American Life in
the 17th Century
1607 - 1692
Chesapeake Colonies:
Virginia, Maryland, Delaware
Lots of disease
shorter life expectancy
Families were few and fragile
Men outnumbered women
By 1700, Virginia was most populous colony
Tobacco Economy
As prices dropped, production increased
which created demand for more labor
1630’s – exported 1.5 million pounds
1700 – exported 40 million pounds
Tobacco Labor
Indentured servants = “white slaves”
• 100,000 by 1700
“Headright” system: merchant – planter class
• Whoever paid the passage of a laborer received the
right to acquire 50 acres
Conditions worsened over the
course of the 17th century
• Freed indentured servants didn’t
received promised land
• Hard to find single women to start families
Problems Arise
1670 – Impoverished freemen of Virginia
were disfranchised
Governor William Berkeley of Virginia –
believed poor people should be excluded
Bacon’s Rebellion 1676
Rebellion of frontiersmen against Gov. Berkeley
Led by Nathaniel Bacon
forced into backcountry to find land
Angry with Berkeley: friendly with
Indians who attacked the
frontiersmen &
monopolized fur trade
Bacon retaliates/
chases Berkeley
out of Jamestown,
burns the capital
Results
Ignited the smoldering unhappiness of landless
former servants against the gentry
Bacon died of disease, Berkeley hung 20+
Planters looked for less troublesome source of
labor - slaves
Colonial Slavery
Decrease in indentured servitude after 1680’s
Better economy in England
Need for slavery increases after 1680’s
Rhode Island rushes to cash in on slave trade
Most of the slaves came from the West Coast of
Africa
Coastal tribes captured inland tribes in Africa & sold them
into slavery
Middle Passage – 20% death rate
Triangular slave
trade
Slave Ship
Conditions for Slaves
Slave codes
Made Africans & their children property/ chattels for life
Laws about reading, writing, & religion
Conditions were most harsh on South Carolina’s
rice & indigo plantations
lonely, harder work, separated from family
Chesapeake – easier on slaves
Slave Revolts
New York City –1712
South Carolina – 1739
No slave uprising in American
history matched the scale of
Bacon’s Rebellion
Slavery started off for economic reasons, end of
17th century, racial discrimination played a role
Southern Society
Planter Aristocracy:FFV’s
(First Families of Virginia)
Owned gangs of slaves & vast domains of lands
Monopolized political power
Yeomen farmers: landowning small farmers
Landless white: former indentured servants
White indentured servants
Black slaves
New England Family Life
Healthier environment – longer life span
Family was the center of life – stability
Migrated as families
Early marriage – booming birthrate
New England Family
“invented” grandparents
Women gave up property rights
Southern women allowed women to retain separate
titles & inherit their husband’s estates
Divorce – rare
Women had limited rights –
husband’s power was not
absolute
Life in New England Towns
Tightly knit society – small villages & farms
Meetinghouse (worship & town hall)
Education
Town with 50+ families - required to have elementary school
Colleges
• 1636 – Harvard college established
• (1693 – William & Mary established in Virginia)
Town meeting
“The best school of political liberty the world ever saw.”
Thomas Jefferson
Religious Problems in New England
Sermons scolded parishioners for their
waning piety - “Jeremiads”
Decline in conversions
1662 – “Half-Way Covenant” led to widening
church membership
Partial membership rights to people not yet converted
Shows difficultly of maintaining religious devotion of
founding generation
Women made up the majority of Puritan churches
Salem Witch Trials 1692
Salem, Massachusetts
Adolescent girls claimed to be bewitched by older
women
Witch hunt led to lynching of 20 persons (+2
dogs!)
Accused witches – Salem’s prosperous merchant class
Accusers – poorer families in Salem’s agricultural class
Hysteria ended in 1693 when governor’s wife was
accused
Weakened the prestige of the Puritan clergy
The New England Way of Life
Premium placed on
industry & frugality
Less ethnically mixed
Extremes of weather
Diversified agriculture
& industry
Natural harbors
Experts in
shipbuilding &
commerce
Exploited the fish
industry – “Gold
mines of New England”
New England Legacy
Calvinism, soil & climate
Prided themselves on being God’s chosen people
& boasted that Boston was the “Hub of the
Universe”
New England pioneers re-created New England
towns from Ohio to Oregon
Early Settler Life
Schedules set by the seasons & sun
Spring – plant/ summer – tend crops/ fall-harvest/
winter- prepare to begin planting
Compared to most Europeans, Americans lived in
affluent abundance
Land was relatively cheap
Increased Social Unrest
Resentment against upper-class
1676 – Bacon’s Rebellion (Virginia)
1689-91- Leisler’s Rebellion
• Animosity between lordly landholders & merchants
• Bloody insurgency that rocked New York City
End of the 17th century – Protestant uprising
(Maryland)