deteriorated, especially after 1650

After Bacon’s Rebellion African slaves-for-life replaced indentured servants as tobacco laborers

South Carolina Slavery arrived intact with

immigrants from Barbados Slaves growing rice for food

introduced the crop that would make slavery there profitable

So many slaves were imported into the colony that by 1705 they were a majority of the population

Lecture 3Slaves in Colonial North America

Slaves created a distinct culture Their culture was a combination of

European and African elements Slaves in South Carolina retained

a higher degree of African culture because of the black majority and relative isolation from whites

Read about the Gullah language Resistance

Feign illness, work slowdowns, theft, sabotage, running away, etc.

Read about the Stono Rebellion (1731)

Many slaves adopted Christianity but imparted to it the enthusiastic character of African religiosity

Families served a key role in African-American culture as a source of consolation, support, and training in how to cope with slavery

Slaves managed to leave an imprint on American culture in such fields as religion and architecture

Slaves dancing inColonial Virginia

Lecture 3 Rise of the Southern Gentry

A white culture developed in the South alongside the slave culture

In exploring this culture as it developed among southern slaveholders, the textbook focuses on William Byrd II

Learn more about William Byrd II Byrd’s lavish lifestyle epitomizes the

quest for comfort and luxury of Chesapeake elite in contrast to primitive money-grubbing planters of the early decades

He and other members of the American gentry imitated the lifestyle of the contemporary aristocracy in England

They treated their slaves in an authoritarian fashion, but were forced to pay a degree of respect to lesser whites who often could vote

Sample of William Byrd II’s secret diary

William Byrd II

Lecture 3 Northern Maritime Economy

The northern maritime economy was deeply tied into the slave economy of the British Empire

Farmers of the Middle Colonies supplied the sugar plantations of the Caribbean with foodstuffs and New England fisherman sent them salted cod

Mainland distilleries turned Caribbean molasses into rum

American colonists also sent their products elsewhere and colonial ports developed to ship out the exports and process the arrival of imports that came in from Atlantic basin and elsewhere

Directing this trade were a group of prosperous merchants who monetized transactions with bills of trades

Merchants operated in an urban environment with a community of artisans, shopkeepers, tradesmen, laborers, and assorted hangers on

Port of Boston, 1770Engraving byPaul Revere

Lecture 3British-American Geo-Politics

Rise of the Colonial Assemblies American colonial assemblies worked

successfully after the Glorious Revolution to grab power away from royal governors and proprietors

They did so by using the leverage of appropriating the salary of the governor and other royal officials in America

Salutary Neglect Americans got away with the power

grab because British from 1689 to 1763 largely did not care what went on in America

British neglect of America proved salutary (i.e., beneficial) because the colonists proved competent in managing their own affairs

Americans and the Navigation Acts The main point of irritation in

American relationship with Britain was American evasion of the Navigation Acts