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Chapter 3 The Empire in America 1660–1750

Teaching Resources governed by a small number of powerful nobles. 5. Poor families in North Carolina refused to Chapter Instructional Objectives work on large manors and chose to live on After you have taught this chapter, your students modest farms. should be able to answer the following questions: 6. South Carolinians imposed their own design of government and attacked Indian 1. How and why did Europeans bring Africans to settlements to acquire slaves for trade. the American as slaves? 7. South Carolina remained an ill-governed 2. How did African American communities in and violence-ridden frontier settlement America respond to and resist their condition? until the 1720s. 8. Pennsylvania, designed as a refuge for 3. What was the structure of colonial government? Quakers persecuted in , developed How did it operate? Why did Englishmen and a pacifistic policy toward the Native colonial citizens view the role of assemblies dif- Americans and became prosperous. ferently? 9. Quakers believed that people were imbued 4. What was the role of the colonies within the by God with an inner light of grace and British mercantilist system? How did economic understanding that opened salvation to considerations affect political decision making in everyone. both England and ? 10. Penn’s Frame of Government (1681) guar- anteed religious freedom for all Christians and allowed all property-owning men to Chapter Annotated Outline vote and hold office. I. The Politics of Empire, 1660–1713 11. Ethnic diversity, pacifism, and freedom of A. The Great Aristocratic Land Grab conscience made Pennsylvania the most 1. Charles II gave the Carolinas to his aristo- open and democratic of the Restoration cratic friends and gave his brother James, colonies. the Duke of York, the land between the B. From Mercantilism to Imperial Delaware and Connecticut Rivers. 1. In the 1650s the English government 2. James took possession of imposed mercantilism, via the Navigation and named it New York; the adjacent land Acts, which regulated colonial commerce was established as New . and manufacturing. 3. The proprietors of the new colonies 2. The Revenue Act of 1673 imposed a sought to create a traditional social order “plantation duty” on sugar and tobacco with a gentry class and an established exports and created a staff of customs . officials to enforce the mercantilist laws. 4. The Fundamental Constitutions of 3. In commercial wars between 1652 and Carolina (1669) prescribed a manorial 1674, the English ended Dutch supremacy system with nobility and serfs that were in the West African slave trade. The

41 42 Chapter 3: The in America, 1660–1750

English also dominated North Atlantic 8. In 1689, Andros was shipped back to commerce. England, and the new monarchs broke up 4. Many Americans resisted the mercantilist the Dominion of . laws as burdensome and intrusive. To 9. The monarchs did not restore Puritan- enforce the laws, the Lords of Trade pur- dominated government; instead they cre- sued a punitive legal strategy: in 1679, ated a new royal of Massachusetts they denied the claim of Massachusetts to whose new charter granted religious free- ’s territory, instead creat- dom to members of the Church of ing New Hampshire as a separate colony. England and gave the vote to all male In 1684, they annulled Massachusetts’s property owners instead of Puritans only. charter. 10. The uprising in Maryland had both politi- 5. When James II succeeded to the throne, cal and religious causes; Protestants his insistence on the “divine right” of resented rising taxes and high fees kings prompted English officials to create imposed by wealthy, primarily Catholic a centralized imperial system in America. proprietary officials. 6. In 1686 the Connecticut and Rhode Island 11. In New York the rebellion against the colonies were merged with those of Mass- Dominion of New England began a achusetts Bay and Plymouth to form the decade of violent political conflict. Dominion of New England, a royal 12. The uprisings in Boston and New York province. toppled the authoritarian Dominion of 7. Two years later, New York and New Jersey New England and won the restoration of were added to the Dominion. internal self-government. 8. Sir Edmund Andros, governor of the 13. In England the new constitutional mon- Dominion, was empowered to abolish archs promoted an empire based on com- existing legislative assemblies and rule by merce; Parliament created a new Board of decree. Trade (1696) to supervise the American 9. Andros advocated worship in the Church settlements, bit it had little success. The of England, banned town meetings, and overall result was a period of lax adminis- challenged land titles. tration. C. The in England and D. Imperial Wars and Native Peoples America 1. Between 1689 and 1815, Britain and 1. In 1688, James’s Catholic wife gave birth fought wars for dominance of to a son, raising the prospect of a Catholic Western . heir to the throne. 2. As the wars spread to the Americas, they 2. To forestall such an event, Protestant Par- involved a number of Native American liamentary leaders carried out a bloodless warriors armed with European weapons. coup known as the “Glorious Revolution.” 3. The War of the Spanish Succession 3. Mary, James’s Protestant daughter by his (1702–1713) pitted Britain against France first wife, and her husband, William of and and prompted English settlers Orange, were enthroned. in the Carolinas to attack Spanish Florida. 4. Queen Mary II and William III agreed to 4. So that they might help to protect their rule as constitutional monarchs loyal to English settlement, whites in the Carolinas “the Protestant reformed religion” and armed the Creek peoples to fend off accepted a bill of rights that limited royal French and Spanish attacks. prerogatives and increased personal liber- 5. The Creeks took this opportunity to ties and parliamentary powers. become the dominant tribe in the region. 5. Parliamentary leaders relied on John 6. Native Americans also played a central Locke’s Two Treatises on Government role in the fighting in the Northeast; aided (1690) to justify their coup. Locke rejected by the French, the Abenakis and Mohawks divine-right theories of monarchical rule. took revenge on the Puritans, attacking 6. Locke’s celebration of individual rights settlements in and Massachusetts. and representative government had a last- New Englanders responded by joining ing influence in America. British forces in attacks on French strong- 7. The Glorious Revolution sparked colonial holds in and Quebec. rebellions against royal governments in 7. The New York frontier remained quiet Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York. because of the fur trade and the Iroquois’ Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750 43

policy of “aggressive neutrality”: trading 3. In many African societies, class divisions with the British and the French but refus- hardened as people of noble birth ing to fight for either side. enslaved and sold those of lesser status. 8. Britain used victories in Europe to win 4. The imbalance of the sexes that resulted territorial and commercial concessions in from slave trading allowed some African the Americas in the Treaty of Utrecht men to take several wives, changing the (1713). Britain obtained Newfoundland, nature of marriage. Acadia, and the Hudson Bay region of 5. The Atlantic trade prompted harsher northern from France, and access forms of slavery in Africa, eroding the dig- to the western Indian trade. The treaty nity of human life there and in the West- solidified Britain’s supremacy and brought ern Hemisphere. peace to North America. 6. African slaves who were forced to endure II. The Imperial Slave Economy the Middle Passage, the ship journey A. The South Atlantic System from Africa to the Americas, suffered 1. The South Atlantic system had its center the bleakest fate; many were literally in Brazil and the West Indies; sugar was its worked to death after reaching the sugar main product. plantations. 2. European , investors, and C. Slavery in the Chesapeake and South planters ran the system in that they pro- Carolina vided the organizational skill, ships, and 1. Planters in Virginia and Maryland took money needed to grow and process sugar- advantage of the increased British trade in cane, carry the refined sugar to market, slaves, importing thousands of slaves and and supply the plantations with European creating a “slave society.” tools and equipment. 2. Slavery was increasingly defined in racial 3. To provide labor for the sugar plantations, terms; in Virginia virtually all resident the British and French developed African- Africans were declared slaves. run slave-catching systems that extended 3. Living and working conditions in Mary- far into the interior of Africa. They trans- land and Virginia allowed slaves to live ported about 10,000 Africans per year to relatively long lives. the Americas. 4. Some tobacco planters tried to increase 4. Beginning in the 1620s, Dutch merchants their workforce through reproduction, introduced the sugar cultivation to purchasing female slaves and encouraging English and French settlements in the large families. West Indies, and a “sugar revolution” 5. By the middle of the 1700s, slaves consti- quickly transformed their economies. tuted over 30 percent of the Chesapeake 5. Sugar was the most profitable crop in population, and over three-quarters of Europe and America. them were American born. 6. As a result of the Navigation Acts, by 1750 6. South Carolina slaves were much more re-exports of American sugar and tobacco oppressed. Growing rice required work accounted for half of all British exports. amid pools of putrid water, and mos- 7. The South Atlantic system brought wealth quito-borne epidemic diseases took thou- to the European economy, but it brought sands of African lives. economic decline, political change, and 7. The slave population in South Carolina human tragedy to West Africa and parts of suffered many deaths and had few births; East Africa. therefore, the importation of new slaves B. Africa, Africans, and the Slave Trade “re-Africanized” the black population. 1. The slave trade changed West African D. The Emergence of an African American society by promoting centralized states Community and military conquest by kingdoms such 1. Slaves initially did not regard one another as Barsally, Dahomey, and Asante. as “Africans” or “blacks” but as members 2. Many of these African kingdoms partici- of a specific family, clan, or people. pated in the slave trade in order to gain 2. The acquisition of a common language wealth and power. Others, such as Benin, and a more equal gender ratio were pre- opposed the trade in male slaves for over a requisites for the creation of an African century. American community. 44 Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750

3. As enslaved blacks forged a new identity G. The Northern Maritime Economy in America, their lives continued to be 1. The South Atlantic system tied the whole shaped by their African past, influencing British empire together economically in decorative motifs, housing design, and part through bills of exchange,a form of religious patterns. credit offered by London merchants and E. Resistance and Accommodation used by planters to buy slaves from Africa, 1. African creativity was limited because and to pay North American farmers and slaves were denied education and had few merchants. material goods or leisure time. 2. West Indian trade created the first Ameri- 2. Slaves who resisted their rigorous work can fortunes and the first urban routine were punished with beatings, industries—in particular, shipbuilding whippings, and mutilation, including and the distilling of rum from West Indies amputation. sugar. 3. The extent of violence toward slaves 3. In the eighteenth century the expansion of depended on the size and the density of Atlantic commerce in lumber and ship- the slave population; a smaller slave popu- building fueled rapid growth in the North lation usually meant less violence, while American interior as well as in seaport predominantly African-populated colonies cities and coastal towns. suffered more violence. 4. A small group of wealthy landowners and 4. The Stono Rebellion (1739) in South Car- merchants formed the top rank of the sea- olina was the largest slave uprising of the port society. eighteenth century. 5. Artisan and shopkeeper families formed 5. White militiamen killed many of the the middle ranks of seaport society, and Stono rebels and dispersed the rest, pre- laboring men, women, and children venting a general uprising. formed the lowest ranks. Historians have F. William Byrd and the Rise of the Southern tested this hypothesis by studying the pro- Gentry bate inventory of selected individuals. 1. As the southern colonies became slave 6. Between 1660 and 1750, involvement in societies, life changed for whites as well as the South Atlantic system brought eco- blacks. nomic uncertainty as well as jobs to 2. As men lived longer, patriarchy within the northern workers and farmers. family reappeared. III. The New Politics of Empire, 1713–1750 3. The planter elite exercised authority over A. The Rise of Colonial Assemblies black slaves and yeomen—the American 1. The triumph of the South Atlantic system equivalent of oppressed peasants and serfs changed the politics of empire; the British of Europe. were content to rule the colonies with a 4. To prevent rebellion, the southern gentry gentle hand, and the colonists were in a paid attention to the concerns of middling position to challenge the rules of the mer- and poor whites. cantilist system. 5. By 1770 the majority of English Chesa- 2. In England, a Declaration of Rights in peake families owned a slave, giving them 1689 strengthened the powers of the a stake in the exploitative labor system. Commons at the expense of . 6. Taxes were gradually reduced for poorer 3. American representative assemblies also whites, and poor yeomen and some ten- wished to limit the powers of the crown ants were allowed to vote. and gradually won control over taxation 7. In return, the planter elite expected the and local appointments. yeomen and tenants to elect them to office 4. The rising power of the colonial assem- and defer to their power. blies created an elitist rather than a demo- 8. By the 1720s the gentry took on the trap- cratic political system. pings of wealth, modeling themselves after 5. Neither elitist assemblies nor wealthy the English aristocracy, and practicing property owners could impose unpopular gentility,a refined but elaborate lifestyle. edicts on the people. 9. The profits of the South Atlantic system 6. Crowd actions were a regular part of helped to form an increasingly well-edu- political life in America and were used to cated, refined, and stable ruling class. enforce community values. Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750 45

7. By the 1750s most colonies had represen- 2. The Molasses Act of 1733 placed a high tative political institutions that were tariff on imports of French molasses to responsive to popular pressure and make British molasses competitive, but increasingly immune from British control. sugar prices rose in the late , so the B. act was not enforced. 1. “Salutary neglect”—under which royal 3. The Currency Act (1751) prevented bureaucrats relaxed their supervision of colonies from establishing new land internal colonial affairs, focusing instead banks and prohibited the use of public on defense and trade—was a byproduct of currency to pay private debts. This was in the political system developed by Sir response to abuse of the land bank system Robert Walpole, a British Whig. by some colonial assemblies who issued 2. Radical Whigs argued that Walpole used too much paper currency and then patronage and bribery to create a strong required merchants to accept the worth- Court Party. less paper as legal tender. 3. Landed gentlemen argued that Walpole’s 4. In the 1740s, British officials vowed to high taxes and bloated, incompetent royal replace salutary neglect with rigorous bureaucracy threatened the liberties of the imperial control. British people. 4. Colonists, maintaining that royal gover- nors likewise abused their patronage pow- Key Terms ers, tried to enhance the powers of manorial system A quasi-feudal system of landholding provincial representative assemblies. in the Hudson River valley in which wealthy land- C. Protecting the Mercantile System lords leased out thousands of acres to tenant farm- 1. Walpole’s main concern was to protect ers in exchange for rent, a quarter of the value of all British commercial interests in America improvements (houses and barns, for example), from the Spanish and the French. and a number of days of personal service. (70) 2. Walpole arranged for Parliament to subsi- dize Georgia in order to protect the valu- Middle Passage The brutal sea voyage from Africa to able rice colony of South Carolina. the Americas in the eighteenth and nineteenth 3. Resisting British expansion into Georgia centuries that cost nearly a million African slaves and growing trade with Mesoamerica, their lives. (82) Spanish naval forces sparked the War of gentility A refined of living and elaborate man- Jenkins’ Ear in 1739. ners that came to be highly prized among well-to- 4. Walpole used this provocation to launch a do English families after 1600. (90) predatory, but largely unsuccessful, war against Spain’s American Empire. bills of exchange Credit slips that British manufactur- 5. The War of Jenkins’ Ear became a part of ers, West Indian planters, and American mer- the War of Austrian Succession chants used in the eighteenth century in place of (1740–1749), bringing a new threat from currency to settle transactions. (90) France. probate inventory An accounting of a person’s prop- 6. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) erty at the time of death, as recorded by court- returned the French naval fortress of appointed officials. Probate inventories are of Louisbourg to France after its capture by great value to historians: these detailed lists of per- New England militiamen, but the treaty sonal property, household items, and financial also reaffirmed British military superiority assets and debts tell us a good deal about people’s over Spain, effectively giving Georgia to lives. (93) the British. D. The American Economic Challenge salutary neglect A term often used to describe British 1. Colonial merchants took advantage of a colonial policy during the reigns of I (r. loophole in the Navigation Acts that 1714–1727) and George II (r. 1727–1760). By allowed Americans to own ships and relaxing their supervision of internal colonial transport goods. The loophole allowed affairs, royal bureaucrats contributed significantly colonists to cut dramatically into com- to the rise of self-government in North America. merce in the Atlantic. (94) 46 Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750

Radical Whigs An eighteenth-century faction in Par- few people, increasing the wealth of many, impov- liament that protested corruption in government, erishing many, and exploiting even more. It is the growing cost of the British empire, and the apparent why this disparity would happen on a rise of a wealthy class of government-related sugar or tobacco plantation. It is less clear why and financiers. (95) how exploitation would occur in small urban sea- ports in the North American colonies. Define the land banks An institution, established by a colonial functions those ports played in the colonial sys- legislature, that printed paper money and lent it to tem. Show how the class makeup of the ports farmers, taking a lien on their land to ensure would arise from the dominant economic func- repayment. (99) tions of the city: merchants and some British offi- cials; middling people, artisans, laborers, and Lecture Strategies workers in the shipping industry; and slaves. Indi- cate the extent of slavery in New York and its con- 1. Write a lecture in which you explain how the sequences for social order. It is important to note broadening of mercantilist theory by means of the the appearance of a strong merchant class that cre- Navigation Acts was paralleled by British efforts to ated a thriving trade with the West Indies; this gain closer political control over the colonies. merchant class would seek and resist Then, demonstrate how American colonists British efforts to increase imperial control. expressed dissent over the political implications of the relationship between the mother country and 4. Compose a lecture in which you explain the devel- its colonies dictated by mercantilism. Even though opment of an African American society and cul- American colonials initially separated economic ture in the context of the economics and interaction from political status, over time they demography of the South Atlantic system. After resisted a future that seemed to promise only Bacon’s Rebellion, the planters’ desire to assert second-class . This lecture will later more social control over the workforce combined help students to more easily understand the causes with increasing profits and the declining cost of of the American Revolution. slaves to make slavery more affordable. But because they were considerably less wealthy than West 2. Students need to understand the dynamics of the Indian planters, Virginians and Carolinians could South Atlantic system and how that system afford fewer slaves, who were scattered on planta- affected everyone who came in contact with it. To tions across the colony. In contrast to the West help them comprehend the reciprocal and inter- Indies, the death rate among slaves in North Amer- connected nature of the international slave trade, ica was low, facilitating family formation. As the draw a large triangle on the board to accompany conditions of the slave population improved, so your lecture, then follow the lines of shipping did the birthrate. This gradually improved gender across the Atlantic. In your lecture, you may wish ratios, which continued to increase the birthrate, to follow the operations of the slave ships as they creating a natural population increase that stopped along the coast of Africa, picked up slaves, enlarged the slave population. These demographic transported them on the Middle Passage, and developments allowed slaves in North America to deposited them in markets in the West Indies. A form families, develop kin relationships, and forge film clip from Amistad adds visual emotion to any a new African American culture and society among verbal lecture on the subject. Note how the English Africans who came from different tribal groups used money or goods from the system to purchase and spoke different languages. Though viewed as slaves along the African coast and then sold them an people who were legally enslaved and to planters for a much higher price to work on forced to work and live amid brutal repression and lands lost by Indians during an earlier time period. violence, African American slaves were gradually Then, follow the production of sugar, its shipment able to form a new subculture that would trans- to London, and its sale to Europeans to help stu- form the character of American society after 1720. dents understand the plantation system and the inflow of capital from Europe. By emphasizing the profitable nature of the South Atlantic system, you Reviewing the Text can effectively show how other factors shaped its These questions are from the textbook and follow each development over time. main section of the narrative. They are provided in the 3. By using slaves, the South Atlantic system Computerized Test Bank with suggested responses, for increased the disparity of wealth by enriching a your convenience. Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750 47

The Politics of Empire, 1660–1713 (pp. 70–77) from Indians were turned into plantations; enslaved laborers were purchased in Africa; cap- 1. What was the role of the colonies in the British ital and ships were provided by Europeans. mercantilist system? Europeans purchased Africans in Africa, trans- •Colonies produced agricultural goods and raw ported them to the Americas, and carried raw materials, which English merchants would carry materials produced on Indian land by enslaved to the home country, where they would be re- Africans back to Europe for resale abroad. exported or manufactured into finished prod- •Because of climate and location, some colonies, ucts. such as Brazil, the Carolinas, , and , were more suitable to plantation agri- 2. Explain the causes of the Glorious Revolution and culture and slave labor, and grew rapidly into how it affected England and America. slave-based agricultural plantation colonies as a result. A monocrop agricultural system based on • Causes: King James II revoked charters of many race and black chattel slavery developed in slave- English towns, rejected the advice of Parliament, based colonies. and aroused popular opposition by openly prac- ticing Roman Catholicism. In 1688 his new son 2. What role did Africans play in the expansion of raised the prospect of a Catholic heir to the the Atlantic slave trade? What role did Europeans throne, giving rise to fears of political persecu- play? tion. • Results: In England, as a result of a quick and •Africans were enslaved by fellow African leaders bloodless coup, James II was forced into exile who sought to trade them for Europeans’ guns and Mary, his Protestant daughter by his first to enhance African military strength, arms wife, became Queen. She increased personal lib- which then allowed Africans to acquire more erties and parliamentary powers. The changes in slaves to sell to Europeans, which expanded the England sparked rebellions by colonies in Mass- slave trade over time. achusetts, Maryland, and New York. The Do- •Europeans provided the capital, trade goods, minion of New England was broken up, creating and ships to transport slaves purchased from the new royal colony of Massachusetts. Africans to the Americas. Europeans also created a plantation agricultural system in many Amer- 3. How did Native Americans attempt to turn Euro- ican colonies. African slaves worked on the plan- pean rivalries to their advantage? How successful tations. were they? 3. In what colonies were enslaved Africans most suc- •Some accepted firearms from one European cessful in creating African American communi- at war with another, hoping for greater ties? Where were they least successful? How do you control of territory. Several tribes then used the explain the differences? firearms to attack the settlements of their Euro- •In places with large African populations, such as pean and Native enemies, and sometimes even the West Indies and the Carolinas, the presence turned them against the allies who had supplied of large numbers of Africans from different the guns. Other Native Americans, by maintain- tribes facilitated a broad-based African Ameri- ing a neutral position, managed to keep up a can culture based on a common Africanized lan- lucrative trade with both sides. guage that transcended tribal differences. A high •Native Americans were relatively successful in death rate and the relative absence of women, using European alliances to retain their territory however, worked to slow the development of and gain greater control of the fur trade, delay- African American culture compared to the ing European takeover by one or two genera- Chesapeake. tions during the early 1700s. •In the Chesapeake colonies where more Ameri- can-born blacks lived, English became the com- The Imperial Slave Economy (pp. 77–93) mon language, facilitating a more rapid development of African American culture. A 1. Describe the major elements of the South Atlantic lower death rate in the Chesapeake and a more system. How did the system work? How did it equal sex ratio compared to the Carolinas shape the development of the various colonies? enabled the development of stable families, facil- •The three major components of the South itating a more rapid development of African Atlantic systems were as follows: lands taken American culture. 48 Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750

•In colonies with small black populations, such as government in key regions, such as the West the northern English colonies, Africans strug- Indies and the Carolinas. The arrival of thou- gled to make new communities. sands of African slave laborers facilitated the economic development of rural areas. The rapid proliferation of a plantation style economy The New Politics of Empire, 1713–1750 enriched private landholders, who served as the (pp. 93–100) impetus for expanding black chattel slavery and 1. How did the ideas and policies of the Whigs in extending imperial control deeper into Indian England affect British and colonial political sys- communities. tems between 1700 and 1760? 2. In what ways did politics in the British empire •Central control wielded by English monarchs change in the decades following the Glorious Rev- was weakened, in part by the undermining of olution? How do you explain those changes? faith in the integrity of the political system brought by salutary neglect, a major Whig policy •After the Glorious Revolution, the British during the early 1700s. Higher taxes and a empire became increasingly decentralized, with bloated bureaucracy alienated the British people, colonial assemblies taking on greater responsi- who felt their liberties were decreasing as a result. bilities and powers over the Crown and Parlia- ment. Thus, a new empire based on commerce 2. What was the British policy of salutary neglect? resulted and colonial rebellions increased. Why did the British follow this policy? What con- • English Whigs challenged the hierarchical out- sequences did it have for the British colonies in look of England as part of a general campaign to North America? increase free trade. They also won the fight for a that limited the •Salutary neglect, a Whig policy of relaxed super- authority of the crown. vision of the colonies in favor of defense and trade, facilitated the rise of self-government in the colonies. Royal appointees increasingly cared Class Discussion Starters little about colonial obedience to the Crown, and 1. Was the South Atlantic system a success or a fail- more about making a profit from their office. ure between 1650 and 1750? •As Parliament and monarchs focused more on trade and defense, American colonists increased Possible answers the powers of representative bodies, leading the a. Economically, the system was a remarkable suc- way for later demands of political equality and cess. The sugar grown in the West Indies had a . value considerably above the cost of labor and transportation and thus sent a river of wealth Chapter Writing Assignments into England and the American colonies. b. Politically, it was also relatively successful. By These questions appear at the end of Chapter 3 in the implementing mercantilist policy, backing it up textbook. They are provided in the Computerized Test with trade wars, and developing a policy that Bank with suggested responses, for your convenience. encouraged the market to grow without super- vision, the British encouraged development 1. Describe the dramatic expansion of the British and contributed to political stability. empire in North America in the late seventeenth c. Socially, the system empowered various groups and early eighteenth centuries. What role did the in England and the American colonies—mer- South Atlantic system play? chants, planters, artisans, and farmers—and •Expansion through imperial warfare with tended to place wealth in the hands of a few France and Spain, land taking from Indians, people. mercantilist policies, and salutary neglect helped d. The human cost to the enslaved peoples under- the British monarchy expand from monocrop mined any notion that the South Atlantic sys- plantation colonies in the West Indies to a more tem was “successful.” diversified economic and social structure in the e. As Thomas Jefferson remarked, the system eastern colonies of North America. undermined the character of the slaveholders: •The South Atlantic system was crucial to each generation “nursed, educated, and daily increasing the political powers of the English exercised in tyranny.” Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750 49

2. Why did Virginians and other southern planters ever, leave slaves at the mercy of the repression make the decision to implement slavery in the and terror many planters felt they needed to seventeenth century? Did they have other impose to establish order. options? 4. Did American colonials benefit economically Possible answers from their participation in the South Atlantic a. The large planters wanted to establish a labor system? system that could be controlled instead of one Possible answers that freed indentured servants to become demanding members of society. a. Early production and trade in the colonies b. Slaves made southern planters appear more like increased in direct response to the establish- the West Indian planters, enhancing their pres- ment of markets in England. tige and power. b. The British interdiction against foreign ship- c. The labor market shifted. After other colonies ping within the empire stimulated the British began developing, more indentured servants shipbuilding industry, much of which took went to those colonies. This made servants place in Boston and in smaller ports along the more expensive, when they could be found at New England coast. all. Hence, slaves from the West Indies or Africa c. Direct sales of foodstuffs and lumber to the seemed to be more economical. West Indies stimulated production and trade in d. Politically, planters increasingly stressed race the middle and northern colonies. and shared human rights in order to create sol- d. By developing an integrated trading system, the idarity with white freeholders, farmers, and Navigation Acts also stimulated agricultural laborers. Slavery thus enabled planters to con- development and market specialization in colo- solidate their political power. nial ports, raising revenues, income, and capital e. There were other options. Slavery was a choice investment. made by southern planters; it was not an in- e. The colonials undertook a considerable amount evitable outcome. The planters valued social of smuggling. The colonies also traded rice and standing, political power, and the accumulation fish directly in southern Europe, indicating that of wealth over the human cost involved. the American colonials could have developed their own trade with Europe without going 3. What factors influenced the creation and mainte- through London or the West Country ports. nance of an American colonial slave society and Their place in the South Atlantic system would culture? have enriched them regardless of their member- ship in the British system. Possible answers a. American planters were not as rich as West 5. What were some of the causes of rising friction Indian planters. Therefore, most planters could between the colonials and the British? Were the purchase only a few slaves and had to treat American colonials or the British more responsi- them with the expectation of keeping them for ble for those frictions? many years. Possible answers b. Lower death rates combined with rising birthrates to cause a natural increase in the a. The British and many colonials fundamentally slave population. This brought gender ratios disagreed about the colonials’ civil status in the into balance, further increasing the birthrate of empire. the slave population. b. The rising planter and merchant classes further c. The dispersal of slaves across the country empowered the colonial assemblies. necessitated that they learn English and interact c. Many British officials felt that the British with other Africans. This cultural interaction needed to reassert power and control in the with the planters’ language, culture, and reli- American colonies. gion, along with the mixing of traditions from d. It is nearly impossible to apportion responsibil- different tribes or , combined to form ity for the rising friction between colonials and the building blocks of a new African American the British. Divisions of opinion that evolved in culture and society. response to changing circumstances character- d. The dispersal of the slave population did, how- ized each side. 50 Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750

Classroom Activities Spotswood enjoyed, and were careful to take no political action that would upset the people of 1. Divide the class into two groups: white masters their . The colony’s auditor also and African American slaves. Ask both groups to refused to listen to the governor. make a list of the problems experienced by their •Virginia’s political system allowed any man with respective groups in surviving in colonial North half of an acre to vote, enabling lower classes to America during the eighteenth century. After elect representatives from within their own reconvening the class, ask one side to air their classes, which could lead to increases in taxation. grievances. Then allow the other side a chance to Family relations also protected some men in rebut and comment on what they heard, then office, such as the colony auditor. relate their list of problems and struggles. •Spotswood wanted to reform the system by 2. Create a debate by asking one portion of the class increasing the voting qualifications and making to select a particular Indian nation (or nations) the assembly more answerable to his dictates. from the chapter and develop a perspective on the motivations for their historical actions during the 2. Unlike the House of Burgesses, whose members era of imperial warfare in North America. Another were elected by qualified voters, the members of group in class should do the same for the English. the governor’s council in Virginia were appointed Be sure to have the students develop a written by the crown, usually on the recommendation of checklist of the important factors on either side. the governor. What was the council’s response to Spotswood’s plan to reform the political system? Based on the Ludwell incident, where did the Oral History Exercises political sympathies of the council lie? •Oral history is vital to the process of remember- •The council was wary of antagonizing the lower ing the long-term family histories of modern classes, bearing in mind Bacon’s Rebellion a gen- African American people. Why do you think this eration earlier. The Ludwell incident reveals that is true? What factors surface from the chapter the council wanted to keep a modicum of popu- that help reveal a partial answer to this question? lar sovereignty through the House in order to •Imagine that you are an African American slave keep the population contented. attempting to survive on a plantation in the Ca- rolinas. In what ways would oral communica- 3. What were Clinton’s complaints about the actions tion and oral history be important in your life? of the New York assembly? Did those actions rep- resent a more or less serious threat to imperial power than the activities of the Virginia Burgesses? Working with Documents Based on the material here, which governor was a stronger representative of the crown’s interests? COMPARING AMERICAN VOICES •Complaints: The assembly controlled the sala- ries and nominations of politicians of the The Rise of Representative colony, making Clinton’s officers dependent on Assemblies (p. 96) the assembly and reducing his control. The 1. What policies did Spotswood want to pursue? assembly also refused to add any amendments to Why couldn’t he persuade the House of Burgesses money bills for colony resources. The assembly to implement them? According to Spotswood, named the commissaries for the militia compa- what was wrong with Virginia’s political system? nies, thereby controlling the economy. How did he propose to reform it? •Compared to the Virginia House, it appears that the New York Assembly had more control over •Policies included improving the militia, making colonial finances, and thus the government. voting more of an elite activity, and collecting Clinton appears to have been powerless to deal taxes more efficiently. with it. •The assembly delayed and stalled on the actions •Clinton appears to be a stronger representative Spotswood wanted, due in part to it being of the crown’s interests because he advocates the staffed by men of a lower class who served for Crown “putting a stop to these usurpations of the salary, disdained wealthy privilege such as the assembly” and increase royal control. Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750 51

V OICES FROM ABROAD 2. Does the evidence in the picture suggest that these people are recent arrivals from Africa? What arti- Olaudah Equiano: The Brutal facts in the picture might be African in origin? “Middle Passage” (p. 84) What have you learned from the text about condi- tions on rice plantations that would contribute to 1. In what ways is Equiano’s description of slavery in a steady stream of African-born workers on those Africa consistent with the analysis in the text? plantations? •Slaves were seized by guerilla attacks. They were •Evidence/artifacts: musical instruments (drum treated relatively well by African people, almost and banjo), bottles on the ground, the head like family. It was common for them to speak the scarves of men and women, the stick held by the same language as their captors. Most were put to man in the center of image all point to recent work doing household tasks. Slaves changed arrival, as does the African dance ceremony. masters several times and were resold repeatedly. •Conditions: a high rate of disease, overwork, and malnutrition resulted in high death rate, re- 2. What evidence does Equiano offer in his descrip- quiring additional slaves to maintain the planta- tion of the Middle Passage that explains the aver- tion. The expansion of rice cultivation during age slave mortality rate of about 15 percent? the mid-eighteenth century also required mas- sive numbers of African-born slaves, increasing •Slaves suffered on the ship from disease caused their population in southern British American by improper disposal of human waste, as well as colonies. a suffocating lack of air below decks. Malnutri- tion, starvation, and suicide often resulted. 3. Many African peoples mingled with one another on large plantations. Do you see any evidence in 3. Assuming that scholars are correct in stating that the painting that suggests tribal differences? What Equiano was not born in Africa, why do you think suggests that the two dancers on the left—perhaps he wrote this fictitious narrative of his childhood a bride and groom—come from different African instead of describing the facts of his own life in peoples? slavery? •There is limited evidence of tribal differences, •He wanted to add credibility to his work as an illustrated by the different shaped and colored antislavery advocate by claiming that he experi- head wrappings and scarves (three wear white, enced slavery in Africa as a child. He may also three wear blue-striped headdresses). The have wanted fame. image-maker may also have attempted to show different hairstyles and facial complexions. •The reasons African dancers may come from dif- ferent tribes stems from the mixing of tribes by Reading American Pictures slave masters to prevent resistance through com- mon language, the random nature of slave sale Jumping the Broomstick: and purchase, the specific skill base of certain tribes (e.g., rice cultivation), and the desire of Viewing an African Ceremony (p. 88) African American slaves to marry outside of 1. The painting is set on a rice plantation in the low their tribe to prevent incest. Slavery shattered country of South Carolina. What clues can you see family bonds, leaving unsure in the image that confirm the location? of their real kin. •In the background stand rows of slave quarters 4. Around 1860, a Virginia slave recounted the story of very near to plantation workshops, the master’s her parents’ marriage: “Ant Lucky read sumpin house, and sprawling fields. In the foreground from de Bible, an’ den she put de broomstick down stand two slave cabins. There is a large congrega- an’ dey locked dey arms together an’ jumped over it. tion of African Americans dancing without Den dey was married.” In the scene depicted in this shoes. They wear hats and scarves for protection painting, the man in the red breeches is holding a from the hot Carolina sun. Few material goods long stick. If this is a wedding, is there any evidence are present. No whites are present. African cul- of in the ceremony? Look carefully at tural practices indicate a slave scene. However, the men’s and women’s clothes. Do they reveal signs there is no evidence of rice. of European cultural influence? 52 Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750

•There is limited evidence of Christianity: the other major transitions for Native nations in bride and groom stand side by side and face one colonial North America. another; the bride wears a long white dress. •Louis B. Wright, ed., The Secret Diary of William Musicians sit to the side. Byrd of Westover, 1709–1712 (Richmond, VA: •European influence on clothing: a hat is worn by Dietz Press, 1941) the man playing the banjo; English breeches and One of the best examples of planter gentry waistcoats are worn by men; women wear life in the southern colonies, Byrd’s diary sheds European-style dresses and neck scarves. light on the formation of a plantation aristoc- racy in the mid-eighteenth century. Electronic Media

Website Additional Bedford/St. Martin’s Resources for Chapter 3 • Sunken Slave Ship Henrietta Marie melfisher.org/henriettamarie/overview.htm FOR INSTRUCTORS A museum in Key West, Florida, relates the story of a sunken slave ship from 1700 recovered Transparencies recently by archaeologists. The following maps and images from Chapter 3 are available as full-color acetates: Films •Power and Race in the Chesapeake • Africans in America, Part 1: The Terrible Trans- •Map 3.1 The Dominion of New England, 1686– formation, 1450–1750 (1998, PBS documentary, 1689 150 minutes) •Map 3.2 Britain’s American Empire, 1713 This PBS film covers the African American •Map 3.3 Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade, experience in the colonial period. 1700–1810 • Amistad (1997, DreamWorks, 152 minutes) •African Culture in South Carolina This film portrays the Middle Passage and •Map 3.4 The Rise of the American Merchant, the real-life struggles of a group of African slaves 1750 fighting for their freedom in the Americas. Instructor’s Resource CD-ROM • Last of the Mohicans (1992, Morgan Creek Pro- ductions, 112 minutes) The following maps, figures, and images from Chapter A Hollywood adaptation of the James Feni- 3, as well as a chapter outline, are available on disc in more Cooper tale of Indian-white relations in both PowerPoint and jpeg formats: northeastern North America during the turbu- •Map 3.1 The Dominion of New England, 1686– lent imperial wars of the mid-eighteenth century. 1689 •Map 3.2 Britain’s American Empire, 1713 Literature •Map 3.3 Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1700–1810 •Alexander Falconbridge, An Account of the Slave •Map 3.4 The Rise of the American Merchant, Trade on the Coast of Africa (London, 1788), in 1750 America through the Eyes of Its People: Primary • Figure 3.1 The Growth of Slavery in South Car- Sources in American History, 2nd ed. (New York: olina, 1700–1740 Longman, 1997) • Figure 3.2 Family Connections and Political A doctor aboard a British slave ship, Falcon- Power, New Jersey, 1700–1776 bridge provides one of many firsthand accounts •Power and Race in the Chesapeake of the conditions experienced by African people •African Culture in South Carolina during the Middle Passage. •Rice Hulling in West Africa •Colin G. Calloway, ed., The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America Using the Bedford Series with (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1996) America’s History,Sixth Edition A collection of documents from the per- spective of Native American people and their Available online at bedfordstmartins.com/usingseries, leaders during a time of imperial warfare and this guide offers practical suggestions for incorporat- Chapter 3: The British Empire in America, 1660–1750 53 ing volumes from the Bedford Series in History and Online Study Guide at Culture into the U. S. History Survey. Relevant titles for bedfordstmartins.com/henretta Chapter 3 include The Online Study Guide helps students synthesize the • THE INTERESTING NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF OLAU- material from the text as well as practice the skills his- DAH EQUIANO,WRITTEN BY HIMSELF,with Related torians use to make sense of the past. The following Documents, Edited with an Introduction by map, visual, and documents activities are available for Robert J. Allison, Suffolk University Chapter 3: • The Diary and Life of Samuel Sewall, Edited with an Introduction by Melvin Yazawa, University of New Map Activity • The New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741: Daniel •Map 3.4 The Rise of the American Merchant, Horsmanden’s JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS,with 1750 Related Documents by Serena R. Zabin, Carleton College Visual Activity

FOR STUDENTS •Reading American Pictures: Jumping the Broom- stick: Viewing an African Ceremony in South Documents to Accompany America’s History Carolina The following documents and illustrations are avail- able in Chapter 3 of the companion reader by Melvin Reading Historical Documents Activities Yazawa, University of New Mexico: •Comparing American Voices: The Rise of Repre- 1. Edward Littleton, The Groans of the Plantations sentative Assemblies (1689) •Voices from Abroad: Olaudah Equiano: The Brutal 2. Thomas Danforth, The Glorious Revolution in “Middle Passage” Massachusetts (1689) 3. Thomas Phillips, A Journal of a Voyage Made in Critical Thinking Modules at the Hannibal (1693–1694) bedfordstmartins.com/historymodules 4. Slavery and Prejudice: An Act for the Better Order and Government of Negroes and Slaves, South These online modules invite students to interpret Carolina (1712) maps, audio, visual, and textual sources centered on 5. Conflicts between Masters and Slaves: Maryland events covered in the U.S. history survey. Relevant in the Mid-Seventeenth Century (1658) modules for Chapter 3 include 6. Ayubah Suleiman Diallo, An Early •The Stono Rebellion (1734) •Colonial Landscapes 7. William Byrd II, The Secret Diary of William Byrd II (1709–1711) 8. Benjamin Latrobe and Anonymous, Plantation Life in the Eighteenth Century 9. Martin Bladen, A Plantation Parliament (1739) 10. Stono Rebellion in South Carolina (1739)