Professor Jopp's lecture: Monday, June 9, 2003

Professor Jopp's lecture: Monday, June 9, 2003

Emigration from England

people came for land (in English law then, the oldest son got the land -- other family members got nothing)
the poor came for economic reasons: hoping for a better life
the wealthy (rich) came hoping to become even richer
the middling class (becoming middle class) left for religious reasons
- some Protestants became very extreme (severe, strict, very religious) = the Puritans

The wealthy generally went to southern colonies (for example, Virginia and Maryland). They were given huge estates (10,000 acres) by the English government.

Needed laborers (workers):
- The Native Americans would not work for the estate owners
- The poor from English were willing to work for a short period of time, but they wanted their own land. Also, the economic situation is England soon improved and the poor were not so desperate and didn't want to work as servants
- Meanwhile English has taken over the African slave trade from Spain, so slaves began to be used as laborers.
  - Chattel slavery developed in the South and was unique among slave systems = permanent, inherited condition = the children of slaves were also slaves
  - also unique as that American slaves were all black

The middling classes generally went to the northern colonies (for example, Massachusetts)

Most people had about the same amount of land
They established family farms (150-600 acres)
- Family members did the work. There were many children.

	northern colonies	southern colonies
land holding	family farms	large estates
labor systems	family members	large estates
social structure	fully developed: shop keepers, teachers, etc.; Families came together (roughly equal number of men and women, too); set up an English society; high rate of population growth	owners of the estates and the people who work for them: male landowners, poor male laborers, male slaves (75% of Virginia and Maryland immigrants were men in the 17th century); slower population growth

Over time, the colonies grew:

the population grew to 2.5 million by about 1750
economically
- trade increased
- artisan trades developed
politically: the colonial governments grew more autonomous
socially: fewer people have connections with England and most have never been there

Conflicts develop between the colonies and England. The colonist began to hate English because of money and land:

	England	the Colonies
money	England wanted colonies to get money to help pay for wars England thought the colonies should help pay for the wars with taxes (paper, tea, imported goods like glass, etc.)	didn't want to give England money didn't want to pay for England's wars
land	the English had fought with Native Americans over land from the time the English arrived in North America; they wanted to keep peace now with the Native Americans the English wanted to go west England told the colonist the couldn't go west	colonist wanted more land and to be able to go west

So, the colonists went to war against England (then the most powerful country in the world). They won because:

so many colonist supported the war
the French helped
(the Native Americans sided with the British because they felt their future would be more peaceful)