Chapter 4 Flashcards
(42 cards)
Men outnumbered women…
6/1
-most men couldn’t find mates
What killed much of the Chesapeake population?
Dysentery and malaria.
- 1/2 of the people died before they were 20
- 1/2 of the remainder did not make it to their 50th
Most marriages were destroyed by death…
In 7 years
-very few children grew up under the care of 2 parents and almost none knew granfparents
What led to population growth
- native born colonists became immune to dysentery
- the presence of women allowed more families to form and population growth
Tobacco
- the chesapeake was very good for tobacco
- tobacco before corn because people feared corn was an indian staging area
- moved further into river valleys provoking indian attacks
- tobacco needed labor
- indentured servants were cheaper at first
How many pounds of tobacco were produced in 1630? 1700?
1.5 mill pounds in 1630
40 million pounds in 1700
Headright system
- Virginia and Maryland
- Gave 50 acres of land to whoever paid for the passage of a laborer giving benefits to masters
- people with modest fortunes could become plantation owners
How many indentured servants came to the chesapeake by 1700?
100,000
Freedom dues
- when land became harder to come by, fewer laborers were given land
- misbehaving servants had their times of service extended
- many returned to their masters for little pay when they couldn’t find jobs
Before Bacon’s Rebellion
- Impoverished freedmen drifted around the Chesapeake in the late 1700’s
- They couldn’t find work or wives
- The Virginia assembly disenfranchised the men in 1670
Bacon’s rebellion right before the rebellion
- 1676 Nathaniel Bacon a 29 year old planter led a rebellion
- Opposed Governor Berkley’s Indian Policy, which refused to protect landholders on the western frontier and the monopoly on the fur trade
Bacon’s Rebellion
- Freedmen joined the rebellion and rampantly plundered and pilfered
- Bacon died of disease
- Berkley crushed the rebellion
What Bacon’s rebellion showed
- the frontier and the indentured servants
- needed a less troublesome work force (slaves)
After columbus’ landing how many slaves were taken to the new world?
10 million
- 400,000 to north america (most after 1700)
- most went to Portuguese south america and west indes
The first africans arrived in Jamestown in…
1619
In 1670 slaves only numbered… In Virginia
2000
- 7% in the plantation colonies as a whole
- it was costly to bring them and risked capital
Why was it easier to get slaves later?
- wages were rising in England in the 1680’s
- fear of servant rebellions
- Royal African Company lost its monopoly in 1698
How many slaves came ashore in the decade after 1700?
10,000
- in 1750 blacks were almost 1/2 of the population of Virginia
- in NC they outnumbered 2/1
Most slaves came from…
The west coast of Africa, or modern day Senegal
-most were captured by coastal tribes who sold them to European merchants
Middle Passage
A voyage across the ocean in a sweltering ship
- death rates were as high as 20%
- survivors were auctioned off in slave markets
Slaves vs Servants
- at first there was a very small difference between servant and slave
- statutes appeared that defined the slaves as property or “chattel”
- slave codes prevented teaching how to read and write or marry interracially
Conditions for slaves
- in the deep south most died needing new imports
- in the Chesapeake conditions were better and family life developed
Slave culture
- Gullah was a language of a blend of african languages (goober, okra, voodoo)
- ring shout dance was developed with performers circling a preacher and answering his shouts
- banjo and bongo drum
Slave rebellions
- 1712 New York
- 1739 South Carolina
-little sucess
