PUTTING DOWN ROOTS: FAMILIES IN AN ATLANTIC EMPIRE America: Past and Present
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Transcript PUTTING DOWN ROOTS: FAMILIES IN AN ATLANTIC EMPIRE America: Past and Present
PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
FAMILIES IN AN ATLANTIC
EMPIRE
America: Past and Present
Chapter 3
Sources of Stability:
New England Colonies of the
Seventeenth Century
New
Englanders replicated traditional
English social order
Contrasted with experience in other English
colonies
Explanation lies in development of Puritan
families
Immigrant Families
and New Social Order
Puritans
believed God ordained the family
Reproduce patriarchal English family
structure in New England
Greater longevity in New England results in
“invention” of grandparents
Multigenerational families strengthen social
stability
A Commonwealth of Families
Most
New Englanders married neighbors of
whom parents approved
New England towns collections of
interrelated households
Church membership associated with certain
families
Education provided by the family
Women’s Lives
in Puritan New England
Women
not legally equal with men
Marriages based on mutual love
Most Women contributed to society as
–
–
–
wives and mothers
church members
small-scale farmers
Women
accommodated themselves to roles
they believed God ordained
Rank and Status in New England
Society
Absence
of very rich necessitates creation
of new social order
New England social order becomes
–
–
–
local gentry of prominent, pious families
large population of independent yeomen
landowners loyal to local community
small population of landless laborers, servants,
poor
The Planters’ World
imbalanced
sex ratio among immigrants
high death rate
scattered population
Family Life in a Perilous
Environment
Normal
–
–
–
family life impossible in Virginia
Mostly young male indentured servants
Most immigrants soon died
In marriages, one spouse often died within a
decade
Serial
marriages, extended families
common
Orphaned children raised by strangers
Women in Chesapeake Society
Scarcity
gives some women bargaining
power in marriage market
Women without family protection
vulnerable to sexual exploitation
Childbearing extremely dangerous
Chesapeake women died 20 years earlier
than women in New England
Rank and Status in Plantation
Society: The Gentry
Tobacco
the basis of Chesapeake wealth
Great planters few but dominant
– Arrive with capital to invest in workers
– Amass huge tracts of land
– Gentry see servants as possessions
Early
1700
gentry become stable ruling elite by
Rank and Status in Plantation
Society: The Freemen
The
largest class in Chesapeake society
Most freed at the end of indenture
Live on the edge of poverty
Rank and Status in Plantation
Society: Indentured Servants
Servitude
a temporary status
Conditions harsh
Servants regard their bondage as slavery
Planters fear rebellion
Rank and Status in Plantation
Society: Post-1680s Stability
Gentry
ranks open to people with capital
before 1680
Demographic shift after 1680 creates creole
elite
Ownership of slaves consolidates planter
wealth and position
Freemen find advancement more difficult
Rank and Status in Plantation
Society: A Dispersed Population
Large-scale
–
–
tobacco cultivation requires
great landholdings
ready access to water-borne commerce
Result:
population dispersed along great
tidal rivers
Virginia a rural society devoid of towns
Race and Freedom
in British America
Indians
decimated by disease
European indentured servant-pool wanes
after 1660
Enslaved Africans fill demand for labor
Roots of Slavery
First Africans to Virginia in 1619
Status of Africans in Virginia unclear for 50 years
Rising black population in Virginia after 1672
prompts stricter slave laws
– Africans defined as slaves for life
– Slave status passed on to children
– White masters possess total control of slave life and
labor
– Mixing of races not tolerated
Constructing African American
Identities: Geography’s Influence
Slave
experience differed from place to
place
Majority of S. Carolina population black
Nearly half Virginia population black
Blacks much less numerous in New
England and the Middle Colonies
Constructing African-American
Identities: African Initiatives
Older
black population tended to look down
on recent arrivals from Africa
All Africans participated in creating an
African-American culture
–
Required an imaginative reshaping of African
and European customs.
By
1720 African population, culture selfsustaining
African-American Identities:
Slave Resistance
Widespread
resentment of debased status
Armed resistance such as S. Carolina’s
Stono Rebellion of 1739 a threat
Runaways common in colonial America
Black mariners, other travelers link AfricanAmerican communities
Commercial Blueprint for Empire
English
leaders ignore colonies until 1650s
Restored monarchy of Charles II recognized
value of colonial trade
Navigation Acts passed to regulate, protect,
glean revenue from commerce
Response to Economic
Competition
“Mercantilism” a misleading term for English
commercial regulation
Regulations emerge as ad hoc responses to
particular problems
Varieties of motivation
– Crown wants money
– English merchants want to exclude Dutch
– Parliament wants stronger Navy—encourage domestic
shipbuilding industry
– Everyone wants better balance of trade
An Empire of Trade:
The Navigation Act of 1660
Ships
–
–
engage in English colonial trade
Must be made in England (or America)
Must carry a crew at least 75% English
Enumerated
–
–
goods only to English ports
1660 list included tobacco, sugar, cotton,
indigo, dyes, ginger
1704-05 molasses, rice, naval stores also
An Empire of Trade:
The Navigation Act of 1663
Goods
shipped to English colonies must
pass through England
Increased price paid by colonial consumers
An Empire of Trade:
Implementing the Acts
Navigation Acts
spark Anglo-Dutch trade
wars
New England merchants skirt laws
English revisions tighten loopholes
1696--Board of Trade created
Navigation Acts eventually benefit colonial
merchants
Colonial Gentry in Revolt:
1676-1691
English
colonies experience unrest at the
end of the seventeenth century
Unrest not social revolution but contest
between gentry “ins” and “outs”
Winners gain legitimacy for their rule
Civil War in Virginia:
Bacon's Rebellion
Nathaniel
Bacon leads rebellion, 1676
Rebellion allows small farmers, blacks and
women to join, demand reforms
Governor William Berkeley regains control
Rebellion collapses after Bacon’s death
Gentry recovers positions, unite over next
decades to oppose royal governors
The Glorious Revolution in the
Bay Colony: King Philip’s War
1675--Metacomet
leads WampanoagNarragansett alliance against colonists
Colonists struggle to unite, defeat Indians
Deaths total 1,000+ Indians and colonists
Glorious Revolution: The
Dominion of New England
James II establishes “Dominion
of New England”
1684--King
–
–
–
Colonial charters annulled
Colonies from Maine to New Jersey united
Edmund Andros appointed governor
of James II’s overthrow sparks
rebellion in Massachusetts
1689--news
The Glorious Revolution in the
Bay Colony: Outcomes
Andros
deposed
William III and Mary II give Massachusetts
a new charter
–
–
Incorporates Plymouth
Transfers franchise from "saints" to those with
property
Contagion of Witchcraft
Charges
–
of witchcraft common
Accused witches thought to have made a
compact with the devil
Salem
panic of 1691 much larger in scope
than previous accusations
20 victims dead before trials halted in late
summer of 1692
Causes include factionalism, economics
The Glorious Revolution in New
York
of James II’s overthrow
prompts crisis of authority in New York
Jacob Leisler seizes control
Maintains position through 1690
March 1691--Governor Henry Sloughter
arrests, executes Leisler
1689--News
The Glorious Revolution in
Maryland
1689--news
prompts John Coode to lead
revolt against Catholic governor
Coode's rebellion approved by King
William
Maryland taken from Calvert control
1715--proprietorship restored to the
Protestant fourth Lord Baltimore
COMMON EXPERIENCES,
SEPARATE CULTURES
Purpose
Families
Ethnicity
Economy
New
England
Religious
Nuclear
families
Mostly
English
Family
farms
Middle
Colonies
Mixed
Nuclear
families
Mixed
European
Family
farms
Chesapeake Gain
wealth
Extended
families
Lower South Gain
wealth
Extended
families
English
(majority)
& African
English &
African
(majority)
Market
plantations
(tobacco)
Market
plantations
(rice, indigo)