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The American Pageant Chapter One: New World Beginnings (33,000BC – 1769 CE)

The Shaping of North America


• 225 million years ago all earth’s dry land in one supercontinent
o Proved by identical species of fish in freshwater lakes around world
• Appalachians only mountain range in America formed before supercontinent separated
• Geological shape of N. America formed 10 million years ago
• Canadian Shield: anchored N. America in the NE corner; first part of N. America to rise
above sea level
• Great Ice Age began 2 million years ago
o 2mile thick ice sheets spread all over Europe, Asia, and the Americas
o N. America filled with glaciers
• Great Ice Age ended 10,000 years ago
o Formed today’s geography (lakes, rivers, deserts)
Peopling the Americas
• Great Ice Age formed land bridge connecting Eurasia and N. America
o Nomadic Asian hunters crossed ice bridge and became ancestors of the Native
Americans
o People crossed Bering Land Bridge for 250 centuries
• End of Ice Age isolated Americas because Bering Land Bridge melted
o People migrated south
• In 1492, Europeans arrived in America
o 54 million people populated the N. and S. America
o Countless tribes, over 2,000 languages, diverse ways of life
• Incas (Peru), Mayans (Central America), Aztecs (Mexico) were three advanced
civilizations
o Cultivated maize (Indian corn), built elaborate cities, trade, accurate astronomy
observations
o No big animals (ex: ox, horse) or wheels
o Aztecs practiced human sacrifice
The Earliest Americans
• Civilizations in Mexico and S. America thrived because of their agriculture
o Hunter-gatherers in Mexico developed wild grass into corn in 5,000BC
• Corn planting spread unevenly throughout the Americas
o Reached Pueblos in SW N. America in 2,000BC
o Corn reached other places much later, different rates of development
• No complex civilizations in N. America when Europeans arrived
o Some had large populations but all fell by 1300CE
• Maize, beans, and squash reached SE N. America in 1000CE
o Three Sister Farming: beans growing on stems of cornstalk and squash growing
on ground
o Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee used this farming technique and had huge
population densities
• Iroquois in NE woodlands had a military alliance and attacked its neighbors
• Most Native Americans lived in small, temporary settlements when Europeans arrived
• Native Americans had matrilineal cultures, power in the females because they tended
crops
o Kind to nature but sometimes burned down forests to hunt deer better
• In 1492, around 4 million Native Americans in N. America
Indirect Discoverers of the New World
• Scandinavian sailors arrived in NE N. America in 1000CE and named the place Vinland
because of wild grapes
o Had no support and soon left
• Ambitious Europeans started a drive toward Asia, Africa, and eventually the New World
• Christian crusaders indirectly discovered the Americas by exposing Europe to the
luxuries of the East
o Thousands of European warriors tried to take the Holy Land from the Muslims
and acquired a taste for Asian goods
o Asian goods very expensive and Europeans wanted a less expensive route to Asia
Europeans Enter Africa
• Marco Polo return to Europe in 1295 from 26 years in China further stimulated European
desire for Asian goods (note: Marco Polo may never had seen China)
• Portuguese developed caravel in 1450 and found a different route back to Europe
o Before, people could not travel south along W. Africa because winds were too
rough on the way back
• Portuguese set up trading posts along African shore for slaves and gold
o Established sugar plantations in African coastal islands which required a large
supply of slaves
o Beginning of plantation system (large-scale commercial crops and slave labor)
o 1498 Vasco de Gama reached India and brought back jewels and spices
• Spain became united in late 1400s through marriage
o Wanted to overpower Portugal and trap wealth of Indies
o Portugal controlled African Coast so Spain looked westward
Columbus Come Upon a New World
• Renaissance brought ambition and optimism
o Printing press in 1450 and mariner’s compass
• Christopher Columbus
o Italian seafarer that got three small ships from Spanish monarchs
o Sailed west
o October 12, 1492 landed in Bahamas, Columbus thought he reached Indies
o New World had precious metals and good soil for sugar cane
When Worlds Collide
• The Columbian exchange: international commerce that exploded from Columbus’s
arrival in the New World
o New World -> Old World: gold, silver, corn, potatoes, pineapples, tomatoes,
tobacco, beans, vanilla, chocolate, syphilis
o Old World -> New World: wheat, sugar, rice, coffee, horse, cows, pigs, smallpox,
measles, bubonic plague, flu, typhus, diphtheria, scarlet fever
o Africa -> New World: slaves
• Native foods in N. America fed Europeans; most important gift
o Introduction of foods to Africa offset losses of lives from slave trade
• In 1493, Columbus returned with 17 ships full of 1200men, cows, pigs, horses, sugar
cane seed
o N. American Indian tribes (Apaches, Sioux, Blackfeet) used horses and became
wide-ranging societies that hunted buffalo
• 90% of Native Americans died from disease
The Spanish Conquistadores
• Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): treaty that secured Spain’s claim to Columbus’s discovery
• Most of New World went to Spain, but Portugal received parts of Africa and Asia, Brazil
• Vasco Nunez Balboa discovered Pacific Ocean in 1513 and claimed all land touching
Pacific Spain’s
• Ferdinand Magellan sailed from Spain in 1519 with 5 small ships
o Sailed through Strait of Magellan (tip of S. America)
o Killed by natives in the Philippines, but one of his ships returned to Spain in 1522
o First circumnavigation of the globe
• Many other Spanish explorers in New World searching for gold
• 1532 Francisco Pizarro reached Incas in Peru and brought back gold to Spain
• Massive amounts of silver found in Mexico and Bolivia gave Spain the wealth to feed the
growth of capitalism
• Spain stored supplies in West Indies
• Encomienda: allowed government to give Indians to colonists if they promise to
Christianize them (basically slavery)
The Conquest of Mexico
• 1519 Hernan Cortez sailed from Cuba to Mexico with 11 ships filled with 16 horses and
several hundred men (men wanted gold, but most did not get any)
o Picked up Spanish castaway who was enslaved by Mayan-speaking Indians and a
female Indian slave named Malinche who knew both Mayan and Nahualtl(Aztec)
o Aztec capital: Tenochtitlan; 300k inhabitants, 10 sq.mi. located on island in lake
o Aztecs thought Cortez was Quetzalcoatl and brought gifts to him but soon got
tired of his thirst for gold
o Aztecs attacked on June 30, 1520, Cortez retreated
o Cortez attacked August 13, 1520 and won Aztec empire for 3 centuries mainly
because of smallpox
o Native Mexican population went from 20million to 2 million
o Cortez built cathedrals and planted crops
o Spaniards married surviving Indians creating mestizos
 blend of Indian and European culture
The Spread of Spanish America
• Spain’s colonial empire spread
o Built cathedrals everywhere
o Established universities in Mexico City and Lima in 1551
• England sent Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) explored NE coast of N. America in 1497
and 1498
• 1534 Cartier (France) explored St. Lawrence River
• Spain built a fortress in St. Augustine Florida in 1565 to secure their New World domain
• Don Juan de Onate led expedition from Sonora Desert (Mexico) to Rio Grande valley in
1598
o Spaniards mistreated Pueblo Indians
o Battle of Acoma in 1599, Spanish injured one foot of every survivor
o Founded Santa Fe and New Mexico in 1609
• Pope’s Rebellion: 1680, Pueblo peoples destroyed every Catholic cathedral and killed
many priests and Spanish settlers
• 1716 Spanish tried to establish settlements in Texas but Pueblos followed and few
cathedrals were built
o Built mission in San Antonio (Alamo)
• 1769 Father Junipero Serra founded Mission San Diego, first of a chain of 21 missions
o Converted Californian Indians and also spread disease
• Black Legend: false concept that states Spanish conquistadors only tortured and killed the
Indians, stole their gold, spread disease, and left nothing but misery
o Spaniards also built empire in the Americas and left their culture, laws, religion,
and language as a foundation for future Spanish speaking nations
The American Spirit Chapter One: New World Beginnings (33,000BC-1769)

Section A Reading 2: Juan Gines de Sepulveda Belittles the Indians (1547)


Sepulveda, a student of Aristotle, supports Spanish rule of the Americas in his book The
Second Democrates. He believes that the Spanish are a perfect people who are superior to the
Indians as much as humans are superior to apes. Sepulveda provides evidence of the savagery of
the Indians and of the civilized ways of the Spanish.
Section B Reading 1: Hernan Cortez Conquers Mexico (1519-1526)
Cortez documents his experience with the Aztecs in a letter to his king in Spain. He
explains how Moctezuma thought he was the true god of the Aztecs, greeted him with gifts, and
granted him whatever he wished. Cortez demanded their idols to be replaced with Catholic
saints.
Section B Reading 2: Aztec Chroniclers Describe the Spanish Conquest of Mexico (1519)
Bernardino de Sahagun, a Spanish Franciscan friar, gathered information from the Aztec
perspective of Cortez’s arrival in Tenochititlan. The Aztecs welcomed the Spaniards as their
gods and held a fiesta of Huitzilopochtli. During the festival, the Spaniards attacked and
murdered all the Aztecs they could fine.
Section B Reading 3: Francisco Coronado Explored the American Southwest (1541)
In the search for gold, Francisco Coronado takes the advice of the Pueblo Indians and
travels north to the Quivira. After journeying for seventy-seven days of traveling through
deserts, Coronado realizes that he had been tricked – the Quivira had no gold. The Indian guides
confessed that they had been ordered to lead the Spanish through deserts in the hope that they
would die of hunger.
Section C Reading 1: The Conscience of a Slave Trader (1694)
Thomas Phillips, captain of a ship headed to West Africa, described his experience in a
slave sale in Barbados. All slaves are marked with a hot iron and many tried to suicide because
they believed that they would return home when they died. Phillips feels sorry for the Africans
and understands that they are unlucky for being born black.
Section C Reading 2: Mungo Park Describes Slavers in the African Interior (c. 1790)
Mungo Park, a Scottish explorer, spent almost two years in Africa and described a slave
trader’s treatment of his slaves. Eleven of the slaves were slaves since birth and all the slaves
thought that Europeans were cannibals. The slaves are chained together to prevent escape, but
were allowed to be free in the afternoons.
Section D Reading 1: John Cabot Voyages for England (1497)
John Cabot, a Genoese explorer, was commissioned by Henry VII to find China but
landed near Newfoundland. A Venetian citizen of London writes to his brothers about Cabot
saying that Cabot found snares, needles, and cut down trees. The King promised Cabot more
resources for his next trip and granted him wealth and honor.
Section D Reading 2: Richard Hakluyt Calls for an Empire (1582)
Richard Hakluyt published many documents that stimulated interest in England
colonizing the New World. He believed that should, like Spain and Portugal, take resources
from America. He also wrote that England has a huge work force (the men in jail for small
crimes), is closer to the New World than the rest of Europe, and should spread Christianity
throughout the New World.
Section D Reading 3: An English Landlord Describes a Troubled England (1623)
A Lincolnshire landlord describes the impact of the decline of the wool market. He says
that he lacks money and even ate a raw sheep’s leg out of hunger.
Section D Reading 4: Hakluyt Sees England’s Salvation in America (1584)
In Discourse Concerning the Western Planting, Richard Hakluyt states that England’s
colonizing of America will save England’s economy. He argues that America has brought
wealth to Portugal and Spain and will surely bring wealth to England. Also, England’s
overpopulation problem has led to many beggars, burglars, and debtors which Hakluyt claims
will make an excellent work force in America.
The American Pageant Chapter Two: The Planting of English America (1500-1733)

England’s Imperial Stirrings


• Spanish Empire took over New World in 1500s
• England had religious conflict
o King Henry VII broke with the Roman Catholic Church in 1530s and started the
Protestant Reformation
o In 1558 England was Protestant (after Elizabeth took throne) and Spain was
Catholic -> rivalry
• Catholic Ireland under England rule
o Ireland seeked help from Spain, but found none
o 1570s to 1580s England suppressed Irish uprisings
Elizabeth Energizes England
• Elizabeth I encouraged English buccaneers to promote Protestantism and plunder Spanish
ships even though England was Spain’s ally
o Sir Francis Drake was most famous – returned in 1580 with a ship full of Spanish
treasures
• Sir Walter Raleigh first landed on Roanoke Island, SC in 1585
o Named “Virgin Queen” after Queen Elizabeth I because she never married
o Colony vanished
• Spanish Empire very rich from colonization and Philip II created the Spanish Armada to
invade England
o 130 ships sailed to England in 1588 but lost to the English sea dogs
o Defeat of Spanish Armada marked end of Spain’s imperial dreams
• Defeat of Spanish Armada also sparked England’s colonization of America
o Boosted patriotism, curiosity, faith in England’s future and started a golden age of
literature (Shakespeare)
o England and Spain signed a peace treaty in 1604
England on the Eve of Empire
• England’s population boomed
o 3 million people in 1550, 4 million in 1600
• Landlords in the country side decreased the size of crops for sheep grazing
o Small farmers became poor and without jobs and became beggars and paupers
o Economic depression hit wool market in late 1500s
o Earliest immigrants to America were mostly Puritans (religion of the small
farmers)
• Primogeniture: laws that said only eldest son gets to inherit land
o Younger sons had to search other places to find money – many became explorers
• Joint-stock Company: perfected in early 1600s; pooled money together for investments
o Supplied money for explorers and colonization
England Plants the Jamestown Seedling
• 1602, Virginia Company of London (a joint-stock company) received a charter
(document that guarantees American settlers the same rights as they had in England)
from James I for a settlement in the New World
o Motivation was the promise of gold
o Virginia Company intended to last only a few years -> put pressure on colonists
to find riches quickly
• 1606, 3 ships of Virginia Company carrying about 100 people set sail and landed near
Chesapeake Bay on May 24, 1607and were attacked by Indians
o Landed near James River, named after King James I and called the place
Jamestown; easy to defend but infested with mosquitoes
• Jamestown started off as a nightmare
o 40 people died during the voyage
o Expedition in 1609 lost its leaders and supplies in a shipwreck near Bermuda
o Settlers died from disease, malnutrition, and starvation even though there were
animals everywhere
 Settlers were “gentlemen” and did not hunt for food, instead they searched
for gold
• Jamestown saved by John Smith, a young captain
o Took over in 1608 “He who shall not work shall not eat.”
o Kidnapped in December 1607 and saved by Powhatan’s (chief) daughter:
Pocahontas during Smith’s execution
 Ritual symbolizing that the Indians wanted peace with the Europeans
 Pocahontas became a bridge between Indians and settlers, preserving
peace and providing provisions
• Settlers still died
o Ate dogs, cats, rats, mice and one man ate his wife but was soon executed
• Out of the 400 people who arrived at Jamestown, only 60 survived the winter of 1609-
1610
• Spring of 1610, the remaining colonists returned home but met up with a relief party
headed by Lord De La Warr
o De La Warr ordered everyone back to Jamestown and organized a military attack
on the Indians
• Disease continued to kill the settlers and by 1625, only 1200/8000 survived
Cultural Clashes in the Chesapeake
• Powhatan’s Confederacy, Powhatan had control over the natives living near James River
• Powhatan wanted to be allies with Europeans to extend his power, but the relationship
was tense because the Europeans often stole food from the Indians
• 1610, First Anglo-Powhatan War, Lord De La Warr declared war on all the Indians
o Used “Irish tactics” – burned houses, raided villages, stole resources, burned
cornfields
• 1614 War ended with a peace settlement and the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe
• 1622, Indians attacked back and killed 347 settlers, including John Rolfe
• 1644 Second Algo-Powhatan War, Indians defeated by colonists
• 1646, peace treaty banned Indians from Virginian society and separated Indians from
white settlements
o 1669, only 2,000 Indians remained in Virginia, 10% original population
• 1685, English considered Powhatans extinct
• 3 reasons for Powhatan misfortune: disease, disorganization, disposability
o Indians not immune to European diseases (smallpox and measles)
o Lacked unity
o Powhatans had no economic function for Europeans, no food or reliable labor,
Indians took up land
 S. American Indians could be put to work in silver/gold mines
The Indians’ New World
• Many Indians migrated to the Great Plains in the 1900s because of the introduction of
horses
o Sioux Indians flourished
• Disease ruined many cultures and killed many tribes
o Catawaba nation of Southern Piedmont formed from different tribes that were
uprooted by the Europeans
• Trade also changed Indian lifestyles
o Firearms gave tribes an advantage for hunting
o Indian-Indian violence, fought from European goods
• One group of Indians tried to canoe to England to sell their goods because the prices
offered by colonists were too low but their cargo was lost in a storm and the Indians were
sold as slaves to the West Indies
• Inland American Indians had time, space, and numbers
o Algonquins near the Great Lakes joined with surrounding tribes and became very
powerful
o British and French traders had to conform to Indian ways to do business
 Took Indian wives
 Middle ground
Virginia: Child of Tobacco
• 1612, John Rolfe saved Virginia’s economy by perfecting methods of raising and curing
the pungent weed, eliminating much of the bitterness
• High European demand for tobacco
o Huger for land in Virginia to grow tobacco
 Even planted tobacco in between graves
• Tobacco named “King of Nicotine” and was a “tyrant”
o ruined soil after being planted for several years and became very expensive
o promoted plantation system and therefore a demand for slave labor
• 1650, only 400 blacks but eventually blacks made up 14% of the population
• 1619, Representative self-government born
o House of Burgesses first mini parliament established
• James I became hostile to Virginia
o Hated tobacco and didn’t trust House of Burgesses
o 1624, he revoked charter of Virginia Company and thus had direct control of
Virginia
Maryland: Catholic Haven
• Maryland was the 4th American colony and the 2nd plantation colony
• Founded in 1634 by Lord Baltimore, Catholic
o Wanted money and refuge for Catholics because England was still persecuting
Roman Catholics
• Huge estates given to Catholics and Protestants were backcountry planters
• Maryland prospered with acres of tobacco
o Relied on labor of indentured servants (mostly white, black slaves were imported
in the late 1800s)
• Protestants rebelled against Catholics
• Act of Toleration, 1649, passed by local representative assembly and supported by
Catholics of Maryland
o Guaranteed toleration to all Christians
o Death penalty for all who weren’t Christian (Jews, atheists…)
The West Indies: Way Station to Mainland America
• Spain lost control of Caribbean in early 1600s
• England had control of several West Indian Islands in mid 1600s
o 1655 claim on Jamaica
• Sugar was foundation of West Indian economy
• Unlike tobacco, sugar is hard to grow and requires large amounts to be planted to yield
enough sugar to make a profit
o Needed a lot of land, led to extensive land clearing
o Sugar mills needed to refine sugar, took up more land and money
• Enslaved Africans were used to run sugar plantations
• 1700, almost 4x more blacks than whites in West Indies
• Barbados Slave Code, 1661, denied even fundamental rights to slaves and gave masters
complete control over slaves
• West Indies depended on N. America for food and resources because sugar plantations
used up all the land
• English settlers from Barbados pushed out by sugar lords
o 1670, a group of English setters from Barbados arrived in Caroline
 Brought African slaves and Barbados slave code
Colonizing the Carolinas
• 1640s, civil war in England
o King Charles I dismissed Parliament in 1629 and recalled it in 1640
o Parliament beheaded Charles I in 1649 and Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan-soldier,
ruled England for almost 10 years
o 1660, Charles II put on throne
• No colonization during civil war but afterward, the Restoration period brought more
intense empire-building
• 1670, Carolina created for Charles II
o Meant to grow food for sugar plantations and export non-English products (wine,
silk, olive oil)
• Slave trade system in Carolina
o Had alliance with Savannah Indians which provided captives
o Exported Indians as slaves to West Indies or New England
• 1707, Savannah Indians migrated to backcountry of Maryland and Pennsylvania because
Quakers promised better relationships between whites and Indians
• Carolinians raided Savannahs before they left
• Rice became principal crop of Carolina
o Imported West African slaves who were experienced in rice cultivation
o Slaves good because experienced and immune to malaria, they could work in the
hot and swampy rice plantations
• 1710, black slaves became a majority in Carolina
• Charles Town (Charleston) became the busiest sea port in the South
o Very diverse because of its religious toleration
• Florida had Catholic Spaniards who hated Protestands
o Spanish-incited Indians attacked Carolina in Anglo-Spanish Wars
o 1710, Carolina too strong to be defeated
The Emergence of North Carolina
• Poor Virginians migrated South to northern Carolina
o Called squatters, no legal right to land, raised crops on small farm, no slaves
• Squatters surrounded by aristocrats in the north (Virginia) and the south (Southern
Carolina)
• 1712, North Carolina officially separated from South Carolina
• N. Carolina similar to Rhode Island
o Most democratic, most independent-minded, least aristocratic
• 1711, Tuscarora War: battle between N. Carolina(allied with S. Carolina) and Tuscaror
Indians
o Sold hundreds of Indians into slavery and rest became a part of the Iroquois
Confederacy
• 1715, S. Carolina defeated Yamasee Indians
o All coastal Indian tribes ruined by 1720
• Cherokees, Creeks, and Iroquois lived in Appalachian Mountains
o Managed to keep British colonists out of their land for 500 years
Late-Coming Georgia: The Buffer Colony
• Founded in 1733, last of the 13 colonies
• Georgia established as a buffer, protect Carolinas from Spaniards in Florida and protect
French from Louisiana
• Named after King George II
• Produced silk and wine
• Haven for people imprisoned for debt
• James Oglethorpe, one of the founders and military leaders
o Believed in prison reform after his friend died in debtor’s jail
o Saved “Charity Colony” by leadership and mortgaging his own money
• Melting-pot community
o Everyone except Catholics had religious toleration
• Smallest population because of bad weather, restrictions on black slavery, and had to
defend from Spanish
The Plantation Colonies
• Plantation Colonies: Maryland, Virginia, N. Carolina, S. Caroline, Georgia
o all had plantations growing profitable stable crops (tobacco, rice)
• Slavery found in all plantation colonies
o Georgia allowed slavery only after 1750
• Large plantations left barely any space for churches, schools, and cities
• Allowed some religious toleration
• Tobacco-ruined soil forced settlers to move Westward
The American Spirit Chapter Two: The Planting of English America (1500-1733)

Section A Reading 1: A Commission Investigates Enclosures (1517)


Rapid population growth and the booming cloth industry led landowners to use land for
commercial farming and sheep pasture. A survey by the Crown studied the impact of land
enclosures on peasants. Almost all farmland was turned to pasture, even the church was used to
shelter animals.
Section A Reading 2: Thomas Deplores the All-Consuming Sheep
In philosopher Thomas More’s book Utopia, More criticizes English nobles for using
small farmers’ land for sheep grazing. The small farmers are forced by their landlords to leave
and sell all their belongings for money and because they have no jobs, they resort to begging and
stealing. Because all the crops have been turned into pastures, the price of grain has gone up
Section B Reading 1: The Starving Time (1609)
John Smith writes about the winter of 1609, a time he did not experience but heard about
secondhand. He writes about the lack of food that winter even though six months of food was
supposed to be sent from England. People lived on roots, herbs, acorns, walnuts, berries, and
little fish; one man even killed his wife and tried to eat her but was executed after he took a bite.
Section B Reading 2: Governor William Berkeley Reports (1671)
Sir William Berkeley, a 32 year old governor of Virginia answered questions from
London in a report. He says that the main crop in Virginia is tobacco but they have planted
mulberry trees for silk and are working on shipbuilding. Berkeley also answers questions about
the population of Virginia, the races of the population, the death rate, and the courses that are
being taught about Christianity.
Section C Reading 1: The Great Indian Uprising (1622)
Edward Waterhouse, a Virginia official, sends a report documenting the Indian attack in
1622. He states that the Indians lived in peace with the colonists, traded with them, and accepted
Christianity. However, one day, the Indians barbarously slaughtered all the colonists they could
find.
Section C Reading 2: A West Indian Planter Reflects on Slavery in Barbados (1673)
Richard Ligon, an English merchant, wrote an account of his experiences in Barbados.
He says that servants are treated much worse than slaves because the owners only have the
servants for five years as opposed to life. Even though there are more slaves than Christians, the
slaves do not revolt because they are not allowed to wield dangerous weapons, are chosen from
different parts of Africa so they cannot communicate with each other, and are not educated.

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