The First Americans to the 13 Colonies

Chapter 1

Beginnings of America

• Ice Age• Land Bridge• First Americans (Native Americans, Indians)

migrated from Asia 35,000—10,000 years ago• 54 million by the time Europeans arrived

Native American Cultures

• Very diverse• 30 different language groups, hundreds of

different languages (map on pg 9)• Some civilizations very complex (Aztec, Maya)

some not very complex at all (North American Groups)

• What explains this difference?

Major Native American Civilizations: Mesoamerican, Mississippian

• Agriculutre changed everything• What does agriculture allow you to do?• How does it lead to sophisticated civilizations?• What was the major crop that led to advanced

civilizations in the Americas?

Major Native American Civilizations: Mesoamerica

• Corn—first domesticated in Mesoamerica 5,000 BC• Olmec, Toltec, Mayan, and Aztec civilizations• Achievements:• Complex government• Large cities (Tenochtitlan) over 300,000• Complex religion• Massive buildings• Technological achievements: writing, astronomy,

calendars

Major Native American Civilizations: Mississippian

• Corn got to Mississippi valley much later than Mesoamerica (900 AD)

• Mississippi valley civilizations developed much later than Mesoamerica, not as advanced

• Achievements:• Major cities—Cahokia 25,000• Complex Buildings—Giant earth mound temples• Civilization died out before arrival of Europeans—

outgrew food supply

Other North American Indian Groups

• Corn/agriculture spread to the rest of North America very late (not until after 1000 AD)

• Complex civilizations such as the Aztecs and Maya didn’t have time to develop before Europeans arrived around 1500-1600 AD

• Iroquois: very important for history of colonial US—upstate NY, Canada. Not very technologically advanced but very organized major force during colonial times

Geography’s Impact

• In what ways did geography shape the way different Native American civilizations developed?

• Level of sophistication• Types of housing

Columbian Exchange

• When Europeans came to North America (after Columbus) they brought new plants and animals with them

• When they came back to Europe they brought new plants and animals back with them

• This=the Columbian Exchange• Pages 12-13

Columbian ExchangeFound in the “New World” Found in the “Old World”

Corn Wheat, Rice, Rye, Oats

Tomatoes Peas

Tobacco Sugar

Beans Bananas

Chocolate Cows

Potatoes Pigs

Peppers Sheep

Pumpkins/Squash Goats

Llama Horses

Guinea Pigs Chicken

Turkey Diseases: flu, small pox, the plague

European Contact With the New World: Background

• Background Causes: Why start exploring?• Crusades: gave Europeans a taste for products from

Asia (spices, sugar, silks, etc)• Crusades: gave Europeans Asian technologies (better

sails, compass, knowledge of astronomy)• Trade routes to Asia dominated by Italian merchants

and Ottoman Turks (not friendly to Europeans)• Middle Ages were starting to end in Europe-modern

countries (Portugal, Spain, France, England) emerging, had the leadership/money to pursue exploration

European Contact With the New World: Beginnings with Portugal

• Newly established west European countries (Portugal, Spain, etc) wanted in on spice trade

• Mediterranean route already taken• Portugal began to explore Africa (2nd best option)• Gold, salt, eventually found islands (Canaries,

Madiera, Cape Verde, Azores) could grow sugar on these islands, with slave labor from Africa

• Eventually came all the way around Africa—got to India/Asia=success!

Portuguese Route to Asia

European Contact With the New World: Spain and Columbus

• Spain saw Portugal’s success wanted to copy• Portugal dominated the African route• Spain needed a new way to get to Asia• Columbus suggested getting east by sailing

west—sail around the world• 1492 Columbus ran into North America—

didn’t realize he had found a new continent—thought he was in India (Indians, West Indies)

What Columbus Thought He Was Doing

Miscellaneous

• Northwest Passage: route around North America to the North trying to get to Asia

• Amerigo Vespucci: Italian explorer after Columbus, mapmakers in Europe mistakenly credited him with discovering the new continent and named it after him: America

Spanish Empire in the New World: Conquistadores

• 1492-early 1500s Spain colonized the Caribbean (Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, etc) gateway to the rest of America

• Conquest of mainland began in 1519-Cortes• Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs 1519-1521

(Tenochtitlan became Mexico City)• Francisco Pizarro conquered Incas in 1532 (Inca

Empire became Peru)• Other Conquistadores filled in the middle and

regions to the North and South

Spanish Empire in the New World: New Spain

• New Spain=Caribbean (Columbus), Mexico/Central America (Cortes), Peru/South America (Pizarro), New Mexico (Don Onate, Coronado, others), Florida (Ponce de Leon)

• Included St Augustine (1st permanent settlement by Europeans in modern-day US 1565)

Spanish Empire in the New World: What was it like?

• Not good for Indians: By 1700 population had been reduced by 90%

• Indians forced to labor in mines and on farms for the Spanish (encomienda system)

• Not much immigration from Spain• A lot of control from high up (King, governors, aristocrats)

not much freedom for ordinary people• Convert Indians to Catholicism, exploit their labor, slowly

incorporate them into Spanish society• Mestizo culture—mixture of Spanish and Native American

English Colonization of North America: Background

• No English Colonization before the late 1500s• Late 1400s civil war (War of the Roses)• Early 1500s Protestant Reformation (Henry VIII)• Late 1500’s major issues over—ready to go• Wanted to compete with Spain• Enclosure movement in England—surplus

population• Religious issues: more later

English Colonization: Early Attempts

• Newfoundland (Canada) 1583 failed—too cold• Roanoke (North Carolina/Virginia Border)

1585 failed—got cut off by Spanish navy• 1588 Spanish Armada defeated by the English

—no more barriers to colonization

Southern Colonies: Virginia

• 1607 Virginia Company of London establishes Jamestown—1st permanent settlement by the English in future US

• Important precedent: guaranteed rights of Englishman in the colony before they left

• No reason for the colony, didn’t make money, until tobacco 1612—cash crop

• Interacted and fought with the Powhatan Confederacy of Virginia

Southern Colonies: Maryland

• 1634 founded by Catholics seeking refuge from persecution in England

• George Calvert, Lord Baltimore • 1649 Act of Toleration (meant to protect

Catholics from persecution) didn’t protect whom?

• A lot like Virginia—tobacco centered• Virginia+Maryland=Chesapeake Colonies

Southern Colonies: Carolinas

• North Carolina: unofficially settled by poor/outcasts from Virginia in the 1650s

• 1663 area of soon-to-be North and South Carolina granted to 8 nobles by King Charles II (Carolina) at first one big colony

• Southern part settled by wealthier English from the English Caribbean: important African slavery AND slave codes

• North and South very different: North=a lot like Virginia (tobacco), South=richer, grew rice and indigo tied to the Caribbean

• 1712 the colony split in 2—North and South Carolina

Southern Colonies: Georgia

• 1733 founded by James Oglethorpe (General)• 2 purposes: more humane option than prison for

non-violent prisoners, and military buffer against Spanish in Florida

• Religious toleration but no Catholics allowed, why?• Successful as a military buffer, not successful as a

reform colony• A lot like S. Carolina, grew rice indigo for sale as

cash crops, became dependent on African slavery

Southern Colonies: Recap

• 5 total• Virginia-1607• Maryland-1634• N. Carolina-unofficially 1650s, officially as part

of Carolina Colony 1663, own colony 1712• S. Carolina-organized on paper 1663, actually

settled 1670, own colony 1712• Georgia-1733

New England Colonies: Background

• Protestant Reformation in England, new religion=Church of England, Anglican Church

• Protestant but still a lot of Catholic traditions• Some wanted to “Purify” the Anglican Church of

its Catholic traits—Puritans• Some wanted to leave entirely Separatists• Catholics persecuted (Maryland), other

Protestant religions persecuted as well, Puritans/Separatists

New England: Plymouth and Massachusetts

• SeparatistsEnglandHollandEngland America• Headed for Virginia, ended up in New England

1620• Pilgrims—Mayflower Compact• 1629-1630 Puritans decided to leave as well• Massachusetts Bay Colony, Boston 1630• 11 ships over 1,000 colonists • Massachusetts took over Plymouth eventually

New England: Massachusetts Offshoots

• 1635 migrants from Mass want more room, settle at Hartford: Thomas Hooker—Connecticut

• 1638 New Haven—eventually becomes part of Connecticut

• 1636 Roger Williams kicked out of Mass—Rhode Island—religious toleration

• 1640’s New Hampshire and Maine settled by migrants from Mass, king grants both areas to two of his friends, one sells his land to Mass (Maine), one doesn’t (New Hampshire)

New England: Recap

• 4 colonies• Massachusetts Bay (includes Plymouth and Maine)• Connecticut 1635 (includes New Haven)• Rhode Island 1636• New Hampshire 1640’s• All New England colonies dominated by Puritanism

(except Rhode Island)• Note: Maine and Vermont not part of the 13

colonies

Middle Colonies: Beginnings

• Not colonized by the English at first: Dutch, Swedes

• Dutch: New Netherland (Modern-day NY, NJ)• New Amsterdam (NYC), Fort Orange (Albany)• Swedes: New Sweden (Delaware)-taken over

by Dutch• 1664 New Netherland conquered by the

English, given to the Duke of York

Middle Colonies: English Colonization

• New York 1664• New Jersey 1664 given by the Duke of York to two of

his noble friends, eventually sold to a group of Quakers—used as a haven for Quakers

• Pennsylvania 1681 given to William Penn by the King: based on Quaker ideals—religious toleration, non-violence toward Indians, equality among social classes, slavery discouraged (not banned though)

• Delaware 1681 part of the land given to William Penn: separate colony but same governor as PA

Middle Colonies: Recap

• 4 middle colonies• New York 1664• New Jersey 1664• Pennsylvania 1681• Delaware 1681• All colonies except NY influenced by the Quakers, all

colonies except NY had official religious toleration (New York was pretty tolerant of other religions although Anglicanism was the official religion technically)

The South and Slavery

• From Servitude to Slavery in the South– Warm climate=good for crops, not good for

people– Low population=not a lot of workers– Solution: early to mid 1600s=indentured servants– Headright system-rich got richer, not a lot of land

for the poor– Freed servants (freedmen) became disgruntled,

result was Bacon’s Rebellion 1676

The South and Slavery (cont.)

• Bacon’s Rebellion 1676– Defeated by the colonial govt of Virginia– Effects: wealthy planters turned away from servants to

slaves, why?• How to treat slaves? As servants??• 1670 South Carolina colonized, English brought

African slaves with them, plus their slave codes—African slaves would be treated as property (chattel) not as people

• By 1700 slaves had surpassed servants in the South

Slave Society in the South

• Slaves taken from all over west coast of Africa• Not monolithic• New African American culture was the fusion of many

different African cultures plus European influences• North America was not the focus of the slave trade

(Caribbean, S. America) about 5%• Americans=poor couldn’t afford many slaves, had to

protect their “investment”• Naturally reproducing slave population in America

Comparing/Contrasting the 3 Colonial Regions: the South

• Economy: all about cash crops– Tobacco (MD, VA, NC)– Rice and Indigo (GA, SC)– Dependent upon slavery (after 1676)– Large farms (plantations)

• Society– Not a lot of big cities (each plantation was like a mini city)– People isolated from one another—not a big sense of community– Because of plantations and slavery—big gap between rich and

poor (elitist, not egalitarian)– Large numbers of African Americans but otherwise not very

ethnically diverse

The South (cont.)

• Religion– Not very important in the South (more concerned

with material things) – Mostly Anglican– Religious toleration of some kind in all colonies

• Government– Representative govts (House of Burgesses 1619)– Dominated by the wealthy (elitists)

New England• Economy

– Too cold/too rocky for farming cash crops– Small farms due to climate also due to religious beliefs– Turned to the sea: fishing, trading, ship building, ship building

industries (logging, etc)• Society

– Dominated by Puritan beliefs, strong sense of community, dominated by small towns and cities

– Big families (lots of kids+small farms=no need for more labor=no servants/slaves)

– Only way to be fully accepted in New England society was to be a member of the Puritan Church

– Lots of small equally sized farms=very egalitarian society– Almost entirely English=not diverse

New England

• Religion– Left England for religious freedom—freedom for

themselves not for anybody else– Puritanism, no other religions tolerated*

• Government– Very democratic (town hall meetings) – Needed land to vote but almost everyone had land– Problem: needed to be a part of the Puritan church

to vote and hold office* (undemocratic)

Middle Colonies

• Economy– Bread colonies– Grew wheat raised cattle to sell to New England

and the Caribbean– Big families, medium to small sized farms=not a

real big need for servants or slaves– More farming centered than NE, but more

industry than the South– Big cities (NYC, Philadelphia)

Middle Colonies

• Society– Egalitarian (like New England) – Diverse ethnically

• Religion– Religious toleration/separation of Church and State in all

colonies except NY– Very diverse in terms of religion (most diverse region)

• Government– No religious qualifications– Land qualifications but land = easy to get

Colonial Government

• 3 types of colonies: Corporate, Royal, Proprietary– corporate=company/group of people (Virginia /

Massachusetts for a while)– Royal=owned by the king (New York)– Proprietary=belonged to one individual (PA)

• All colonies had representative government (House of Burgesses 1619)– Assembly elected by the people—controlled taxes made

most laws– Governor/Upper house—ran day to day affairs of colony

represented the King (assembly controlled their salary)

Colonies Mature: Growth of Trade/Backcoutnry

• Backcountry=area away from the coast (the frontier)– Poorer people, less settled, more of a mix of Indian and

European– Felt slighted by the elites close to the coast (Bacon’s

Rebellion)• Trade: centered in New England– Trade between colonies and England (other European

countries)– Trade between colonies and Africa/Caribbean (triangle

trade)

Efforts to Control Trade: Mercantilism