Period 2 (1607-1754)

Colonial America:

Three big colonial establishments occurred in North America, rather consecutively:

• 1607 - Jamestown (New England)
• 1608 - Quebec (New France)
• 1609 - New Netherland (defeated by British in 1664)

An overview of early English establishment:

• Factors that drove Englishmen to America:
• Overcrowding in England
• Religious persecution
• During the English Reformation of the sixteenth century, the Church of England was establishes as the officially supported church of the kingdom
• Puritans - Adhered to Protestant doctrines of John Calvin, disliked Catholic similarity in Church of England
• Separists - Calvinists as well, but went beyond Puritan practice and totally rejected Church of England
• Jamestown, Virginia:
• London Company given charter by King James I
• 1607 - founded Jamestown
• Tobacco guaranteed the future prosperity of the colony
• Indentured servants sent to Virginia
• Massachusetts: 
• 1620 - Separists (Pilgrims) founded Plymouth Rock
• Mayflower Compact - established representative government, early example of social contract
• In 1691, this colony was absorbed into the larger Massachusetts Bay Colony
• 1629 - Puritans founded Massachusetts Bay Colony
• John Winthrop elected governor
• Democratically representative theocracy
• Dissenters from Massachusetts:
• Anne Hutchinson challenged teaching authority of colony's ministers, expelled, settled in what would become Rhode Island
• Roger Williams also settled in Rhode Island
• Thomas Hooker and John Davenport founded settlements that would become Connecticut
• New Southern Colonies:
• Maryland
• 1632 - King Charles I gave charter to Calvert family
• Maryland = refuge for Catholics, who were persecuted from England
• Carolina
• Proprietary colony given by King Charles II to group of aristocrats in 1660s
• Would later split into North and South Carolina
• Developed plantation-dominated economies dependent upon slave labor
• American Self-Government:
• No consistent method of governance of colonies:
• While most colonies were royal colonies with governors appointed by the monarch, some, such as Connecticut and Rhode Island, elected their own governors; in proprietorships, such as the Carolinas, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, governors were appointed by the proprietors who held title to the colony
• Self-government - colonial assemblies elected by the people

The colonies under England:

• Mercantilism - colonies expected to generate wealth for the mother country
• American colonies supported England with valuable commodities like tobacco, rice, fish, and lumber
• Regulating/Protecting American trade:
• Under King Charles II, British Parliament passed the Navigation Acts in 1660 and 1663, with later revisions in the 1670s
• These acts were designed to protect English trade while hurting competitors (Dutch), but instead made living in the colonies expensive
• 1686 - King James II merged the New England colonies, New York, and New Jersey into the Dominion of New England, under new governor, Sir Edmund Andros
• Bacon's Rebellion -1676 - Uprising of Virginia backcountry farmers and indentured servants led by planter Nathaniel Bacon; initially a response to Governor William Berkeley's refusal to protect backcountry settlers from Indian attacks, the rebellion eventually grew into a broader conflict between impoverished settlers and the planter elite
• Slavery:
• End of Dutch monopoly on slave trade in 1682→Number of indentured servants ↓ number of African slaves ↑
• Labor-intensive cash crops like sugar made African slaves became a valuable commodity
• Triangular trade system: 

• The transportation of slaves from Africa to the Americas was known as the Middle Passage - conditions were horrifying (mortality = 20%)
• Stono Rebellion - South Carolina 1739, group of 100 slaves rose up and began killing isolated planters. → Regulations on treatment of slaves tightened. Most slaves protested their treatment through work slow-downs, breaking tools, and other acts of minor sabotage
• Glorious Revolution - 1688 - Catholic King James II overthrown, new English constitutional monarchs = William of Orange and Mary
• Effect on colonies:
• Governor Andros thrown out
• Protestant revels overthrew Catholic leaders of Maryland
• Dominion of New England is abolished
• Salem Witch Trials - 1692 - Social tensions = accusers were poor, the accused were members of the better-off "commercial" class
• The First Great Awakening - 1720s-1740s - Called for a personal and more emotional approach to divine worship→greater sense of personal equality, people became accustomed to thinking for themselves rather than deferring to authority
• Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
• George Whitefield = Anglican preacher

Imperial Wars: 

• English and French fought a long series of wars. Early on, the American colonies of England and France became involved in these wars
• King William's War (1689-1697)
• War of Spanish Succession/Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) 
• Spain allied with France, English force attacked Florida from South Carolina
• Treaty of Utrecht - French surrender Newfoundland, Acadia and other territories to English 

Salutary Neglect:

• During reigns of King George I (1714-1727) and George II (1727-1760), the British government was preoccupied with international relations and the balance of power in Europe. 
• Chief goal for British government was furthering Britain's economic interests - British officials attempted to prevent Americans from manufacturing their own textiles (1699), hats (1732), and iron goods (1750)
• Merchants evaded the Navigation Acts
• Parliament passed the Molasses Act of 1733 raised duties on foreign sugar 

British and French Tensions Continue:

• 1750 - lands west of Appalachian Mountains were inhabited by Native Americans
• Both British and French want to claim this territory
• Ambitious speculators from Virginia began to purchase land in the Ohio Valley→The French, resolved to protect their territory between Canada and Louisiana, responded by constructing Fort Duquesne (what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
• →1754 - Virginia dispatches young militia officer named George Washington. Washington was captured and defeated. The next year, General Edward Braddock was sent to destroy Fort Duquesne 
• The frontier fighting of 1754 and 1755 began the French and Indian War, merging in 1756 with the much larger European Seven Years' War
• 1754 - delegations from 7 colonies→Albany Congress
• Benjamin Franklin and others hoped the colonies and British government could work out common measures for dealing with the Native Americans and threat posed by French, but plan was rejected