EUROPE IN THE AMERICAS 1492-1700

English Colonization

JAMESTOWN (1607): first permanent English settlement in the Americas

• Motive = PROFIT • Funded by joint-stock company (investors pool their money to limit risk) • Search for , silver and copper • “gentleman” population – lack of skilled workers, led to hardships o half of population dies from diseases, starvation and Indian attacks

Captain John Smith provided the leadership to keep Jamestown alive • “He who works not, eats not!” • tobacco is introduced in 1612 by John Rolfe and Jamestown begins to flourish

• Virginia House of Burgesses (1619) o first representative government in America o colonists have rights of Englishmen

PILGRIMS AND COLONY

• Motive = religious freedom (“Separatists”) • settlement helped by friendly Indians and first Thanksgiving celebrated in 1621

• Mayflower Compact (1620) o Pilgrims agree to govern by majority rule

PURITANS AND BAY COLONY

• Motive = to be an example to the rest of the world • “We shall be a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us” - John Winthrop (1630)

• Great Migration (1630s): 1,000’s of emigrate to Massachusetts

• “Puritan Work Ethic:” industrious, thrifty, hard- working, well-educated

Dissidents and the Settlements of Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire

• Roger Williams - believed in separation of church and state. Banished from Massachusetts Bay and founded Rhode Island. Treated Indians fairly and allowed religious freedom

• Anne Hutchinson - believed in antinomianism (the idea that faith, not deeds, was enough for salvation). Banished for challenging Puritan beliefs The Proprietary Colonies

• Maryland: established by Lord Baltimore as a haven for Catholics o Toleration Act (1649)- guaranteed freedom of worship to all Christians

• taken from the Dutch in 1664

• , the Quakers, Pennsylvania and the “Holy Experiment:” treated Indians fairly, practiced religious toleration, pacifists, believe in equality and God is in everyone

Europeans and the Indians: conflicting ways of life (concept of land ownership and the use of nature)

SOUTHERN COLONIES: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia Way of life: severe, Agriculture indentured servants: agreed southern society harsh, unhealthy and economy: to work for 5-7 years in dominated by those with short life span. Men tobacco, rice, exchange for transportation wealth and large outnumbered women, indigo, to America plantations ! controlled fractured families. plantation power in the militias , Farms were isolated, economy SLAVERY: first Africans courts, and legislatures. schooling was arrive at Jamestown IN 1619. nonexistent for most, By 1660s, slavery replaces Small farmers and those church had little indentured servitude. living on the edge of the influence By 1690s, 10,000 African frontier resented power of slaves shipped to America per the wealthy ! Bacon’s year. By 1700, 30,000 African Rebellion (1676) slaves in the English colonies

NEW COLONIES: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire family life was nuclear triangular trade Church was the center of town and patriarchal (“honor becomes cornerstone of life in : meetings: thy mother and father”). New England provided stability and order center of Lived a longer, healthier economy. Led to democratic life. 12-14 children were development of trading high literacy rate and life in N.E. common and port cities (, schooling: Harvard 1638, Newport). Some small, Yale 1701 self-sufficient farms

MIDDLE COLONIES: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware Heterogeneous Diversified Development of NYC Trial of John Peter Zenger (1735): society: mix of economy and Philadelphia John Peter Zenger, editor of New York religions, (largest city in Weekly Journal languages, America) arrested for sedition after criticizing the nationalities governor. Zenger is acquitted when accusations proved true. Establishes principle of freedom of speech/press

BRITISH COLONIAL SYSTEM

• English political and legal institutions take hold in the colonies o representative assemblies, common law, property rights

• SALUTARY NEGLECT: relaxed royal control over the colonies and colonial trade

• local matters were left to colonial governments while Britain legislated the affairs of the Empire

• Colonial Governors appointed by the King and held powers o appointed officials, able to veto legislation o real power of the Governors were limited due to their circumstances " dependent on colonial assemblies

• Colonial Legislatures: two houses (except for PA): upper house - appointed by the King; lower house - elected by eligible voters (lower house voted for or against new taxes)

MERCANTILISM Economic system where colonists exist for the economic benefit of the mother country Colonies act as a source of raw materials and as a market for manufactured goods from the mother country ! work to establish a favorable balance of trade

Navigation Acts (1651, 1660, 1663, 1673) • Goal = to make money for Britain and prevent foreign goods from entering the colonies • Regulations: o the colonies can only trade with Britain o trade with colonies was to be carried on only in British ships with at least 75% of the crew being British or American o most goods coming into the colonies had to first go through Britain o foreign ships were banned from colonial ports

• the intention was to create a global economy between the Colonies and the British Empire, not to hurt the colonies Effects of Mercantilism • Britain is the chief customer and supplies of goods • stimulated colonial shipbuilding, barrel making, rum trade • colonists pay higher prices for goods • smuggling, bribery of officials becomes standard practice • mercantilism worked: both Britain and the colonies benefitted

The Great Awakening (1730s-1740s) ! Decline of Religion in America • by 1700, religious fervor in America begins to decline • colonial prosperity led to greater emphasis on wealth and materialism • those on the frontier and many in the isolated South were out of the church’s reach • religious diversity in America made mandatory worship impossible • by late 1740’s, the Great Awakening loses steam and dies out •

Reverend George Whitefield o came to America from England in 1738: an inspired orator and preacher o developed a fanatical following (preached to 19,000 in Boston over three days) o appealed to the emotions of his audience with a simplified message

Jonathan Edwards o most famous native-born revivalist preacher o “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God:” fiery sermon about an “Angry God” and “fire and brimstone” and the “fiery pits of Hell”

Results of the Great Awakening • division between “Old Lights” (those who rejected the Awakening) and “New Lights” (those who accepted the Awakening) o “New Light” universities founded (“The Ivy League”) Princeton, Rutgers, Brown, Dartmouth • colonists shared in a common experience as Americans • colonists begin to question authority and established traditions

The Enlightenment in America

Influence on Religion " Deism - the belief that God should be revered for His works, not for His power over man " faith and religion is replaced by logic and reason " God is seen more as a “loving” God than an “angry” God

Influence on Politics " ideas of Locke, Montesquieu and spread to America " emphasis on natural laws and natural rights: life, liberty and property " shift in power and influence in colonial leadership o lawyers, professors, physicians gain power o clergy and ministers lose influence

Benjamin Franklin: most notable and famous “enlightened” colonial