Summary of Week #3 PDF

Opechancanough Powhatan died in 1618—possibly from depression stemming from Pocahontas’s death the year before. Leadership of the confederation of tribes fell to his brother, Opechacanough. Opechacanough was less tolerant of the colonists than Powhatan. Opechancanough The Virginia Colony’s main meth...

Opechancanough Powhatan died in 1618—possibly from depression stemming from Pocahontas’s death the year before. Leadership of the confederation of tribes fell to his brother, Opechacanough. Opechacanough was less tolerant of the colonists than Powhatan. Opechancanough The Virginia Colony’s main method of support was tobacco, which can’t be grown in a swamp. As whites took more and more Indian land, Opechancanough reached a breaking point. In his mind, this was greed and the colonists needed to be taught a lesson. March 22, 1622 In a series of coordinated attacks, Opechancanough’s warriors killed 347 English settlers (25% of the Virginia Colony) and almost wiped out Jamestown in twentyfour hours. A 1628 woodcut depicting the “Jamestown Massacre” Tidewater Wars (or Uprising of 1622) With no army to come to their defense, the colonists relied on the English tradition of the militia system—they would defend themselves. Since Indians don’t fight in the traditional, European, open field, linear method, the colonist resorted to more ruthless tactics. Linear Formation Tidewater Wars (or Uprising of 1622) The militia burned Indian villages, destroyed crops, sank canoes, chased natives down with horses and hunted them with dogs. Warfare continued on-and-off for twenty-two years until Opechancanough was killed in 1644. The lessens learned and legacies left from the Tidewater Wars are significant... Lessons From the Tidewater War(s) The colonists conclude that the militia system works. There’s no need to pay for a professional army. Citizens can defend themselves from foreign and domestic threats. This is the beginning of the American tradition of utilizing citizen soldiers (later called volunteers) for military purposes. Lessons From the Tidewater War(s) The idea of a well-trained militia as a means of defense was deemed so important that it was incorporated into the Constitution almost 150 years later: Amendment II A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Lessons From the Tidewater War(s) The Tidewater Wars eliminated, for the time being, the native threat to colonial expansion in the region. Thus it gave the colonists the excuse they needed to take even more of what they wanted from the indigenous population in Virginia. As far as they were concerned, the natives had forfeited any legal and moral rights they might previously have claimed to the ownership of the lands they occupied. Lessons From the Tidewater War(s) Lastly, the perceived unprovoked attack by the Indians implied to the colonists that the natives were heathens—barbaric to the point that they could not be saved. The humanitarians among the settlers in Virginia remained silent. That means future colonial Indian policies that condone removal and/or extermination will be met with general approval. Plymouth Plymouth ✓Pilgrims ✓Puritans ✓Separatists ✓Leyden ✓Speedwell ✓Mayflower Massasoit The New England equivalent to Powhatan was Massasoit, Grand Sachem of the Wampanoag. Through translations provided by Tsquantum (Squanto), the Wampanoag helped the Pilgrims survive the harsh New England climate. Early New England Settlements America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company Metacom (King Philip) Massasoit’s son, Metacom (King Philip), experienced frustrations similar to Opechancanough’s in the Chesapeake. He’s reacting to what he sees as English greed and dishonesty. The resulting King Philip’s War is analogous (similar) to the Tidewater Wars and the lessons learn by the colonists are the same in New England as they were in Virginia and the Chesapeake. To Sum Up... By the end of the seventeenth century, England had succeeded in establishing colonies in North America. They had expanded out from Jamestown to occupy lands adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay. Likewise, to the north, they had ventured outward from Cape Cod Bay and the Atlantic seaboard to inhabit “New England”. The settlers in the Chesapeake and in New England came from the same country—about the size of the modern state of North Carolina... yet they weren’t exactly alike... Chesapeake Male Single Young Mobile (individualism) Materialistic & Competitive Export Staple Crop Plantations Slave Labor Secular High Mortality Constant Immigration New England Male & Female Families All Ages Rooted More Equitable Distribution & Modest Profits Subsistence Farming Villages, Towns Free Labor Religious Low Mortality Great Migration (p. 55) Conventional View North United States South A More Accurate View North South The Advent of Revolution The Middle Colonies Hudson River Susquehanna River Delaware River America, 8th Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company The Middle Colonies Since the main avenues of travel were waterways, the access point to the interior of the colonies were the mouths of the rivers. There, ports with warehouses and markets developed into cities. The five largest cities in colonial America (in order) were: Colonial Cities Philadelphia: population 30,000 London in the 1700s Colonial Cities Philadelphia: population 30,000 NewYork: population 25,000 Boston: population 16,000 Charles Town (Charleston): population 11,000 Newport (Rhode Island): population 10,000 Colonial Cities Colonial Cities This... “Necessary House” Ornate Colonial outhouse or “Necessary House” Colonial Cities