US History Chapter 4
Resistance to Slavery
-A common thread among African-Americans was the desire for freedom a)Many plantation slaves in South Carolina and Georgia ran away to Florida or to cities. -The first eighteenth-century slave uprising occurred in NYC in 1712.
Atlantic Trade
-A series of trade routes crisscrossed the Atlantic -Colonial merchants profited from slave trade, even in areas where slavery was a minor institution. -Slavery became connected with the color black, and liberty with the color white.
Spain in North America
-A vast territorial empire on paper, Spanish North America actually consisted of a few small and isolated urban clusters. -Despite establishing religious missions and presidios, the Spanish population in Spain's North American empire remained relatively smal and sparse.
Politics in Public
-American gentry were very active in the discussion of politics, particularly through clubs. a) The Junto was club for mutual improvement, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1727.
The American Enlightenment
-Americans sought to apply to political and social life the scientific method of careful investigation based on research and experiment. -One inspiration for the Enlightenment was a reaction against the bloody religious wars that wracked Europe in 17th century. -Belief in Deism embodied the spirit of the American Enlightenment.
The British Consitution
-Central to this sense of British identity was the concept of liberty. -British liberty was simultaneously a collection of specific rights, a national characteristic, and a state of mind. -Britons believed that no man was above the law, not even the king.
Chesapeake Slavery
-Chesapeake slavery was based on tobacco. -Chesapeake plantations tended to be smaller, and daily interactions between masters and slaves were more extensive.
Colonial Identities
-Colonists emerged from Seven Years' War with heightened sense of collective identity -The war also strengthened the colonists' pride in being members of the British empire
Becoming African-American
-Common link among Africans in America was not kinship, language, or even "race," but slavery itself. -For most of 18th century, majority of American slaves were African by birth.
Political Cultures
-Considerable power was held by those with appointive, not elective, office. -Property qualifications for office holding were far higher than for voting. -Deference limited choices in elections. -By mid-18th century, typical officeholder was considerably richer than in 1700.
Indian Slavery in Early Carolina
-Creek Indians initially sold early settlers their slaves, generally war captives and captives' families -As the Carolina plantations grew, the Creeks became more concerned.
An Empire of Freedom
-Despite centrality of slavery to its empire, 18th century Great Britain prided itself on being the world's most advanced and freest nation. - Most Britons shared a common law, a common language, a common devotion to Protestantism, and a common enemy in France. -Britons believed that wealth, religion, and freedom went together.
Colonial Government
-During the first half of the eighteenth century the colonies were largely left to govern themselves, as British government adopted a policy of "salutary neglect" -Colonial elected assemblies exercised great influence over governors and other appointed officials.
The Rise of the Assemblies
-Elected assemblies became more assertive in colonial politics during 18th century. -The most powerful assembly was in Pennsylvania, followed by those in Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, and South Carolina. -Leaders of the assemblies found in the writings of the English Country Party a theory that made sense of their own experience.
The Preaching of Whitefield
-English minister George Whitefield is often credited with sparking the Great Awakening. -Great Awakening enlarged the boundaries of liberty as Old Lights (tradionalists) and New Lights (revivalists) defended their right to worship.
Freedom of Expression and Its Limits
-Freedom of Speech was a relatively new idea. -Freedom of the press was generally viewed as dangerous. -After 1695, the gov't could not censor print material, and colonial newspapers defended freedom of the press as a central component of liberty.
The Georgia Experiment
-Georgia was established by a group of philanthropists led by James Oglethorpe in 1733. -Oglethorpe banned liquor and slaves, but settlers demanded their right of self-government and repealed the bans by early 1750s.
Religious Revivals
-Great Awakening was a series of local events united by a commitment to a more emotional and personal Christianity than that offered by existing churches -Great Awakening was led by flamboyant preachers like Jonathan Edwards, whose Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God stressed need for humans to seek divine grace
The Language of Liberty
-Idea of liberty became increasingly identified with a general right to resist arbitrary gov't -It was common for "liberty" to be used as the battle cry of the rebellious
African-American Cultures
-In Chesapeake, slaves learned English, participated in the Great Awakening, and were exposed to white culture. -In Northern colonies a distinctive African-American culture developed more slowly, and African-Americans enjoyed more access to the mainstream of life.
The Middle Ground
-Indians were cosntantly being pushed from their homes into a "middle ground" between European empires and Indian sovereignty. -Government of Virginia gave an immense land grant in 749 to the Ohio Company
Liberal Freedom
-Liberalism was strongly influenced by the philosopher John Locke. -Lockean ideas included individual rights, the consent of the government, and the right of rebellion against unjust or oppressive government. -Locke's ideas excluded many from freedom's full benefits in the 18th century, but they opened the door for many to challenge the limitations on their own freedom later. -Although republicanism and liberalism eventually came to be seen as alternative visions of freedom, often in the 18th century they overlapped and reinforced each other.
The Trial of Zenger
-Newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger went on trial in 1735 for seditious libel, for criticizing NY's governor. a) He was found guilty. b) Outcome promoted idea that publishing the truth should always be permitted and demonstrated that free expression was becoming ingrained in popular imagination.
The Right to Vote
-Ownership of property was a common qualifier for voting in the colonies. -Suffrage/Franchise was much more common in the colonies than in Britain. a) 18th Century, 50 % to 80% of adult white men eligible to vote in British American colonies; less than 5% eligible in Britain at same time.
Republican Liberty
-Republicanism celebrated active participation in public life by economically independent citizens. -Republicanism held virtue to be crucial in public life. -Republicanism in Britain was associated with the Country Party, which criticized corruption (loss of virtue) in British politics. a) Cato's Letters with republican ideas were widely read by the American colonies.
Slavery in the North
-Since economics in New England and Middle Colonies were based on small farms, slavery was far less important -Given that slaves were few and posed little threat to white majority, laws were less harsh than in the South. -Slaves represented sizable percentage of urban laborers, esp. in NY and Philadelphia.
The Rice Kingdom
-South Carolinian and Georgian slavery rested on rice. -Rice and Indigo required large-scale cultivation (which was done by slaves) -Under the task system, individual slaves did daily jobs, the completion of which allowed time for leisure or cultivation of their own crops. -By 1770, the number of South Carolina slaves had reached 100,000--well over half the colony's population
The Spanish in California
-Spain ordered the colonization of California in response to a perceived Russian threat. a)Junipero Serra founded the first mission in San Diego in 1769. -California was a mission frontier.
The French Empire
-The French Empire in the early 18th century expanded -French tended to view North America as a place of cruel exile for criminals and social outcasts.
The Awakening's Impact
-The Great Awakening inspired criticism of many aspects of colonial society. -A few preachers explicitly condemned slavery but most slave masters managed to reconcile Christianity and slaveholding. -The Great Awakening expanded the circulation of printed material in the colonies.
The Middle Passage
-The Middle Passage was the voyage across the Atlantic for slaves. -Slaves were crammed aboard ships for max profit. -Slave traders took vast majority of slaves to Brazil & West Indies (High death rates here) -Less than 5% of African slaves went to what became US, but slave population there increased steadily through natural reproduction.
A World Transformed
-The Peace of Paris (1763) resulted in the expulsion of France from North America. -Pitt declared that peace would be as hard to make as war, and the war indeed put future financial strains on all the participants
The Crisis of 1739-1741
-The Stono Rebellion of 1739 in South Carolina led to the tightening of the slave code. -Panic of 1741 swept NYC after a series of fires broke out that were rumored to have been part of a slave conspiracy to attack whites.
Pennsylvania and the Indians
-The war deepened the hostility of western Pennsylvanian farmers toward Indians and witnessed numerous indiscriminate assaults on Indian communities. -The Paxton Boys demanded that Indians be removed from Pennsylvania
The Proclamation Line
-To avoid further Indian Conflicts, London issued the Proclamation of 1763, which banned white settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. -Proclamation enraged settlers and land speculators hoping to take advantage of the expulsion of the French.
The Seven Years' War
-War began in 1754 as British tried to dislodge the French from western Pennsylvania -War went against British until 1757, when William Pitt became British prime minister and turned the tide of the battle. -British capture Luoisburg in northern Nova Scotia and expel 5,000 French Acadians. a) Move to French Louisiana where they became known as Cajuns. -1760, French surrendered Montreal, their last North American outpost, to the British
The Colonial Press
-Widespread literacy and the proliferation of newspapers encouraged political discourse. -Bookstores, circulating libraries, and weekly newspapers all contributed to the dissemination of information.
Freedom and Slavery in the Chesapeake
-With consolidation of slave society, planters enacted laws to ensure power over slaves. -Race became more important as a line of social division, and free blacks lost rights as "free" and "white" became virtually identical
Africa & the Slave Trade
-With the exception of king of Benin, most African rulers took part in slave trade, gaining guns and textiles in exchange for slaves. -Slave trade concentrated in western Africa, greatly disrupting its society and economy.
Pontiac's Rebellion
-With the removal of the French, the balance-of-power diplomacy that had enabled groups like the Iroquois to maintain a significant degree of autonomy was eliminated. -In 1763, Indians launched a revolt against British rule. -Neolin championed a pan-Indian identity
Virtue
Meaning a willingness to subordinate self-interest to the public good
Slave Sale Broadside
This advertises the sale of slaves who have just came to North America from Africa. Broadsides were displayed prominently by slave traders to drum up business.
Three distinct slave systems were well entrenched in Britain's mainland colonies:
a) Chesapeake b) South Carolina and Georgia c)Non-plantation societies of New England and the Middle Colonies
In South Carolina and Georgia, two very different black societies emerged:
a) Communities on rice plantations retained significant African cultural elements (e.g. housing styles, child naming practices, language--"Gullah") b) Slaves in cities Charleston and Savannah assimilated more quickly into European culture.
Slavery transformed Chesapeake society into elaborate hierarchy of degrees of freedom:
a) large planters b) yeomen farmers c) indentured servants and tenant farmers d) slaves
Deism
notion that because God set up natural laws to govern the universe, following the act of creation, God did not intervene in the world
Deference
the notion among ordinary people that wealth, education, and social prominence carried a right to public office
