EmpireandInequality
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Transcript EmpireandInequality
EMPIRE AND
INEQUALITY
Crises in the
Chesapeake
and New
England
Colonies,
1676-1750
HIERARCHIES OF POWER
Break up into small groups.
Talk about and answer these questions:
Based on your readings, particularly in the
documents, what hierarchies of power developed in
the colonies.
How were they similar or different than what the
British were used to at home in Europe?
Were people happy with these developments?
MAJOR QUESTIONS
What forces—political, economic, military, social, cultural —
gave shape to the English empire?
What roles did the colonies play in the empire?
What were relations like between colonies and the mother
country and how did they change over time?
How did changes within colonies af fect the larger empire?
How did power, wealth, and class develop in the colonies?
What is a slave society, and how did Virginia become one?
How did imperial politics—in particular the contest between
England and France and England's larger geopolitical
objectives—af fect the lives of ordinary men and women in the
colonies?
THE PLAN OF EMPIRE:
BENIGN NEGLECT?
Insignificance – “So long as the mainland
colonies contributed little to the national wealth
and cost the government less, the government was
willing to exercise only the loosest of controls and
permit each of the colonial societies to develop in
its own way.”
Instability in England - “The result was a period
of significant instability at the end of the
seventeenth century, as local colonial governments
struggled to control their own inhabitants, police
their borders, and establish successful economies.”
Result? – Benign neglect of colonies –
could do largely as they pleased for most of
17 th -century
TURMOIL IN ENGLAND
King Charles II (r. 1660-1685); King James II (r.
1685-1688)
“In the middle decades of the seventeenth
century, the British government was thrown into
turmoil as Parliament and the king struggled over
the future direction of the nation.”
Two overlapping points of contention: religion and
royal power
English Civil War (1642-1660)
Result: Colonial issues on the backburner, largely
ignored and allowed to develop own institutions
MERCANTILISM
The Political Economy of Mercantilism: Goals
and Realities
Theory of mercantilism:
Competition among nations for finite amount of
wealth
Creation of colonies and empires to generate wealth
for motherland
Dependent relationship – motherland’s wellbeing
came first
Navigation Acts – all trade must go through
motherland, only British ships, goods taxed to benefit
crown
Colonies provide raw materials; motherland produced
finished goods of higher value
Great Chain of Being
GOD
ANGELS
MORTALS
(DIFF. LEVELS OF
HUMANS)
BIRDS
FISHES
MAMMALS
PLANTS
Atlantic Triangle Trade
EFFECTS OF NEGLECT ON
COLONIAL ECONOMIES?
How did benign neglect affect colonial
development?
Colonial ideas about economy, society,
and politics?
CRISES IN THE COLONIES: 1600S
Tobacco Economy – land and labor hungry
Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia and Maryland
Class conflict
Conflicts with Native Americans
New England – Puritan Problems
Religious dissenters
Economic growth and issues
Wars with Native Americans
Troubled relations with England
THE TRANSFORMATION OF VIRGINIA
“At the same time that a newly
invigorated England was planting
new colonies, those established
earlier were reshaped…[as a result
of] political and sometimes social
instability.”
THE TRANSFORMATION OF
VIRGINIA
Problems of colonial development in
the Chesapeake
Rising Inequality in Virginia (and
Chesapeake)
Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676
Virginia Became a Slave Society
Increase in freedom for whites in
colonial America
Decrease in freedom for others
GROWING INEQUALIT Y IN VIRGINIA
Inequalities of wealth and power developed
quickly in the Chesapeake in 17 th -century
Reflected in land ownership patterns – wealthy
snatched up best lands near water
Wealthy: more land, close to water, lower
transport costs = more tobacco, more profits
Wealthy: political connections, offices, taxes
Indentured servants lacked wealth and power
Indentured servants mistreated, beaten, worked
to death in hot, humid, backbreaking labor
Terms of service could be extended for minor
infractions, pregnancy
PLANTATION = SYMBOL OF WEALTH &
POWER
Tobacco Economy Dictated Land
Use and Settlement Patterns
Great Chain of Being
GOD
ANGELS
MORTALS
(DIFF. LEVELS OF
HUMANS)
BIRDS
FISHES
MAMMALS
PLANTS
NEW CLASS RELATIONS IN AMERICA
Main question: How did American context affect
class relations?
Paternal relations in England – the Great Chain
of Being
Traditional class relations: royalty, aristocracy,
peasantry – supposedly unchanging
But new wealth in America = new social classes
How did new economy affect class relations?
What conflicts and how were they worked out?
Who would have power in America if there was
no settled aristocracy or king present?
BACON’S REBELLION, 1676
Causes?
Demands?
Ef fects?
Sir Nathaniel Bacon – member of
the VA gentry
BACON’S REBELLION AND SLAVERY?
How do you think Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676
was related to the growth of slavery in the
Chesapeake colonies?
EFFECTS OF BACON’S REBELLION
“Significantly, the rebels sought not to
overthrow the social and political order
but to secure economic opportunity and a
legitimate government that protected that
opportunity. In its aftermath, Virginia
became a slave society.”
Opportunity for whom?
Lack of opportunity for whom?
EARLY SLAVES IN NORTH AMERICA
Native Americans enslaved throughout North and
South America – died from disease, escaped, not
reliable source of labor
Portuguese slave colonies: plantation model
Dutch slaves – N.A. colonies, NY, Brazil,
Caribbean, African slave trade
In 1680, only 7 percent of VA population was
African of origin (some of those were servants,
not slaves)
By 1700, 28% of pop. was African, 14% slave
What changed in two decades?
A “SOCIET Y WITH SLAVES”
Hard plantation labor performed by indentures
(white and black) and slaves from 1620s to late
1600s
Not yet a “Slave Society” or slave -based economy
Some social mobility for first Africans in North
America
Some bought and owned land and slaves in Chesapeake
Close living and relations between white and black servants
Same rights as other settlers - right to sue in court
Gradual institution of racial slavery – laws
distinguished between whites (free) and black slaves
Eventually early black settlers lost rights and had to conform to new
“slave society”
By late 17 th -century, Chesapeake had become slave-based economy
FIRST MD SLAVE LAW
1639 law guaranteed “all inhabitants of
this Province being Christians (Slaves
excepted)” all the rights and liberties of
“any natural born subject of England.”
First mention of difference in application
of law to slaves vs. free whites
Page 100 in textbook – timeline of legal
definition of slavery over time
Plantation labor, formerly provided by indentured servants (white and black),
was, by the 1700s, work only suited to African slaves
AMERICAN SLAVE SYSTEM
Slavery developed differently in English colonies:
diff. than other European colonies and other past
societies with slaves
Hereditary, passed from mother to child
Rarity of manumissions – freeing – of slaves
compared to other slave societies
African (or Indian) = slave; white = free
Freedom of whites compared to lack of freedom of
slaves
No matter how poor, a white person was still free,
solely based on skin color
CRISES IN NEW ENGLAND
Problems in the “City Upon a Hill”?
Religious dissenters – problems of inclusion
and exclusion, purity and tolerance
Land Hunger – conflicts with Native
Americans
Economic problems
Relations with England/Crown
Questions: What issues or problems
strengthened the Puritan covenant? Which
weakened it?
Puritan Economic Angst
George Henry Boughton, “The Early Puritans of New England
Going to Church,” 1867
ECONOMIC TRENDS AND PROBLEMS
Economic changes in 18 th -century New England
How could Puritans maintain purity of
religious purpose with economic change?
Increased Atlantic commerce: Triangle Trade based
on wealth created by West Indies slave-grown and
slave-produced sugar
Growth of N.E. shipping industry and ports, trade
with England and other colonies
Puritans took part in consumer revolution - tea,
household goods, ostentatious consumer goods,
slaves
New England increased bonds of unity with England
in this period
New class differences among Puritans, less
cohesiveness
Atlantic Triangle Trade
ECONOMIC ISSUES AND CONFLICTS
Problem of declension (decline) from religious
focus and farming (competency)
Less land available – how will children get
competency (enough to live upon)?
Opportunities for wealth through commerce
Belief in hierarchical society anyway, so justified
differences in wealth and power
But commerce conflicted with P beliefs in
community
Increased inequality, relationship of rich to poor
One solution: Wealthy started own churches so they
wouldn’t have to feel bad
Questions: Did Puritans become the very thing they
had left in England? What did economic change do
to the covenant?
PROBLEMS WITH ENGLAND
Benign neglect during 17 th century - ignored
English Civil War in 1640s – Puritans (in England)
took power and killed king
Throne restored, however (raised questions of what
would happen to N.E. Puritans who had supported
civil war in England)
1664 Charles II granted New England, and New
Netherlands to his brother James
James allowed New England to keep its own laws
Why was England’s neglect of N.E. important?
PURITANS AND MERCANTILISM
Mercantilist goals of England – force colonies to guide
economic benefits to mother country
Raw materials from colonies
Colonies should then buy finished goods from England
Navigation Acts in 1660s to enforce mercantilism:
English ships, sailors, goods to and from England
But N.E. didn’t have much raw materials or a plantation
economy to send to England
Instead, N.E. had shipping which competed with British
ships, got around laws, traded with competing nations
N.E. wanted more free trade, not
mercantilism
Puritans not obeying Navigation Acts, so England taxed
them and reorganized govt.
Atlantic Triangle Trade
FIGHT FOR CONTROL
England unhappy w/ N.E. circumvention of
Navigation Acts, so created new colony, Dominion
of New England from Maine to NJ
Got rid of colonial assemblies and enforced
religious toleration
During Glorious Revolution, 1688-89, Puritans
retook colonies from Anglicans/Royalists
But with reinstatement of monarchy, English
asserted tighter control, creating Royal Colony of
MA, new navigation acts and taxes
Later in 1715 Parliament took control of colonies,
virtual representation in Parliament
MA and other New England colonies had same
structure, but actual representation
Outcome? Trajectory? Where was this headed?
Relations with England: Looking into the Future
George Henry Boughton, “The Early Puritans of New England
Going to Church,” 1867
NEW COLONIES, NEW PATTERNS
“As a rule, the most successful colonies offered the
most opportunity to free white people and the
greatest amount of religious toleration.”
New Netherland
Became New York, 1664 - King Charles
gave his younger brother James, the Duke of York, title to the
land
With a large show of force, the British forced the Dutch colonists to
surrender their land to British rule.
Diversity and Prosperity in Pennsylvania
William Penn was granted 1681 charter from Charles II
Diversity and prosperity were generated in
both colonies
NEW COLONIES, NEW PATTERNS
Indians and Africans in the Political Economy of
Carolina
The Carolina constitution designed by Anthony Ashley Cooper (the
Earl of Shaftesbury) combined democratic and feudal elements:
A representative government and toleration of religion
Hereditary rules, which placed an elite group of nobles at the top and hereditary
serfs (and black slaves) at the bottom
“As might have been predicted…the only aristocracy
that the Carolinas developed was one of wealth,
supported by the labor of slaves.”
The Barbados Connection – English immigrants from
Barbados brought slaves and harsh slave code to Carolinas
Carolinas developed staple crop, rice, and became slave -based
society – majority slave in many areas
FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS OF
CAROLINA, 1669
Main ideas? Goals?
CONTINUING ISSUES AND
QUESTIONS
What impact would the conflict between
different empires have on colonial life?
What effects did imperial conflicts have on
relations between the colonies and the mother
country?
What role did Native Americans play in these
conflicts? On whose side?