The Unhealthy Chesapeake

Life in America was bad for the Chesapeake settlers because Malaria, dysentery, and
typhoid killed many people. Half of the people born barely even lived till 50.
Men outnumbered the women by six to one in 1650 and by the end of the century it was
still three to two.
There were weak families because many children barely reached adulthood with both
parents and didnt even know their grandparents.
The native born inhabitants acquired immunity to the diseases so it allowed more families
to form.
At the 18th century, Virginia had the most populous people with 59 thousand people.
The Tobacco Economy
Chesapeake was very good with its tobacco cultivation. Many people planted tobacco
before they even planted corn to eat. However, overplanting tobacco messed up the soil.
Ships exported about 1.5 million pounds of tobacco out of Chesapeake Bay by the 1630s
and almost 40 million pounds a year by the end of the century which then caused the
prices to decrease.
When they planted tobacco, they needed more labor so they got indentured servants for
labor. The servants got transatlantic passage and eventual freedom dues in exchange for
seven years of labor.
Virginia and Maryland had the headright system so it encouraged the importation of the
servant workers.
The white slaves represented more than 3 quarters of the European immigrants in the 17th
century.
The indentured servants had a hard life but a very hopeful one at the same time.
Frustrated Freemen and Bacons Rebellion
In 1676, about 1000 Virginians revolted against the Virginia government, which was led
by Nathaniel Bacon.
Bacon chased Berkeley from Jamestown and put the torch to the capital. This caused
chaos.
Bacon died of disease all of a sudden, therefore Berkley crushed the uprising.
Charles II said that Bacon put him in his own death since Bacon had ignited the
unhappiness of landless former servants.
The rebellion was suppressed but there were still many tensions.
Colonial Slavery
10 million Africans were carried in chains to the new world but only 400,000 ended up in
North America. Most of the Africans were taken to Spanish and Portuguese South
America or the sugar rich-West Indies.
By 1670, slaves outnumbered the Virginians by 2,000people.
In the 1680s the wages in England rose so the number of indentured servants decreased.
Many of the slaves who came to North America came from the west coast of Africa. They
were first captured by coastal tribes who then traded them in crude markets and then put
onto ships. The earliest African immigrants became free and also owned slaves.
In 1662, Virginia enacted slave codes that made blacks and their kids the property of the
white masters for life.

Africans in America
By 1720, the number of females began to increase as well as the number of families.
Native-born African-Americans contributed to the stable growth of slave culture.
A unique language called the Gullah blended English with several other African
languages including Yoruba, Ibo, and Hausa.
The ringshout, a West African religious dance was also performed.
Slaves also became skilled artisans, carpenters, bricklayers, and tanners.
A slave revolt erupted in New York City in 1712 that cost the lives of many whites and
the execution of 21 blacks.
The rebels tried to march to Spanish Florida but were stop by a local militia.
Southern Society
The planters in the south ruled the regions economy and monopolized the political
power. Just before the Revolutionary War, 70% of the leaders of Virginias legislature
came from families.
They were hard-working business like people who worked long hours to manage the
plantations.
The small farmers were the largest social group.
The landless whites were former indentured servants.
The southern life revolved around the great plantations. Waterways were the means of
transportation.
The New England Family
Some settlers stated that other than the diseases of the new world, the clean air added 10
years to their life spans.
The first generation Puritan colonists had about 70 years for their life span.
New Englanders also tried to migrate as families and they were always the center of life.
Early marriage also encourage the booming birthrate ad most women often wedded in
their early twenties. Many of the largest families had several mothers even though
childbirth was often the reason of death for women.
The longevity of the new Englanders lead to family stability since children were taught
well as they grew up.
The southern colonies allowed married women to have a separate title to their property
and also gave widows the right to inherit their husbands estates. However, in the north
this was not the case, the church would have probably taken the estate.
The laws of Puritan New England defended the integrity of marriages.
Life in the New England Towns
Massachusetts was one of the front colonies that was trying to abolish slavery.
New England grew in an orderly fashion since new towns had to be chartered by the
colonial authorities and the distribution of land was handled by the proprietors.
The towns were also required to educate the children so many of the adults knew how to
read and write.
In 1636, the Massachusetts Puritans established Harvard College, and in 1693, 86 years
after staking out Jamestown, the Virginians established William and Mary.

 The Puritans had their own churches and democracy in the congregational church.
The Half-Way Covenant and the Salem Witch Trials
In the middle of the 17th century, a new form of sermon was heard, the Jeremaid.
In 1662, ministers announced a new formula for church membership, the Half-way
covenant. This meant that the adherents had to admit to baptism. This increased the
memberships of the church.
In 1692, twenty individuals were lynched because of witchcraft persecutions. The
witchcraft hysteria ended in 1693, when the governor had an accusation on his wife.
In 1713, the Massachusetts legislature annulled the conviction of the witches and then
payed back their heirs.
The New England Way of Life
The soil of New England was stony and hard to plant and it also lacked diversity.
The summers in New England were very hot and the winters were very cold.
The Native Americans also went through the trails and even fished in their territory. The
Indians recognized the right to use the land but the concept of ownership wasnt clear to
them.
The English though that the Indians were wasting their land so they cleared the
woodlands built roads and fences.
Livestock changed many things because the colonists had to clear forests for them and
made some area susceptible for heat and cold.
The combination of Calvinism, soil and climate in New England made it have energy,
sternness, stubbornness, and resourcefulness.
The Early Settlers Days and Ways
Slave and free women on southern plantations or northern farms, wove, cooked, cleaned
and cared for the children. The men cleared the land, fenced, planted, cropped and cut the
firewood.
Land was also cheap depending on the region such as north or south.
Resentment against upper-class pretensions had helped sparked the outbursts( Bacons
rebellion)
In 1651, Massachusetts prohibited poor people from wearing gold or silver lace.