The Invasion and Settlement of North America, 1550-1700

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Transcript The Invasion and Settlement of North America, 1550-1700

The Invasion and Settlement of North America, 1550-1700

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

The Protestant Movement – Over the centuries the Catholic Church became a large and wealthy institution, controlling vast resources throughout Europe. – Martin Luther publicly challenged Roman Catholic practices and doctrine with his NinetyFive Theses; the document condemned the "sale of indulgences" by the Church. – Christians divided into camps of Catholics and Protestants; after 1517 Christianity was no longer a unifying force in Europe.

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

The Protestant Movement – Southern German rulers installed Catholicism as their official religion, and Northern German rulers chose Lutheranism as their state creed.

– Protestant John Calvin and his

Institutes of the Christian Religion

(1536) preached

predestination,

the idea that God determines who will be saved before they are born. – When the pope denied his request for a marriage annulment, King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church and created a national Church of England.

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

The Protestant Movement – Henry's daughter, Elizabeth I, combined Lutheran and Calvinist beliefs; angered by Elizabeth, some radical Protestants took inspiration from the Presbyterian system. – Other radical Protestants called themselves Puritans; they wanted to "purify" the church

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

The Dutch and the English Challenge Spain – King Philip II wanted to root Protestantism out of the Netherlands.

– Viewed himself as the right hand of God ordained to wipe out Protestant error and restore religious unity to Europe

• To protect their Calvinism and political liberties, the seven northern provinces of the Spanish Netherlands declared their independence in 1581 and became the Dutch Republic (or Holland).

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

The Dutch and the English Challenge Spain – In 1588 the Spanish Armada sailed out to reimpose Catholic rule in England and Holland but was defeated. – As Spain floundered, the Dutch Republic became the leading commercial power of Europe – England's economy was stimulated by a rise in population and "mercantilism," a system of state supported manufacturing and trade.

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

The Dutch and the English Challenge Spain – Mercantilist-minded monarchs like Queen Elizabeth encouraged merchants to invest in domestic manufacturing, thereby increasing exports and decreasing imports.

– The English and the Dutch could now challenge Spain's monopoly in the Western Hemisphere.

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

The Social Causes Colonization of English – The " Price Revolution ," major inflation, caused social changes in England; the English nobility were the first casualties of the Price Revolution – In two generations, the price of goods tripled, but income from rents barely increased, causing aristocrats to lose wealth

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

The Social Causes of English Colonization – Yeomen and gentry gained wealth and were able to influence politics and give small landowners a voice. – Due to enclosures and inflation , many peasants lost the means to earn a living.

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

• The Social Causes of English Colonization – Peasants were willing to go to America as indentured servants ; the stage was set for a substantial migration to America – As land prices rose, yeomen looked to America for land for their children

The Chesapeake Experience

• Settling the Tobacco Colonies • Masters, Servants, and Slaves • The Seeds of Social Revolt • Bacon’s Rebellion

Puritan New England

• The Puritan Migration • Puritanism and Witchcraft • A Yeoman Society, 1630–1700

The Eastern Indians’ New World

• Puritans and Pequots • Metacom’s (King Philip’s) Rebellion • The Fur Trade and the Inland Peoples

I. Imperial Conflicts and Rival Colonial Models

New France: Furs and Souls

• Quebec, established in 1608, was the first per manent French settlement; New France became a vast fur-trading enterprise.

• The Hurons, in exchange for protection from the Iroquois, allowed French traders into their territory.

• By providing a market for furs, the French set in motion a series of devastating Indian wars.

• French missionaries did not use Indians for forced labor.

• The French colonial system allowed the Indians to retain their traditional religious beliefs.

New Netherland: Commerce

• The Dutch republic emphasized commerce over religious conversion.

• In 1621 the West India Company had a trade monopoly in West Mrica and exclusive authority to establish outposts in America.

• The Company founded the town of New Ams terdam as the capital of New Netherland.

• To encourage migration, the Company granted land along the Hudson River to wealthy Dutch men.

• New Netherland failed as a settler colony but flourished briefly in fur trading.

• The West India Company came to ignore the floundering Dutch settlement.

• After a 1664 English invasion, New Amsterdam subsequently accepted English rule.

The First English Model: Tobacco and Settlers

• English merchants became the leaders of English expansion.

• In 1607 the Virginia Company sent an expedition of men to North America, landing in Jamestown, Virginia; the goal of the Virginia Company was trade, not settlement.

• Life in Jamestown was harsh: death rates were high, there was no gold and little food.

• Tobacco became the basis of economic life in Jamestown.

• To encourage English settlement, the Virginia Company granted land to freemen, established a headright system, and approved a system of representative government under the House of Burgesses.

• An influx of settlers sparked war with the Indians but did not slow expansion; by 1630 English settlement in the Chesapeake Bay was well established.

The Chesapeake Experience

Settling the Tobacco Colonies

• James I dissolved the Virginia Company and created a royal colony in Virginia.

• The Church of England was established in Virginia and property owners paid taxes to support the clergy.

• The model for royal colonies in America consisted of a royal governor, an elected assembly, and an established Anglican church.

• Lord Baltimore wanted Maryland to become a refuge from persecution for English Catholics; settlement of Maryland began in 1634.

• Baltimore granted the assembly the right to initiate legislation.

• A Toleration Act was enacted in 1649 to protect Protestants and Catholics alike.

• Demand for tobacco started an economic boom in the Chesapeake, attracting migrants, but dis eases, especially malaria, kept population low and life expectancy short.

Masters, Servants, and Slaves

• The great majority of migrants to Virginia and Maryland were indentured servants; most masters ruled with beatings and withheld permission to marry.

• The first African workers fared even worse and their numbers remained small.

• At first, Africans were not legally enslaved, although many served their masters for life.

• Some Africans escaped bondage by becoming Christians or working a certain length of time.

• In the 1660s Chesapeake legislatures began enacting laws that lowered the status of Africans; being a slave had become a permanent and hereditary condition.

The Seeds of Social Revolt

• By the 1660s the Chesapeake tobacco market had collapsed and long-standing social conflicts flared up in political turmoil.

• In an effort to exclude Dutch and other merchants, Parliament passed an Act of Trade and Navigation (1651), permitting only English or colonial-owned ships into American ports.

• The number of tobacco planters increased, but profit margins were thin.

• The Chesapeake colonies came to be dominated by elite planter-landlords and merchants.

• Social tensions reached a breaking point in Virginia during William Berkeley's regime; Berkeley gave tax-free land grants to himself and members of his council.

• The corrupt House of Burgesses changed the voting system to exclude landless freemen; distressed property-holding yeomen rose in rebellion against the planter elite.

Bacon's Rebellion

• Poor freeholders wanted the Indians removed from the lands along the frontier.

• Wealthy planter-merchants were opposed; they wanted to maintain the Indian labor supply and to continue trading for furs with the Native Americans.

• Militiamen began killing Indians and the Indians retaliated by killing whites.

• Not wanting the fur trade disrupted, Governor Berkeley proposed building frontier forts.

• Nathaniel Bacon, a member of the governor's council, led a protest against Berkeley's strategy; Bacon and his men killed a number of Indians and triggered a political upheaval.

• Realizing Bacon's military power, Berkeley agreed to political reforms and restored voting rights to landless freemen.

• Bacon's men burned Jamestown to the ground and issued a "Manifesto and Declaration of the People," demanding removal of all Indians and an end to the rule of wealthy "parasites." • Bacon's rebellion prompted tax cuts, a limit to the governor's authority, and the expansion into Indian lands.

• To forestall another rebellion, laws were enacted to legalize African slavery.

Puritan New England

The Puritan Migration

• New England differed from other European set tlements; it was settled by men, women, and children.

• The Pilgrims, Puritans who were "Separatists" from England's Anglican Church, sailed to America in 1620 on the

Mayflower.

• They created the Mayflower Compact, a covenant for religious and political autonomy and the first constitution in North America.

• After having Anglican rituals forced upon their churches, Puritans sought refuge in America; in 1630 John Winthrop and 900 Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay colony.

• Over the next decade, 10,000 Puritans migrated to Massachusetts Bay.

• The Puritans created representative political institutions that were locally based.

• The right to vote and hold office was limited to Puritan church members, and the Bible was the legal as well as spiritual guide for Massachusetts Bay.

Religion and Society, 1630-1670

• Puritans eliminated bishops and devised a democratic church structure; influenced by John Calvin, they embraced predestination.

• Puritans dealt with the uncertainties of divine election in three ways: "conversion experience"; "preparation"; and belief in a "covenant" with God.

• Puritans of Massachusetts Bay felt they must purge their society of religious dissidents.

• Roger Williams and other dissidents founded settlements in Rhode Island where there was no legally established church.

• Anne Hutchinson was considered a heretic because her beliefs diminished the role of Puritan ministers.

• In 1636 Thomas Hooker and others left Massachusetts Bay and founded Hartford; in 1639 the Connecticut Puritans adopted the Fundamental Orders.

• Connecticut government included a representative assembly and elected governor.

• Connecticut united church and state, but voting was not limited to church members.

• With the failure of the English Revolution, Puritans looked to create a permanent society in America based on their faith and ideals

The Puritan Imagination and Witchcraft

• Puritans thought that the physical world was full of supernatural forces.

• Between 1647 and 1662, Puritans hanged fourteen people for witchcraft.

• In 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, 175 people were arrested and 20 were hanged for witchcraft.

• Popular revulsion against the executions dealt a blow to the dominance of religion in public life; there were no more legal prosecutions for witchcraft after 1692.

• The European Enlightenment helped promote a more rational view of the world.

• Puritans instituted land-distribution policies that encouraged the development of self governing communities.

• Puritans believed in a social and economical hierarchy: the largest plots of land were given to men of high social status.

• All male heads of families received some land; a society of independent yeomen farmers emerged, and all had a voice in town meetings.

• Town meetings chose selectmen, levied taxes, and enacted ordinances and regulations.

• As the number of towns increased, so did their power enhancing local control.

The Indians' New World

Puritans and Pequots

• Seeing themselves as God's chosen people, Puritans tried to justify taking Indian lands.

• In 1636 Pequot warriors attacked English farmers who had intruded on their lands.

• Puritan militiamen and their Indian allies massacred about 500 Pequots, and many of the Pequot survivors were sold into slavery

• English Puritans viewed the Indians as "savages" who did not deserve civilized treatment.

• Disease, military force, and Christianization eventually subdued the Indians of New England.

• By 1670 New England settlers were, at least temporarily, guaranteed safety.

Metacom's War

• By the 1670s, whites in New England numbered 55,000 while Indians numbered 16,000.

• Seeking to stop the European advance, the Wampanoag leader Metacom forged an alliance with the Narragansett and Nipmuck peoples in 1675.

• The group attacked white settlements throughout New England, and the fighting continued until Metacom's death in 1676.

• Losses were high on both sides, but the Indians losses were worse: 25 percent of the Indians' already diminished population died from war or disease.

• Many survivors were sold into slavery in the Caribbean, including Metacom's family.

• The defeated Algonquian peoples lost their land and the integrity of their traditional cultures.

The Fur Trade and the Inland Peoples

• The greatest threat to Indian cultures came from wars and epidemics brought by the fur trade, nonetheless, the Iroquois fought to gain control of the fur trade with the French and Dutch

• The Iroquois allowed a number of Jesuit missionaries in Iroquoia.

• In 1680 the Iroquois again had to battle for control of the fur trade.

• Disease, sickness from liquor, and neglected artisan skills were the fur trade's legacy.

• Constant warfare shifted power from Indian elders to young warriors.

• The fur trade profoundly altered the natural environment.

Philip, King of Mount Hope

, 1772, by Paul Revere

• Losses were high on both sides, but the Indians losses were worse: 25 percent of the Indians' already diminished population died from war or disease.

• Many survivors were sold into slavery in the Caribbean, including Metacom's family.

• The defeated Algonquian peoples lost their land and the integrity of their traditional cultures.

• Iroquois Village 1720s

The Fur Trade and the Inland Peoples

• The greatest threat to Indian cultures came from wars and epidemics brought by the fur trade, nonetheless, the Iroquois fought to gain control of the fur trade with the French and Dutch

• The Iroquois allowed a number of Jesuit missionaries in Iroquoia.

• In 1680 the Iroquois again had to battle for control of the fur trade.

• Disease, sickness from liquor, and neglected artisan skills were the fur trade's legacy.

• Constant warfare shifted power from Indian elders to young warriors.

• The fur trade profoundly altered the natural environment.