Key Concept 2.1: Europeans developed a variety of colonization and migration patterns, influenced by different imperial goals, cultures, and the varied North American environments where they settled, and they competed with each other and American Indians for resources.
I. Spanish, French, Dutch, and British colonizers had different economic and imperial goals involving land and labor that shaped the social and political development of their colonies as well as their relationships with native populations.
A) Spanish efforts to extract wealth from the land led them to develop institutions based on subjugating native populations, converting them to Christianity, and incorporating them, along with enslaved and free Africans, into the Spanish colonial society |
- Conquistadors kill and treat natives harshly - King and royal authorities take over - Enslave many natives to extract the materials and goods out of the land ex: gold, silver - Convert Natives to Catholic Christianity - "Black Legend" : belief that Spanish treated Natives more harsh then they really did |
B) French and Dutch colonial efforts involved relatively few Europeans and relied on trade alliances and intermarriage with American Indians to build economic and diplomatic relationships and acquire furs and other products for export to Europe. |
- French and Dutch respect the Natives - Take pride in having close relationships with Natives - French: fur traded with Indians, did not take much land or enslave natives - Dutch came to trade, not conquer, identified w/ Natives because of Spanish cruelty - French: Quebec, Dutch: New Amsterdam (NY) |
C) English colonization efforts attracted a comparatively large number of male and female British migrants, as well as other European migrants, all of whom sought social mobility, economic prosperity, religious freedom, and improved living conditions. These colonists focused on agriculture and settled on land taken from Native Americans, from whom they lived separately. |
- Jameston: colonists focused on gold rather than agriculture, colony suffered until the discovery of tobacco - Indentured servants - Headright system - Virginia Company - House of Burgesses - Powhatan and Pocahontas |
II. In the 17th century, early British colonies developed along the Atlantic coast, with regional differences that reflected various environmental, economic, cultural, and demographic factors.
A) The Chesapeake and North Carolina colonies grew prosperous exporting tobacco — a labor-intensive product initially cultivated by white, mostly male indentured servants and later by enslaved Africans. |
- James I rejected tobacco, but Europe was addicted - Substitute for gold - mad scramble for land, lead to corruption in governing officials - 3/4 of settlers came as indentured servants |
B) The New England colonies, initially settled by Puritans, developed around small towns with family farms and achieved a thriving mixed economy of agriculture and commerce. |
- settled not mainly for agriculture, but religious freedom from Church of England - Fundamental Orders - first Thanksgiving - Great Migration - Quakers |
C) The middle colonies supported a flourishing export economy based on cereal crops and attracted a broad range of European migrants, leading to societies with greater cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity and tolerance. |
- NY, NJ, Delaware, PN - soil, rivers, forests - Benjamin Franklin (Philly) - ethically mixed than rest of colonies |
D) The colonies of the southernmost Atlantic coast and the British West Indies used long growing seasons to develop plantation economies based on exporting staple crops. They depended on the labor of enslaved Africans, who often constituted the majority of the population in these areas and developed their own forms of cultural and religious autonomy |
- Sugar cane was the best crop in the region - Tough and painful to harvest, so colonists used slaves - "Middle Way" difficult journey in ships for slaves; 20% died - blended African teachings/practices with Christianity |
E) Distance and Britain’s initially lax attention led to the colonies creating self-governing institutions that were unusually democratic for the era. The New England colonies based power in participatory town meetings, which in turn elected members to their colonial legislatures; in the Southern colonies, elite planters exercised local authority and also dominated the elected assemblies. |
- town-meetings in North, county-meetings in South - meeting house in NE was used for worship and meeting - theocracies in NE |
III. Competition over resources between European rivals and American Indians encouraged industry and trade and led to conflict in the Americas.
A) An Atlantic economy developed in which goods, as well as enslaved Africans and American Indians, were exchanged between Europe, Africa, and the Americas through extensive trade networks. European colonial economies focused on acquiring, producing, and exporting commodities that were valued in Europe and gaining new sources of labor. |
- Goods and resources in America went to Europe to be manufactured, then traded back with America and Africa for slaves that went to America - Used Africans instead of Indians because of diseases |
B) Continuing trade with Europeans increased the flow of goods in and out of American Indian communities, stimulating cultural and economic changes and spreading epidemic diseases that caused radical demographic shifts. |
- Europeans traded with Natives - Natives saved many European settlements ex: Plymouth - Disease killed 90% of American Indians |
C) Interactions between European rivals and American Indian populations fostered both accommodation and conflict. French, Dutch, British, and Spanish colonies allied with and armed American Indian groups, who frequently sought alliances with Europeans against other Indian groups. |
- NE English and Narragansett Indians teamed up to defeat Pequot tribe to win the Pequot War |
D) The goals and interests of European leaders and colonists at times diverged, leading to a growing mistrust on both sides of the Atlantic. Colonists, especially in British North America, expressed dissatisfaction over issues including territorial settlements, frontier defense, self-rule, and trade. |
- Dominion of England 1686 - Glorious Revolution against James II - Bacon's Rebellion |
E) British conflicts with American Indians over land, resources, and political boundaries led to military confrontations, such as Metacom’s War (King Philip’s War) in New England. |
- formed alliances with other Indian tribes - launched assaults against Puritans - 52 towns attacked, 12 destroyed |
F) American Indian resistance to Spanish colonizing efforts in North America, particularly after the Pueblo Revolt, led to Spanish accommodation of some aspects of American Indian culture in the Southwest. |
- "Black Legend" - Pope leads the rebellion |
Key Concept 2.2: The British colonies participated in political, social, cultural, and economic exchanges with Great Britain that encouraged both stronger bonds with Britain and resistance to Britain’s control.
I. Transatlantic commercial, religious, philosophical, and political exchanges led residents of the British colonies to evolve in their political and cultural attitudes as they became increasingly tied to Britain and one another.
A) The presence of different European religious and ethnic groups contributed to a significant degree of pluralism and intellectual exchange, which were later enhanced by the first Great Awakening and the spread of European Enlightenment ideas. |
- George Whitefield, evangelical preacher - Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God - Old Lights and New Lights |
B) The British colonies experienced a gradual Anglicization over time, developing autonomous political communities based on English models with influence from intercolonial commercial ties, the emergence of a trans-Atlantic print culture, and the spread of Protestant evangelicalism. |
- Salutary Neglect - Develop self-governments apart from British |
C) The British government increasingly attempted to incorporate its North American colonies into a coherent, hierarchical, and imperial structure in order to pursue mercantilist economic aims, but conflicts with colonists and American Indians led to erratic enforcement of imperial policies. |
- Dominion of New England - failed attempts of British to try to gain control after Salutary Neglect - Mercantilism system stayed |
D) Colonists’ resistance to imperial control drew on local experiences of selfgovernment, evolving ideas of liberty, the political thought of the Enlightenment, greater religious independence and diversity, and an ideology critical of perceived corruption in the imperial system. |
- lacked intercolonial untiy - each colony wanted own self-government |
II. Like other European empires in the Americas that participated in the Atlantic slave trade, the English colonies developed a system of slavery that reflected the specific economic, demographic, and geographic characteristics of those colonies.
A) All the British colonies participated to varying degrees in the Atlantic slave trade due to the abundance of land and a growing European demand for colonial goods, as well as a shortage of indentured servants. Small New England farms used relatively few enslaved laborers, all port cities held significant minorities of enslaved people, and the emerging plantation systems of the Chesapeake and the southernmost Atlantic coast had large numbers of enslaved workers, while the great majority of enslaved Africans were sent to the West Indies. |
- Middle Passage - Triangular Trade - 5% Slaves in NA, most to West Indies |
B) As chattel slavery became the dominant labor system in many southern colonies, new laws created a strict racial system that prohibited interracial relationships and defined the descendants of African American mothers as black and enslaved in perpetuity. |
- Slave Codes - allowed owners to keep slaves in check - Barbados Slave Code 1661 |
C) Africans developed both overt and covert means to resist the dehumanizing aspects of slavery and maintain their family and gender systems, culture, and religion. |
- African Culture and American Culture mix, called Gullan - Gullan: words (goober or peanut), voodoo, jazz - African diaspora: vast scattering of African people throughout New World |