LECTURE #1: Colonial America Before

1763

Presented byDerrick J. Johnson, MPA, JD

Advanced Placement United States History

School for Advanced Studies

Due to a lack of written records, historians do not have a completely accurate description of life prior to the advent of Christopher Columbus.

However, there is evidence that gives credence to theories of how Native American life was during this period.

The First Immigrants to America

Native Americans Asians crossed the Bering Strait in several

migrations beginning about 15,000-40,000 years ago. They did so utilizing what has become known as the “Land Bridge.”

Eventually groups spread all the way to the tip of South America

By Columbus' arrival in 1492, several significant cultures had developed in the region south of the current U.S. They included the following:

1) Incas in Peru--By 1438 AD they controlled most of the Andean region. Conquered by Pizarro.

Native Americans 2) Mayans in Yucatan--By 300 AD the city of

Tikal featured 20,000 residents and elaborate temples. Mayan Civilization fell around the year 800. Speculation ranges from earthquakes, to internal feuds, to rival civilizations.

3) Olmecs in Mexico--500 AD over 100,000 on current site of Mexico City. Their decline is most likely correlated to changes in river flow due to volcanic activity or earthquakes.

4) Aztecs--conquered by Cortez in 1520.

North American Cultures Most Indians were pre-historic, and

developed a stone age culture (little metalwork, no written language, no use of the wheel)

A. Hohokan culture (200-1450 AD) in southwest U.S.

1) Extensive use of irrigation canals for crops2) Adobe buildings as tall as four stories built, probably for religious purposes3) Gradual decline and dispersal into small groups

B. Hopewell culture (100-400 AD) in the Northeast and midwest.

 1) Agricultural rather than hunter-gatherers 2) Large mounds for religious purposes or burials, mostly along the Ohio River.

North American Cultures C. Mississippi River cultures (900 -1500 AD)

1) Mound-builders (largest city, Cahokia, (Illinois) had as many as 40,000 residents and was the largest city north of Mexico)

2) Highly developed trade system with Indians throughout North America

3) Maize cultivation 4) After contact with Europeans, civilization

declined and many tribes turned to nomadism

Contact with Europeans

A. Transatlantic exchange The contact between the Europeans and the

Native Americas produced many benefits and problems for both cultures:

The Old World received food (corn, potatoes), syphilis, gold.

New World received horses, smallpox, Christianity, slavery.

Contact with EuropeansB. Most Indian groups were decimated by displacement, disease, and warfare

Arawaks met by Columbus numbered 250,000 in 1492. By1550, 500 survived. By 1650, 0 survived.

Indians of North America met the Spanish in the West, the English and Dutch in the East, and the French in Canada. In almost all encounters, the Indians were conquered or made dependent on the Europeans

Viking and Norse Sailors

Around 1000, the Norse arrived in modern Canada.

Some of the most famous Viking explorers include Leif Eriksson and Bjarni Herjolfsson

Columbus and the New World

Christopher Columbus was supported by Isabella & Ferdinand of Spain, who had just defeated the Moors.

They gave Columbus three ships and gave him the authority over all lands he would claim for Spain.

Columbus and the New World

He was looking for a short cut (western route) to Asia. After sailing from the Canary Islands he landed in the Bahamas. Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492.

When Columbus returned to Spain and reported the existence of a rich new world with easy-to-subjugate natives, he opened the door to a long period of European expansion and colonialism. He eventually died in 1506.

European Expansion

After Columbus’ discovery, the powers of Europe began to expand into the new world.

Three causes for expansion. Rise of the Merchant class

primogenity Religious percussion Rise of the powerful nation state

European Settlements in North America, 1650

Spain Colonizes the New World

Columbus’ discovery had great consequences for both continents. During the next century, Spain was the colonial power in the Americas.

Advanced weaponry and the truly incredible ruthlessness with which the conquistadors treated Native Americans allowed them to dominate the New World.

Also, the strength of the Spanish Armada (the navy) made it difficult for other countries to send their own expeditions.

The Spanish settled a number of coastal towns in Central and South America and the West Indies, where the conquistadors collected and exported as much of the area's wealth as they could.

Spain Colonizes the New World

Wherever they went, the conquistadors enslaved the natives and attempted to erase their culture and supplant it with Catholicism.

They slaughtered many of the locals, sometimes for sport, but even more Native Americans died from, exposure to smallpox. (The Europeans were "carriers" of the disease.)

Treaty of Tordesillas

Spain and Portugal were the first kingdoms to lay claim to territories in the New World.

The Catholic monarchs of both countries turned to the Vatican for a resolution to the dispute.

In 1493, Pope Alexander VI divided the New World between Spain & Portugal. Spain had the right to North, Central and South America and Portugal laid claim to Brazil.

Spanish Dominance In 1494, the two countries signed the Treaty of

Tordesillas. Every other nation ignored the treaty. Spanish dominance in the Americas was based

on more than a treaty and a papal line of demarcation.

Spain owed its power in the New World to the efforts of explorers conquistadors. Examples: Vasco Nunez de Balboa – Journey across the Isthmus of

Panama to the Pacific Ocean. Ferdinand Magellan – Circumnavigation of the world. Hernan Cortez – Conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico Francisco Pizzaro – Conquest of the Incas in Peru.

Spanish Dominance The conquistadors sent ships loaded with gold

and silver back to Spain from the New World. After seizing the wealth of the Indian empires, the Spanish turned to an encomienda system, with the king of Spain giving grants of land and Indians to individual Spaniards.

When the native population began to dwindle down, the Spanish brought slaves from West Africa to the New World to maintain their labor force.

However, Spanish dominance didn't last forever. In 1588 the English navy defeated the Armada, and consequently, French and English colonization of North America became much easier.

The French and the New World

The French monarchy showed interest in the New World in 1524 when it sponsored a voyage by navigator, Giovanni da Verrazano in the hopes of finding a northwest passage to Asia.

Verrazano explored part of North America’s eastern coast, including New York harbor.

Jacques Cartier also helped support French claims by exploring the St. Lawrence River.

The French and the New World

The French were slow to develop colonies due to European wars and internal religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants.

The first permanent French settlement in America was established by Samuel de Champlain in 1608 at Quebec, which was a fortified village on the St. Lawrence River.

His strong leadership in establishing the colony led to hm being know as the “Father of New France.”

The French and the New World

In 1673, Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette explored the upper Mississippi River.

In 1682, Robert de La Salle explored the Mississippi basin and founded Louisiana, which was named after French King Louis XIV.

The Dutch and the New World

During the 1600’s, the Netherlands also began to sponsor voyages of exploration.

The Dutch employed Englishman Henry Hudson to seek a Northwest passage. In 1609, Hudson sailed up a broad river (the Hudson River) that yielded Dutch claims to New Amsterdam (New York).

The Dutch West Indian Company was given the privilege of taking control of the region.

The English Settlements: The Lost Colony

Although John Cabot had discovered parts of North America in the name of England, the British were also slow to colonize the New World.

It was not until the 1600’s that England began the colonization of the New World.

England's first attempt to settle North America came a year prior to its victory over Spain, in 1587, When Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored a settlement on Roanoke Island (now part of North Carolina).

By 1590 the colony had disappeared, which is why it came to be known as the Lost Colony.

The English Settlements: The Chesapeake Bay Colony

The English did not try again until 1606, when they settled Jamestown. Jamestown was funded by a joint-stock company, a group of investors who bought the right to establish New World plantations from the king.

The English Settlements: The Chesapeake Bay Colony Jamestown was established in 1606 by Royal

Charter, via the Virginia Company. Between 1609 and 1610, the colony was on the brink of extinction (starvation).

Captain John Smith was the leader of the colonist and he ruled under martial law. No work; no food.

If it wasn’t for the Powhatan Confederacy Jamestown would have perished. They showed them what to grow and they introduced them to tobacco.

Relations with the tribe soon deteriorated. In an effort to smooth relations, Pocahontas married John Rolfe. However, by 1644, the Powhatan tribe was destroyed by the English.

The English Settlements: The Chesapeake Bay Colony Jamestown was also known as the Chesapeake

Bay. Eventually it became what is present day Virginia and Maryland.

75% of the single men in the Chesapeake were indentured servants.

The English Settlements: The Massachusetts Bay

Colony

A Protestant movement aroused during the 16th Century in England called Puritanism.

By the 17th Century, the English monarchs persecuted the Puritans and they fled England to search for a new home to practice their religion.

They first tried to settle in Holland, but instead, the eventually left for the New World in 1620.

The English Settlements: The Massachusetts Bay

Colony

In 1620 the Puritans set sail for Virginia, but their ship, the Mayflower, went off course and they landed in modern-day Massachusetts.

Because winter was approaching, they decided to settle where they had landed and they formed a settlement called Plymouth.

The English Settlements: The Massachusetts Bay

Colony While on board they formed an agreement called

the Mayflower compact. The government’s power derives from the consent of

the governed. This was at odds with the divine “Right of

Kings.” The monarch’s power came from God. The Pokanokets Indians assisted the pilgrims,

and Squanto, served as an interpreter. 1629-1642, the Great Puritain Migration

occurred. Lead by Gov. John Winthrop, Mass. Bay

developed along Puritan ideals. The concept of a covenant with God was central

piece of Puritan beliefs.

The English Settlements: The Massachusetts Bay

Colony Puritains had a little tolerance for those who

were different. Ex: Roger Williams – Teacher who taught separation of

Church and State. Anne Hutchinson – She believed in antinomianism.

Both people were banished from the Colony. 1649-1660, Puritan migration slowed down. This

was due to the fact that the Puritans won the English Civil War.

At the end, Oliver Cromwell came into power as Lord Protector of England. In 1658, Cromwell dies and the Puritans lose their leader.

By 1660, the Stuarts ascend back to the throne and with the return of the monarchs, the migration resumed.

The English Settlements: The Massachusetts Bay

Colony Differences between New England & the

Chesapeake: New England had family migration, the

Chesapeake had single male migration. The climate was harsher in the Chesapeake. There was more of a sense of community in

New England. New England was more religiously

conservative. The population of Mass. began to expand into the

Conn. Valley. The area was inhabited by the Pequot Indians.

The Pequot attacked a settlement in Wakefield and killed nine colonist. This led to the Pequot War which also led to the near extinction of the Pequot.

Slavery in the Colonies

Slavery began when colonists from the Caribbean settled in the Carolinas.

As tobacco and rice farming became more widespread, more laborers were needed.

Indenture servitude was not enough to meet this need and Bacon’s Rebellion proved that there was a danger in having an abundance of landless young white males in the colonies.

Slavery in the Colonies Native Americans were also unsuitable as slaves

because they knew the local terrain and could easily escape.

The south saw African slaves as the best suited group for slavery.

They were taken from different regions of Africa and they were packed in tightly on slave ships. The Middle Passage was used to transport the slaves from Africa.

The conditions on these ships were inhumane. Many Africans died from sickness and others died during insurrections. Typically, 1/5 of the slaves would perish but 4/5 would survive to reach the new world.

Slavery in the Colonies Many rationales were given to justify slavery:

Dark skin was a sign of inferiority (less human) Africans did not know the land like the Natives. It was their mission to educate the heathens.

To the period leading up to the Revolutionary War, 500,000 slaves were brought to the colonies. By 1790, 700,000 Africans were slaves in the colonies.

Slavery occurred predominately in the South and it was very limited in the North.

In the South, slaves were used for arduous work, whereas the slaves in the North were used as domestic servants. The treatment of these slaves bordered on the cruel and sadistic.

Only the wealthy colonists owned slaves.

THE END OF LECTURE #1