History Test 1 Chapter 4
Africa and the slave trade
A few African societies, like benin for a time opted out of the Atlantic slave trade, hoping to avoid the disruption it invitabaly caused. But most african rulers took Part and they proved quite adept at playing the Europeans off against one another, collecting taxes from foreign merchants, and keeping the capture and sale of slaves under their own control. Few Europeans ventured inland from the coast. Traders remained in their factories and purchased slaves brought to them by African rulers and dealers. From a minor institution, Slavery grew to become more and more central to west African society, source of wealth for African merchants and of power for nearly merging African kingdoms. But the loss every year of tens of thousands of men and women in the prime of their lives to the slave trade weekend and distorted west Africa society and economy
New Indian Identities
Among other consequences the seven years war helped lay the foundation for the emergence of a distinct Native American identity. American Indians had traditionally identified most strongly along lines of kinship, shared language, and common geographical residence, including towns and confederacies. Like early colonist, they did not have well formed ideas about nation and race. The violence directed against Indians by soldiers and settlers during the war led many Indian leaders to envision both stronger allegiance two tribal nation hood and pan Indian identity more broadly. A religious movement that emerged during the seven years war saw different prophets urge Indians toward a sense of themselves based on shared conflict with Anglo America. Some even developed racial theories, arguing that Indians, whites, and Africans can situated the primary division of peoples in North America. Not all Indians, however, embrace this message. Many rejected the idea of a single Native American identity. Serious debates took place among Indians about the best way to secure their individual and collective independence.
The rice kingdom
As in early Virginia. Frontier conditions allowed leeway to South Carolina small population of African born slaves, Who formed, attended livestock, and were intentionally allowed to serve in the militia to fight the Spanish and Indians. And as in Virginia, the introduction of a marketable stable crop, in this case a race, lead directly to economic development. The large scale importation of slaves and a growing divide between white and black. In the 1740s another stable indigo which is a crop used in producing blue dye, was developed. Like rice and indigo required large scale cultivation and was grown by slaves. Since rice production requires considerable capital investment to drain swamps and create irrigation systems, it is economically advantageous for rice plantations to be as large as possible. Thus, South Carolina planters owned far more land and slaves than their counterparts in Virginia. Moreover, since mosquitoes bearing malaria which is a disease to which Africans have developed partial immunity, Florist in the watery rice fields, planters tended to leave plantations under the control of overseers and the slaves themselves. In the Chesapeake field slaves worked in groups under constant supervision . Under the task system that developed in the 18th century South Carolina, individual slaves were assigned daily jobs, the completion of which allowed them time for leisure or to cultivate crops of their own. In 1762 one rise district had a population of only 76 white males among 1000 slaves. By 1770 the number of south Carolina slaves had reached 75,000 well over half the colonies population.
A world transformed
Britain's victory fundamentally reshape the world balance of power. And the peace of Paris in 1763 France ceded Canada to Britain oh, receiving back in return the sugar island of guadeloupe and martinique (far more lucrative colonies from the point of you of French authorities. Spain gave Florida to Britain and exchange for The return of the Philippines and Cuba seized by the British during the war. Spain also acquired from France the vast Louisiana Colony. Frances 200 year old North American empire had come to an end. 18 century warfare, conducted online and see across the globe was a Normas Lee expensive. The seven years war put strains on all participants. The wars cost produced Financial crisis in France that almost 3 decades later would help to spark the French revolution. The British will try to recoup part of the cost of war by increasing taxes on their American colonies.
African American cultures
By the 18 century the three slave systems in British North America had produced distinct African-American cultures. In the Chesapeake, because of a more healthful climate, the slave population began to reproduce itself by 1740. Because of the small size of most plantations and the large number of white yeoman farmers, Slaves were continuously exposed to white culture. They soon learn English, and many were swept up in the religious revival is known as the great awakening, Discussed later in this chapter. In South Carolina and Georgia, two very different black societies emerged. On the rise plantations, slaves lived in extremely harsh conditions and had a low birth rate throughout the 18 century, making rice production dependent on continued slave imports from Africa. The slaves seldom came into contact with whites. They constructed African style houses, chose African names for their children, and spoke Gullah, a language that makes various African roots and was unintelligible to most whites. In Charleston and Savannah however, the experience of slaves who labor and are servants or skilled workers was quite different. This assimilated more quickly into your American culture and sexual relations between white owners and slave women produce the beginning of the class of free mulattos. In the northern colonies were slaves represented a smaller part of the population, A distinctive African-American culture develop more slowly. Living in close proximity to whites, slaves enjoyed more mobility and access to the main stream of life than their counterparts farther south. But they had fewer opportunities to create stable family life or a cohesive community.
Chesapeake Slavery
By the mid-18 century three distinct slave systems were entrenched in Britain's mainland colonies, tobacco base plantation Slavery in chesapeake, rice based plantation slavery in South Carolina and Georgia, and non-plantation slavery in New England and the middle colonies. The largest and the oldest of these was the plantation system at the Chesapeake, we're more than 270,000 slaves resided in 1770 nearly half of the region population. Virginia and Maryland we're as closely tied to Britain as any other colonies and their economies were models of mercantilist policy. Has Virginia expanded westward so did slavery. By the eve of the American revolution the center of gravity of slavery in the colony had shifted from the Tidewater the region along the coast, to the Piedmont further inland. Most Chesapeake slaves male and female, worked in the tobacco fields, but thousands labored as Teamsters, As boatman and in skilled crafts. Numerous slave women became cooks, seamstresses, diary maids, and personal servants. Slavery was common on small farms as well as plantations nearly half of Virginia's white families found at least one slave in 1770.
The awakening impact
By time they subsided in the 1760s the revivals had change the religious configuration of the colonies and enlarge the boundaries of liberty Whitfield inspired the emergence of numerous dissenting churches . Congression split into factions held by old lights (traditionalist) and new lights(revivalists), A new churches proliferated like Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and others. Many of these new churches began to criticize the colonial practice of levying taxes to support an established church, they defended religious freedom as one of the natural rights government must not restrict. The great awakening threw into question many forms of authority and inspired criticism of aspects of colonial Society. Revivalist preachers frequently criticize commercial society, insisting that believers should make salvation, not profit, the one business of their lives. Preaching to the small farmers of the Southern back country, Baptist and Methodist revivalists criticize the worldliness of wealthy planters and attacked as sinful activity such as gambling, horseracing, and lavish entertainment on the Sabbath. If you preachers explicitly condemn slavery. Especially in the Chesapeake the revivals brought numerous slaves into the Christian Fold , An important step in their acculturation as African-Americans. The revivals encouraged many colonist to trust their own views rather than those of establish leads. In listening to the sermons of self educated preachers, forming Bible study groups, and engaging in intense religious discussions, ordinary colonists asserted the right to independent judgment. Although the revivalists aim was spiritual salvation, the independent frame of mind they encouraged would have significant political consequences
The British constitution
Central to the Sons of British identity was the concept of liberty. 18 century Britain's believed power and liberty to be natural antagonists. To mediate between them, advocates of British freedom celebrated the rule of law, the right to live under legislation to which ones representatives had consented, restraints on the obituary exercise of political authority, and rights such as trial by jury enshrined in the common law. Until the 1770s most colonist believe themselves to be part of the freest political system mankind had ever known. These ideas sync deep roots not only within the political nation those who voted, held office, and engage in structural political debate but also far more broadly and British and colonial society. Ordinary persons challenged efforts by merchants to raise the cost of bread above the traditional dress price and the royal navy's practice of impressment kidnapping poor men on the street for maritime service.
The public sphere
Colonial politics for most of the 18th century was considerably less tempestuous then in the 17th, with its bitter struggles for power and frequent armed uprisings. Political stability in Britain coupled with the maturation of local elites in America made for more tranquil government.
Political cultures
Despite the broad electorate among men the people existed only on election day. Between elections, members of colonial assemblies remained out of touch with their constituents. Strongly competitive elections were the norm only in the middle colonies. Considerable power in colonial politics rested with those who held appointive, not elective, office. Governors and councils were appointed by the Crown in the nine royal colonies and by the proprietors of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Moreover, laws passed by colonial assemblies could be vetoed by governors or in London. In New England most towns officers were elected, but local officials in other colonies were appointed by the governor or by powerful officials in London. Property qualification for office holding were far higher than for voting. In South Carolina for example nearly every free adult white male could meet the voting qualifications of 50 acres of land or payment of 20 shillings in tax , But to sit in the assembly one had to earn 500 acres of land and 10 slaves or a town property worth 1000. As a result throughout the 18 century nearly all of South Carolina's legislators were planters or wealthy merchants. In some colonies an Ingrain tradition of deference which is the assumption among ordinary people that wealth, education , And social prominence carried a right to public office, for example combine political democracy for white men with the traditions that voters should choose among candidates from the gentry. Aspirants for public office actively sought to ingratiate themselves with ordinary voters, distributing food and liquor freely at the courthouse where balloting took place. In Thomas Jefferson's first campaign for the House of burgesses in 1768, his expenses included hiring two men for bringing up rum to the polling place. Even in New England with his large number of elective positions, town leaders were generally the largest property holders.
An empire of freedom British patriotism
Despite the centrality of slavery to its empire, 18 century great Britain prided itself on being the worlds most advanced and freest nation. It was not only the era's greatest naval and commercial power but also the home of a complex governmental system, with a powerful parliament representing the interests of a self-confident landed aristocracy and merchant class. For much of the 18 century, Britain found itself at war with France, which had replace Spain as its major continental rival. This situation led to a large military, high taxes, and the creation of bank of England to help finance the conflict. For both Britain's and colonists war help to sharpen a sense of national identity against foreign foes. British patriotic sentiment became more assertive as the 18 century progressed. Symbols of British identity proliferated, the songs God save the king and rule Britannia, and even the modern rules of cricket, the national sport. Especially in contrast to France, Britain sought self as a realm of widespread prosperity, individual liberty, the rule of law, and the protestant faith. Wealth, religion and freedom went together.
The American enlightenment
During the 18 century many educated Americans began to be influenced by the outlook of the European enlightenment. This philosophical movement, which originated among French thinkers and soon Spread to Britain, sought to apply the scientific method of careful investigation based on research and experiment to political and social life. Enlightenment ideas crisscross Atlantic along with goods and people. Enlightenment thinkers insisted that every human institution, authority, and tradition be judged before the bar of reason. The self educated Benjamin Franklin's wide range of activities establishing a newspaper, debating club, and library, publishing the wide circulated poor Richards almanack , And conducting experiments to demonstrate that lightning is a form of electricity exemplified the enlightenment spirit and made him probably the best known American in the 18 century world. Enlightenment thinkers hope that reason, not religious enthusiasm, could govern human life. During the 18th century, many prominent Americans moved toward the position called Arminianism, Which taught that reason alone was capable of establishing essentials of religion. Others adopted DEISM I believe that God essentially with Drew after creating the world, leaving it to function according to scientific laws without divine intervention. Believe in miracles, in the revealed truth of the Bible, and in the innate sinfulness of mankind were viewed by Arminians, Diests and others as outdated superstitions that should be abandoned in modern age. In the 17th century, the English scientist Isaac newton how to reveal the natural laws that govern the physical universe. Here deists believed was the purest evidence of God's handiwork. Deists concluded that the best form of religion devotion was to study the workings of nature, rather than to worship in organized churches or appeal to divine grace for salvation. By the lake colonial era, small but influential group of leading Americans, including Benjamin Franklin And Thomas Jefferson, could be classified as deists.
Battle for the continent
For much of the 18th century, the western frontier of British North America was the flashpoint of imperial rivalries. Ohio valley became caught up in a complex struggle for power involving the French, British, rival Indian committees, and settlers and land companies pursuing their own interests. On this middle ground, a borderland between the French and British Empire is an Indian sovereignty, Villages spring up we are members of numerous tribes lived side-by-side, along with European traders and the occasional missionary. By the mid-18 century, Indians had learned that direct military confrontation with Europeans meant suicide, and that an alliance with a single European power exposed them to danger from others. The Indians of the Ohio Valley sought with some success to play the British and French empires off against one another into control the lucrative commerce with whites. The Iroquois where masters of balance of power diplomacy. In 1750 few white settlers inhabited the Ohio Valley. The area known more by rumor than by observation, And contemporary Mabz bore little resemblance to the actual geography. Nonetheless many prominent colonists dreamed of establishing a new empire and what was then the west. Many others saw the west as a place where they could easily acquire land, and the freedom that went with it. In 1749 the government originally awarded an immense land grant, half 1,000,000 acres, to the Ohio company. The companies members included the colonials of Royal governer, Robert Denwitty, and the cream of Virginia society, lees, Carter's, and the young George Washington. The land grants for the French to bolster their presents in the region. It was the Ohio companies demand for French recognition of its land claims and inaugurated the seven years war known in the colonies as the French and Indian war, the first of the centuries imperial wars to begin in the colonies and the first to result in a decisive victory for one combatant. It permanently altered the global balance of power.
The middle passage
For slaves the voyage across the Atlantic known as the middle passage because it was a second, or middle, leg in the triangular trading routes linking Europe, Africa and America was a harrowing experience. Men, women and children were crammed board vessels as tightly as possible to maximize profits. Equiano who later described the shrieks of the women and the grounds of the dying, survived the middle passage, but many Africans did not. Diseases such as measles and smallpox spread rapidly, and about one slave in five perished from reaching the New World. Ship captains were known to throw the sick overboard in order to prevent the spread of epidemics. Only a small portion less than 5% of slaves carried to The New World were destined for mainland North America. The vast majority landed in Brazil or the west Indies where The high death rate on the sugar plantations lead to a constit damand from you slave imports. Overall the area that was to become the United States imported between 400,000 and 600,000 slaves. By 1770 due to the natural reproduction of the slave population, around 1/5 of the estimated 2.3 million persons not including Indians living in the English colonies of North America were Africans and their descendants.
Same thing as above continued
Ideas, people, and goods fled back-and-forth across the ocean even as a colonies population became more diverse, they were increasingly integrated into the British Empire. Their laws and political institutions were extensions of those of British values, and their economies were geared to serving the empires needs. Equiano's life also underscores the great irony in the history of the 18 century the simultaneous expansion of freedom and slavery. This was the error when the idea of freeborn Englishman became powerfully entrenched in the outlook of both colonists and britons. More than any other principle liberty was seen as what made the British Empire distinct. Yeah the 18th century was also the height of the Atlantic slave trade, or commerce increasingly dominated by British merchants and ships. Slavery existed in every colony of British North America. And unlike Equiano very few slaves were fortunate enough to gain their freedom
The right to vote
In many respects, politics in 18 century America had a more democratic quality than in Great Britain. Suffrage requirements varied from Colony to Colony. But as in Britain the linchpin of voting lies was the property qualification. It's purpose was to ensure that man who possess an economic steak in society and the independence of judgment that supposedly went with it determine the policies of government. Slaves, servants, tenants, adult sons living in the houses of their parents, the poor, and women all locked a wheel of their own and we're therefore in eligible to vote. The wide distribution of property in the colonies however meant that a far higher percentage of the population enjoyed voting rights then in the Old world. It is estimated that between 50 and 80% of adult white men could vote in the 18 century colonial America as opposed to fear than 5% in Britain. Colonial politics however was hardly democratic in modern sense. Voting was almost everywhere considered a male prerogative. In some colonies, Jews, Catholics, and protestants dissenters like Baptists and Quakers could not vote. Property and free blacks, who enjoyed the franchise in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia in the early days of settlement, lost that right during the 18 century. In the northern colonies, although the law did not bar blocks from voting, local customs often did, Native Americans were generally prohibited from voting.
The rise of the assemblies
In the 17th century the governor was the focal point of political authority, and colonial assemblies were weak bodies that met infrequently. But preoccupied with events in Europe and imperial rivalries, successive British government during the first half of the 18 century adopted a policy of solutary neglect, Leaving the colonies largely to govern themselves. As economic development enhance the power of American elites, the assemblies they dominated became more and more assertive. Their leaders insisted that assemblies possessed the same rights and powers in local affairs as a house of commons enjoyed in Britain. The most successful governors were those who accommodated the rising power of the assemblies and use their appointive powers and control of land grants to win allies among assembly members. Many of the conflicts between governors and elected assembly stemmed from the colonies economic growth. To deal with the scarcity of gold and silver coins, the only legal form of currency, some colonies printed paper money, although this was strongly oppose by the governors, authorities in London, and British merchants who did not wish to be paid and what they considered worthless paper. Numerous battles also took place overland policy sometimes involving divergent attitudes toward the remaining Indian population and the level of rents charge to farmers on lands oh and by the crown or proprietors. And their negotiations and conflicts with Royal governors, leaders of the assemblies do the writings of the English country party, who's emphasis on the constant tension between liberty and political power and the dangers of executive influence over the legislature made sense of their own experience. Of the European settlement in North America only the British colonies possess any considerable degree of popular participation in government.
Atlantic trade
In the 18th century The Caribbean remained the commercial focus of the British Empire and the major producer of revenue of the crown. A series of triangular trading routes crisscross the Atlantic carrying British manufactured goods to Africa and the colonies, colonial products to Europe, and slaves from Africa to the New World. Most Colonial vessels however went back and forth between cities like New York, Charleston, and Savannah, and two ports in the Caribbean. Merchants in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island participated actively in the slave trade, shipping slaves from Africa to the Caribbean or southern colonies. The slave economies of the west Indies were the largest market for fish, green, livestock, and lumber exported from New England and the middle colonies. In Britain itself the profits from slavery and the slave trade stimulated the rise of ports such as Liverpool and Bristol and the growth of banking, ship building and insurance. They also help to finance the early industrial revolution. With slavery so central to Atlantic commerce , It should not be surprising that for large numbers of free colonists and Europeans freedom met in part the power and right to enslave others. And as slavery became more and more entrenched so too, as a quaker abolitionist John woolman commented in 1762 did the idea of slavery being connected with the black color, and liberty with white.
The proclamation line
In the spring and summer of 1763, Ottawas, Hurons, and and other Indians besieged Detroit, Then a major British military outpost, sees nine other forts, and killed hundreds of white settlers who had intruded into Indian lands. British forces soon launched a counterattack and over the next few years the tribes one by one made peace. But the uprising inspired the government in London to issue the proclamation of 1763. Prohibiting further colonial settlement west of the Appalachian mountains. These lands were reserved exclusively for Indians. Moreover, the proclamation banned the sale of Native American lands to private individuals. The British aim was less to protect the Indians then to stabilize the situation on the colonial frontier and to avoid being dragged into an endless series of border conflicts. Put the proclamation in grades both settlers and speculators hoping to take advantage of the exploration of the French to consolidate their claims to Western lands. They ignored the new policy. George Washington himself ordered his agents to buy up as much Indian land as possible, while keeping the transaction a profound secret because of their illegality. Failing to offer a viable solution to the question of westward expansion, the proclamation of 1763 ended up further Exacerbating settler Indian relations.
The French empire
Indians routine for more power in Spanish North America than in areas of English settlement the same was true when it came to a greater rival to British power in North America as well as in North America as well as In Europe and the Caribbean France. During the 18 century the population and economy of Canada expanded. At the same time French traders pushed into the Mississippi river valley south word from the great lakes and north word from Mobile, founded in 1702 and New Orleans, established in 1718. In the St. Lawrence River of French Canada, prosperous farming communities developed. By 1750 the area had a population of 55,000 colonists. Another 10,000 about half Europeans and half African-American slaves resided in Louisiana. Nonetheless the population of French North America continue to be dwarfed by the British colonies. Prejudice against immigration to North America remained widespread in France because many there viewed the French colony as a place of cruel exile for criminals and social outcasts. Nonetheless my claim in control of a large arc of territory and by establishing close trading in military relations with many Indian tribes, the French empire posed a real challenge to the British. French forts and trading Post ringed the British colonies. French were a presence on the New England and New York frontiers and in western Pennsylvania.
Republican Liberty
Liberty was central to two sets of political ideas that flourished in the Anglo American world. One is turned by scholars republicanism, which celebrated active participation in public life by economically independent citizens as the essence of liberty. Republicans assume the only property owning citizens possessed virtue defined in the 18 century not simply as a personal moral quality but as the willingness to sub ordinate self interest to the pursue of the public good. In the 18 century Britain, this body of thought about freedom was most closely associated with A group of critics known as the country party because much of their support arose from the landed gentry. In Britain, country party writings had little impact, but they were eagerly devoured in the American colonies, whose elites were attracted to the emphasis on the political role of the independent landowner and their warnings against the tendency of political power to infringe on Liberty.
The great awakening
Like freedom of the press religion was another realm where the actual experience of liberty outstripped it's legal recognition. Religion remain central to the 18 century American life. Sermons, theological treatises, And copies of the Bible were by far the largest category of material produced by colonial printers.
Religious revivals
Many ministers were concerned that westward expansion, commercial development, the growth of a nightmare rationalism, and lack of individual engagement in church services were undermining religious devotion. These fears helped to inspire the revivals that swept through the colonies beginning in the 1730s. Known as the great awakening, the revivals were less a coordinated movement then a series of local events united by a commitment to a religion of the heart, i'm more emotional and personal Christianity than that offered by existing churches. The 18 century witnessed a resurgence of religious fundamentalism in many parts of the world , In part our response to rationalism of the enlightenment and a desire for a greater religious purity. In the Middle East and central Asia where Islam was widespread, followers of a form of the religion known as Wahabism called for a return to the practices of the religions early days. Methodism and other forms of enthusiasm stick religion were flourishing in Europe. Like other intellectual parents of the time the great awakening was a trans Atlantic movement. During the 1720s and 1730s the New Jersey Dutch reformed clergyman Theodore frelimghuysen, His presbyterian neighbors William and Gilbert tenant, and the Massachusetts congressional-list minister Jonathan Edwards pioneered in intensely emotional style of preaching. Edwards famous sermon sinners in the hands of an angry God portrayed sinful man as a loathsome insect suspended over a bottomless pit of eternal fire by a slender thread that might break at any moment. Only a new birth immediately acknowledging once sin and pledging for divine grace could save men and women from eternal damnation.
The preaching whitefield
More than any other individual, the English minister George Whitefield, who declared the whole world has perish sparked a great weakening. For two years after his arrival in America in 1739, Whitfield Bruh is highly emotional brand of preaching to colonies from Georgia to New England. God, Whitfield proclaimed what is merciful . Rather than being pre-destined for damnation, men and women could save themselves by repenting for their sins. Whitfield appealed to the passions of his listeners, powerfully sketching the boundless joy of salvation and the horrors of damnation. Tens of thousands of colonists Flock to Whitfield sermons, which were widely reported in the American press, making him a celebrity and helping to establish the revivals as the first major intercolonial event in North American history. And Whitfield's footsteps, host of traveling preachers or evangelists which were meaning, literally, there is a good news, held revivalist meetings often to the alarm of established ministers
The colonial press
Neither the Spanish possession of Florida and New Mexico nor new friends possess the printing press, all the missionaries had established one in Mexico City in the 1530s. In British North America, however the press expanded rapidly during the 18 century. So did the number of political broad sides and pamphlets published, especially at election time. By the eve of the American revolution, some 3/4 of the free adult meal population in the colonies and more than 1/3 of the women could read And write, And a majority of American families owned Atleast one book. Circulating libraries appeared in many colonies cities and towns, making possible a wider dissemination of knowledge at a time when books were still expensive. The first, the library company of Philadelphia, was established by Benjamin Franklin in 1731. The first continuously published colonial newspaper, the Boston newsletter appeared in 1704. There were 25 colonial newspapers by 1765 mostly weeklies with small circulation an average of 600 sales per issue. Probably the best edited was a Pennsylvania Gazette, established in 1728 in Philadelphia and purchase the following year by Benjamin Franklin. At its peak the girls are attracted 2000 subscribers. By the 1730s political commentary was widespread in the American press..
African Religion in colonial america
No experience was more wrenching for African slaves in the colonies then the transition from traditional religions to Christianity. Although African religions varied as much as those on other continents, they shared some elements, especially belief in the presence of spiritual forces in nature and close relationship between the sacred and secular worlds. In the religion of West Africa, the region from which most slaves brought to British North America originated, there was no hard and fast distinction between the secular and spiritual worlds. Nature was fused with spirits and the dead could influence the living. Although some slaves came to the colonies familiar with Christianity or Islam, The majority of North American slaves participated traditional African religions which many Europeans deemed superstition or even witchcraft well into the 18 century. When they did adopt Christian practices, many slaves merge them with traditional beliefs, adding the Christian God to their own pantheon of lesser spirits, whom they continued to worship.
Slavery and empire
Of the Africans transported to the New World between 1492 and 1820 more than half arrived between 1700 and 1800. The Atlantic slave trade would later be condemned by statesman and general opinion as a crime against humanity. But in the 18th century it was a regularized business in which European merchent, african traders, and American planters engage in complex bargaining's are over human lives, all with the exception of securing a profit. The slave trade was a vital part of world commerce. In the British Empire of the 18 century free labors working for wages were a typically and slavery was the norm. The first mass consumer goods and international trade were produced by slaves sugar, rice, coffee and tobacco. The rising demand for these products fueled the rapid growth of the Atlantic slave trade.
Sometime in the mid 1750s,
Olaudah equiano, The 11-year-old son of a west African village chief, Was kidnapped by slave traders. Himself on a ship headed for Barbadoes. Equiano was sold to a plantation owner in Virginia and then purchased by a British sea captain, rename him Gustavus vassa. While still a slave he rolled in a school in England where he learn to read and write and then sit in the Royal Navy. In 1763 however Equiano was sold once again and returned to the Caribbean. Three years later he purchased his freedom. He went on to experience shipwrecks, a colonizing venture in Central America, and even an expedition to the Arctic Circle. Equiano eventually settled in London, and in 1789 he published the interesting narrative of the life of olaudah equiano , Or Gustavus Vassa , The African, what she described as a history of neither a saint, a hero nor a tyrant, but of a victim of slavery who threw luck or fate ended up more fortunate than most of his people. He condemned the idea are the Africans were inferior to Europeans and therefore deserved to be slaves. This book became the arrows most widely read account by a slave of his own experiences. Equiano died in 1797. Recent scholars have suggested that Equiano may have been born in the New World rather than Africa. In their case, while his life was no doubt unusual, it illuminates broad patterns of 18th century of sustain development for British North America. Compared with England and Scotland united to create great Britain by an act of union of 1707 The colonies were growing much more rapidly.
The seven years war
Only in the 18 century, after numerous wars against its great rival Spain and France, did Britain emerge as the worlds leading empire and its center of trade and banking. By the 1750s British possession and trade reached around the globe. The existence of global empire is implied that warfare among them would also be global. What became a worldwide struggle for imperial domination began in 1754 with British efforts to dislodge the French from forts in western Pennsylvania. In the previous year, George Washington, then only 21 years old, had been dispatched by the colonials governor On and unsuccessful mission to persuade French soldiers to abandon afford they were building on land clean by the Ohio company. In 1754, Washington return to the area with two companies of soldiers. After an ill considered attack on a larger French and Indian force resulting in the loss of 1/3 of his men, Washington was forced to surrender. Soon afterward, an expedition led by General Edward Bradock against fort duquesne (todays Pittsburgh) was ambushed by French an Indian forces, leaving Braddock in 2/3 of his 3000 soldiers Dead or wounded. For two years the war went against the British. The southern back country was a blaze with fighting among British forces, colonist and Indians. In humanity florished on all sides. Indians killed hundreds of colonist in western Pennsylvania and push the line of settlement all the way back to Carlisle , Only 100 miles west of Philadelphia. In Nova Scotia, the British rounded at 5000 local French residence, called Acadians, confiscated their land, and expelled them from the region, Selling their farm for settlers from New England. Some of those expelled ended up as far away as Louisiana, where their descendants came to be known as cujuns. As a British government under secretary of state William Pitt, he took office in 1757 raise huge sums of money and poured men and naval forces into the war, the tide of battle turned. By 1759 Britain with colonial and Indian soldiers playing a major role had captured the pivotal French out posts fort Duquesne, ticonderoga , North of Albanian, and Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, which guarded the mouth of the Saint Lawrence river. In September of that year, a French army was defeated on the plains of Abraham near Quebec. British forces also seized nearly all the islands in The French Caribbean and establish control of India.
The georgia experiment
Rice cultivation also spread into Georgia. The colony was founded in 1732 by a group of philanthropist led by James Oglethorpe, A wealthy reformer who sought to improve conditions for imprisoned debtors and abolish slavery. Oglethrope hoped to establish a haven where the worthy poor England can Enjoy economic opportunity. The government in London supported the creation of Georgia to protect South Carolina against the spanish and their Indian allies in Florida. Initially the proprietors band liquor and slaves, leading to continuel battles with settlers who desired both. By the 1740s Georgia offered the spectacle of colonist pleading for the English liberty of self government so that they could enact laws introducing slavery. In 1751 the proprietors surrendered the colony to the ground. The colonist quickly won the right to an elected Sibley which met in Savannah. It repealed the ban on slavery and liquor as well as an early measure that had limited land holdings to 500 acres. George became a miniature version of South Carolina. 1770 as many as 15,000 slaves labored on its coastal rice plantations.
Continued
Slave seas opportunity for rebellion offered by the war of Jenkins year which pitted England against Spain. In September 1739 a group of South Carolina slaves my son and recently arrived from Congo where somehow been soldiers seized a store containing numerous weapons at the town of Stono. Beating drums to attract followers of the armed band Marched southward toward Florida, burning houses and barns killing whites encountered and shouting liberty. The Stono rebellion took the lives more than two dozen whites and as many as 200 slaves. Some slaves manage to reach Florida, where in 1740 they were armed by the Spanish to help rebel and attacked by a force from Grorgia. In 1741 panic (which some observers compared to the fear of witches in Salem in the 1690s) swipe New York City. Rumor spread that slaves with some white allies, plan to burn part of the city, see his weapons, and either turn New York over to Spain or murder the white population. More than 150 blacks and 20 whites were acid and 34 alleged conspirators, including For white persons, were executed. Historian still disagree as to how extensive the plot was or whether it existed at all. In 18 century America, dreams of freedom you knew racial boundary
Continued
Slavery transform chesapeake society into an elaborate hierarchy of degrees of freedom. At the top stood large planters, below them numerous lesser planters and land owning Yeomen, and at the bottom a large population of convicts, indentured servant's, tenant farmers, and slaves. Violence lay at the heart of the slave system. Even a planter like Landon Carter who prided himself on his concern for the well-being of his slaves, noted casually in his diary, they have been severely whipped day by day. Race took on more and more importance as a line of social division. Whites increasingly considered free blacks dangerous and undesirable. Free blacks lost the right to employ white servants and to bear arms, were subjected to special taxes, and could be punished for striking a white person, regardless of the cause. In 1723 Virginia revoked the voting privileges of property earning free blacks. Because Virginia law required that freed slaves be sent out of the colony, free blocks for made only a tiny part of the population less than 4% in 1750.
The spanish california
The Spanish rule came to an end ends 1821
Resistance to slavery
The common threads that link these regional African-American culture is where the experience of slavery and the desire for freedom. Throughout the 18 century, blacks risk their lives and efforts to resist enslavement. Colonial newspapers, especially in the southern colonies, were filled with advertisements for runaway slaves. In South Carolina and Georgia they fled to Florida, to on inhabited coastal and river swamps, or to Charlotte Stan and Savannah, where they could pass for free. In the Chesapeake and middle colonies fugitive slaves tended to be familiar with white culture and therefore, as one advertisement but it could pretend to be free. What Edward Trelawny, The colonial governor of Jamaica, called a dangerous spirit of liberty was widespread among the New World slaves. The 18th centuries first slave uprising of her to New York City in 1712 when a group of slaves that fire to our house on the outskirts of the city and killed the first 9 whites arrived on the scene. During 1730s and 1740s continuous warfare involved European empires and Indians opened the door to slave resistance. In 1731 a slave rebellion in Louisiana, where the French and the natchez Indians were at war a temporarylu halted efforts to introduce the plantation system in the region.
Politics in public
The language of liberty reverberated outside The relatively narrow world of elective and legislative politics. The political nation was dominated by the American gentry, whose members addressed each other in letters, speeches, newspaper articles, and pamphlets filled with references to classical learning. But especially in colonial cities, the 18 century witnessed is considerable expansion of the public sphere, the world of political organization independent of the government, where an inform citizenry openly discussed questions that had previously been the preserve of officials. In Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, clubs proliferated where literary, philosophical, scientific, and political issues were debated. Such groups were generally Composed of men of property, but some Drew ordinary citizens into discussion of public affairs. Colonial taverns and coffeehouses also became important sites for political debates. In Philadelphia one clergyman commented the poorest laborers thinks Himself entitled to deliver his sentiments and matters of religion or politics with as much freedom as the gentleman or a scholar.
Trial of Zenger
The most famous colonial court case involving freedom of the press demonstrated that popular sentiment opposed prosecution for criticism of public officials. This was the 1735 trial of John Peter zenger , A German born printer who had immigrated to New York as a youth. Financed by wealthy opponents of Governor William Cosby, zingers newspaper the weekly journal lambasted the governor for corruption, influence peddling, and Tairney. New York's counsel ordered four issues burned and had zinger himself arrested and tried for seditious libel. Zingers a Torney, Andrew Hamilton, urged the jury to judge not the publisher about the governor. If they decided that zingers charges were correct, they must acquit him, and Hamilton proclaimed every man who prefers freedom to a life of slavery will bless you. Zanger it was found not guilty. The case sent a warning to prosecutors that libel cases might be very difficult to win, especially in the super heated atmosphere of New York politics. The outcome demonstrated that the idea of free express was becoming ingrain in the popular imagination.
Slave cultures and slave resistance Becoming african american
The nearly 300,000 Africans brought to the mainland colonies during the 18 century were not a single people. They came from different cultures spoke different languages, and practiced many religions. Slavery threw together individuals who would never otherwise have encountered one another and who had never considered their color residence on a single continent a source of identity or unity. Their bond was not kinship, language, or even race, but slavery itself. By the 19 century, slaves no longer identify themselves as Ibo, ashanti, yoruba, and so on, but as African-Americans. In music, art, folklore, language, and religion, their culture expressions emerged as a synthesis of African traditions, European elements, and new conditions in America. For most of the 18 century the majority of American slaves were African by birth. Advertisement seeking information about runaways often describe them by African origin (Young Gambia Negro, nee banbara negro fellow). Indeed during the 18 century black life in colonies was re-Africanized as the earlier creole's which were slaves born in the world came to be out numbered by large scale importations from Africa.
Freedom of expression and its limits
The public sphere thrived on the free exchange of ideas. The freedom of expression was not generally considered one of the ancient rights of Englishman. The phrase freedom of speech originated in Britain during the 16th century. A right of legislators, Not ordinary citizens, It referred to the billet he is members of parliament to express their views without fear of reprisal, on the grounds that only in this way could they effectively represent the people. Outside of parliament, free-speech had no legal protection. I subject could be beheaded for accusing the king of feeling to hold true religious beliefs, and language from swearing to criticism of the government exposed a person to criminal penalties. As for freedom of the press governments on both sides of the Atlantic view this as extremely dangerous. Until 1695, when a British law requires the licensing of printed works before publication lapsed, No newspaper, book, or pamphlet could legally be printed without a government license. After 1695 the government cannot censor newspapers, books, and pamphlets before they appeared in print, but it continued to try to manage to pass by direct payments to publishers and journalists. Authors and publishers could still be prosecuted for seditious libel which is a crime that included defaming government officials or ,punished for contempt. Elected assemblies, not governors most frequently discouraged freedom of press in colonial America. Dozens of publishers were hauled before assemblies and forced to apologize for comments regarding one or another member. Colonial newspapers vigorously defended freedom of the press as a central component of liberty, insisting that citizenry had a right to monitor the workings of government and subject public officials to criticism. But since government printing contracts were crucial for economic success, if you newspapers attacked colonial government unless financially supported by an opposition faction.
Imperial rivalries Spanish North America
The rapid growth of Britain's North American colonies took place at a time of increase jockeying for power among your pain empires. But the colonies of England's rivals, although covering immense territories, remained thinly populated and far weaker economically. The Spanish empire encompassed an area that stretch from the Pacific coast and New Mexico into the great plains and eastward through Texas and Florida. After 1763 it also included Louisiana, which Spain obtained from France. On paper of us territorial Empire, spanish North America actually consisted of a few isolated urban clusters, most prominently stay Augustine in Florida, San Antonio in Texas, and Santa Fe and Albuquerque in New Mexico. In the second half of the century the Spanish government made a concentrated effort to reinvigorate it's empire north of the Rio Grande River. It sought to stabilize relations with Indians, especially the nomadic comanche and apache , Who control much of the land claim by Spain I DID NOT WRITE THE REST OF IT
Liberal Freedom
The second set of 18 century political ideas celebrating freedom came to be known as liberalism although its meaning was quite different from what the word suggests today. Whereas republican liberty had a public and social quality, liberalism was essentially individual and private. The leading philosopher of liberalism was John Locke, whose to treaties of government, written around 1680, had limited influence in his own lifetime but became extremely well-known in the next century. Government he wrote, was formed by a mutual agreement among equals, the parties being male heads of household, not all persons. In his social contract, men surrendered a part of their right to govern themselves in order to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law. They retain, however, their natural rights, who is existence pre-dated the establishment of political Authority. Protecting the security of life liberty and property required shielding a realm of private life and personal concerns including family relations, religious preferences, and economic activity from interference by the state. During the 18 century, lockean ideas individual rights, the consent of the governed, the right of rebellion against unjust or oppressive government would become familiar on both sides of the Atlantic. Like other Britain's lock spoke of liberty as a universal right yet seem to exclude many persons from its full benefits. The free individual and liberal thought it was essentially the The propertied White man. Nonetheless, by proclaiming that all individuals possess natural rights that no government may violate, lockean liberalism open the door to the poor, women, and even slaves to challenge limitations on their own freedom. In the 18 century, republicanism and liberalism often reinforced each other. Both political outlooks could inspire a commitment to constitutional government in restraints on despotic power. Both emphasized the security of property as a foundation of freedom. Both traditions were transported to 18th century America and would eventually how to divide the Empire.
Continued
Throughout eastern North America the abrupt departure of the French in the aftermath of the seven years war unlimited the balance of power diplomacy that had enabled groups like the iroquois to maintain a significant degree of autonomy. Without consulting them, the French had ceded land Indians claimed as their own to British control. The treaty of Paris left Indians more dependent than ever on the British and ushered in a period of confusion over land claims, control of the for trade, and tribal relations in general.. In 1763 in the week of French defeat, Indians of the Ohio Valley and great lakes launch a revolt against British rule. Although known among the colonist as pontiacs rebellion after and Ottawa more leader, the rebellion owed at least as much to the teachings of neolin, A Delaware religious prophet. During a religious vision the master of life instructed neolin that has people must reject European technology, free themselves from commercial ties with whites and dependence on alcohol, clothe themselves and garb of their ancestors, and drive the British from their territory although friendly French inhabitants could remain. All Indians he preached were a single people, and only through cooperation could they regain their loss independence.
Slavery in the north
Unlike in the plantation regions, slavery was less central to the economies of New England and middle colonies, where small farms predominated. Slaves made up only a small percentage of these colonies populations, And it was unusual for families to own more than one or two slaves. Nonetheless slavery was not marginal to North colonial life. Slaves worked as farmhand, and artisan shops and as Steve door is loading and unloading ships, and as personal servants. With slave so small a part of the population that they seem to pose no threat to the white majority, laws were less harsh than in the south. In New England, were in 1770 the 15,000 slaves represented less than 3% of the regions population, slave marriages were recognized in law, the severe physical punishment of slaves was prohibited, and slaves could bring suits in court, testify against whites, and own property and pass it onto their children rights that were unknown in the south. Slavery had been present in New York from the earliest days of dutch settlement. As New York's cities role in the slave trade expanded, so did slavery in the city. In 1746 it's 2440 slaves amounted to 1/5 of the cities total population. Most were domestic workers, but slaves worked in all sectors of the Economy. In 1770 about 27,000 slaves lived in New York and New Jersey, 10% of their total population. Slavery was also a significant presence in Philadelphia although the institution stagnated after 1750 as artisans and merchants relied increasingly on wage laborers, whose numbers were augmented by population growth and the completion of the terms of indentured servant's.
