Putting Down Roots Opportunity and Oppression in Colonial Society

CHAPTER 3

Life Expectancy in the Colonies

New England• Came over in families which

led to a high reproduction rate and low mortality rate that strengthened social stability

• Church membership and education was highly valued

Chesapeake • Came over with mostly

males (sex ratio was 6 to 1)• High death rate and lack of

nuclear families led to a social instability

• Mortality rates so high that without immigration, population would have declined

Women

New England• Women’s roles

– Farm labor, although not necessarily same tasks as men

– Went to church more then men (2 to 1)

• Women could not control property

• Divorce difficult• Both genders accommodated

themselves to roles they believed God ordained

Chesapeake • Scarcity gave some women

bargaining power in marriage market

• Female indentured servants vulnerable to sexual exploitation

• Childbearing extremely dangerous (shorter life expectancy by 20 yrs compared to NE)

Social Structure

New England• Absence of very rich created a

new social order• New England social order:

– Large population of yeomen loyal to local community

– Small population of landless laborers, servants, poor

– Local gentry of prominent, pious families

• Only moderate disparities of wealth

• Servitude was more an apprenticeship

Chesapeake • Tobacco based economy led

to Large landowners who controlled much of labor

• Great planters create social order:– Invested in workers– Amassed huge tracts of land – Gentry become colony’s elite

leaders• Greater disparities of wealth• Servitude was more like

slavery

Race and Freedom in British America

• Indians decimated by disease• European indentured servant pool waned

after 1660• Planter class in Chesapeake and Carolina’s

need labor• Enslaved Africans to fill demand for labor

Origins and Destinations of African Slaves, 1619-1760

African American Identities

• All Africans participated in creating an African American culture (part African + part American)

• Widespread resentment of debased status • Armed resistance such as South Carolina’s

Stono Rebellion of 1739 a threat– This led to slave owners to increase their power

over their slaves

Rise of a Commercial Empire

• “Mercantilism” – One country’s gain is another country’s loss

• English leaders ignored colonies until 1650s• Navigation Acts passed in 1660– Generated revenue for the crown– Planters hurt by Navigation Acts (Increased prices of

goods)– New England merchants skirted laws – After revisions, Navigation Acts eventually benefited

colonial merchants

cotton

iron

lumber

furniture

tools

textiles

I’m bloody filthy rich!

Navigation Acts

ex: sugar, tobacco, indigo

Most products could be sold only to England.

All products going to the colonies had to first go through England where the products were taxed

spices

tea

spices

tea

Effects of the Navigation Acts

Increase in smuggling and avoiding Navigation Acts

Civil unrest in the Colonies

• English colonies experienced unrest at the end of the seventeenth century

• Winners gained legitimacy for their rule• Examples– Bacon’s rebellion – King Philips War– Glorious Revolution

• The American colonies were all part of Great Britain but had little to do with each other