Teaching American History: Leadership in Early Florida, Virginia, and Massachusetts Bay Dr. Sean Condon June 20 & 29, 2009
Dec 19, 2015
Teaching American History: Leadership in Early Florida, Virginia,
and Massachusetts BayDr. Sean Condon
June 20 & 29, 2009
Themes for the day
• Atlantic Context: Protestant Reformation & Spanish colonization
• Early colonization efforts are extremely difficult and dangerous
• Importance and complexity of motivation• The goals of colonization always crash into the
realities• In these situations, leadership is a lot about
responding to a new environment
Leaders we will focus on:
• Florida: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés & Francisco Pareja
• Virginia: Powhatan & John Smith• Massachusetts Bay: John Winthrop & Anne
Hutchinson
Themes for Florida
• For the Spanish, Florida was of marginal interest
• The experience of Cortes in Mesoamerica shaped many of the decisions
• The fragility of the settlements• Mission system made effort to Hispanicize &
pacify native groups in the Southeast
Florida timeline1513: Ponce de Leon’s travels1519-21: Cortes conquers the Mexica (Aztec) 1528-36: Cabeza de Vaca’s travels1539-43: De Soto in Southeast1564: French establish Ft. Caroline1565-71: Pedro Menendez de Aviles establishes St.
Augustine & seven other forts1574: death of Menendez de Aviles and movement
toward mission system1595: Franciscan priest Francisco Pareja arrives in Florida1675: mission system reaches its height
Virginia Timeline
• 1585-87 Roanoke Colony• 1607: Founding of Jamestown• 1609-10: “Starving time”• 1616: First tobacco shipment sent to London• 1622: Opechancanough’s Uprising
Themes for Virginia
• Powhatan’s challenges and opportunities• Virginia dreams vs. realities• The European context for the Virginia colony• English short term failure vs. long term
success
Hakluyt’s Document
• Why should the English colonize North America?
• How would you describe the author?• Who would go to colonize?• What part of his vision seems Realistic?
Unrealistic?
Opechankanough
Powhatan’s brotherTakes over confederacy in late 1610sLeads uprising in 1622 & again in 1644
Massachusetts Bay timeline
1517: Martin Luther sparks Protestant Reformation
1534: Henry VIII establishes Church of England1620: Pilgrim Separatists found Plymouth
Colony1625-49: Reign of Charles I1630: Puritans found Mass Bay Colony
Mass Bay themes
• Role of Gods’ Providence• Sense of mission• Importance of community• Notion of a “calling”• The Puritan paradox
• This court being informed that John Littehale of Haverhill, liveth in a house by himself contrary to the law of the country whereby hee is subject to much sin which is the consequence of a solitary life…[within six weeks he must] settle himself in some orderly family…and be subject to the orderly rules of family government” [Hampton Court, 1672]