Chapter 3 Flashcards
(30 cards)
Indenture system
System of temporary servitude in America. Bound workers to masters for fixed term (4-5 yrs) in return for passage to America, food, shelter. Source of potential unrest and population growth esp in Chesapeake. (66-67)
Birth and death rates
Improved b/c balanced sex ratio. Improved more in New England because of cool climate, less disease, clean water, lack of population centers. Improved less in the South because of malaria and salty water, so many widows and orphans. (68)
Midwives
Women helping women in childbirth. Gave medical advice. Friends of patients. Threatened doctors. Not professionally trained but relied on prevailing medical assumptions (humoralism). (69)
Patriarchal society
Traditional male-central family structure of England. Men controlled wives and children. More common in New England than in Chesapeake. (69-70)
Middle Passage
Transatlantic shipment of slaves from Africa to America. Disease, rape, and death common. Up to 20% of slaves died here. Foundation of triangular trade system. (72)
Royal African Company of England
Maintained monopoly on slave trade in mainland colonies. Kept prices high, supplies low, and slave flow small. In the mid-1690s, its monopoly was broken and slave trade boomed. (73)
Slave codes
Colonial assemblies passed these in early 18th century to limit black rights and give white masters near-absolute authority. Any black ancestry made a person black. (No Spanish-style mestizo system.) (74-75)
Palatinate Germans
Germans from the Palatinate, or the Rhineland (Southwestern Germany). Suffered from French attacks led by King Louis XIV (the “Sun King”). Refuged in England and later America. Most settled in Quaker Pennsylvania (“Pennsylvania Dutch”). (75-76)
Huguenots
French Calvinists. Earliest non-English European immigrants to colonies. The 1598 Edict of Nantes protected their rights, but it was revoked in 1685 and prompted emigration. (75)
Scotch-Irish
Scottish Presbyterians who settled in northern Ireland in early 17th century. Persecution and expired leases drove emigration. Large populations moved to NJ and PA and established Presbyterianism there. (76-77)
Catholics
Many Catholic Irish came to America and abandoned Catholicism and ethnic identity. As numerous as Scots by the Revolution. (77)
Iron Act of 1750
English act that restricted metal processing in colonies. Prevented the explosive industrial growth of 18th century Britain from reaching America. Similar acts for production of woolens, hats, etc. (79)
Triangular trade
The complex trading relationship among the American colonies, West Indies, Europe, and Africa. African slaves were sold in America. American raw materials exported to Europe. European manufactured goods sold in America. (81-82)
Consumerism
The growing preoccupation with the consumption of material goods and the association of possessions with social status and refinement. Former “luxuries” became common necessities. (82-83)
Plantation economy
Big landowners dominated small slaveless farmer majority who depended on landowners to market their crops and receive credit. Enforced slavery and survived until Civil War. (83-85)
Plantation slavery
Africans developed their own society and culture with white influences. Strong and elaborate family structure with extended kinship networks (families broken up constantly). Slave languages and African-Christianity religion blend. (85-86)
Gullah
A hybrid of English and African languages. Reinforced connection with African culture. Allowed slaves to say things white masters couldn’t understand. (85)
Stono Rebellion
Most important slave revolt. South Carolina 1739. 100 armed Africans killed whites and tried to escape to Florida. Whites crushed uprising. Result: harsher slave treatment. (86)
Puritan community
In New England, the social unit was the town. Each town was bound together in a “covenant”, a religious and social commitment to unity and harmony. Most towns moved to America together. Greek democracy for men, esp the “elect.” (86)
Primogeniture
English tradition of passing all land to the firstborn son. New England fathers divided land among all sons, which gave fathers more power but caused tensions as subdivided plots grew smaller. (86)
Salem Witch Trials
Salem, MA 1692. Farmers accused 120 people (mostly “secular”, male-independent women or low-class women) of witchcraft. 19 executed. Shows gender role tensions and Puritan religious conviction. (87-89)
The Great Awakening
The first great American religious revival. Began in 1730s, climaxed in 1740s. A response to declining piety and growing secularism. Main actors: English evangelists (John and Charles Wesley, GA; George Whitefield; Jonathan Edwards, MA). Divided congregations and polarized views towards education. Undermined traditional authority. (91-92)
Enlightenment
18th-century European intellectual movement. Focused on the natural laws of science and society. Belief in human reason and progress, not just faith. Emphasized education and government. Undermined traditional authority. (92-93)
Almanacs
The most popular nonreligious literature in early America. Included religious/farming calendars, astronomy, astrology, practical wisdom, humor. Most famously published by Benjamin Franklin. (94-95)
