Slavery of the economy of the Southern colonies between ...

Slavery

How did economic, geographic, and social factors encourage the growth of slavery as an important part
of the economy of the Southern colonies between 1607 and 1775?

From the founding of the Jamestown colony until the first battles of the revolution at Lexington and Concord,
the Southern colonies were on a different trajectory of development than the New England or Middle Colonies.
Particular economic, geographic and social factors facilitated the growth of slavery in the Southern region.

I. General facts
a. Slaves in 1619

II. Economic facts and factors
a. Tobacco – 1617 1st Virginia grown crop arrived in England; growth of tobacco greatly
increased, thus driving the price down in mid 1600’s, pushing colonists to grow even more.
Labor intensive crop needed large labor force – initially indentured servants and later switched
to slaves
b. Headright system – to attract settlers, the Virginia Company offered 50 acres to anyone who
paid his own way to the colony and 50 acres for any person he brought with him.
c. Rice farming in South Carolina required a substantial investment of labor. (Soon, slaves
greatly outnumbered whites, who feared rebellion and enacted harsh slave codes.)
d. Shortage of labor coupled with abundance of land (both were the reverse of situation in Europe)
was major problem
e. In 1680’s Chesapeake planters began to switch from indentured servants to slaves because the
number of servants was decreasing due to a recovering economy in England and changes in the
slave trade made Africans more available.
f. Slaves were a better long-term investment. (life-long term that passed from mother to child)

III. Social facts and factors
a. Captain John Smith - “He that will not worke shall not eate” upset certain settlers who saw
manual labor as beneath them
b. The social factor of legally enforced inferiority in the form of slave codes cemented race-based
slavery

IV. Geographic facts and factors
a. Contrast to New England’s short growing season and stony soil that fir well with competency,
family farms and town clusters
b. The climate of the South favored cash crops such as tobacco and rice over the New England style
of subsistence farming. Slavery tended to be profitable for cash crops, but not for use on family
farms.
c. The enslavement of Indians failed for many reasons , one of which was the Indians great
knowledge of the geography, facilitating their escape

Native Americans (French and Spanish)

Analyze the cultural and economic responses of TWO of the following groups to the Indians of North America
before 1750: British, French, Spanish

The intentions of the colonial newcomers shaped/determined the cultural and economic actions France, Britain and Spain
took in regard to Native Americans

I. Spanish Treatment of Native Americans – religion was an amphasis
a. De Soto was brutal in SE
b. Onate was brutal in SW
c. De Las Casas spoke up for the Indians
d. Franciscan missionaries converted many Indians in the Southwest. They completely forbade the Indian’s
practice of almost anything of their native culture
e. Pueblo Revolt – 1680; Spurred by harsh rule, a drought, limited protection and religious persecution,
Indians revolted, successfully driving away the Spanish colonists for 13 years. Even when the Spanish
returned, they behaved more tolerantly toward the natives.
f. Controlled Indian labor through encomienda (tribute) repartimiento (drafted labor) and rescate (ransomed
servants)

II. French – mainly to trade
a. Fur trade – depended on control of waterways and alliances with Indians and meant slower population
growth
b. More marriage between French men and Indian women than so with the English
c. Alliances with certain tribes led to de facto enemy status with other tribes (ex of Huron and Iroquois)
d. Jesuit missionaries converted many Indians in Canada. They used economic pressure to facilitate this
process, urging merchants to give discounts and guns to Christian Indians.
e. Jesuits tended to be more tolerant of native customs than the Spanish Franciscans were.
f. Resumption and conclusion of Beaver Wars – were native wars over fur trade control that later
involved the French and English; outcome was devastating for the Iroquois; as a guard against a similar
situation in the future, the Iroquois negotiated neutrality

III. English - mainly to settle
a. Many of the first Roanoke settlers refused to grow their own food and expected the Indians to do so for
them
b. Jamestown settlers expected and seized corn from natives. Violence and war characterized relations
between the English and the Indians
c. Pequot War was brief and bloody and allowed settlement and foundation of Connecticut colony – desire
for land
d. William Penn tried to require friendly interactions with Indians in Pennsylvania and for a time, it worked
well enough that Indians moved to Pennsylvania from other areas. However, Penn was in debt and lost
most control later in his life and Indian relations deteriorated
e. Culturally, the English misunderstood how the Indians used the land. To the English, the land appeared
unused, but The Indians moved frequently to let the soil rest and to take advantage of the land’s diversity
f. There was also the cultural difference between English individual ownership and Indian tribal use of land
(owning versus shared usage)
g. English saw Indians as savages, just as they had viewed the Irish. They intermarried very little and tended
to isolate them more than convert them.
h. King Philip’s War – 1675; Metacom; Wampanoags; encroachment by settlers; devastating effect on
native population; His wife and son were sold into slavery; his head was displayed on a stake for decades
i. Bacon’s Rebellion – Poorer white settlers moved westward for land, which brought conflict with the
Indians. Bacon led an attack on all Indians and on the colonial capital when the governor wouldn’t do
what the rebels wanted. In turn, the pressured House of Burgesses legalized the taking of Indian land and
Indian enslavement.

Religious Freedom

Analyze the extent to which religious freedom existed in the British North American colonies prior to
1700.

The extent to which religious freedom existed in the colonies varied from region to region and changed over
time. Despite being founded for religious reasons, or perhaps because of it, New England was more religiously
intolerant, with this strictness relaxing somewhat over time. Greater religious freedom existed in the Southern
and especially the Middle, colonies.

I. Massachusetts
a. Emphasis on covenants and conformity may have led to greater stability than in Virginia, but
they also led to intolerance
i. Roger Williams – Rhode Island – separatist who also wanted separation of church and
state
ii. Anne Hutchinson – antinomian and a woman – accountable only to God and not to
worldly authority (Banished to Rhode Island)
iii. Had hanged four Quakers

II. New England
a. Puritan religion was the established religion (supported by taxes – this was, of course, before the
first amendment separation of church and state)
b. Halfway Covenant – 1662 – relaxing of the admission standards, allowing baptism, even if a
conversion experience could not be claimed
c. Some ministers by the 1680’s were only requiring knowledge of Christian faith and godly lives
for admission
d. 1691 – religious toleration for all Protestants was granted in a royal charter

III. The South
a. More diffuse parishes and a scattered population meant that ministers had to tread lightly, so as
not to offend their tax-paying church members
b. In the most remote regions, dissenting groups (Presbyterians, Quakers, and Baptists) gained
followers

IV. Maryland
a. 1632 - Proprietary colony of George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who was Catholic and wanted his
colony of Maryland to be a refuge for Catholics
b. George died and his son watched as the mostly Protestant settlers demanded more power
c. The son, Cecilius, approved the Act for Religious Toleration in 1649, calling for the freedom of
worship of all Christians, but the Protestant majority passed a later law that blocked Catholics
from voting

V. Middle Colonies
a. William Penn had a policy of religious toleration
b. There was no established church in NJ, NY and PA

Reasons for colonial settlement

Throughout the Colonial period, economic concerns had more to do with the settling of British North
America than did religious concerns.” Assess the validity of this statement with specific references to
economic and religious concerns.

The relative importance of religious or economic motivations for settlement varied, depending on the colony
and the year. The settlement of Virginia was motivated more by economics while the settlement of Plymouth
was motivated by religious desires. In some cases, both motivations were cited by contemporaries, such as
Hakluyt. Therefore, both concerns were equally important in considering the British North American colonies
as a whole.

“She [Queen Elizabeth] and her subjects saw colonization not only as a way to gain wealth and political
advantage but also as a Protestant crusade against Catholic domination.” (A. J. p. 28)

I. Economic
a. Sir Humphrey Gilbert argues for British colonization of North America in the 1570’s on the
grounds that a colony would increase England’s trade and be an outlet for the unemployed.
When Gilbert was lost at sea, Raleigh took up the cause and set up both Roanoke colonies (both
failed)
b. 1584 Richard Hakluyt wrote the “Discourse of Western Planting” in which he argued that trade
would benefit. However, he also argued that this was England’s chance to spread Protestantism
and thwart the expansion of Catholicism.
c. The Virginia and Plymouth Companies, which received the charter from the king to establish
Virginia and Plymouth respectively, were driven by economic motives. They were joint-stock
companies, and so by there very nature they were hoping to return profits to the investors who
had purchased “stock” to fund the ventures
d. When the first Jamestown settlers landed, they immediately started searching for 2 things: gold
and the fabled Northwest Passage to Asia, both of which would bring profits if found.

II. Religious
a. Pennsylvania
i. Quaker Penn founded the “holy experiment” of Pennsylvania in 1681 as a harmonious
society governed by brotherly love and religious toleration
b. Plymouth Colony
i. Founded in 1620 by Pilgrims seeking an environment more tolerant of their reformist
religion
c. Massachusetts Bay Colony and Offshoots
i. Founded by Puritans in 1630 who believed that God was displeased with England
ii. Conscious of the example they would set religiously (Winthrop – “city upon a hill”
d. Maryland
i. The settlement of Maryland was encouraged by the economic success of neighboring
Virginia, due to tobacco. However, the proprietor of the colony, Calvert, Lord Baltimore,
wanted his colony to be a refuge for persecuted Catholics