AMERICAN SOCIETY IN THE MAKING

1
AMERICAN SOCIETY IN THE MAKING

• What Is an American?
• Americans came from a variety of backgrounds
• although they never completely abandoned their
  various heritages, they became different from
  their relatives who remained in Old World
• Even the most rebellious seldom intended to
  create an entirely new civilization, but physical
  separation and a new environment led to different
  patterns of development

2

• Spanish Settlements in New Mexico and Florida
• Franciscan friars shaped life in Spanish North
  America
• Franciscans established strings of mission
  settlements along the upper reaches of the Rio
  Grande, in northern Florida, and along the
  coastal regions of present-day Georgia and South
  Carolina
• friars instructed thousands of Indians in the
  rudiments of Catholic faith and taught them
  European agricultural techniques

3

• Franciscans exacted heavy price in labor from
  Indians
• Indians built and maintained missions, tilled
  fields, and served friars this treatment led to
  rebellions in many of the missions
• although most rebellions were isolated and easily
  repressed
• in 1680, the Pueblo Indians combined under a
  religious leader named Pope, razed the town of
  Santa Fe, and pushed Spaniards back to El Paso
• by the 1690s, Spanish had regained control

4

• The Chesapeake Colonies
• southern colonies of English North America
  consisted of three regions the Chesapeake Bay,
  the low country of the Carolinas, and the back
  country extending into the Appalachians
• Not until the eighteenth century would common
  features prompt people to think of this as a
  single region

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• although Virginia grew in decade after it became
  royal colony, death rate remained high
• newcomers underwent a period of seasoning, or
  illness those who survived developed immunities
  to the diseases of the region
• life expectancy remained short, resulting in a
  society where living grandparents were a rarity
• more often than not, before children reached
  maturity they had lost at least one parent loss
  of both parents was not uncommon
• still there were opportunities for advancement,
  particularly through growing tobacco

6

• The Lure of Land
• agriculture remained the mainstay of life in the
  Chesapeake and in the South
• London Company saw little profit from
  agriculture, so it used land, its only asset, to
  pay off debts and to raise capital
• availability of land attracted landless
  Europeans, many of whom could not afford passage

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• thus a system of indentured servitude evolved to
  bring those with land and money together with
  those who wished to go to America
• indentured servants worked for a period of years
  in exchange for their passage
• those who survived the seasoning period and an
  often harsh period of servitude became free
• many became landowners, but the best lands
  already belonged to large planters
• ever-increasing need for labor and expense of
  meeting that demand with indentured servants led
  colonists to look for another solution

8

• Solving the Labor Shortage Slavery
• first African blacks to arrive in America landed
  in Jamestown in 1619
• by about 1640, some, although certainly not all,
  blacks were slaves
• racial prejudice and the institution of slavery
  interacted to bring about complete degradation of
  Africans in English colonies
• although it spread throughout the colonies,
  slavery grew slowly at first
• most colonists preferred white servants

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• in the 1670s, improving economic conditions in
  England led to a slow flow of new servants
• at the same time, slaves became more readily
  available
• for a variety of reasons, indentured servitude
  gave way to slavery as a solution to the
  colonies need for labor

10

• Prosperity in a Pipe Tobacco
• unlike wheat, tobacco required no expensive plows
  to clear the land it could be cultivated with a
  hoe
• the crop required extensive human labor, but it
  produced a high yield and returned a high profit
  
• the Tidewater region had many navigable rivers,
  and the planters spread along their banks

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• the Chesapeake did not develop towns and roads
  because commerce traveled along the rivers
• tobacco rapidly exhausted the soil, which worked
  to the advantage of larger agricultural units
  that could leave some fields to lie fallow

12

• Bacons Rebellion
• distance from centers of authority made settlers
  in the Chesapeake difficult to subject to
  authority
• a split developed between the ruling faction in
  Jamestown under Sir William Berkeley and settlers
  at the western edge of settlement
• when Berkeley refused to authorize an expedition
  against Indians who had been attacking outlying
  settlements, western planters took matters into
  their own hands

13

• under Nathaniel Bacon, the westerners
  demonstrated a willingness to attack not only
  Indians but the governor as well
• Bacon and his followers marched on Jamestown and
  forced Berkeley to grant them authority for
  further attacks on Indians
• later they burned Jamestown
• not long after, Bacon became ill with a violent
  flux and died
• an English squadron then arrived and restored
  order

14

• The Carolinas
• like their fellow colonists to the north, English
  and Scotch-Irish settlers in the Carolinas relied
  on agriculture
• tobacco flourished in North Carolina
• the introduction of Madagascar rice at the end of
  the 17th century provided South Carolina with a
  cash crop
• in the 1740s, indigo was introduced into South
  Carolina

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• the production of cash crops meant that the
  southern colonies could obtain manufactured goods
  and various luxuries from Europe
• despite the obvious benefits of the situation, it
  prevented the development of a diversified
  economy in the southern colonies
• slavery emerged early on as the dominant form of
  labor on South Carolinas plantations
• Blacks constituted a majority of the population
  in South Carolina

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• each colony promulgated regulations governing
  behavior of blacks, which increased in severity
  with the density of the black population
• slaves came from different places and performed
  different tasks there was no single slave
  experience
• more skilled a slave, more difficult it became to
  prevent that slave from running away
• few runaways became rebels
• a few isolated reformers, mostly Quakers, opposed
  slavery

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• even some Quakers owned slaves, and racial
  prejudice was common even among Quakers
• Home and Family in the Colonial South
• except for the most affluent planters, life in
  the southern colonies was primitive and
  uncomfortable
• houses were small furniture and utensils were
  sparse and crudely made
• clothing for most was rough and, because soap was
  expensive, usually unwashed

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• women only rarely worked in the fields, but their
  duties included tending animals, making butter
  and cheese, pickling and preserving, spinning,
  and sewing
• women also cared for their own and often orphan
  children as well
• education in the South was less widespread than
  in New England
• in the early 18th century only a handful of
  planters achieved real affluence
• these large planters controlled politics

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• the spread-out population made it difficult to
  support churches
• in spite of its standing as the official religion
  with the support of public funds, the Anglican
  church never became a powerful force in the South
  
• in this society, social events such as births,
  marriages, and funerals were great occasions

20

• Georgia and the Back Country
• this region included the Great Valley of
  Virginia, the Piedmont, and Georgia
• Georgia was founded by a group of philanthropists
  in London, who conceived the idea of taking
  honest persons imprisoned for debt and resettling
  them in the New World

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• the idealistic regulations governing the colony
  swiftly fell into disuse
• Georgia developed an economy similar to South
  Carolinas
• settlers began to settle farther inland
• in North Carolina, a dispute over representation
  in the assembly led to a pitched battle between
  frontiersmen and troops dispatched by the
  assembly
• the Regulators, as the frontiersmen called
  themselves, were crushed and their leaders
  executed

22

• Puritan New England
• New England enjoyed several advantages over the
  southern colonies, for example
• Boston had a dependable supply of water
• the terrain and climate made for a much healthier
  habitat.

23

• The Puritan Family
• the Puritans brought more supplies with them than
  other colonists, which helped ease their
  adjustment
• in addition to supplies, Puritans brought a plan
  for an ordered society
• Central to that plan was a covenant, an agreement
  to bind individuals to the group
• Puritan families were nuclear and patriarchal

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• Puritan Women and Children
• mortality among infants and children was lower in
  New England than in the Chesapeake
• few families escaped the loss of a child
• the outbreak of the English Civil War ended the
  Great Migration
• thereafter, high birthrate and low mortality rate
  accounted primarily for growth of the colony
• as a result, the population of New England was
  more evenly distributed by age and sex than in
  colonies to the south

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• Womens childbearing years extended over two
  decades
• social standards required that husbands rule over
  wives and that parents rule over children
• children were expected to take on duties of
  adults at an early age, and liberal use of
  corporal punishment ensured strict discipline
• older children might be sent to live with another
  family or apprenticed to a craftsman

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• Visible Saints and Others
• Puritans believed that church membership should
  be a joint decision between the would-be member
  and the church
• obvious sinners were rejected out of hand
• with the Great Migration, large numbers of
  applicants enabled the churches to restrict
  membership to visible saints

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• a decade later, new conditions led to a
  reconsideration
• fewer than half of all adults in New England were
  church members by the 1650s, and many young
  people refused to submit to the zealous scrutiny
  necessary for membership
• growing numbers of nonmembers led to problems
• could they be compelled to attend churches?
• could they be taxed but not allowed to vote?
• could they be baptized?

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• if baptism were restricted to church members and
  a majority of the community did not qualify, the
  majority of people would be living in a state of
  original sin
• the solution was the Half-Way Covenant, which
  provided for limited membership for any applicant
  not known to be a sinner who would accept the
  church covenant

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• Democracies Without Democrats
• the colonies were largely left to govern
  themselves
• in spite of seemingly repressive laws passed by
  the governments of Massachusetts and Connecticut,
  primary responsibility for maintaining order
  rested with the towns of the region

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• Dedham A Typical Town
• in 1635, the heads of thirty households from
  Watertown established a new town at Dedham
• they set up a form of representative government
  and a church structure of government permitted
  all male adults who subscribed to the covenant to
  vote
• but was colonial New England democratic?
• most male New Englanders could vote

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• they tended to elect men from the wealthiest
  most established levels of the community
• many voters did not bother to vote, because many
  offices were uncontested

32

• The Dominion of New England
• during Restoration, the English government sought
  to bring colonies under effective royal control
• Massachusettss charter was annulled, and it
  became a royal colony
• Edmund Andros, a professional soldier, became
  governor
• after the Glorious Revolution, colonists
  overthrew Andros

33

• Salem Bewitched
• Salem Village, a rural settlement near Salem,
  petitioned General Court for a church of their
  own
• after a few years, the General Court granted
  their request
• a series of preachers failed to unite feuding
  factions of village
• Samuel Parris became minister in 1689 and proved
  equally unable to unite the village
• church voted to dismiss him

34

• Parriss daughters and Ann Putnam began to behave
  in ways their elders diagnosed as bewitched
• they accused three socially marginal women of
  witchcraft
• the three were brought before a court, but the
  accusations spread and worked up the social
  ladder
• a group of ministers intervened
• Governor Phips adjourned the court
• 19 persons had been hanged and one more pressed
  to death by heavy stones

35

• the episode also revealed some anxieties Puritan
  men felt toward women
• many Puritans believed that Satan used the allure
  of female sexuality to work his will
• in addition, many accused witches were widows of
  high status or older women who owned property
  such women potentially subverted the patriarchal
  authorities of church and state

36

• Higher Education in New England
• demand for educated ministers outstripped supply
  in the 1630s
• Massachusetts General Court appropriated money
  for a schoole or colledge
• John Harvard left double the appropriation and
  his library to what became Harvard
• Massachusetts and Connecticut passed laws
  requiring towns of any size to establish grammar
  schools

37

• as a result, New England had a remarkably high
  rate of literacy
• several ministers in Connecticut became
  disenchanted with the growing religious
  toleration at Harvard and founded a new college
  named after its first benefactor, Elihu Yale

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• Prosperity Undermines Puritanism
• colonists in New England turned early to farming
• they also grazed cattle, sheep, and hogs
• game and firewood abounded in the forests, as did
  fish in the Atlantic
• yet a short growing season and rocky, hilly
  terrain meant that farmers produced little
  surplus

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• the products New Englanders grew were available
  in Europe
• thus, while fed and sheltered, New Englanders had
  little surplus and nowhere to sell it
• more pious settlers welcomed the situation as
  protection against becoming too worldly
• Massachusetts had laws against usury and
  profiteering

40

• A Merchants World
• early efforts to produce manufactured goods in
  New England failed
• fur seemed a likely item to trade for English
  manufactured goods, but fur-bearing animals
  retreated away from settlements
• fish provided merchants with a marketable
  commodity
• this was the start of the triangular trade
• trade became the driving force of the New England
  economy

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• Portsmouth, Salem, Boston, Newport, and New Haven
  grew rapidly
• Boston became the third most populous city in the
  British Empire
• The Middle Colonies
• Middle Colonies, located between New England and
  Chesapeake, contained elements of the distinctive
  features of colonies to north and south

42

• Economic Basis for the Middle Colonies
• New York and Pennsylvania contained ethnically
  and religiously diverse populations
• Scandinavian and Dutch settlers outnumbered the
  English in New Jersey and Delaware
• Pennsylvania drew German Quakers, Mennonites, and
  Moravians
• Scotch-Irish settlers came to Pennsylvania in the
  early eighteenth century

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• The Best Poor Mans Country
• land was easy to obtain in Pennsylvania
• ordinary New Yorkers could become landowners
  fairly readily
• Philadelphia grew more rapidly than Boston and
  New York
• due largely to navigable rivers that penetrated
  deep into the back country
• by the middle of the 18th century, Philadelphia
  became the largest city in English America
• not only did merchants do well, but artisans
  often left substantial estates

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• The Politics of Diversity
• the Middle Colonies developed a more
  sophisticated political culture than either New
  England or the southern colonies
• All of the Middle Colonies had popularly elected
  representative assemblies
• New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians were less likely
  than southern colonists to defer to the landed
  gentry

45

• Leislers Rebellion shaped New York politics for
  two decades
• political divisions led to the trial for
  seditious libel of John Peter Zenger, the editor
  of an opposition newspaper
• the Zenger trial established truth as a defense
  against libel, which was contrary to English
  common law
• Pennsylvania was split between the proprietary
  party and a Quaker party

46

• settlers in western Pennsylvania, resentful of
  eastern indifference to the threat of Indian
  raids
• the Paxton boys slaughtered an Indian village and
  marched on the capital
• Ben Franklin talked them out of attacking the town

47

• Rebellious Women
• Anne Hutchinson incurred the wrath of Puritan
  leaders by criticizing their teachings and
  challenging them in public debate
• the authority of husbands differed over time and
  place
• the general trend was away from a rigidly
  hierarchical family

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• nevertheless, women found themselves increasingly
  relegated to the margins of political life during
  the 18th century
• by the middle of the century, the general
  expectation was that white women would confine
  themselves to matters relating to the home