The Handy American History Answer Book. David L. Hudson
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What are the origins of slavery in America?
The roots of slavery in North America date back to about 1400, when the Europeans arrived in Africa. At first, the result of African contact with Europeans was positive, opening trade routes and expanding markets. Europeans profited from Africa’s rich mineral and agricultural resources and for a while abided by local laws governing their trade; Africans benefited from new technologies and products brought by the Europeans. But the relationship between the two cultures soon turned disastrous as the Europeans cast their attention on a decidedly different African resource—the people themselves. As the Portuguese in West and East Africa began trading in human lives and the Dutch in South Africa clashed with the native people who—once displaced by the wars—became servants and slaves, other Europeans began calculating the profits that could be made in the slave trade.
By the end of the 1400s, Europeans had landed in the New World. Soon Europe’s established and emerging powers vied to control territories in the new lands of North and South America and the West Indies. The Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and Swedes all made claims in the Western Hemisphere and began setting up colonies.
By the mid–1600s, triangular patterns of trade emerged. The most common route began on Africa’s West Coast, where ships picked up slaves. The second stop was the Caribbean islands—predominately the British and French West Indies—where the slaves were sold to plantation owners and traders, who used the profits to purchase sugar, molasses, tobacco, and coffee. These raw materials were then transported north to the third stop, New England, where a rum industry was thriving. There, ships were loaded with the spirits before traders made the last leg of their journey back across the Atlantic to Africa’s West Coast, where the process began again. Other trade routes operated as follows: 1) manufactured goods were transported from Europe to the African coast; slaves to the West Indies; and sugar, tobacco, and coffee back to Europe, where the route began again; and 2) lumber, cotton, and meat were transported from the colonies to southern Europe; wine and fruits to England; and manufactured goods to the colonies, where the route began again. There were as many possible routes as there were ports and demand for goods.
The tragic result of the triangular trade was the transport of an estimated ten million Africans. Sold into slavery, these human beings were often chained below deck and allowed only brief—if any—periods of exercise during the transatlantic crossing, which came to be called the Middle Passage. Conditions for the slaves were brutal, improving only slightly when traders realized that should slaves perish during the long journey across the ocean, it would adversely affect their profits upon arrival in the West Indies. After Caribbean economies crashed at the end of the 1600s, many slaves were sold to plantation owners on the North American mainland, initiating another tragic trade route. The slave trade was abolished in the 1800s, putting an end to the forced migration of Africans to the Western Hemisphere.
When did the first Africans arrive in the British colonies of North America?
In 1619, a Dutch ship carrying twenty Africans landed at Jamestown, Virginia. They were put to work as servants, not as slaves. Though they had fewer rights than their white counterparts, they were able to gain their freedom and acquire property, which prompted the development of a small class of “free Negroes” in colonial Virginia. For example, there is record of one Anthony Johnson arriving in Virginia in 1621 as a servant. He was freed one year later, and about thirty years after that he imported five servants 18 himself, receiving from Virginia 250 acres of land for so doing.
Who founded Pennsylvania?
William Penn (1644–1718), a prominent English real estate magnate and son of a British admiral, founded the province of Pennsylvania with the permission of King Charles II in 1681. He later founded the city Philadelphia, Greek for “brotherly love.” Penn, a Quaker, wanted to found a colony in which Quakers could live in peace and not be prosecuted. Penn sometimes referred to his plan as the “Holy Experiment.” King Charles II named the area Pennsylvania after Penn’s father. Penn created a charter of liberties that included freedoms later found in the U.S. Bill of Rights—individual liberties such as the right to an impartial trial and trial by jury.
In what publication did William Penn establish an early constitution?
Penn wrote Frame for Government, a detailed plan for the government of Pennsylvania. It provides for a representative body of officials who accept or reject legislation from the council of the government. It provided for freedom of worship and limited the death penalty to only the most violent of crimes. It also provided for a bicameral form of government and is viewed as an important precursor to American democracy.
Who were the Carolinas named after?
Both North Carolina and South Carolina were named after English King Charles II (1630–1685). The two were initially one British territory or province. However, in 1712 the two officially split into separate British provinces. By 1729, both provinces became royal colonies.
Who founded the colony of Georgia?
General James Oglethorpe (1696–1785) founded the colony of Georgia with the permission of King George II of England—for whom the colony was named. Oglethorpe petitioned to create this colony to house many who were imprisoned for debt in England and also for some Protestants persecuted for their religious beliefs. Oglethorpe landed in South Carolina and moved his settlers to present-day Savannah, Georgia, in 1733. The colony of Georgia served as a buffer of sorts between the English colonies to the north and the Spanish-held Florida.
William Penn was the founder of Pennsylvania, as well as the city of Philadelphia.
What were the different types of early colonial governments?
The three forms of early colonial government were royal, corporate, and proprietary. A royal colony was one where the English government set up a royal governor, who directly ruled the colony in the name of the Crown. Several early American colonies were royal colonies, including Georgia, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York.
Corporate colonies were colonies established by a trading company that received permission from the Crown to set up a colony in the form of a charter. Connecticut and Rhode Island were corporate colonies.
Proprietary colonies were colonies established by one or two landowners who served as the primary ruler of such lands. Pennsylvania was an example of a proprietary colony, as William Penn was granted the province by charter. The Carolinas were other examples of proprietary colonies.
What was Bacon’s Rebellion?
Bacon’s Rebellion was an armed uprising of Virginia settlers beginning in 1674 against the rule of Colonial Governor William Berkeley (1605–1677). The rebellion was named after Nathaniel Bacon (1647–1676), a Cambridge graduate who had to leave England after marrying a woman who had been betrothed to someone else. Bacon settled in Jamestown, where he worked with Governor Berkeley. However, Governor Berkeley favored reconciliation and appeasement with Native American tribes. Bacon, whose farm had been attacked by Native Americans, wanted to respond by attacking the Native Americans. This difference culminated in Bacon’s being in armed rebellion against Governor Berkeley. In 1676, Bacon and his followers issued a Declaration of the People of Virginia to the governor, criticizing Berkeley for failing to protect settlers from the Native Americans and for corruption in his government. Bacon’s forces actually burned Jamestown to the ground in September 1676. English forces were dispatched from overseas to quell the rebellion. Bacon died of dysentery in October 1676 before facing the English forces. After Bacon’s death, the rebellion floundered. Governor Berkeley re-established control and had many of the members of the rebellion hanged for their conduct.
However, British officials were not pleased with Berkeley’s