key concepts
2.1 and 2.2
What are we learning? |
How are we learning it? |
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 |
*Conquistadores -Black Legend: -Encomienda system- Authority granted to settlers of conquered lands -Haciendas- Natives practically enslaved, forcefully converted to Christianity, and made to work in harsh conditions |
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 establish trading posts in Quebec, not colonies *Relied on natives for goods for the trading, concerned about the image of their relationship with the natives *Dutch established brief settlement in modern day New York |
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. |
*Tobacco in Southern Colonies *Bread in Middle Colonies *Trade in the New England Colonies *Men outnumbering women 5/1 |
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. |
*Originally, men who couldn't pay for their voyage to the New World would trade 5-7 years of their labor to those who could afford their voyage. *Upon the completion of their service, they would be free to own land of their own or try to make their own way. |
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. |
*Plymouth *"A City Upon A Hill" |
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. |
*Pennsylvania founded by rich Quaker, William Penn, for all sorts of religious tolerance. *Delaware- all religions welcome |
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 |
* South Carolina and Georgia based on rice and indigo *tobacco (aka the devil's lettuce) * Caribbean colonies grew sugar, the most profitable crop * All of these colonies used Portuguese-based slavery, which was more cruel and dehumanizing just for profit. |
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. |
*House of Burgesses- Virginia- First example of self governance in the New World. *Massachusetts based franchise on church membership, others, you had to own property. *Planter class in the South either required substantial property to vote or hold office, or they partied with their voters to get their votes. |
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. |
* Mercantilism (colonies export raw materials, mother country sells back finished goods)- favorable balance of trade * Triangle Trades (food from New England sold in Caribbean, molasses taken back, turned into rum, which was then sold for other commodities, including slaves) *Exports * New England: food and rum Middle colonies: wheat Chesapeake: tobacco North Carolina: timber South Carolina: rice and indigo |
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 |
European goods were considered valuable, so native tribes went to war to control trade. |
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. |
* John Smith / Pocahontas / John Rolfe / Powhatan * Bacon’s Rebellion / slaughter of frontier Native Americans, also non-directly shifted labor from indentured servants to African slaves |
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. |
*King James took over Virginia as a royal colony- House of Burgesses abolished *Toleration Act dismissed by Protestant majority, even in Maryland *Bacon’s Rebellion put colonists under Nathaniel Bacon at war with royal governor William Berkeley |
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. |
*Pontiac's Rebellion- Native Tribes come together in the Ohio River Valley region to fight against the British |
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. |
Native American's had their place in American Society and resisted European efforts of colonization. -Competition: Settlers and Natives both had claims... Would create tensions for years to come |
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. |
*Puritans in Massachusetts *Separists = Plymouth *Riff Raff included Quakers and Catholics *Enlightenment created this idea of people questioning authority (Religious and political) You can imagine this took hold in the colonies. |
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 led to self governance in the colonies, as well as the colonies all having their own form of doing things, which would make it hard for united action in the future. |
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. |
The colonies provided raw materials to England for its growth and profit. Colonies were upset their mother country was restricting them in order to gain a favorable balance of trade, and thus... Smuggling. |
D) Colonists’ resistance to imperial control drew on local experiences of self government, 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. |
*Enlightenment led to people questioning why they had to be controlled by the imperial system of a country all the way across the Atlantic Ocean as well as the idea of inalienable rights such as the ones that would be mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. |
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. |
*Slave trade established the main labor force in the southern colonies, as well as in the Chesapeake *Britain facilitated the slave trade, which meant they controlled the colonies in this aspect as well |
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. |
Farming land all over led to white guy domination in the economy, which would continue for many, many years |
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. |
Most slaves cooperated- it was the easiest way. Although some resisted in the following ways: * passive resistance, working slowly, or poorly, or "accidentally" breaking things * theft or sabotage * violence and murder * running away * Chesapeake slaves often managed to marry and form families, and passed on family names, traditions, and ideas |