Chapter 4

public politics

- 1700s expansion of public sphere w/ political organization and debates independent of government - ordinary citizen could discuss questions openly - junto club founded 1727 by benjamin franklin, evolved into american philosophical society - taverns and coffeehouses

identity

- 1754 Albany plan of union envisioned colonial union w/ delegates but never came together - seven years war brought britain together, bonds between professional British military and American citizen-soldiers - Liberty over tyranny - French Catholics and natives became subjects to British global empire, challenge of expansion led to american revolution

salutary neglect

- Britain left colonies to mainly govern themselves - led land owners and merchants and lawyers to dominate colonial assemblies - exerted influence over councils and governors - many british gentry had to cooperate with colonial elite to rule effectively

republicanism

- active participation in public life by being economically independent citizen and only property owning citizens were worthy - subordinate self interest for community - country party bc mostly supported by land gentry, writings were mainly impactful in colonies, elites attracted to political ideas - country party wrote emphasis on tension between liberty and political power, dangers of executive influence

African-Americans

- africans came from different cultures (religion, language, etc.) - thrown together by slavery - viewed skin tone as sign of unity - 1800s all slaves viewed as african americans - traditions and cultures merged together - most slaves were african born - high work and death rate, low freedom rate - many were islamic or followed tradition religions, nature was sacred - there was a creator of all things, little similar to native americans - blended traditional beliefs with protestantism and catholicism - chesapeake had mildly healthy climate for slaves - yeoman farmers exposed slaves to white culture and many learned english - rice production dependent on imports of african slaves bc high death rate - life structure based on slavery, slowly started creating families - assimilated in euro-american culture - white slave owners raped slaves to produce more slaves - northern slaves lived more closely to whites - all slaves were united by wanting freedom - most who tried escaping were young men familiar with white culture - uprising new york 1712 had group of slaves setting fire to buildings and killing whites, people involved were executed - 1731 war w/ french prevented reintroducing plantation system

Atlantic Slave Trade

- between european merchants, american planters, and african traders - triangular trade w/ goods and slaves - made large profit - large imports throughout british empires - caribbean was commercial focus - helped finance early industrial revolution - slaves and slave made goods - many African societies used europeans to collect taxes and keep control of the slave trade - africa major market for european goods - cheap textiles undermined traditional craft production - got european guns, african wars enslaved people, sold slaves to europeans for more guns - west africa lost many people to slavery

British Patriotism

- britain had naval and commercial power w/ Protestantism - at war with France and established central bank of England to finance imperial war - songs and games symbolize British identity and pride - living standard was higher than other countries - promoted individual liberty, prosperity and rule of law, Protestant faith - believed liberty was uniquely theirs - many countries looked to britain as model w/ house of lords and house of commons and king all checking each other - freedom wasn't universal bc slavery, mainly protestants got liberty but contempt for basically everyone else - liberty viewed as bond of empire - ideas of freedom shown in pamphlets - many colonists couldn't vote but protested oppressive authority

seven years' war

- england was massive power and center of trading and banking, debt from wars led to rise in taxes and angered colonists - started 1754 bc british tried to dislodge french presence in western pennsylvania, george washington made fort necessity and lost 1/3 army and forced to surrender - british and french w/ native allies fought 2 years - back country destroyed and border lines pushed back - french expelled from nova scotia moved to louisiana, became cajuns - 1757 william pitt financially helped prussia in exchange for helping with the war in europe - 1759 french army defeated near quebec - britain got india and many islands near french caribbean - peace of paris 1763 britain got almost all of france's territory, french only had 2 islands near newfoundland - france in financial crisis from war leading to french revolution

Great awakening

- fears of westworld expansion and commercial development and growing enlightenment rationalism and lack of individual engagement in churches led to religious revivals - Great awakening was series of local events that offered more personal and emotion in Christianity - revival of fundamentalism as reaction to rationalism - Wahhabism in central asia and middle east wanted return of traditions in islam - hasidic jews emphasized joy and faith compared to conventional judaism - methodism flourished - preacher like william and gilbert tennant and jonathan edwards used emotional preaching that one was doomed by god and could be saved from eternal damnation - reflected social tensions and questioning authority and inspired criticism of parts of colonial life - preachers criticized commerial society and put emphasis on salvation not profit - condemned merchants and mostly preached to small farmers and attacked worldiness of welthy planters - some preachers condemned slavery but most viwed slavery as aculturation of african-americans thru christianity - made america more divided religiously bc of broadening range of religions - integrated transatlantic religious developments - newspapers and pmpheltes spread circulation of printed material - encouraged colonist to trust their views instead of established elites - ordinary colonists asserted right to independent judgement thru bible groups and discussions

french empire

- french were british rival - canadian territory and pushed more into america - large population of sugar plantations - new orleans and baton rouge - population not as big as british - prejudice against immigration bc colonies viewed as place for criminals and social outcasts - challenged Britain bc large territorial control and close relations w/ natives

chesapeake

- half of population were slaves - tobacco plantations - supplied products to mother country thru mercantilist system - slaves worked fields and crafts, many women were cooks and maids - half all families had at least one slave 1770 - slaves led to domination of tobacco trade - consumer revolution allowed poor white living standard to increase - slavery expanded and wealthy took best land, white wealth was concentrated - planters influenced laws to give themselves more power, restricting acess to freedom - viewed blacks as unsafe, lost many rights like having white servants and couldnt vote 1723 bc virginia law made freed slaves leave the colony - had small slave population

George whitefield

- highly emotional preaching across colonies - proclaimed god was merciful and people could be saved by repenting their sins - appealed to passion of listeners, many flocked to his sermons - critics condemned preacher like whitefield for lack of theological knowledge and church disrespect and filling churches w/ disorder - led many congregations to split into traditionalists and revivalists w/ new churches like baptists and presbyterians

liberalism

- individual and private - led by John Locke, government formed by mutual agreement among equals in social contract - men surrendered part of freedom to recieve benefits of rule of law - people had natural rights of life, liberty, and property - had to hide part of personal life to for protection from state - liberty viewed of universal right and could rebel against oppressive leadership - mostly for white men, but included women and blacks

trial of zenger

- john peter zenger arrested by new york council for seditious libel for comments made about governor william cosby - jury had to decide if what zenger said was was offensive - zenger auttorney wanted jury to judge whether or not what zenger said was true - zenger found not guilty - showed that cases of seditious libel were hard to win in new york climate

right to vote

- men had to have economic stake in society and independent judgement to vote - needed will of their own, didn't allow women and slaves and tenants and servants and poor to vote - wide distribution of property in colonies allowed more colonist to vote compared to Britain - many colonies didn't allow catholics and dissenters and quakers and baptists to vote - blacks could vote in early settlement days and natives couldn't vote

assemblies

- most assembly members didn't talk to each other except during assemblies - most elections weren't competitive - most power went to those appointed by crown like governors and councils - laws could be vetoed by english government - property qualifications needed for office and mostly held by merchants and planters especially south carolina - many assembly members got elected thru family connections especially new york, many elected positions passed down thru generations - positions limited to those wealthy and educated and populated bc of views even tho most people could run - people running tried to appeal to ordinary people - assemblies wanted same rights as house of commons and was allowed bc other governors wanted to be successful - 1701 pennsylvania got rid of council, put in one house legislature controlled by quaker elites - conflicts between elected assemblies and governors came from colonial economic growth - some colonies printed money bc lack of silver and gold - british had most participation in government

proclamation of 1763

- natives attack detroit and military outpost - said british could not settle and further west passed the appalachian mountains - british felt entitled from seven years war and did it anyway, bought native land

pontiac's rebellion

- natives fought on both sides of seven years war bc feared loss of freedom - more dependent on britain than before bc land they had with french went to britain - ohio river valley natives launched revolt against britain bc neolin's vision about rejecting british technology and taking back land - naties came together thru combined identity of pan-indian bc mixed of tribes occured

middle ground

- ohio valley fought over by british, french, natives, and other companies - many natives wanted it bc displaced by colonies - middle ground was borderland between european empires and native sovereignity - natives tried to play british and french against one another - iroquois later recognized by british - many colonists wanted to establish empire in valley bc saw it as easy way to get land and freedom, scotch-irish and german immigrants - 1749 virginia gave ohio company large chunk of land, showed the helpfulness of political connections - ohio company wanted french recognition of land leading to first imperial war

freedom of expression

- parliament had free speech to tell how people were feeling but people didn't have it - one could be arrested or executed for criticizing government - governments viewed freedom of speech as dangerous bc considered ordinary people prone to be misled by inflammatory printed materials - english civil was levellers had agreement that guaranteed religious freedom and freedom of press - 1695 government could only censor something after it was printed, but many printers were paid off - could still be prosecuted for "seditious libel" - people could be brought before assemblies and forced to apologize for comments of be jailed - some colonail newspapers defended freedom of speech but to be economically successful needed government printing contracts

enlightenment

- philosophical movement sought to apply scientific method to political and social life crisscrossed the atlantic w/ goods and people - thinkers insisted every human and institution and authority and tradition should be judged before bar of reason - benjamin franklin was enlightenment thinker - reaction to religious wars in 1600s europe, wanted reason not religion to govern - tradition instead of reason appealed to churches - John Locke thought religious beliefs should rest on scientific evidence - arminianism was reason could establish religion - deism was that god created world and left, saw best form of religious devotion as study of nature instead of worship or appealling for salvation - miracles and innate selfishness were viewed as old superstitions - Issac Newton revealed natural laws governed physical universe, seen as proof for deists

Georgia

- rice plantations - supplied products to mother country thru mercantilist system - founded by James Oglethrope and followers 1732 - wanted to imporve conditions for impovrished and abolish slavery, economic opprotunities for virtuous poor - made by london as protection for south carolina from france - intially banned liquor and slaves but were forced to allow them after surrendering to crown 1751 - mini south carolina with large slave population

South Carolina

- rice plantations - supplied products to mother country thru mercantilist system - natives in Carolina welcomed settlers, gave them slaves, started wars to get more slaves - afraid of land encroachments and becoming slaves themselves - slaves worked in fields and live stock, most of population was slaves - indigo also big profit - africans taught europeans how to cultivate rice - was wealthiest slaveowning class - plantations were really large bc irrigation, mosquitos led to malaria - encourged poor protestants to come and even out population

california

- russian traders challenged fur trade and fort ross in california - 1774 Juan Bautista de Anza discovered route from northern mexico to california but lost it to natives - spain sent franciscan religious order to california and tried to convert natives - father junipero serra founded first mission in san diego 1769, died 1784 - convert many natives to christianity and agriculture transformed economies - forced labor and disease killed many natives - california densely populated - tried to assimilate natives into spanish culture - native society hurt by disease, environmental changes, resettlement

Pennsylvania

- seven years war ended good relations with natives and quaker elites - took more aggressive stance during war, attacks against delaware - quakers have assemblies resigned - scotch-irish farmers attacked village of native americans and killed many natives, accused colonial leaders of being to nice towards natives - Paxton Boys march 1764 led to government expulsion of native population

northern slavery

- small farms - slaves were small population, worked everywhere you'd expect - law less strict bc no slave majority and didn't pose threat - had rights like owning property and going to court - new york used slaves the longest, large chunk of population - new jersey, philadelphia had slaves but mostly wage workers bc urban economy constantly changing

Spanish north america

- spanish had large not densely populated area - tried to fix relationship with natives that controlled much of spanish land and spanish had displaced them causing havoc and reducing spanish power - also afraid of amount of french merchants in louisana - carlos II and carlos III wanted to apply enlightenment values to society and wanted absolute monarchy - reformers condemned past spanish treatment of natives like black legend - 1776 new military commander brought good relations w/ natives - small population with slight majority of pueblo indians and some crypto-jews - economy mostly trading and most labor going towards army instead of militia - colonized texas as boundary for french

colonial press

- spread 1700s w/ political pamphlets being published - increased literacy rate and more males could read and write - libraries began appearing all over colonies starting with Library Company of Philadelphia by Benjamin franklin 1731 - Boston New Letter was first colonial newspaper 1704, more spread 1740s-1760s - Franklin purchased Philadelphia Gazette established 1728 - spread political commentaries 1730s

Crisis of 1739-1741

- stono rebellion 1739 south carolina slaves took weapons from store, attacked everything in sight, tried to make ito to florida but stopped by militia - 1741 new york series of fires accused black and whites of conspiracy, executed them even though fires were most likely random coincidence, similar to salem witch trials

Middle Passage

- voyage for slaves across atlantic, triangular trade route - slaves crammed tightly into vessels, more slaves more profit - many died on voyage but not Equiano - disease spread easily - 1/5 died before reaching new world - crew had high death rates - most went to sugar plantations in brazil

Olaudah Equiano

- west african kidnapped by slave trader - travelled around caribbean - sold to plantation - got schooling in england and served in navy - fought in seven years war - bought freedom - published book about experiences in slavery - died 1797