Unit 2: 1607-1754

Spanish goals in the New World (source: Heimler's History): 

• Wealth extraction, particularly in the form of minerals like gold and silver and cash crops like sugar and tobacco. 

• Create a new hierarchy and social order, as seen with the Encomienda and Hacienda System from Unit 1. 

• Consolidate their power. 

• Convert Native Americans to Christianity (this had the added effect of the Native Americans adopting elements of Christianity into aspects of their cultural religions, called syncretism)  

• Remake the new world in their own image

French/Dutch goals in the New World (source: Heimler's History):

• Build trading posts, which also meant having few colonists. 

• Cooperate with Native populations (including through strategic marriages between French men and Native American women)

• With the Dutch in particular, their establishment of New Amsterdam would be pinnacle of their success in the Americas.

• Accommodation of Native Americans with the sole goal of gaining wealth through the fur trade.

British goals in the New World (source: Heimler's History): 

• Individuals wanted to achieve social mobility, as they felt limited by primogeniture laws, which created a system of inheritance where the eldest child, typically the eldest son, receives the entire estate, title, or position. 

• Economic prosperity, with focus on the colony of Jamestown, which was populated by young men searching for wealth. 

• Religious freedom: 

  • Puritans: A group of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to "purify" the Church of England of its remaining Catholic practices. They believed in strict moral codes, the importance of education, and that civil authority should enforce religious laws, leading to their colonization of New England. Driven from England due to religious hostility from the monarchy, they established a "city upon a hill" in America, which became the foundation for many of the United States' institutions and social values.  

  • Separatists:  Also known as pilgrims, who broke completely from the Church of England to seek religious freedom and established the Plymouth Colony in 1620. 

• Improved living conditions, as England was experiencing population growth and poor farmers were going through the Enclosure Movement, which allowed the wealthy to claim lands. 

The one motivation that they had in common was an economic motivation. All of the nations wanted to make money in the New World.  

The New England colonies were a group of English colonies in northeastern North America, primarily consisting of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

One of the colonies was the Plymouth Colony, which saw people emigrate as family groups to create a more tolerant society for themselves. This led them to sign the Mayflower Compact, which was one of the first English self-governing laws in the nation. It constituted an unusually democratic, majority-rule government. 

Another colony was the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was also settled by family groups and focused more on creating a Biblical society. Although, property owning, free men could vote on certain issues and there were town hall debates and majority rule. 

For both colonies, they didn't practice large scale agriculture and instead focused on exports like fish, fur, and timber. They were both also deeply religious, church-centered communities. 

The Middle colonies were a region of four English colonies—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware—that were diverse in their geography, economy, and population. Known as the "breadbasket" of colonial America for their prolific grain production, the region was also a center of commerce and trade, attracting a wide variety of European immigrants.

The Middle colonies were known for (source: Heimler's History):

• Having multiple kinds of people and many religions because of the high religious tolerance. 

• An environment with sea ports and rivers and fertile soil. 

• Economic focused colony with grain as a major export. You can remember it as the "breadbasket," as previously stated. 

New York in particular was known for (source: Heimler's History):

• Prosperous trading colony with many rivers and sea ports. 

• Particular focus on grain due to the rich soil and river valleys.

Pennsylvania in particular was known for (source: Heimler's History):

• Religious liberty, with the state becoming a refuge for Quakers and other dissenters such as Pacifists. 

•  Good treatment of Native American populations with an emphasis on equitable diplomacy. 

• Policy created by an elected and representative assembly. 

• Profitable economic sector.

Attributes of the Middle Colonies (source: Heimler's History):

• Fertile soil

• Diverse population and belief systems

• Less participation than New England, more than South. 

The Chesapeake (Virginia and Maryland) and North Carolina colonies were both focused on exporting a labor-intensive cash crop—primarily tobacco—which initially relied on white indentured servants before shifting to African slavery, particularly after events like Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.

One of the key features of the Chesapeake and North Carolina colonies was the use of African slavery, which replaced indentured servitude. Their use of chattel slavery came after Bacon's Rebellion, which made many landowners wary of using indentured servants. As they expanded westward, they also conflicted with Native Americans. 

The colonies were also quite democratic, with their very own House of Burgesses.

Climate of the Chesapeake and North Carolina colonies (source: Heimler's History):

• Warm weather to support plantations, ideal climate for exports like tobacco.

The climate and geography were ideal for large-scale agriculture. The economy was focused on growing and exporting cash crops like tobacco, rice, and indigo. The plantation system required a large labor force. Initially, this was met with indentured servants, but the system gradually shifted to rely heavily on enslaved labor. Society was often divided into a hierarchy with a small, wealthy planter aristocracy at the top, followed by poor farmers, and enslaved people at the bottom. 

Main attributes of Southern colonies (source: Heimler's History):

• Highest concentration of slave labor and large plantations that supported cash crops like sugar. 

• Slave codes that stripped rights and humanity from African American laborers, although they retained their native beliefs and culture the best way they could. 

With the increased use of colonies, the world began relying on more transatlantic trade than ever. The cycle of trade worked in many ways, such as the Triangular Trade:

The Americas sent rum, sugar, cotton, tobacco, and molasses to Europe

Europe sent textiles, rum, and manufactured goods to Africa

Africa sent slaves to The Americas 

This created economic co-dependence, as all of these nations needed each other for their goods and profits. This created two effects (source: Heimler's History):

• Colonial economies focused on high demand commodities like sugar. 

• Increased demand for slave laborers. 

This also promoted the system of mercantilism, which was an economic system that promoted greater exports than imports. Focused on gold. To protect their share, Britain created the Navigation Acts, which demanded imported goods be taxed through English ports, valuable goods go to England, and and goods had to be transported on English ships. This angered the colonists, who would rather earn money independently, but they quickly learned that they could ignore the acts without much consequence. This was called salutary neglect.  

Bacon's Rebellion: An armed uprising in colonial Virginia from 1676–1677, led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor William Berkeley. The revolt stemmed from political disputes over policy toward Native Americans, high taxes, and falling tobacco prices, along with a desire for land among frontiersmen. Key events included the rebels attacking both friendly and hostile tribes and burning Jamestown. The rebellion ended after Bacon's death and the arrival of English troops, but it led to an increased reliance on enslaved African labor in Virginia as a means to prevent future uprisings by former indentured servants. 

Europeans chose to ally with Native Americans in order to fight against other colonizing nations. Although, this wasn't a one way relationship, as Native Americans found their own way to exploit these relationships.     

Some examples of this type of relationship was the Beaver Wars, which solidified the powers of the Iroquois Confederacy. 

Groups also banned together to fight the colonizers, led by Indigenous leaders such as Metacom. This famously led to King Phillip's War, which briefly pushed the colonists towards the coast before it ultimately ended with the death of Metacom. 

The Pueblo Revolt was also a major revolt that fought against Spanish religious persecution and terrorizing, economic exploitation, drought and famine, and violence and abuse against Pueblo women. The Pueblos successfully expelled the Spanish and reestablished their independence for twelve years, restoring their traditional religious practices and governance. The revolt is considered the most successful Indigenous uprising against European colonial power in North American history.