Eliza Lucas Pinckney

Class Date: February 19th, 9:30am

Location: Your couch! See your weekly e-mail for Zoom link!

We have been discussing the people native to the now American part of the continent the past few weeks. Now we turn to the East Coast to the colonizers that came to the shores and created a new living system after pushing out indigenous people. We will focus on the life of Eliza Lucas Pickney, a South Carolina colonial planter. Before we talk about her life, here is a brief overview of the events of the time:

• 1497 - Cabot crosses the Atlantic

Henry VII of England commissioned John Cabot, an Italian navigator, to search for new English territories across the Atlantic. Though Cabot was searching for a trade route for China. Instead of finding China, he reached somewhere near Newfoundland before returning to England to report.

• 1513 - Ponce de Leon lands in Florida

Sailing for Spain, Juan Ponce de Leon lands on the North American continent, making contact with the people living in what is now Florida. He returns in 1521 to establish a colony, but the invaders meet armed resistance. Ponce is attacked and fatally wounded. The Spanish will continue to invade the Florida region and eventually establish settlements.

• 521 - Magellan circumnavigates the globe

Funded by Charles V of Spain, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sails around South America to the Pacific. Though Magellan died in 1521, it is his expedition that circumnavigated the globe, opening up new avenues for exploration and colonization. 

• 1534 - Cartier charts the Gulf of Lawrence

French explorer Jacques Cartier spends much of his time between 1525 and 1534 charting what would become Canada. He charted the Gulf of Lawrence and explored up the river as far as present-day Montreal.

• 1584 - English explorers reach Roanoke Island

Walter Raleigh of England sent two ships on a reconnaissance mission to Roanoke Island off the coast of Carolina. The local tribe welcomed the English, offering help and trade. in 1585, the island was settled by the English colonists but in 1587, John White, the governor, left to gather supplies and reinforcements to bring back. When he was finally able to return in 1590, he found the colony abandoned and only the word “CROATOAN” carved on a post. To read more about this enduring mystery, click here:

 https://www.livescience.com/vanished-colonists-at-roanoke

• 1595 - Pocahontas is born

The subject of much debate and even a Disney movie, this young native woman’s life was far more complicated than worrying over animal sidekicks. In fact, she was instrumental in relations between the powerful Powhatan Chiefdom that included more than 30 Algonquian speaking tribes. To read more about her life and involvement with the English, click here: https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/pocahontas-her-life-and-legend.htm

The Virginia Company had sent along instructions for where to settle and who would serve as the council members for the new outpost. Unfortunately, the death tolls were high, largely due to drinking from the salty/slimy portion of the river and bug-born diseases. Luckily for the settlers, Chief Powhatan sent gifts of food to help the starving and ill settlers, saving the settlement from complete disaster.

• 1619 - The first African indentured servants arrived in the British North American colonies

Initially Africans were brought as indentured servants, meaning they were forced to work for a period of time before being granted freedom. At the time, some Englishmen and women arrived under these terms as well, to ‘pay’ for their passage over the Atlantic with their labor. However, less than a decade later, the first African slaves were brought to New Amsterdam. By 1690, there were African slaves being forcibly held in every colony.

• 1619 - House of Burgesses meets for the first time

The first colonial example of representative assembly in the English colonies. (Native governments practiced representative government long before this point.) The Virginia Company voted to abolish martial law and create the General Assembly. They met in the church at Jamestown, representing 11 settlements, having been elected to serve. Only white men, who owned a certain amount of property, were allowed to vote for the representatives, called Burgesses.

• 1620 - The Mayflower arrives

A group of 120 English settlers arrive to establish another colony, which they name Plymouth, the name of their port of departure in England. To read more about the establishment of Plymouth, click here: https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/plymouth

• 1622 - Powhatan Natives attack English settlements

Though the colonists and Powhatan Confederacy had established peace in 1614, colonists continued to spread out from their initial settlements, encroaching on Powhatan territory, stealing food, abusing people, and allowing livestock to destroy crops and sacred sites. The swift and successful attack on the colonists was meant to demonstrate the military might of the Powhatan Confederacy and encourage the English to leave the area. The surprise attack resulted in the deaths of 347 colonists and launched the Second Powhatan War, which lasted until 1626. 

• 1630 - John Winthrop sails for New England

Appointed governor by the Massachusetts Bay Company, John Winthrop sets sail with 700 settlers. They select Boston as the site of the first Massachusetts settlement. Winthrop begins a journal of his time in Massachusetts and it is eventually published as The History of New England. 

• 1650 - Colonial population growing

It’s estimated that the colonial population of the Eastern seaboard was roughly 50,000. 

• 1665 - Great Plague kills 75,000 in London

An epidemic of the Bubonic or Black Plague spread throughout London in 1665 and 1666. The hardest hit areas were the poor, crowded areas of the city. Some historians believe that up to 100,000 people might have perished. In 1666, the great London Fire swept through the city. Though the fire devastated London economically, it is thought that the fire may have wiped out many of the rats and fleas that were carrying the plague, helping to bring an end to the epidemic. To watch a 3 minute, animated overview, click here: https://youtu.be/LBvOZO1gmOE

• 1675 - King Philip’s War

The conflict between the Wampanoag and the English has been called the most devastating conflict in America because 1 in 10 soldiers on both sides was killed, 1,200 colonial homes were burned, and many food stores were destroyed. The colonials suffered the effects for years, as did the natives who continued to have their lands encroached upon and their way of life disrupted. To read more about the conflict, click here:

https://connecticuthistory.org/americas-most-devastating-conflict-king-philips-war/

• 1680 - Pueblo Natives revolt

The Spanish had been making slow incursions north of the Mexican territory they occupied. Initially trading with Pueblo and other Natives, as Spanish fortunes began to wane, they increasingly demanded more from Natives. The Pueblo peoples revolted, capturing Spanish horses in the process. Though the Spanish had already traded horses, this revolt and capture helped spur horse culture among Southwest Natives. Eventually, horses would be traded up to the Great Plains, helping the Comanche people establish their dominance over the area as a horse riding people. 

• 1744 - Treaty of Lancaster

Onondaga hoyaneh (chief, or Tadadaho) Canasatego addresses English colonists at the signing of the Treaty of Lancaster between the Haudensaunee and colonists. He reminds them that “whatever befalls you, never fall out with another.”

• 1751 - Slavery is legalized in Georgia

Georgia, the last of the 13 colonies, had banned slavery in 1735, by decree of James Oglethorpe. No one was opposed to slavery on principle, but rather didn’t see it working with their economic institutions. The nearby Spanish settlements in Florida routinely offered assistance to slaves willing to revolt or escape from the English. Bowing to increasing pressure from residents, the Georgia government passed legislation permitting slavery. The capture and importation of enslaved peoples grew quickly, as planters sought to force people to work their rice plantations. 

• 1765 - Coverture traditions are encouraged

Sir William Blackstone published Commentaries on the Laws of England that encouraged colonials to follow the tradition of “coverture” - the idea that once married, a woman’s property belongs to her husband and she ceases to have any legal rights. Coverture was brought over by British colonists, who practiced English Common Law, which also removed the legal rights of married women.

That is where our timeline leaves us for this week! Check below for additional reading resources!

To read more about this period, here are some great books to get you started:

For adults:

Eliza Lucas Pinckney: Colonial Plantation Manager and Mother of American Patriots 1722-1793 by Margaret F. Pickett

In 1739, Major George Lucas moved from Antigua to Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and two daughters. Soon after their arrival, England declared war on Spain and he was recalled to Antigua to join his regiment. His wife in poor health, he left his daughter Eliza, 17, in charge of his three plantations. Following his instructions, she began experimenting with plants at the family estate on Wappoo Creek. She succeeded in growing indigo and producing a rich, blue dye from the leaves, thus bringing a profitable new cash crop to Carolina planters.

While her accomplishments were rare for a young lady of the 18th century, they were not outside the scope of what was expected of a woman at that time. This biography, drawn from her surviving letters and other sources, chronicles Eliza Pinckney's life and explores the 18th century world she inhabited.

The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney 1739-1762 by Elise Pinckney

One of the most distinguished women of colonial America, Eliza Lucas Pinckney pioneered large-scale cultivation of indigo in South Carolina, managed her father's extensive plantation holdings, and raised two sons―Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney―who would become celebrated patriots of the new nation. Pinckney's lively letters reveal insightful details about an eventful life, including her myriad interests, changing politics, innovative ideas about slave education, voracious reading habits, and unusually happy marriage. Substantial footnotes and a newly revised introduction complement Pinckney's delightful correspondence.

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191736810.timeline.0001

https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/a-short-history-of-jamestown.htm

https://www.worldhistory.org/Indian_Massacre_of_1622/

https://pacificu.libguides.com/c.php?g=1050460&p=7794169

https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-01-31/european-colonization-americas-killed-10-percent-world-population-and-caused

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American/Native-American-history

https://pages.nativehope.org/reflecting-on-our-foundations#understanding-native-tribes

https://www.ushistory.org/us/2f.asp