John Li Chapter 4

The Unhealthy Chesapeake

 Malaria, dysentery, and typhoid shortened the life expectancy of the settlers by decades
 Many diseases were passed by immigrants coming from Europe
o Most immigrants were single, young men
 Many more men than women
o 1650- ratio of 6:1
o 1700- ratio of 3:2
 There was a lot of competition between men for mates
o Most unmarried women didn’t remain unmarried for long
o Most marriages ended within 7 years because of the death of a wife or spouse
 Weak family relationships
 Many pregnant unmarried girls
o It was rare for a child to grow up to adulthood with 2 surviving parents, and even
rarer for anybody to even know a grandparent
 Eventually, most native-born children gained immunity to the diseases that were killing
1st generation settlers
o With more women, more families were formed
o Population grew rapidly
 Virginia, the most populous colony, reached a population of 59,000 by
1700.
 Their population growth corresponded with the birth rate

The Tobacco Economy

 The Chesapeake Bay was a prime area for growing tobacco
o Cash Crop that made the colony extremely rich
 Many settlers first planted tobacco to sell before growing corn to eat
 Growing tobacco destroyed the soil quickly, and with the high demand farmers quickly
made much of the land near the coast unusable for farming
o Farmers and settlers headed into Native American lands in search of better land,
resulting in more Native Attacks
 Production went from 1.5 million pounds in the 1630s to 40 million by 1700
 The huge supply glut crashed prices, but farmers continued to increase production
 At first, there was an unreliable number of workers for the farms
o Not enough NIR for white families to have enough laborers
o Indians died too quickly because they had no immunity toward diseases
o Black slaves were extremely expensive to purchase
 England had a large surplus of workers
o Many were unemployed
  Cloth slump in the 1600s, former farms who lost their jobs after land
owners “enclosed” acreage, merging farms
 They ended up in large port cities like London and Bristol
o Indentured Servant- they “mortgaged” their bodies off to a farm owner for a
specified amount of time, usually 4-7 years.
 In return, they got a free passage and received Freedom dues once they
completed their work
 Freedom dues included: ax and hoe, a few barrels of corn, a set of clothes,
and maybe some land
o Around 100,000 indentured servants came to America by 1700, and they were
75% of all European immigrants that came to America
 Virginia and Maryland used the headright system
 The headright system: encouraged the importation of servant workers
o Whoever paid for the passage of a worker (white) gave themselves the right to get
50 acres of land
 Masters got the benefits, not the servant
 Win-Win: got more labor, and got more land
o Some masters who had a decent amount of capital used the system to create a real
estate empire, by using the worker as an investment
o Chesapeake planters would bring another 100,000 workers to the region by 1700
o The “white-slaves” (workers), represented over 75% of all the European
immigrants that entered Maryland and Virginia
o As prime land became more expensive and less common, the giving of land in
freedom dues became less common
o Punishments were commonly being given out to misbehaving servants
 Ex. housemaid becoming pregnant, laborer killing a hog
 Service times were extended
o Eventually, former servants had to work for their former masters to remain
financially afloat while being m

Frustrated Freemen and Bacon’s Rebellion

 Many former indentured servants wandered around, looking for work
o Frustrated by little opportunity to get land and marry a woman
 They became angry at the government of Virginia
 In 1670, the Virginia assembly disfranchised most of the landless knockabouts
o Accused them of “having little interest in the country”, causing “tumults at the
election to the disturbance of his Majesty's peace”
 Governor William Berkeley said, “How miserable that man is that
governs a people where six parts of seven at least are poor, indebted,
discontented, and armed”
 The Rebellion (1676)
 o 1,000 angry Virginians led by a 29-year-old planter named Nathaniel Bacon
went out of control and chaos ensued
 Many of the rebels with Bacon were frontiersmen who were forced to
move west to find arable land
o Many hated the friendly relationship and policy toward the Indians
 Berkeley and the Virginian government had a monopoly on highly
profitable fur trade with the Indians
o Bacon’s men murderously attacked Indian settlements after Berkeley refused
to retaliate for a series of savage Indian attacks on the frontier.
o The rebels forced Berkeley out of rule, creating a period of anarchy
 Chaos spread throughout Virginia, and the rebels were described as “a
rabble of the basest sort of people”
 They started plundering and destroying things in their path
o Bacon died in the middle of the civil war, collapsed the rebellion
 Berkeley hanged 20 rebels in retaliation
 Charles II complained, saying that “That old fool has put to death
more people in that naked country than I did here for the murder of my
father”
o Bacon’s legacy
 Gave frustrated poor folks the idea to rebel, there was some paranoia
after the rebellion
 Ignited the hate that the backcountry men had toward the plantation
owners
o The rich and farm owners became increasingly reluctant to hire white workers
because they wanted less hostile and worrisome workers
 They turned to Africa for labor

Colonial Slavery
 First done for economic reasons, but eventually became based on racism and
discrimination
 Since, Columbus’s arrival, 7 million African slaves would be sent to the New World
o 400,000 came to North America
o Many came after 1700
o Most went to plantations in the Caribbean and South America
 In 1698, the Royal African Company lost its crown-granted monopoly on the African
slave-shipping business
o Many Americans, notably Rhode Islanders, took advantages of the open market
and began making large amounts of money off slave trade
 The supply of slaves increased sharply
 Most of the slaves were from West Africa, from places like Senegal and Angola
o They were captured by the African tribes, who sold them into the large slave
market in the Americans
  Before their voyage to the Americas, the slaves would be branded and bound onto large
ships, which took them across the Atlantic for several weeks
o Brutal conditions- very hot
o 2 million slaves died on the “Middle Passage”
 The surviving slaves would be sold in the large slave markets around the American
colonies
o Newport RI, Charleston SC, etc.
o Death rates were as high as 20%
 Slaves were first introduced in j, Virginia in 1619, but only represented 7% of the
population in the south
o Many people in the country could not afford the black slaves
 White slaves were cheaper, even though they could die on the job
 Major changes in the late 1600s
o Rising wages in England shrunk a number of people that were bankrupt
 Fewer people ventured into the New World looking for work as
indentured servants
o Improving mortality rates among black slaves was increasing, making them a
better labor investment
 Planters planted rice and indigo in the Carolinas, increasing demand for black slaves
o By 1680, though, many landowners were afraid of mutinous white servants
o By the mid-1680s, for the first time, black slaves outnumbered white servants
among the plantation colonies’ new arrivals
 Some of the earliest black slaves gained their freedom and some became slaveholders
themselves
 Conditions of slavery- endless work, little food and water, and constant beatings and
punishments
 Virginia 1662- conditions and rules for the enslavement of blacks
o Cleared up any confusion on slave ownership
o Earliest slave codes
o Slaves and their children would remain slaves to their masters for life unless they
were voluntarily freed
o Made it a crime to teach a slave how to read or write
o Not even conversion to Christianity might qualify a slave for freedom.
 Slavery began for economic reasons, but by the end of the 1600s discrimination against
blacks helped expand the system

Southern Society
 As the use of slavery increased, the gap between the rich and poor widened
o At the top was a small number of plantation owners who had a monopoly on the
economy and political matters
  A group of familial clans controlled much of the land and House of
Burgesses in Virginia
 Ex. Fitzhughs, Lees, and the Washingtons
o Before the Revolutionary War, 70% of the leaders in Virginia were part of the
first wave of immigrants
 They came to be known as the First Families of Virginia (FFV).
o However, the owners were extremely hardworking, and they spent long hours
managing plantations, like CEOs’ today
o The largest social group was the small farmers, who were like small business
owners. Had small amounts of land, few slaves, and grew for themselves
o The lowest group was the white indentured servants, which were eventually
replaced by black slaves
 Far fewer cities emerged from the south, as life and business were centered around the
plantations.
o This meant that people rarely moved far, and in addition, infrastructure was poor
compared to the more industrial cities in the North
 Weather was very rainy, clogging roads up
 During bad weather funeral parties couldn’t even reach the burial
site
 Slowed development of family burial plots
o Schools and churches were slow to develop.
The New England Family
 In New England, the water was clean and temperatures were cool
 Various diseases were not as predominant as in the South.
 New England was more of the pioneering part of the colonies. They instituted clean and
cold water to homes, which drastically slowed the spread of microbes.
o Added 10 years to life expectancy, unlike the Chesapeake, where they lost 10
years
o Claim that “a sip of New England’s air is better than a whole draft of old
England’s ale”
 Family was the center of life
o People rarely moved alone, and the population increase skyrocketed in the region
because of the priority of the family
o Some of the largest families even had multiple mothers
o Contrasting the Chesapeake, the New Englanders tended to migrate as a family,
instead of individually.
o Early marriage was encouraged, giving women more time to produce children
 Women usually married in their early twenties and gave birth every two
years until menopause
 A married woman expected 10 pregnancies and 8 surviving children to
take care of
  Raising children became a “job” for the mother
o Low pregnancy rates before marriage because of family stability
o In the South, women usually had more power
 Southern men typically died young and women could inherit the money,
but in New England, it was the opposite
 In New England, men didn’t have absolute power over their wives
(punishments given by their husbands), but they did have considerable
amounts of power over women
o Strong social structure in New England
o Women didn’t have many rights and had to obey their husbands
 The church didn’t want conflicts between wife and husband.
 Wives could be physically punished, although there were laws to prevent
abuse
o Strict New England Laws in
 Convicted adulterers were brutally punished, and had the letter “A’ sewed
on their garments.
 The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was based on this concept

Life in the New England Towns

 Tight-knit society, basis was small towns and farms
 Expansion was by an entire town, not certain individuals such as in the south
 The trustworthy town fathers or colonial legislature distributed new land.
 The town usually consisted of…
o A central church that acted as a town hall, and houses surrounding it
o A village green was the area where the local militia trained
o A family would get some land, a woodlot, a tract for crops, and another for
animals
o Towns of more than 50 families had to provide primary education.
o Towns of more than 100 had to provide secondary education.
 New towns were legally chartered by colonial authorities
 Harvard was established in 1636 to train men to become ministers
o Jamestown’s first college, William and Mary, would be established in 1693
 Church
o The Puritans built and ran their own churches
o Democracy in the Congregational Church led to a democratic government
o In town meetings every man could vote,
 They were used to show and teach democracy
o In meeting houses many things may have happened, such as elections,
appointments of any ranking position, and policy matters.
o Thomas Jefferson said that the town meeting was “the best school of political
liberty the world ever saw”
The Half-Way Covenant and the Salem Witch Trials
 Settlers in the New England Area were God-fearing people
 Puritans began to worry about their children and if they would be as loyal and faithful
o New form of sermon heard from the Puritan pulpits- jeremiad
o In jeremiads, earnest preachers scolded parishioners for their waning piety in hope
to improve faith.
 Piety- “the quality of being religious or reverent”
 The preachers were alarmed at the steep decline in conversation
 Conversation: testimonials by individuals that they had received
God’s grace and therefore deserved to be admitted to the church as
members of the elect
 Half-Way Covenant (1662)- new formula for church membership
o Modified the agreement between the church and adherents
 Admitted to a form of Baptism but not “full communion”
o Weakened the difference between the “elect” and other people
o Gave partial membership rights to the former Puritan-exclusive congregations
 People could come and participate in the church, even if they fell short of
the “visible-saint” status and were somehow only half converted
 A few extremely hated groups were not granted this
 Strict religious purity was sacrificed for a large base of religious
participation
 Women, who were the “pillars” of the Puritan congregations, now became
a large part of the people now going to church
 The Salem Witch Trials
o A group of teenage girls claimed they were bewitched by other women
 Led to a witch hunt that led to the lynching of 20 girls and 2 dogs
 There had already been a large witch hunt in Europe, and slowly they
happened in the colonies
 At first, the woman landowners were targeted
 Came from the families that had a large part in the free market
economy of Salem
 The governor ended the witch hunt craze in 1693
 His wife was accused to be a witch
 He ended all trials and pardoned the convicted that still were alive
 The term “witch-hunting” is a metaphor for the need to find a scapegoat
 The trials reflected the widening social order in NE, and the fears Puritan
traditionalists had that Yankee Commercialism would replace themselves

New England Way of Life

 Rocky landscape, so not that much farming
 Built on industry, and being frugal with money
  Less racially and ethnically diverse, because of the less usable land, and because of the
power of the church
 Very hot summers, very cold winters
o The climate of New England encouraged diversified agriculture and industry.
 Economy was more diverse than the south
 Smaller farms, with more industry near cities located near rivers
o Slavery was attempted but didn’t work.
o Wasn’t needed because NE was made of small farms rather than plantations as
down South.
 There weren’t any huge areas or flat land over the mountain didn’t
incentivize people to cross the mountains and move west
o The rivers were short and rapid, mountains were close to the shore
 The New Englanders disliked the Indians for “wasting” the land and felt a need to clear
as much land for use as possible for farming and settlement, as well as the buildup of
infrastructure
o Rapid expansion west for the need of feeding the animals
o Also increasing deforestation and loosened soil, increasing the risk of floods
 Made some areas vulnerable to the heat and cold
 New Englanders turned to their harbors and plentiful woods in business. New England
became a center of shipping, shipbuilding, fishing, trade, and commerce
o The fish gained more wealth for the people than all the jewels and valuables
hoarded by the Aztecs
 Basic values and characteristics of the people helped the area become one of the
wealthiest areas in the colonies
 The New Englanders prided themselves as God’s chosen people, boasted that Boston was
“the hub of the universe”
 Due to the sterile soil, New Englanders immigrated and left for other areas. Many moved
west, from Ohio to the West Coast, and some even settled in Hawaii
 Many towns outside NE were built on the NE model, and “Yankee ingenuity” came from
results of the flinty fields and brutal climate that the Puritans somehow developed under
the worst of conditions
 The “New England Conscience” was created from the Puritan heritage and culture, and
left behind a legacy of idealism and would be a part of many reforms in the future
Early Settlers Days and Ways
 The seasons and the sun set the schedule for most people, regardless of race and gender
 Generally, the farmers (most of the population), planted in the spring and tended their
crops or livestock until it was time to harvest in the fall. In the winter, they prepared for
the spring, the planting season
 Chores were done at night if they were “worth the candle”
 In the south…
o Women, free or not, mostly did household chores
  Ex. wove, cooked, cleaned, raised children
o Children usually helped with these chores and received school when possible,
where the enslaved may have done labor at a young age
o Men performed outdoor and more physically demanding tasks
 Cleared, fenced, planted, cropped land
 Cut firewood, killed livestock
 Humble life
 Cheap land, but less common in the south than north, because of the plantations in the
south
 The people who emigrated from Europe to America were most usually lower middle-
class citizens looking to have a better future in the New World.
 The more successful colonists generally stayed near the coast, where the poorer people
moved west, trying for a new start in life
 “Better sort” colonists tried to create a social structure like the monarchies and
dictatorships in Europe, but this led to hate against the rich, leading to events such as
Bacon’s Rebellion and the Maryland’s Protests
 Leisler’s Rebellion (1689-1691)
o It was an insurgency between rich landowners and up and coming merchants led
to violence
 Any other attempts to create a social difference by the monetary value of people did not
work, and free white people had equality and democracy.