Friday September 18

Chapter 3, Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750

Classwork for Friday September 18

1-PPT Ch. 3, The Rise of Chesapeake Slavery through Notions of Freedom, pp. 105-108

2-History beyond the textbook. Secondary source document analysis: Read this online article, select a topic of interest to you, and be prepared to report what you found most interesting, to the class. (Not graded)

file:///Users/jwilliams/Desktop/Digital%20History.htmlDigital History: Slavery Takes Root in Colonial Virginia

Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750, The Rise of Chesapeake Slavery

• It was not until the 1660s that the laws of the Chesapeake region (Virginia and Maryland) specifically referred to slavery.

• A Virginia law of 1662 that in the case of a child born to one free parent and one slave parent, the status of the offspring followed that of the mother.

• In 1667 the Virginia House of Burgesses decreed that conversion from Christianity did not release a slave from bondage.

Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750, Bacon’s Rebellion: Land and Labor in Virginia

• Virginia’s shift from white indentured servants to African slaves as the main plantation labor force was accelerated by Bacon’s Rebellion (1676).

• Virginia’s government ran a corrupt regime under Governor Berkeley; he was allied with wealthy planters.

• Good, free land was scarce for freed indentured servants, and taxes on tobacco were rising as the prices were falling. Life for small-scale farmers was becoming increasingly difficult.

• Berkeley refused to let colonists settle on Indian lands. They had been pushed west after Opechancanough’s massacre of the English settlers in (1622/1644)

• .

Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750, Bacon’s Rebellion: Land and Labor in Virginia

An attack by Indians, led Nathaniel Bacon, an elite planter, to call for the removal of all Indians, lower taxes, and an end to rule by “grandees.”

His campaign gained support from small-scale farmers, indentured servants, landless men, and even some Africans.

Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750, The End of the Rebellion and its Consequences

While speaking of traditional English liberties, Bacon attacked Indians and burned down Jamestown, the colonial capital.

Bacon died of dysentery and the rebellion fizzled and was put down, and although the ruling planter elite consolidated their power, they tried to appease the lower classes by opening up more Indian land for settlement. (Indians lose again.)

Also, ruling elite saw the dangers associated with disgruntled landless whites (freed indentured servants) fomenting rebellion.

Ruling landed elites turned to slave labor as an alternative to indentured servitude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl1qmHEXoMAUniversity of Houston lecture, Bacon’s Rebellion (39m)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3mfyQb7YvsBacon's Rebellion (2m) John Green Crash Course

Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750, A Slave Society

• By the end of the seventeenth century, a number of factors made slave labor very attractive to English settlers; and slavery began to supplant indentured servitude between 1680 and 1700.

• Lower death rates made buying a laborer-for-life more cost effective

• English economy was improving, so fewer Englishmen and women left as indentured servants.

• Most who left went to Pennsylvania-better climate• Virginia developed a slave-based economy

Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750, A Slave Society

• By the early eighteenth century, Virginia had transformed from a society with slaves to a slave society.

• In 1705, the House of Burgesses enacted stricter slave codes.

Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750, Notions of Freedom

• Previous claims to freedom such as 1- converting to Christianity or 2-having a white father no longer were avenues to freedom.

No Homework on Friday

• Enjoy your weekend