Colonial History

Age of Exploration

Early Colonial Settlement

Establishment of English Political Traditions

Build up to the American Revolution

Age of Exploration• Results of the Crusades?

– Trade = Wealth & Ideas– Renaissance

• The Age of Exploration is inspired when the Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople in 1453 and threaten to cut of Far Eastern trade.

• What are the goals of the Age of Exploration?– Gold, Glory, God

• Find a new all water route to the Far East.• Find alternate sources for Far Eastern goods.• Win converts to Christianity• Increase political power of nation

Spain and Portugal Divide the World

• Portugal– Prince Henry the Navigator

• Organizes a school for sailors, mapmakers and shipbuilders in 1415.• Sailing advances come to Portugal: Caravels, Compass, Astrolabe, Jib sail. • Using advances from this school Portugal takes the early lead in exploration.

– Bouncing down the coast of Africa, Bartolomeu Dias reaches the tip of Africa (The Cape of Good Hope) in 1488.

– Sailing for Portugal, Vasco da Gama finally reaches India in 1498.– Ferdinand Magellan’s crew successfully circumnavigates the globe from 1519-1522.

• Spain– After 73 years, just as Portugal could see the possibility of fruit from their efforts, Spain

with one successful voyage managed to threaten Portugal’s trade leadership.– In 1492, Christopher Columbus, attempting to sail westward to the Far East, bumped into

the New World.– With the two Catholic countries nearly coming to blows, Pope Alexander VI offered to

mediate a settlement. • In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas established a line of demarcation at 40 degrees west and 130

degrees east longitude. • Between these lines, any new land “discovered” would be the possession of Portugal, outside

the lines would be the possession of Spain.

– Spain took the early lead in building a New World empire.

Early Explorers• Spain

– Vasco Nunez de Balboa, 1513– Ponce de Leone, 1513– Hernando Cortes, 1521– Fransisco Pizzaro, 1532

• France– Giovanni Verranzano, 1524– Jacques Cartier, 1534– Samuel de Champlain, 1608– Jacques Marquette, S.J. & Louis Joliet, 1673– Robert de La Salle, 1681

• Dutch – Henry Hudson, 1609– Peter Minuet, 1626

• England– John Cabot, 1497– Sebastian Cabot, 1507– Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 1587– John Smith, 1609

Spain’s New World Empire• Spain’s New World empire was too large, too limited in self-rule and too costly to

defend to remain strong. – It included most of South America, Central America and Southwestern North America

and Florida.

• Governed by an “absolute monarchy” Spanish Colonial Viceroys had little individual power and therefore had a hard time governing.

• Communication with Spain was slow and support from the King was limited.• Few people were given the opportunity to own land

– native Spaniards did not chose to emigrate.

• Spaniards set up Presidios– Catholic missions where the Native Americans were treated as serfs– Many Franciscans argued for better treatment of the Native Americans but warfare,

disease, and harsh labor took a serious toll on the population• Bartolome de las Casas• Repartamiento• Encomienda• Black Legend

• Shortage of laborers in the colonies eventually inspired Spain to become involved in the trans-Atlantic African slave trade.

England Challenges Spain1. Explorers

– England sent explorers to the New World in spite of the Treaty of Tordesillas.

2. Religious/Alliance Differences– In the late 1520’s, Henry VIII broke an alliance with powerful Spain when he attempted to have

his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled. – Catherine was the daughter of Spanish monarchs Ferdinand & Isabella. – When the Pope, who was related to Spain’s royal family refuses to annul the marriage, Henry

imprisons Catherine in a convent so that he will not have to repay her dowry.– In order to have his marriage annulled, Henry broke from the Catholic Church in Rome. He

established his own religion (Anglicanism) with himself as head.

3. Sea Dogs– During the reign of Henry’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603), the English Government

gave refuge and financial support to raiders (Sea Dogs) attacking Spanish gold shipments from the New World to Europe. In an attempt to better defend these shipments, Spain built a fort in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida. St. Augustine was the first European settlement in what becomes the United States.

4. Spanish Armada– In 1588, after Sea Dog, Francis Drake had burnt St. Augustine, completed a circumnavigation

of the world in a successful raid of Spanish gold and was knighted for service to the English crown, Spain had had enough.

– Spain launched a huge armada of ships to invade England. The huge galleons of the Spanish Armada were defeated by the smaller faster privateer fleet of England. The defeat of the Spanish Armada allowed other European powers to begin colonizing the New World.

Reasons for English Emigration to the New World

1. Spiritual Discontent (Catholics, Anglicans, Puritans, Pilgrims) Henry VIII breaks from Catholic Church Henry & Catherine’s daughter (Bloody Mary) restores Catholicism. Queen Elizabeth restores Anglicanism – Pope declares her a heretic. Restored Stewart Monarch, James II remarries to a Catholic and has a son. Glorious Revolution ousts James.

James’ daughter (Mary) and Protestant husband William of Orange are invited to rule England in 1688.

2. Political Strife (Absolutism) English Civil War – Puritans v. Roundheads Absolutist King Charles I beheaded in 1649. English Commonwealth established by Oliver Cromwell.

3. Unregulated Struggle to Gain Wealth (End of Social Reciprocity) Rising Population Enclosure Movement Unemployment/Depression

4. By 1760, the English colonies had 1.5 million colonists living in them.

Jamestown, 1607• “I tell thee golde is more plentiful there than copper is with us. Why, man, all their

dripping pans and chamber pottes are pure gold and for rubies and diamonds they goe forth on holydayes and gather ‘hem by the seashore, to hang on their children’s coates and sticke in their caps.” Written about Virginia in 1605 by someone never in America.

• Organized by the London Company – Joint-Stock Company

• a new form of business where investors could share in the profits of a venture• more importantly, they could spread the risk also.

• located in Chesapeake Bay on a Peninsula between the York and James Rivers. – At high tide the settlement became an island. – At high tide salt water backed up into the fresh water rivers making the water

undrinkable. – The area was a humid swampy region which bred malaria carrying mosquitoes.

• Instructions to the colonists:– Search for Gold– Search for a Northwest Passage– Convert Natives to Christianity

Jamestown, 1607• Colonial leadership was lazy and indecisive.

– Crops not planted & defenses not completed.– Only 38 survived the winter.– Colonist begin hoard supplies.– 5/ 1608 = 500 more settlers arrived.

• John Smith enforces martial law.– Work gangs are organized for food, shelter, defense & sanitation.– Success of Smith’s martial law, alliance with Powhatan Confederacy and mild winter

allowed most to survive (only 12 men lost).– Smith is injured in a powder explosion must return to England.

• “Starving Time” Winter of 1609-1610– Discipline breaks down again.– Only 60 settlers survive.– Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Sommers arrive with 150 more settlers and restore

martial law.• Important Years for the Jamestown Colony

– 1618 = Each male settler who paid his way was given 50 acres.– 1619 = 60 women settled in Jamestown.– 1619 = 1st Africans came to North America (Indentured Servants)– 1619 = Tobacco became a profitable trade good (John Rolfe). – 1619 = House of Burgesses established (rights restored)– 1624 = Jamestown became a royal colony.

English Political Traditions Established by the Colonies

• Magna Carta, 1215– New taxation only through representation.– People are entitle to a trial by jury.– The King must rule by law.

• House of Burgesses, Jamestown Virginia, 1619– 1st representative body in the colonies.

• Mayflower Compact, Plymouth Massachusetts, 1621– 1st government with all male participation.

• Freedom of Religion, Rhode Island, 1644– Separation of Church and State – in order to keep faith pure.

• Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639– 1st written constitution in the colonies.

• Maryland Toleration Act, 1649– Toleration v. Freedom = Established Church (funded by taxes) is still possible.

• “All Men Are Created Equal” , 1674– Quakers gain control of the Jerseys & Pennsylvania (1681).

• Social Contract, 1690– John Locke – Treatise on Civil Government– The King (Government) must defend a citizen’s life, liberty & property.– Citizens must follow laws, pay taxes and remain loyal.

The Original 13 ColoniesVirginia

Jamestown, 1607 (London Company)House of Burgesses, 1619

MassachusettsPlymouth Plantation, 1620 (Pilgrims)

Mayflower Compact, 1621Massachusetts Bay, 1630 (Puritans)

“A City Upon the Hill”New Hampshire, 1623

Breaks away from Massachusetts.New York, 1626 (Dutch)

New Amsterdam (New York) & Fort Orange (Albany) Captured by the Duke of York for England, 1664.

New Jersey, 1626Originally granted to Lord Carteret & Lord Berkeley.Sold to Quaker interests in 1674 & 1680.“All men are created equal”

Maryland, 1634Granted to Cecil Calvert, Lord BaltimoreEstablished as a haven for Catholics.Maryland Toleration Act, 1649

Rhode Island, 1644Minister Roger Williams was exiled from Massachusetts Bay.He believed that their should be separation of Church

and State.State business was bound to corrupt the Church.

He also believed that the Native Americans should be compensated.

He was taken in by the Narragansett Indians and survived.

Connecticut, 1662Thomas Hooker breaks from Massachusetts.He led his followers to Connecticut in search of land ownership.Property ownership & not sainthood became the basis of citizenshipFundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639

South Carolina, 1650Originally granted to 8 supporters of King Charles IAttempted to recreate a feudal style economy with serfs.Few volunteered to become serfs. Slave labor replaced immigrant serfs with

large plantation owners as lords. North Carolina splits from South Carolina, 1729.

North Carolina geographically different than South Carolina.Instead of a slave holding aristocracy they become a rough and ready

democracy.

Pennsylvania, 1681

Established through a land grant to the Penn family.

William Penn creates a Quaker haven.

“The Holy Experiment” Guarantees religious freedom, liberal land grants and political participation to all.

Delaware, 1776

Originally part of Pennsylvania in order to have access to the sea at the mouth of the Delaware River.

Geographically isolated it actually has an independent legislature prior to becoming a separate colony.

Georgia, 1733

Established in an attempt to alleviate the overcrowding in England debtor’s prisons.

It acted as a buffer between raids from Spanish Florida and South Carolina.

Contrasting Administrations

• Spanish– Royal backing– Stronger royal control

through viceroys and audiencias

• this autocratic colonial style did not well-prepare the Latin American countries for governing themselves after independence

– Waged military campaigns of conquest against the indigenous centralized states like the Aztecs and Incas

• British and French– Private investors played a

greater role– No viceroys or audiencias;– maintained their own

assemblies and influenced the choice of governors

– Tried to negotiate with and justify their claims to the varied indigenous peoples and societies;

– eventually dominated by a combination of disease, numbers, and violent conflict

Contrasting Societies

• Spanish– About 85% of the

Spanish immigrants were male

– Much interaction with native women

• Soon gave rise to an increasing mestizo (or mixed) society

• British – Women were more

numerous among British settlers

– Mostly married within their own groups

• Mingling between people of different ancestries was especially uncommon in the British colonies