U.S. History

Political Culture in the Colonies

A. Introduction
1. In politics, the colonies became more like Britain during the 18th century
2. Colonists knew they needed British protection
3. Colonists admired Britain's parliamentary system
4. Colonists were more independent than their British counterparts
5. Colonists believed that because they were British they were free; they too had a mixed constitution that united monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy in perfect balance
6. By 1720, every colony (except Connecticut and Rhode Island) had three things
a. An appointed governor
b. A council
c. An elective assembly
7. Each stood for something
a. The governor stood for monarchy
b. The council stood for aristocracy
c. The elective assembly stood for democracy; they played an active legislative role
B. The Rise of the Assembly and the Governor
1. The right to vote was more widely shared than in England
a. Men disenfranchised in England was 2/3 adult males
b. Disenfranchised lost the right to vote
2. In the American colonies, 3/4 of free white males could vote
3. Enfranchised males could acquire property
4. The problem: the frequency of elections varied
5. The assembly or the lower house
a. It usually initiated major bills
b. The rise of the assembly was a major political fact of the era
c. It made most of its gains at the expense of the council
d. They usually clashed with the royal governors
e. Successful governors won over the assembly through persuasion or patronage
f. Early conflicts tended to be legalistic
g. Latter conflicts often pitted an aggrieved minority against governor and assembly
C. "Country" Constitutions
1. The common assumption of most southern colonies: "country" principles of British opposition was acceptable to both governor and assembly
a. Assemblies would not be manipulated through a governor's patronage
b. Governors who had a permanent salary would not be coerced.
c. Politics of harmony was a system of ritualized mutual flattery
d. Governors and assemblies pursued common good in an atmosphere free of rancor and corruption
D. "Court" Constitutions
1. The diverse northern colonies often produced political factions

The Renewal of Imperial Conflict

A. Introduction

1. 1739-1763 was a new era of imperial war

2. Participants were the British colonies, New Spain, New France, and Indians

3. Results in 1763

a. France expelled from North America

b. Britian controlled North America east of the Mississippi

c. Spain controlled land west of the Mississippi

B. Challenges to the French power

1. The French tried to strengthen position in North America

a. They built the fortress Louisbourg (the continent's most formidable fortress) on Cape Breton Island

b. They built Fort St. Frederic (Crown Point) on Lake Champlain

c. They had posts on the Great Lakes (Detroit): Fort Frontenac, Michilimackinac, and Detroit

d. They founded in 1722 New Orleans (Louisiana's capital)

2. French power continued to weaken

a. The Indians traded with British because British goods were cheaper

b. The policy that did serious damage to teh French: they encouraged hostilities between Indian nations (largely because they could not afford enough gifts to hold alliance for both nations)

c. Result for France: they lost prestige and influence

C. The Danger of Slave Revolts

1. The Spanish colony in East Texas called Los Adaes

a. They were dependent on the French trade for supplies and food

b. The survivors fled west to San Antonio

2. The Spanish in Florida

a. They promised freedom to slaves (Indians and Africans)
b. They established the town of Mose

i. Led by African named Francisco Menendez, who escaped from slavery, fought with the Yamasees against South Carolina and fled to Florida only to be enslaved again; he rose to rank of militia captain and won his freedom and took charge of Mose in 1738 and made it the first community of free blacks in the U.S.

ii. Mose acted as a magnet for Carolina slaves

3. The Stono Rebellion in South Carolina (Sept. 9, 1739)

a. The most violent slave revolt in history of the 13 colonies

b. The revolt failed and most of the rebels were killed and never reached Florida

4. The War of Jenkin's Ear (1739)

a. War between Britain and Spain

b. American survivor Lawrence Washington

i. He admired his commander Edward Vernon

ii. He named his plantation after him: Mount Vernon

c. Patriotic fervor produced two famous songs: "God Save the King" and "Rule Britannia"

5. James Oglethorpe (South Carolina's governor)

a. He sent a disturbing report

i. Spain is trying to start slave uprisings

ii. Spain is sending priests to intermingle with black conspirators to destroy British fortifications

6. The New York Conspiracy Trials (1741)

a. 1712: Slave revolt where slaves set barn on fire and shot 15 settlers, killing 9 of them; 21 slaves were executed

b. New York slave population of 2,000 was the largest concentration of blacks in British North America outside of Charleston

i. A series of suspicious fires (probably a cover for interracial ring of larceny)

ii. Rumor of "popish" plot to murder the city's whites, free slaves

iii. News from Georgia arrive of slave conspiracy and 19 slaves are hanged, 13 are burned alive and 70 are banished to the West Indies

7. The 1742 planned invasion of Georgia and South Carolina by the Spanish

a. King Philip V of Spain sent 36 ships and 2,000 soldiers from Cuba

b. Met 900 Men led by Oglethorpe on St. Simon's Island

c. Invasion: After 2 losses, Spanish morale collapses; Oglethorpe tricks the Spanish into believing that a British deserter who tipped them off was actually a trap and the Spanish departed

D. France vs. Britain: King George's War

1. In 1744, France joins Spain in its war against Britain

a. The fall of the French fortress: Louisbourg fell on June 16, 1745

i. Untrained militia from New England

ii. Captured the outer batteries and guns and then turned the guns on the fortress walls

iii. It worked, but hundreds of volunteers died of various afflictions, plans to attack Quebec came to nothing because there was no British fleet; there were French and Indian raiders; farmers rioted against high taxes and attempts at drafting sailors angered mobs and British had to return Louisbourg to France under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which ended war in 1748

E. The Impending Storm

1. Result of King George's War for Britain

a. The frontier of British settlement: war had driven them back

b. Veterans of teh war were given land grants

c. Postwar expansion alarmed the Indians and the French

d. The expansionist thrust pitted colony against colony; settlers against the Indians; and the British against the French

2. The Virginians

a. The Indians called them "long knives" and were particularly aggressive

b. They organized the Ohio Company of Virginia for the purpose of settling the Ohio Valley

c. The first outpost was at the place where Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers met to form the Ohio River (modern day Pittsburg)

d. Surveyor was George Washington

U.S. History

"Provincial America and the Struggle for a Continent"

Expansion vs. Anglicization

A. Introduction
1. 18th century Americans
a. Sought to emulate their homeland
b. English institutions and material goods began to reappear
c. After 1740 imports of British goods grew spectacularly
d. Virginia planters erected "big houses"
e. Thomas Hancock (merchant) built a stylish residence on Boston's Beacon Hill; it was later passed onto his newphew John
f. Newspapers and learned professions based on English models proliferated
g. Colonial seaports resembled Bristol and other English provincial cities
2. America's populations
a. Colonial institutions could not meet colonial needs unless it continued to grow
b. Unrelenting contest between pace of raw expansion and newer, anglicizing tendencies
c. Example:
i. 1700: Oxford and Cambridge managed to fill colonies' needs for Angelican clergyman by sending over graduates who were unable to find parishes at home.
ii. By 1750: Colonial demand exceeded what schools could supply and colonies tried to attract Scottish and Irish clergymen
d. Northern colonies founded own colleges and trained their own craftsmen
e. Lesson for colonies: they learned to do for themselves what Britain had to do for the south
3. Change occurring during prolonged periods of war
a. War interrupted expansion
b. Peace brought with it a more frantic pace of expansion
c. Mid-century wars were becoming titanic struggle for control of North America
d. Amerindians realized British expansion meant unrelenting retreat for them
B. Threats to Householder Autonomy
1. Some colonial families acquired more prestige than others
2. Status of "Gentlemen" was less rigid in the colonies than in England
a. They performed no manual labor
b. They began to dominate public life
3. Before 1700 ordinary farmers and small planters sat in colonial assemblies
a. 1700's: colonial assemblies grew much more slowly than overall population
b. Therefore, assemblymen were from higher social status
c. Colonial voters remained independent
4. By 1750 patterns of dependency emerge
a. Younger sons had to look west for an inheritance
b. Families could no longer satisfy ambitions of all their children
c. Tenant farmers were given a small patch of land on which they could build a cottage and raise some food; In New York, they had to accept higher rents and shorter leases
d. Families unable to provid for all their children reverted to English social norms
i. Sons were favored over daughters unless daughters could be married off to a wealthy suitor
ii. Eldest sons were favored over younger ones
iii. Younger sons took up a trade or headed for the frontier
iv. They learned trades in order to sustain household autonomy
v. Goal of independence exercised great power but was under siege and fear of the loss of independence energized westward movement
C. Anglicizing the Role of Women
1. Dowry was usually in cash or goods--not land
2. English Common Law's Doctrine of Coverture states women could not make a contract
3. Husbands made all legally binding decisions
4. Dower rights usually one-third of estate was left to wives (later inherited by children)
5. Double standard of sexual behavior punished women for indiscretions but tolerated male infractions
D. Introduction
1. Peace: After 1715, was the longest era of peace since European arrival
2. War had emptied borderlands of most of their inhabitants
3. People poured into these areas without provoking strong Indian nations of the interior between 1715-1750
4. Colonies fitted into distinct regions--only New Englanders had acquired a self-conscious sense of regional identity before independence
E. Emergence of the Old South
1. Postwar expansion was driven by renewed immigration, free and unfree
a. After 1730, the influx of people became enormous
b. 1730 population: about 630,000 settlers and slaves lived in mainland colonies
c. 1775 population: another 248,000 Africans & 284,000 Europeans landed--including 50,000 British convicts
d. 90% of all slaves went to southern colonies
2. Massive influx of slaves created Old South
a. Society of wealthy, slaveholding planters, a larger class of small planters and thousands of slaves
b. Arrival of slaves transformed social structure of southern colonies
c. VA House of Burgess in 1700 included most members who were small planters who raised tobacco with a few indentured servents and perhaps a slave or two
d. Typical Burgesses after 1730 were great planters with at least 20 slaves
3. Upper South slavery
a. Slaves organized into gangs who were supervised closely
b. They worked all day, weather permitting
c. 10% of the slaves were trained as blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers or other skilled craftsmen
d. Paternalistic slave owners encourage family life among workers
4. Lower South Slavery
a. People contracted malaria, which is nonfatal, but left its victims vulnerable to other diseases
b. Africans were resistant to malaria
c. Slave owners showed no inclination to venture near the rice fields
d. Carolina planters were less paternalistic
e. The task system required slaves to fulfill their daily chores, but allowed them time to themselves after they've completed their tasks
f. Rice crop profits condemned slaves to montonous, unpleasant labor in swamps
g. Rice culture left slaves with low rates of reproduction
h. Gullah was a pidgin language or a simple, secondary language
i. Began with few phrases common to many west African languages
ii. Added English words
iii. Modern Black English developed from Gullah
iv. By 1776m the American south was becoming the world's only self-sustaining slave society
5. Slavery was maintained by brute force
a. Whippings were frequent and masters determined the number of stripes
b. Extreme cruelty was rare
c. Random acts of violence was common (and unpredictable)
6. Southern colonies prospered by exchanging staple crops for British imports
a. By 1750: trade was taken over by Scots
b. Glasgow was the leading tobacco port of the Atlantic
c. Inspection guaranteed high-quality leaf
d. Britain and France's contract opened up a vast continental market for Chesapeake planters
e. Second staple crop was indigo, a dye for textile
f. North Carolina sold naval stores (pitch, resin, turpentine) to British shipbuilders
g. Second crop for Chesapeake planters was wheat
h. New Chesapeake towns were created with harvesting of wheat--people need mills, barrels, and ships
i. Shipbuilding was closely tied to export of wheat and became important Chesapeake industry.

U.S. History

Chapter 3 continued

A. The Glorious Revolution
1. Introduction
a. James II proclaimed toleration for Protestants and Catholics
b. Louis XIV who prosecuted Huguenots (French Protestants), revoked Edict of Nantes, which granted toleration to Protestants
c. 160,000 Huguenots fled--many went to England, several went to English colonies
d. William of Orange was a stadholder (governor) of Netherlands and most prominent Protestant soldier in Europe
e. Mary was James's older Protestant daughter who married William of Orange
f. William III and Mary II were named joint sovereigns after James fled to France
g. Toleration Act gave Protestant dissenters the right to worship freely
h. Declaration of Rights guaranteed Protestant succession and condemned as illegal many of the acts of James II
i. Glorious Revolution brought England and Netherlands into war against Louis XIV who supported James
2. The Glorious Revolution in America
a. On April 18-19, 1689 the Boston militia overthrew Andros, who attempted to suppress news of William's landing in England
b. A global Popish plot was to undermine Protestant societies
c. The other New England Colonies followed Massachusetts and resumed old charter government
d. Fort James was taken by New York City militia at southern tip of Manhattan and was renamed Fort William
e. Francis Nicholson was a lieutenant governor in New York under Andros who refused to proclaim William and Mary as sovereigns without direct orders from England; he later sailed for home
f. Jacob Leisler was a Dutch leader who dreaded conquest by Catholics from New France and acted like a Dutch stadholder in a nominally English colony--military defense was his highest priority
g. In Maryland Protestants overthrew Lord Baltimore's Catholic government in 1689 and Maryland governor refused to proclaim William and Mary
3. The English Response
a. The Maryland Rebels won royal government they requested and established Angelican church
b. In New York Leislerians suffered defeat as enemies manipulated Dutch king of England into undermining Dutch supporters in New York
i. Henry Sloughter was a new governor who named Anti-Leislerians to his council and arrested Leisler and his son-in-law in 1691
ii. Charter of Liberties (1683) denied toleration to Catholics; it was later disallowed
iii. Leislerian-Anti-Leislerian struggles characterized New York politics until after 1700
c. Massachusetts:
i. Increase Mather was the colony's agent in London and failed to persuade Parliament to restore Charter of 1629
ii. The 1691 Charter gave the crown power to appoint governors, judicial appeals, tolerated Protestants, and based voting rights on property qualifications and not religion
d. The Salem Witch Trials
i. Samuel Parris was the reverend and village ministerwhose nieces were "victims" of witchcraft
ii. The girls accused neighbors (most were old women who opposed Parris's ministry)
iii. New England judges were those who compromised Puritanism through service of Dominion of New England
iv. The court hanged 19 people
v. These trials were ended when the girls accused the governor's wife
4. The Completion Empire
a. The Glorious Revolution killed absolutism in England
b. It guaranteed royal government would be representative government in colonies
c. Both Crown and colonists took for granted that any colony settled by English got to elect assembly to vote on taxes and consent to local laws
d. Royal government soon became normal after New Jersey proprietors surrendered powers in 1702
e. The Navigation Act of 1696 plugged in earlier loopholes and extended to America the English system of vice admiralty courts
f. Vice admiralty courts dispensed quick justices without juries
g. The Board of Trade replaced Lords of Trade in 1696 (purely advisory)
h. John Locke was an English philosopher and economist, one of the board's first members
i. The Act of Union merged Scotland and England into single kingdom (Great Britain)
i. Placed Scotland inside Navigation Act System
ii. Legalized Scottish participation in tobacco trade
iii. Opened to ambitious Scots numerous colonial offices
iv. The tobacco trade built Glasgow
5. Imperial Federalism
a. Transformations between 1689-1707 defined structure of British Empire before American Revolution
b. Woolens Act of 1699 was designed to protect English woolens industry from Irish and others; it did not prohibit woolens manufacture in the colonies--only its export
c. The Hat Act 1732 limited apprentices or slaves a colonial hatter could keep
d. Parliament's policies on oceanic trade were enforceable
e. Inland trade: compliance to policies were minimal to nonexistant
f. The Iron Act of 1750 prohibited erection of certain kinds of new iron mills
g. De facto federalism was a system no one could quite explain or justify; Parliament exercised limited powers and colonies controlled the rest
6. The Mixed and Balanced Constitution
a. The Glorious Revolution transformed British politics and affected colonies after 1700
b. The British constitution was remarkably stable and made ministers legally responsible for their actions
c. James Harrington was a republican thinker
d. Free societies degenerate into tyrannies
e. England had defied history
f. The explanation lay in England's "mixed and balanced" constitution
g. The underlying drama was the struggle of power against liberty
h. Power had to be controlled or liberty lost
i. The real danger was corruption
j. Wars with France aroused acute constitutional anxieties
k. To support Britain's growing power, the kingdom created a funded national debt for the first time; the state agreed to pay interest due to its creditors ahead of all other obligations
l. This gave Britain enormous borrowing power
m. The bank of England facilitate state finances
n. Huge new financial resources vastly increased patronage
o. The Court favored policies that strengthened war-making capabilities
p. The Country stood for liberty
q. Both parties (Whigs and Tories) had court and country wings
r. By 1720, the Tories were a country opposition
s. Whigs were strong advocates of court policies of George I
t. Court Whigs emerged victorious
u. Sir Robert Walpole was the prime minister who led whigs to victory
v. Opposition Tory writers included Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, John Gay, and Henry St. John
w. Radical whigs included John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon
x. Central theme of the opposition was corruption
y. Corruption threatens independence of Parliament and English liberty
z. Debate over liberty reaches America
aa. Especially popular reading was Cato's Letters in the northern colonies
B. An Empire of Settlement: The British Colonies
1. The Engine of British Expansion: the Colonial Household
a. Colonial families rejected the English customs of entail and primogeniture
i. Entail prohibited a landowner, or his heir from dividing (selling) his land or estate during his lifetime
ii. Primogeniture obliged landowners to leave all his land to his eldest surviving son
iii. They failed to structure social relations
iv. Colonial households tried to pass on their status to all sons and provide sufficient dowries to allow daughters to marry into a family of equal status
b. For younger sons the colonies presented a unique opportunity
i. Benjamin Franklin was the youngest son of the youngest son for 5 generations
ii. Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin was colonial America's greatest success story
c. Colonial households "Americanized" during early settlement
d. Settlers accepted temporary dependency among freemen; sons accepted temporary dependency from parents, indentured servants from masters, and apprentices from master craftsman
e. Those who accepted permanent dependency lost the respect of the community
2. The Voluntaristic Ethic and Public Life
a. The quest for independence
b. Military service
i. Only when it suited their future plans
ii. Blind obedience to orders was regarded as slavery
iii. Military service led to land ownership and earlier marriage
3. Three Warring Empires: 1689-1716
a. Four colonial wars between Britain and France
i. King William's War (1689-1697): William Phips of Massachusetts forced Acadia to surrender, but was bluffed into retreating; in the end, the attack on Montreal (France) collapsed
ii. Queen Anne's War (1702-1716)
(a.) Deerfield, Massachusetts: French and Indians destroyed it in winter attack and prisoners were marched to Canada
(b.) John Williams was the pastor of Deerfield
(c.) Eunice Williams was the daughter of John; she was a captive who decided to remain in Canada, eventually converting to Catholicism and marrying an Indian
(d.) Esther Wheelwright was the daughter of a prominent family who also remained in Canada; she converted to Catholicism and became mother superior in a nunnery: Ursuline Order