Chapter 4: American Life in the Seventeenth Century (1607-1692)

The Unhealthy Chesapeake In the Chesapeake, the population grew slowly and mostly by immigration because diseases, such as malaria, typhoid, and dysentery, slashed life expectancies, and women were in short supply Family ties were weak, with high spouse and child mortality and many unmarried pregnant women But eventually developed immunity to diseases and more women immigrated, so population could sustain itself

The Tobacco Tobacco grew extremely well in the Chesapeake climate and caused soil exhaustion so search for virgin land so Indian attacks and falling tobacco prices so farmers grew even more Economy Indentured servants who gave several years of work in exchange for travel costs and freedom dues provided the labor to farm tobacco Virginia and Maryland encouraged farmers to use indentured servants by giving the farmer 50 acres of land for each indentured servant they hired, so some farmers became merchantplanters who held vast amounts of land, so the lives of freed servants became harder More and more discontent, drifting freedmen were starting to rabble, so 1670 most were Frustrated Freedmen and disenfranchised 1676 in Virginia frontiersmen rebelled under Nathaniel Bacon over governor William Bacon's Berkely's friendliness with the Indians, so attacked the Indians and influenced freedmen and Rebellion servants to rebel as well; were brutally put down after Berkely died of disease Tension remained between the land-owning gentry and freedmen and frontiersmen, so the gentry began using African slaves instead of indentured servants for labor Colonial Slavery Before the 1680s, most African slaves shipped to the New World went to South America or the West Indies, because they were too expensive for American colonists But in the 1680s onwards, use of African slaves grew greatly because of rising wages in England, mutinous freedmen, and the 1698 opening of the monopoly on the African slave trade Most African slaves were captured on the west coast of Africa by African tribes who traded them to white merchants, then traveled the grueling middle passage, then were auctioned Early on, slaves were on a similar level as servants, but as the slave population grew, slave codes were formed that distinguished the two largely based on race Slave life was hardest in the South with the unhealthful climate and demanding labor In the Chesapeake area, slave life was easier and the plantations were closer together, so it was possible to keep up with friends and relatives, and there were enough female slaves to have a reproducing slave population American culture and other African cultures influenced slave culture and vice versa Although the slaves did sometimes revolt, ex. 1712 in New York City and 1739 in South Carolina, but were more manageable than the indentured servants In the South, societal gaps were growing, and those at the top were the members of the early-

Africans in America

Southern Society

established families who owned owned much slaves and land and dominated economically and politically, and who were occupied with managing their plantation Small farmers made up the largest social group, with modest plots and maybe a few slaves Below the small farmers were landless whites, often freedmen, then the dying-out indentured servants, then the black slaves The New England Family In New England, the climate improved health, and family was at the center of life Families were stable, large, and novelly included grandparents Women did not have property rights, could not vote, and were believed to be morally weaker than men, but husbands did not have absolute power over their wives Divorce was extremely rare, usually only permissible in cases of adultery or abandonment In New England, society was tightly knit because developed into small villages and was united by Puritanism Unlike in the Chesapeake, expansion was orderly and planned with charters and proprietors Most adults were literate, and the first American colleges were established in the 1600s The government and the Congregational Church were both democratic and held in the town hall

Life in the New England Towns

The Half-Way But tension in New England because of pressures of population growth and diminishing Covenant and religious zeal, so fire-and-brimstone jeremiad preachers arose and the distinction between the elect and the rest was blurred, ex. the Half-Way Covenant the Salem Witch Trials 169293 in Salem, Massachusetts, occurred a hysterical witch hunt that outdid the common witch hunts in Europe because of social and religious tension in addition to superstition The New The hard-to-till, rocky New England soil made for an industrial and frugal mindset and a less England Way diverse population of Life The climate and topography made for little use of black slaves and less exploration inland Unlike the Indians, the colonists believed in taking full advantage of natural resources, so cleared forests, build permanent settlements, introduced livestock, got into shipbuilding and commerce, and fished for cod Were energetic, purposeful, stern, stubborn, self-reliant, and resourceful The Early Colonists' and slaves' lives alike were governed by the cycling of the seasons and the sun Settler's Days Women did housework and childrearing, men did sweaty work, and children did both as they and Ways picked up some schooling Life was comfortable and affluence compared to life in Europe Class distinctions were not flamboyantly displayed, though some did try with ensuing legal and social trouble Summary In the Chesapeake, life was nasty, brutish, and short, and indentured servants were replaced by African slaves after discontent freedmen rebelled In New England, health was better, society was more usually cohesive, and African slaves were no widely used because it was not worth the expense