Columbus Comes Upon a New World

UNIT I

Chapter 1

Columbus comes upon a new world

-Portuguese set the standard with long distance sailing

-Columbus found the new world on accident

When Worlds Collide

New world  old world

Gold, silver, new food goods, tobacco, and syphilis {luxury nonessentials for $}

Old world  new world

Wheat, sugar, rice, coffee + horses, cows, pigs + SMALLPOX, measles, bubonic plague and other diseases {essentials for survival to bring products back to old world}

Africa  new world

Slaves, and a lot of them

-Cultivating sugar mostly happened in the Caribbean, leading to need for slaves

-Smallpox had no immunity: wiped out 90% of native population

-Along with smallpox, enslavement and massacres dwindled down Native population

-Taino natives  1,000,000 to 200 in 50 years

The Spanish Conquistadores

-Treaty of Tordesillas: Spanish + Portuguese decided amongst themselves who gets what

Ignored other nations, and therefore nothing really came of this treaty except for lessened aggression between the Portuguese and Spanish in particular

-Magellan (Spanish) was the first to circumvent the globe in 1519-1522

-Spanish Conquistadores started spreading out across the Caribbean and parts of the mainland

While many explorers went to NA, they didn’t find much
Grand canyon was found I guess- Thanks PSAT
Florida was explored: eventually became Spanish colony
In South America, Pizzarro killed a bunch of Peruvian Incans in 1532
By the 1600s, the Spanish were loaded with Silver, mostly from Bolivian mines
For AP world folks: this is where the encomienda system stuff comes in, but it’s not that important here.
Ballooning money supply + tons of trading planted early seeds of Capitalism

The Conquest of Mexico + The Spread of Spanish America

-Hernan Cortes met the Aztecs with his men

On the way he picked up Malinche
She could translate
Also known as Dona Marina, and as a traitor by the Aztecs
They sold her into Slavery. Does she really owe here loyalty to them?
They made landfall in Tenochtitlan (Aztec Capital)
Also they though the Spanish were gods because of some old prophecy
The Aztecs showered them in gold, because the Spanish wanted it
The Aztecs let them come in unopposed
City was HUGE
Spanish did not expect to see such a huge, sprawling city from the “primitive” natives
Spanish greed began to irritate the Aztecs
On Noche Triste (sad night) [June 1520] the Aztecs attacked the Spanish, forcing them out
Cortes got help from the neighboring tribes (who hated the Aztecs for forcing them to give supplies to them in exchange for peace) to take over Tenochtitlan a year later [1521]
That whole Small Pox epidemic didn’t exactly help the Aztecs either
Eventually ended up integrating into the land
Brought crops and livestock to form
Intermarried with the natives (mestizos)

-Almost the entire Indian population was enslaved

-Spanish were very successful, and it got some other Europeans to encroach on their land

In response to the other Europeans and to spread Christianity, the Spanish continued to settle Northward

Chapter 2

England on the Eve of an Empire

-Increased population

-Since only the eldest sons inherited land, the younger ones went to the new world in search of fortune

-Joint stock companies (more on them later) helped investors pool their capital

-Unemployment, religious freedom, and a thirst for adventures fueled the poor

England in Jamestown

-The Virginia Company received a charter from King James I

They looked to strike gold (literally and figuratively) and become rich
This never actually happened
The Charter given to them guaranteed the settlers the same rights as Englishmen
Jamestown was founded in 1609
Many died on the way or due to disease or malnutrition
There was a lot of food to hunt, but the rich settlers couldn’t be arsed to hunt themselves
John Smith was a good leader and was the saving grace of the trip
Along with him, the natives saved the colonists during the winter with food
Eventually, the settlers took to raiding the local natives for food/supplies
This lead to the first and Second Anglo-Powhatan war (1614/1644)
In both instances, they were defeated due to disease and weaponry

-Natives were heavily affected by the English

Disease killed 90% of the population
Trading with the Europeans was sometimes beneficial, but:
Europeans stole from them often anyway
Firearms trades led to some tribes being MUCH stronger than their rivals, which led to a lot of death
Fur trading led to endangered animal populations and competition for hunting land

Virginia: Child of Tobacco

-After John Rolfe perfected the farming method by 1612, Tobacco was in high demand

Tobacco was being planted EVERYWHERE
HUGE cash crop; took priority over food cultivation
Need for land increased
Need for labor increased (important later)

-First Africans came into the colonies in 1619

Could have been slaves, but also could have been indentured servants
Slave population went on to increase dramatically through the century

-House of Burgesses

One of the first forms of representative self-government
Met in 1619

Maryland

-Maryland was the second plantation colony, formed by Lord Baltimore

Rather than given to a company, the charter was given to Baltimore and Baltimore alone
He disliked democracy and wanted to create a monarchy where his family led
Didn’t end well; most people coming to the new world wanted opportunity and not to be enslaved by the rich
Protestant planters came and ended up surrounding the rich catholic ones
War broke out, and Baltimore eventually lost property rights
Was a catholic, so he made his colony a catholic one
The large number of emigrating protestants didn’t like the Catholics all that much
Led to the act of toleration (1649) which preached toleration for all CHRISTIANS (death to anyone else, but no one really cared about that)

-Maryland still prospered however, and farmed tons of tobacco

Relied mostly on indentured servants for labor
Slaves became more popular after indentured servants became more and more butthurt about not having any land (Bacon’s rebellion and stuff is later, but this is just a hint)

The West Indies

-The west Indies were the home of sugar cultivation

Tobacco was easy to farm in small quantities, sugar was not
Required high yield for profit
Also needed a sugar mill
Because of this, only the rich farmers planted sugar
Sugar was popular in the Caribbean, but spread to the West Indies

-Since a lot of labor was needed, Slaves were in high demand here (even as early as the 1600s, where slaves weren’t popular in NA)

Barbados Slave Code
To control the high population of Africans, the Barbados slave code was passed
Denied fundamental rights to slaves
Slave owners could get away with any and all punishment
Eventually, smaller farmers that couldn’t make it in the Caribbean moved to the states and preached the Barbados slave code there
Similar policies gained adoption in the 1690s in South Carolina

The Carolinas + Georgia

-Named after Charles II, Carolina was formed in 1670

Prospered by developing close ties with the Caribbean
Slave system was used (one of the reasons why southern society eventually became dependent on slaves)
Indian slaves were sometimes traded as well
Rice became a popular crop to grow
Africans grew rice, and the slaves the Carolinians had were already experienced in rice cultivation
Though they had initial conflicts with the natives, the Carolinians just massacred them early to not have to deal with them (even though they were moving north to get away from them anyway)
Since they were on the border of Spanish Florida, there were a few fights in between them, but Carolina survived

-North Carolina was formed in 1712

Outcasts from Virginia came and squatted on northern land
They eventually formed their own state
They and Rhode Island were some of the most independent and democratic societies of the time

-Georgia was formed in 1733

Was meant to be a buffer between the Carolinas and the Spanish
Received funding from the British (unheard of at the time) to make sure they were doing well
Unhealthy climate made it hard to farm, as well as the Spanish attacks and the early restrictions on (black) slaver there

TLDR chapter 2: England was primed to expand into the new world and settled in Jamestown. The Virginia company (which was eventually found to be wildly unsuccessful) was granted a charter and placed themselves down on Jamestown, Virginia. They thought they would find a bunch of gold, and since many of the settlers weren’t used to farming, they all starved. The natives helped them though, but the colonists took too much advantage of that and there were wars afterward. Disease still wrecked the Indians and they barely had a leg to stand on.

In Virginia, Tobacco was huge. Once Rolfe figured out how to grow it, land and labor grew in demand. Though Africans came in in 1619, the easy majority of work was done by Indentured servants. The House of Burgesses also was the first example of self-representative government, also in 1619. In Maryland, Lord Baltimore tried to make a catholic kingdom where his family ruled, but that fizzled out due to the high number of protestants and the yearning for colonists to be free and not treated as serfs (go figure). Anyway, they still passed an act of religious toleration in 1649, where all Christians (and no one else) were cool. The West Indies grew sugar, and it was grown by the rich because it could only make profit off high yields. They also needed a bunch of slaves, and published the Barbados slave code to make sure the slaves had NO rights. This slave philosophy was moved north to the North American south, where in South + north Carolina slaves were used to cultivate rice. North Carolina was more of a poor man’s offshoot, but it was very democratic. Georgia was used as a buffer state and it worked. They also were against slaves.

The plantation colonies (Maryland, Virginia, N+S Carolina, and Georgia) were all focused on exporting agricultural products (Georgia not so much).There was also some religious toleration in all these colonies, and were all expansionary because Tobacco destroyed the landscape and they needed more land.

Chapter 3

Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism

-Calvinism preached that god was all powerful/good

Humans were all sinners and wicked
Some, the elect, were already going to Heaven (god knows) while others were already going to hell
This was called predestination
Calvinists seeked to see signs of conversion, or god telling the elect that they are good
They must then live good lives as “visible saints”.

-Puritans wanted to purify the church of England

They were generally poor
They wanted to see progress in the protestant reformation, but didn’t
Were actually called Puritans insultingly, they call themselves Congregationalists because they want congregations to make decisions and not Bishops
There were also Separatists (extremist Puritans) that wanted to leave the Church of England.

Pilgrims and Their Pilgrimage

-Pilgrims (mostly separatists) went on the mayflower to Plymouth

-Signed the Mayflower compact

First step towards genuine self-government

-After landing in the winter with very little food, many died (1620-1621)

-1621 did end up giving them a good harvest in the later part of the year however, re-affirming that “god made his children prosperous”.

-They had a string of strong leaders, like William Bradford

-They eventually merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Massachusetts Bay Colony

-Formed by Puritans in 1630

They were more prepared than previous colonies, bringing many people and a lot of supplies
Many came from the Great Migration, where thousands left England to escape religious persecution
Winthrop appointed governor; delivered famous “city on a hill” sermon

-Only Puritan adult male church members could vote

About 2/5 of adult male population
While it doesn’t sound great, it was much better than England
Though this was the case, “non-believers” and believers were both ruled by the government and both paid taxes

-Preachers did not have absolute power

No clergymen could hold public office
A congregation could hire/fire ministers
Though the government and religion went almost hand in hand, the Puritans knew better than to create a bond between church and state

-There were instances where dissension appeared

Quakers criticized the Puritan clergy, and were beaten and flogged for doing so.
Anne Hutchinson claimed that a holy life doesn’t guarantee salvation, and that if the holy were truly saved, they would not have to bother to obey the law, because they’d get into heaven anyway.
She was banished to New York, where she was killed by Indians
Roger Williams was a separatist who urged the clergy to break away from the Church of England and challenged the legality of the Bay Colony’s charter. He also denied the right of the government to police religious behavior
He was banished in 1635
He formed Rhode island in 1636
He created one of the first Baptist churches
Gave complete religious toleration, even for Jews/Catholics
Made no mandates on Religion (taxes, church membership, etc.)
Clergymen considered Rhode Island a “sewer”
It received a charter in 1644

Connecticut colony

-Hartford was founded in 1635

-In 1639, the colonists drafted “the fundamental orders”

Basically a modern constitution
Championed democracy

-New haven was formed in 1638

Founded by Puritans

-Massachusetts Bay Colony was becoming larger

Already swallowed Plymouth
Was going to swallow New Hampshire, but the king prevented it and turned NH into a royal colony

Puritans V. Indians

-Squanto and the Wampanoag befriended the settlers from Plymouth, but eventually after Squanto died they went into conflict

King Phillip’s war (or Metacom’s war) slowed westward English settlement for decades
Was a joint effort of many tribes against the settlers
Tried to stop them encroaching on their land, and succeeded for the time being

-Pequot war

In 1637, Hostilities exploded between the settlers and the Pequot, but the tribe was slaughtered
This started a 4 decade “iffy” peace between the natives and the settlers

Seeds of Colonial Unity and Independence

-The New England Confederation was formed between 4 colonies

First grouping of colonies into 1 conglomerate
English were took distracted with the civil war to take notice
Meant to be a collective effort against the Indians, French, and Dutch
Entirely Puritan states

-Charles II was angered that the colonies (especially Mass.) were not following orders

Gave Connecticut and Rhode Island (the sewer) charters
Eventually revoked the Bay Colony’s charter in 1684
Created the Dominion of New England
An administrative union for use in governance
Colonists obviously disliked it
Aimed to bolster colonial defense
Headed by Edmund Andros
Navigation laws were passed
Sought to throttle American trade with non-English countries
Americans hated it
Started smuggling
The Dominion of New England fell to pieces after the Glorious Revolution (1688-1689)
First real colonial revolt
Led to Salutary neglect, where the new monarchs only loosely followed the navigation laws

Quakers

-Were known as dissenters and arose in England during the 1600s

Refused to pay Church taxes
Abhorred fighting and refused military service

-William Penn became attracted to the Quaker faith in 1660

Got some land to start a Quaker colony
Only got it because the crown was indebted to his family
Called the land Pennsylvania
Advertised the colony around Europe
Started the colony in 1681
Bought land from the Indians to avoid conflict
Treated the natives very fairly
Eventually non-Quakers ruined what they had going
Very Liberal
Had a legislative assembly
No tax funded church
Religious freedom (Penn was still forced to deny Catholics/Jews the vote though)
Blue laws, however, still existed
Colony prospered due to sound business decisions and trades
Pennsylvania was eventually plagued by bad governors after Penn was no longer there

-Quaker colonies soon sprouted up in NJ and Delaware

TLDR chapter 3: After the protestant reformation, Puritans (called Congregationalists because they wanted to reform the Church of England and give congregations the power) and Pilgrims (separatists who were extreme puritans and wanted to leave the Church) went to England. The Pilgrims founded Plymouth, and followed the Mayflower compact, which was the first ever self-governing document and established the “social contract” for years to come. Though many of them died in the first winter they got there in 1620-1621, they eventually had a good harvest the following year and eventually joined the Bay colony. The Bay Colony was a huge colony developed for the Puritans. The Puritans escaped religious prosecution in the great migration of the 1630s, but were a bit hypocritical. They only allowed church members to vote, and banished any dissenters (Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams, etc.). Speaking of Roger Williams, he went on to found Rhode Island, a religiously tolerant and very liberal state that was considered to be a “sewer” by the Bay colonialists. Connecticut also had their own Puritan colony, and was famous for publishing the fundamental orders, yet another governing document. Puritans and Indians didn’t have a fantastic relationship, but at first they worked together. Encroaching on the Indians land, the Puritans had to end up slaughtering the Natives (the disease helped) in the following wars. Metacom’s war, however, was one of the Native’s successful wars, and stagnated colonial expansion for a bit.