History 2080 – Module01 — Transcript

Welcome to module number one. Here, we're going to talk about colonial American history. The point of this lecture is to try to get us as close to the American Revolution as possible, the actual revolution, founding of the new nation, and all the stuff that will be celebrated on July 4th. That will happen in our module next week. But this is laying out some of the groundwork here for really what the political thinkers of the 1770s, the 1780s, and into the early republic were thinking about slavery, race, freedom. All of that comes out of a colonial history that is informed by a long history. So we have to get into a little bit of minutia about the way that English people thought about themselves, the way they viewed race, and ultimately the way that those things formed different traditions of plantations, life, different types of slavery based on region and crop type. All of those things are wound into a very distinct American colonial experience. And what I mean by that is that we often think about this in American history as, oh, the colonies did this, the colonies did that, they acted in this way or that way. But what we have to understand is that before—let me rephrase that—the identity of the United States as being one thing is a relatively new experience. And the colonial experience is even more fragmented. We didn't have one American colony. We had a bunch of American colonies. By 1776, there are 13, but there are more British American colonies than the ones that became the United States. And that's important to remember. Broadly, to get us started, we have to think about England in the 16th and 17th century. Inequality, income equality, inequality especially, was one of the defining issues of the day. So the landed gentry are closing down a lot of access that the commoners would have had to larger public assets. So the ability to free grain, range animals, the ability to kind of determine your own economic success, those are becoming limited. And when the English decide to set out for this colonial expansion, they did it for different reasons. So the groups that founded the Northeast, like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, they are coming in Maryland. I'll add that into this group for this reason. They're coming for more religious reasons. So we all have heard the way that we have romanticized the pilgrims as being these people looking for religious freedom. Well, they are coming to set up a religious, a more religious experience. Frequently, they're tied to the saying, you know, we are to be a city upon a hill for the rest of Europe. And that's because they are a very strict religious group who were asked to leave various different spots in Europe before landing in the Massachusetts Bay. Pennsylvania is going to be founded by the Society of Friends or the Quakers, as you may know them. Maryland is a colony set aside for Catholics who are trying to escape some difficulty between Protestant and the religious infighting in England around the different kings and Oliver Cromwell in there. So there are colonies coming for religious reasons, but then there are others who are coming for primarily commercial activities. So, the very first English colony in what we would consider the United States today that actually lasted—I'm ignoring Rowan Oak here for anyone who is wanting to go down that path—but Virginia. So in 1607, we have a group that is going to end up landing in what they call Jamestown, that is named after King James. So, we have this social pressure, this idea that there's little opportunity in England anymore for the average person to find success. They set out on this colonial adventure to find economic success, to find what they would hope would make them rich. Being that a large group of these people are deeply impoverished, they do not have the means to actually pay for passage to Virginia or own stock in the Virginia corporation. They are going to sign indentured contracts. And this was a very common and advertised way of escaping England and getting a chance in the New World. You would sign a term of indenture and you would promise, hey, if you cover my expense to get to the New World, I will work for you for a set period of time. That could be three, five, seven years. But you were guaranteed at the end of that you were going to be free. And often people would sign these indentures with the promise of land. So they would say, okay, you pay for my passage, I'll give you this time. At the end, I want X number of acres of land, and this is, you know, I think it's kind of a weird thing in the modern mindset. I think it's very hard to think about it in these terms because I don't know how many people would want to sign a contract like that. But I mean, we still sign contracts, but it was very attractive because the prospect of owning 50, 100, 200 acres in England was nil. Like, there was just no chance that that was going to happen for the average person in England. So for a lot of people, that becomes a very attractive bargain. Okay, I will work seven years, but at the end of that, I'm set up. I've got my farm. This is now land that I can call mine. I can pass this down to my kids. So the New World becomes very attractive for working-class English, Scottish, and Irish settlers because it offers promise. The idea that you can escape the pressures in England, and it becomes this outward pressure, and it is much needed in England because things were getting really tense in England. The population was getting restless. People will only take economic inequality for so long before they break, and people are at that point. So this outward pressure is much needed. It serves as a bit of a pressure valve for English society and sets us up for a growth in colonial population here in North America. So the images here I just want to highlight: the one on the left, we see a society in a bit of chaos. It's labeled Gin Lane. So we see a drunken mother whose baby is falling. We see fights breaking out in the background in dilapidated buildings. This pressure is causing people to starve, people choosing to end their own experience because there is no opportunity. Where we see the engraving on the right, this is what was used really to advertise places like Virginia. We see men fishing, we see plentiful birds and game, just a lot more opportunity. So this becomes a very attractive opportunity. And here we see a writ or an indentured contract here on the right. This looks like—and I can't read the last name—but it's James, maybe Mahong Doth, voluntarily bind himself to the service of something, something, something, and he's going to, you know, he's signing from the age of 18. And then, sorry, I've skipped down to the end. It says this day of March in the year of our Lord 1723 at the city of Cork in the Kingdom of Ireland. So this is an attractive thing. This is bringing people from all over New Britannia, offering the most excellent fruits by planting in Virginia. So Nova Britannia, exciting all such as will be well affected to further the same. So we have these advertisements, and the one on the left here is dated 1609. So I call out the Chesapeake for a reason. The Jamestown colony is the first, and the commercialization of this first attempt is just brazen. They hear stories of the Spanish and we—without going—

nation and all the um stuff that will be celebrated on July 4th. Uh that will happen in our uh module next week. But this needs to lay this is laying out some uh of the groundwork here for um really what the political thinkers of

um the 1770s, the 1780s, and into the early republic were thinking about um slavery, uh race, freedom. Um all of that comes out of a colonial history that um is informed by a long history. So we have to get into a little bit of minutia

about the way that English people thought about themselves. uh the way they viewed uh race and um ultimately the way that um those things formed different uh traditions of plantations um life uh different types of um slavery based on region and crop type. Um, all

of those things are wound into a very um distinct American colonial experience. And and what I mean by that is that um we often think about this in American history as oh uh the colonies did this, the colonies did that, they acted in this

way or that way. But what we have to understand is that before uh I let me rephrase that. The identity of the United States as being one thing is a relatively new experience.

And the colonial experience is even more fragmented. We didn't have one American colony. We had a bunch of American colonies. By 1776, there are 13, but there are more British American colonies than the ones that became the United States. And

that's important to to remember um broadly um to get us started, we have to think about um England in the the 16th and 17th century.

um inequality, income equality, inequality especially was one of the defining issues of the day. So the landed gentry are closing down a lot of access that the commoners would have had to um larger public assets. So the ability to free grain

range animals, um the ability to kind of determine your own economic su success, those are becoming limited. And when the English decide to set out for this colonial expansion, um they did it for different reasons. So the groups that uh founded the uh the

northeast like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, they are coming in in Maryland. I'll add that into this that that colony into this group for this reason. They're coming for more religious reasons. So we all have heard the uh the

the the way that we have romanticized the the pilgrims as being these these people looking for religious freedom.

Well, they are coming uh to set up a religious a more religious experience. Uh frequently they're tied to the saying, you know, we are to be a a city upon a hill for the rest of uh to for

the rest of Europe. And that's because they they are a very um strict religious group who um were asked to leave various different spots in Europe before landing in uh the Massachusetts Bay. Um Pennsylvania is going to be founded by

uh the Society of Friends or the Quakers um as you may know them. Um Maryland is a colony set aside for uh Catholics who are um trying to escape some difficulty between Protestant and um you know the the

religious infighting in England around um the different uh the different kings and Oliver Cromwell in there. Uh so there are there are there are colonies coming for religious reasons but then there are others who are coming for primarily commercial um activities. So,

the very first um English colony in what we would consider the United States today um that that actually lasted. I'm ignoring Rowan Oak here for anyone who is um wanting to go down that path. But, uh Virginia. So in6007

um we have a group that is going to end up landing um in what they call James Town uh that is named after King James. So, um, we have this social pressure, this idea that, um, there's little opportunity in

England anymore for the average person to find success. um they they set out on this colonial adventure to u find economic success to find what it they would hope would make them rich. Um being that a large group of these people

are deeply impoverished, they do not have the means to actually uh pay for um passage to Virginia or own um you know stock in the Virginia you know corporation.

They are going to sign indentured contracts. And this was a very common and advertised way of escaping England and getting a chance in the new world.

Um, you would sign a a a term of indenture and you would promise, hey, if you cover my expense to get to the new world, I will I will work for you for a set period of time. That could be three,

five, seven years. But you were guaranteed at the end of that you were going to be free. And often people would sign these indentures with uh the promise of land. So they would they would say okay you pay for my passage

I'll give you this time at the end I want x number of acres of land and this is you know I think it's kind of a weird thing in in modern in modern the modern mindset. I think it

it's very we it's hard to think about it in the in these terms because we I don't know how many people would want to sign a contract like that but I mean we do we still sign contracts but it was very attractive because the

the prospect of owning you know 50 100 200 acres in England was nil like there was just no chance that that was going to happen for the average person in England. So for a lot of people that becomes an very

attractive bargain. Okay, I will work 7 years but at the end of that I'm set up. I've got my now I I've now got my farm. This is now a land you know that I can call mine. I can

pass this down to my kids. So the new world becomes very attractive for workingclass English and Scottish and Irish settlers because it offers promise.

The idea that you can escape the you know the pressures in England and um it becomes this outward pressure and it much needed in England because things were getting really tense in England.

the population was getting restless. The you know this you know people will only take uh economic inequality for so long before they they break and people are at that point. So um this out pressure is much needed. It

serves as a a bit of a pressure valve for English society and sets us up for uh a growth in colonial population here in North America.

So the the images here I just want to highlight uh the one on the left we we see a society in a bit of chaos. It's it's labeled Jin Lane. So we see a drunken mother whose baby is falling. We

we see fights breaking out in the background in dilapitated buildings. um this this pressure uh causing people to starve, people um choosing to end their own experience because there is no opportunity. Where we see the engraving on the right, this is what was used

really to advertise places like Virginia, we see men fishing, we see plentiful birds and game. Uh just a lot more opportunity. So this becomes a very attractive opportunity.

And here we see a uh a writ or a indentured contract here on the right.

Um, this looks like and I I can't read the last name uh but it's James maybe uh Mahong Doth voluntarily bind himself to the service of something something something and he's going to you know he's signing from the age of 18 and then um

sorry I've skipped down to the end it says this day of March in the year of our Lord 1,723 at the city of Cork in the Kingdom of Ireland. So this is an attractive thing.

This is bringing you know people from all over um you know New Britannia offering the most ex excellent fruits by planting in Virginia. So Nova Bratannia exciting all such a as will be well affected to further the same.

So we have these advertisements and the the one on the left here is dated609.

So I I I call out the Chesapeake for a reason. the James, you know, the Jamestown colony is the first um and the the the commercialization of this first attempt is just brazen. they they hear stories of the Spanish and we

without going all the way back and what I would do in a um in like history, you know, 1151 or 2001 where I where I teach uh the full American survey, I would talk about the Spanish and and

what they're getting up to because the stories are getting around people in England know that the Spanish are finding gold and silver and getting quite wealthy. Uh so the Jamestown colony is is set up that way. They want

to um find gold. So they go to Virginia to find gold. And what they find instead is a pretty poor location to to set up shop. Um, and if I don't have a map uh in this slideshow, but uh where James

Town is located, uh there's some tidal water that connects to the the James River. I think it's James River. Uh anyway, the the water around the colony itself is brackish, so it's not fresh.

It's contaminated by salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. They do not set up shop far enough inland. Like they don't go up the river far enough to set up the colony and it causes a lot of problems.

They have a lot of crop failures. Um people are getting sick and it's a very difficult place to try to sustain a colony.

eventually the they they build out and they they spread out and actually develop the society. Um and they grow the first I don't know uh I I I'm blanking on the number of years before they even have uh a female

settler come into the colony. It is all men. Um, and then if you're old enough to remember the Disney movie Pocahontas, um, we, you know, John Smith and all of those guys, they are running a a colony here trying to

find gold. And we have uh, one of my favorite things about, you know, the history of Jamestown is that we have some really rich people who make the trek. and they think that because they were rich in England, they don't have to

do anything uh in the colony. And they learn very quickly that that's not the case. Like John Smith actually does take, you know, put into place some um uh some structure, some rigidity in the way that things are done. And it means

that some people get pretty angry with them. What they do find, they don't find gold. Uh spoiler alert, they don't find gold. Um what they do find is a plant that uh the native populations are smoking and they really like it and

this grows really well in this region. This becomes the the gold for Virginia. Virginia is on its way to becoming a tobacco colony. And they realize, you know what, these hunts for gold, that's fruitless. We can build an economy

around tobacco. And that's what they do. And so they finally find a crop that they can grow and and use. And they have plentiful markets in Europe for tobacco.

Here we see an advertisement Taylor's Best Virginia at. It's a tobacco roll by what's that say? Fleet Dutch knife fleet. I can't read that. Um, but we we have advertisements in Europe for American tobacco.

And what the rise of tobacco will bring is in 1619 a ship is going to arrive carrying about 20 enslaved Africans.

It is the the understanding that they need a cash crop. They have found it in tobacco that gives rise and we'll talk about this more momentarily of the plantation system of the Chesapeake.

And in the picture on the right here, we can see the tobacco process. It's a very arduous process.

It's not just growing a crop, then cutting down the crop and then smoking it. It involves a lot of dry aging.

Being able to, you know, understanding when to pick it, uh, when to dry it, how long to dry it to keep bugs away from it, it becomes it's a very, uh, laborintensive operation and honestly one that takes quite a bit

of skill to do correctly and to to really get the most out of the land and the crop. Um, I I think that people I I don't know what people think about tobacco anymore, but as as someone who

had a a grandmother that grow, you know, smoked two packs a day from the time she was 13 until she was 70, um, I never thought when I was watching her smoke, oh, this this is a complicated thing.

Just seemed like she lit it on fire and enjoyed. Um, it was a very laborintensive process and one that could make or break um, wealth in a colony because if you messed it up, you could be ruined and

um, it just became really a core part of the Virginia identity even as far back as the early 17th century that we we see here.

Uh, I'm not going to go too far into this, but just know that um when we talk about rights in the United States, a lot of it is informed by debates about what it means to be English. So when

and in 17 in the 1770s the colonists are not originally they're not angling for independence originally. They they want Parliament in London to recognize their rights as Englishmen and UN, you know, to allow them to to just get on with life the way

it had been done since6007. Like, hey, we've been here 70 years, you know, let us go. Like, we are every bit the equal of you, but we're just separated by an ocean.

um the English Civil War there again it's it's kind of tangential to what we're talking about here but we do have conflict between Protestants and Catholics that's going to also inlect uh different moments of migration from England to the colonies again Maryland

is going to have a Catholic population because of the political uh goings on back in England as well. But I bring all this up because the English debate over freedom, the English definition of labor, liberty is almost always couched

in this comparison between being a free person and a slave. This idea permeates the American colonial experience as well. And it's it's one of those weird ironic parts of history where a colonial system that is very firmly grounded in the practice of

slavery up and down the coast is talking about their standing as Englishmen and how the king has mistreated them and how they are not better than slaves.

But at the same time, Jefferson has a pretty large plantation with a large number of enslaved laborers.

Um, he's having children with Sally Hemings. It's It's one of those things where it's I mean, you could call it hypocrisy pretty safely. Um, but it is a very serious argument that they're making and it's all couched in

this earlier uh debate in English political tradition and comes out of the English Civil War. Again, we're not going to get into the details because it's just tangential.

So, I I I bring up Jamestown. I bring up all all of this stuff to talk about uh the fact that originally it was not the plan of these colonial corporations to set up large plantationbased economies based on enslaved labor.

That's not the original goal. Um, and honestly, I'm not I'm not sure that it's inevitable. Um, there is an understanding from immediately that there is going to have to be a large influx of labor to make this work.

They believe they can get it done with indentured servitude, indentured servants early. And for the for the most part, you know, that is a very large group of people that come over in the early decades of the colonial experience. Um,

but there is a long historical tradition of slavery and it goes back to the Romans. The Greeks all had systems of this. The Vikings uh, running around Northern Europe took slaves. It was almost always a result of war where uh

the winning faction would capture uh those on the losing side and take them home. In fact, um slavery had a history in the Americas. So, uh American Indian tribes would often go to war with one another and enslave captives. And then

there was sort of this adoption process where um they would capture people and they would replace lost loved ones. So, um if your son died at war and your tribe won, you could, and in a lack of a better way

to phrase this, you could replace your son with a tribesman from, you know, from somewhere else. And they they would be treated They were treated like how how you picture enslaved labor. I mean, they weren't they weren't part of the family.

Um they they could get to a semi status like that, but in initially they would not be. And all that to say there is a long tradition of slavery throughout world history. So the English they weren't they weren't obtuse. They knew

this existed. Um there were no English laws banning the practice or the trade. Um but what they do develop is an understanding that hey um we view the world in a way that says um some people are inherently better

than others. And the for the English, they didn't have a modern conception of race. So for the for an English person in the 17th century, so the 1600s, they inherently believe that they're better than the Irish. They they they

just know they're better than the Irish. and they consider the Irish a separate race largely.

But what it, you know, one of the the mindsets of Europeans at the time is that when they see an African body, they can see uh the tone of the skin and say, "Okay, well, there's a difference here."

And we can use that as um justification for being treated, you know, treating them differently.

Um, so the English when I say they don't have a modern concept conception of race, they they really didn't have the language to describe that lang u race in the way that we would now. But what they would

say is that there is a difference between white and black. And for the English, they believed, you know, white men were were better.

And so they they viewed the world in that way. Now, as they develop, did my slide just change? I think so. um as they as they um create further colonial systems throughout the Caribbean and then in the West Indies,

uh they do um they they see African labor as a very valuable commodity and they start defining slavery as a racial condition in the law this is created. It is not inherent. It was not something that the English have always believed.

It is something that they created. Um and events that we will talk about here momentarily uh reinforced that created status. So they need slave labor in the West Indies to help prop up their very valuable uh sugar colonies in Jamaica, Barbados. Uh

the Portuguese are importing vast numbers of enslaved Africans to help in Brazilian plantations. Um but it's it's something that is created.

They they define slavery as a perpetual system. They are going to define that as status follows the mother. And why is that? Well, I had alluded to Thomas Jefferson. People, you know, they had proclivities. And if if you were born to Sally Hemings and

your dad was Thomas Jefferson, legally they're going to want to have you follow the status of Sally Hemings instead of Thomas Jefferson because you are then a commodity that they could keep and have monetary value.

That is the reality of what they are creating in colonial America. We see a system that it wasn't I'm not entirely convinced that the it was always meant to be perpetual.

Um but it gets defined that way very quickly and uh it does not follow the same system that indentured servitude did where had very clearly defined legal terms because I don't I I I'm not it's not clear to me that they they saw African

men as being able to enter into a legally binding contract that way. So, we have this system that's set up.

Excuse me. I don't want to cough into the microphone. That will hurt your ears. We have a system that's um set up largely um to benefit the colonies in the West Indies.

Now, I mentioned uh the Chesapeake system is built on tobacco. Um, we have a growing number of people going to Virginia now to grow tobacco. People are like, "Hey, we may not have gold, but we know what we can grow very well here."

Um, so the growing number of people going to Virginia are are wanting to duplicate that. They want to move out west and that's bringing people into conflict with native tribes.

So, we have these groups of people um let's let's say lower class and poor uh whites are pushing west. They're getting into conflict with native tribes.

Um it's it's raising tensions on the western border or the western frontier of the Virginia colonies, the Virginia colony, sorry. Um eventually tensions boil over and um native tribes are going to start fighting back and uh one group led by Nathaniel Bacon

is going to ask uh the colonial governor Berkeley to provide some support. Send the militia help protect us, keep us safe.

And Berkeley says no. He says, "You know, you guys created this mess. You're on your own." And Bacon does not like this. The lower class people settling on the western frontier of Virginia do not like this. And they take up arms. They

they they raise a militia of sorts to take on the colonial government. Um, and what Bacon does, and and this is why I kind of hedge a lot of my discussion about English aditudes of race, because Bacon, he sends out the call. He says,

"Hey, if you join my cause and you're an indentured servant, I will, if we win, you're going to be free. If you are enslaved and you join my cause and we win, you're free." There was an understanding between Bacon

and I I don't want to be clear. I do not want there to be a misunderstanding that said Bacon saw men of all races equally. I don't believe that to be true. What I do believe is that Bacon saw this as an opportunity to

unite people of various races along class lines. That that's what how we would define it. So he sees an opportunity to say, "Hey, there are more of us than there are of the landed elite who run this colony. We could take power

from Berkeley." And so they do. They well they try. They raise up arms against Berkeley and march on the capital and they burn it.

The downside for Bacon and his followers is that Bacon gets sick and dies. And as a consequence, there is no cult of personality to, you know, to gather these people together around a united front. With Bacon out of the

picture, the rebellion just kind of fizzles. Um the the militia, the the colonial militia actually captures some people.

They do hang some of the the leaders in this um uh rebellion, but the most important outcome of Bacon's rebellion is not that um the colonial government put down unrest. It's that they make a very very concerted effort to separate poor whites

and blacks. They say, "Well, if these people can all unite against us, we're outnumbered." And one of the things that Bacon did was he rallied people around a common cause that said, "Hey, our situations might legally be different,

but we have a lot to gain by doing this together." And so the Virginia assemblies start passing laws to make that uh make the chances of this replicating near impossible.

So they're going to limit how many people, you know, how many uh enslaved people can be together at a time, whether or not they're allowed to own weapons. Um and and what it does too is it's near it's the death now for

indentured servitude in Virginia. They are going to stop bringing people in on indentured servant contracts and they're going to almost entirely transition to uh plantation slavery to grow tobacco.

And the catalyst for this is Bacon's success at uniting people around an an idea together. Um, and I I don't feel like bacon gets covered enough in our history courses growing up in in the states because most people when they hear about this,

they're like, well, yeah, I feel like that is a very modern thing, too, where this is actually something that I can understand where, you know, if we think about history along lines of economic class, pass.

Yeah. People of all races have a lot more in common than they have difference if we think about it about you know in in terms of economic class. Um but you know that takes us down a whole different

marxian route that we're not getting into involved in. Um, and I I mean then Markx doesn't he doesn't even exist for another like 200 years after this. So I mean what am I talking about?

So we we create in the aftermath of Bacon's rebellion a slave society and u there's a historian trying to think it it was one of the Morgans Edmund Morgan I think uh has a book or maybe it's an

article but his his argu argument was that uh you know there is a a transition in American history uh between a slave society and a society of slaves. And what was generally meant by that is that one one defines itself on the existence of

slavery and the other is completely created um to continue the existence of slavery if that makes sense. So um one is is slavery exists. The other one exists because there is slavery. And it it may sound like we're splitting hairs. It may

sound like a difference or a distinction without a difference, but I and probably next week if I can find this I I will link it because it's an important distinction. Um but again it it it goes to the very definitions and notions of

freedom that we cultivate in colonial society where that and and by we I just mean general in general sense I don't mean literal we um but it's it's the notion of freedom that is cultivated uh in the colonial period.

So if we take a look and and this is a um uh what is the time frame here? But this is this is uh the origins and status of migrants to British North American colonies between 1700 and 1775.

um we see a very substantial shift in the number of Africans being brought to the colonies to serve as enslaved labor.

In the very early years, we see indentured servantthood being very popular among Irish, German, English, and Welsh uh settlers. a little bit less. I mean, substantially less for the Scots, but um it it is a very valuable tool that

goes away very quickly uh with the rise of the transatlantic uh slave trade. So when we talk about um this trade, one thing that people people often misunderstand is the dad part of my brain just went to a

a pun about the fluidity of the Atlantic Ocean. I'm sorry. Um people people see oceans and bodies of water as a border or a barrier and that's not the case.

In the early periods I mean throughout human history water is a very important way to to transport goods to travel. It is a highway. The Atlantic Ocean is a super highway for goods and people and material. So we have and I I

know that everyone has heard the term the triangle trade that this is this diagram here is what we mean by that. We have active trade going from Europe to Africa. Africa to North America and then North America back to Europe. It is it is a triangle

and it it's part of the I I'm trying to think of the the best way to say this.

Um, some people will point to this map and say well see Africans they are to blame for, you know, slavery existing in the Americas because they were active participants.

Others will argue that Africans were um naive and tricked into participating into uh into this system.

And I I don't think either one is a persuasive argument. Um I think like okay so when when I mentioned earlier that uh slavery existed throughout human history that Native Americans even practiced um slave trade uh you know it it existed

slavery existed in Africa much the in the same way that it did elsewhere. clans would go to war, the winning side would take slaves from the losing side and it became a very lucrative deal here. I mean manufactured goods

from Europe were valuable and without you know that labor coming from African slave you know a the African slave trade I don't think you can get the raw materials like uh sugar rice tobacco that does not exist to be turned into

finished goods. in Europe without labor. So I would say and and and this is just an opinion, everyone participates.

Um not everyone, that's a bad way to put this but the people facilitating the trade are actively pursuing this. So um the reading this week and if I can advance my slide here so you can see me as I as I say this. The reading this

week will talk about uh the the groups in Africa who are realizing the riches that are that the the trade in human bodies in you know provides and they are actively searching for sources to provide enslaved labor to European traders.

European traders are going up and down the African coast looking for the best markets to procure men, women, and children to take to North America. Um, it it is a very and I apologize if I if I am imprecise with the way that I talk

about this. It is complicated um talking about um human motivations for this because I think it's such a foreign idea to our modern sensibilities like it's it's quite often hard to comprehend that for a lot of people this was just

seen as an economic transaction. Um and one of the you one of the readings this week will talk about how very quickly they were making calculations based on oh well we're going to stop at this port and they tend to trade in

people from this region of Africa there is a you know 10% higher risk of resistance so we need to build out our ships in different ways They very quickly make these calculations and they realize, okay, well, it's actually more profitable if

we actually go down not to this port, but this port, because then we can actually um spend fewer resources to procure the numbers that we need to fill our ship.

They're doing math calculations on this. They are treating it like you would any other transaction.

And it goes back to the the legal definitions. They create the status of of child slavery where human lives are being talked about legally in in much the same way that livestock was traded or household goods was traded or were

traded. Um so then you get into the age-old debate that uh the academy and by the academy I mean historians and linguistic you know linguists and everyone else has spent talking about well was slavery born out of racism or was racism born out of

slavery? And again, it's one of those things that sounds on the surface like uh distinction without a difference. Um, you know, what does that mean? Well, we know that racial laws were created because they wanted to protect slavery.

And we also know that English attitudes about African bodies made it easier for them to justify enslaving these people.

So wherever you land on the debate, I think you can make a compelling case that one begat the other.

Often we talk about uh the the the part of the triangular triangular trade um from from Africa to North America as the middle passage. This is um this is the voyage back westward across the Atlantic Ocean. And I don't have the

picture in the slideshow this week. um where a uh I I forget the origins if it's a shipping company that writes out this diagram or if it's just kind of a kind of a blueprint for how ships should be

uh organized to maximize the number of enslaved individuals they can you pack in to tight quarters. But it's that famous picture where it's like the layout of a ship and it has people lined up and in very tight quarters. Um the

conditions for this trip were horrid. They're trying to and by they I mean um the people operating these these slave ships were trying to maximize their profits. So, they were trying to cram in as many souls as possible into these

ships, and the conditions were terrible. We've all learned about that in the past. Um, and again, when I when I say they were treating these voyages um in math terms, they were also calculating an acceptable amount of loss

for the trip back, whether that was uh suicide or disease. whatever they had an acceptable number of loss and they prepared for that.

They they they put a lot of thought into these voyages. Now, one thing um when we think about the slave trade, I think um from our perspective as as Americans in the United States, we often think because slavery

uh the institution of slavery is so intrical into our national history. Um, I mean, we we it was a source of conflict in the United States and still serves as as a large point of contention in American politics. Um, we often think that the

North American mainland colonies, the 13 of which would become the United States, were the largest benefactor of the slave trade. And that's not true.

That is not a fact. Um, by number, the largest group of enslaved Africans went to Portuguese Brazil.

Then we're talking about places like Barbados Janka and when we when we get to talking about the American Revolution next week and this this when I talk about this in person uh in my my history courses, people get offended when I say this, but

um to British corporate interests in London the mainland colonies weren't that big a deal.

Um the the crown jewel in the English colonial system was Jamaica. It was the Caribbean islands that the British Caribbean. That's what they cared about. It's like, oh, Massachusetts wants independence.

Okay. I mean, they fought a war for it. So, I'm not not going to say they didn't they didn't care, but there was a very concerted effort that Jamaica would not go the same way. They put a lot of effort into paying

attention to that. So the middle passage here sending a lot of human beings into the Caribbean into uh Brazil. And then you'll see at the very top left portion of this diagram only 4% of the total participation of

um the African slave trade went to the mainland colonies. So that that should give you a a sense of I mean let me now I can't go back enough slides. Um when we we talk about the number of enslaved individuals in the

18th century that's only 4% of the total number of slaves that were you know taken taken out of Africa and into the new world.

estimates put it somewhere the total number between I I I think off the top of my head it's somewhere between 11 and 15 million individuals were uh enslaved and and and shipped off as part of this trade.

We're talking about I think my diagram said 275,000 to the North American mainland colonies.

And one thing and I'm kind of just thinking about this in the moment here is that um it becomes an important distinction for American political leaders. They don't want to continue this trade and it's not completely an altruistic system like,

"Oh, well, we need to stop we need to stop kidnapping people and forcing them to work on our sugar plantations or we need to stop forcing people to cultivate our tobacco." It's you know what if we cut off the African trade

our plantation is suddenly more valuable because there is a finite number of enslaved individuals.

Suddenly each one is now worth more and that becomes a very key distinction for polit political discussions around the revolution. Um, and we'll talk about that next week, but you know, it is something to keep in mind. So, we talked about tobacco.

Um, sorry. Um, we talked about tobacco earlier. We're not going to harp on that again.

Trust me. I watched my grandma smoke herself to death. Don't do it. Um, that's my PSA.

I don't know. You're adults. Sorry. Um, I'm not going to beat the the drum on tobacco again.

um uh but we do see a a distinct you know difference in the systems by which planters are defining and protecting the institution of slavery in American colonies. So the Chesapeake system is different whereas tobacco follows a a defined growing season,

harvesting process um and by which it is packed and shipped like those were defined really outside of that window. people had much more freedom um as long as the work was done largely people were like yeah whatever do you know your time is

yours if the work is done and it's done correctly and like I said earlier it was a very tedious process but one by which people could master pretty quickly like they they became very skilled at growing tobacco and processing it and

avoiding getting themselves nicotine poisoning Um, so they could build up that institutional knowledge and share that with one another. And it gave them a sense of freedom because once the work was done, there wasn't an endless amount of work. They could just

go on with the the rest of their day. And a lot of people would have their own individual, you know, small farms. They um you know slave families, enslaved families would would have their own small I don't want to say farm is too much.

It's more like they'd have gardens, they would have their own livestock, um pigs, cows, whatever. Um, and it gave them a lot more freedom in uh the Chesapeake than the plantation systems further south.

Um, in the Carolinas, uh, they really tried to weigh heavily on, um, native slavery in the early, uh, decade or two of their colonial existence. Um that ended with a with a a large uh revolt amongst local native tribes

who persuaded them, hey, stop trying to make slavery amongst, you know, tribes a thing.

You already have African slaves do that instead. Um, that sounds pretty grotesque, but I mean that was their way of, you know, kind of looking out for self-preservation, I suppose. I don't know. Um, I don't know how to to

phrase it, but that is what happened. Um, and again, it it just from the the planters point of view, it never really worked well because if you're enslaving people from the region, they know the region better than you.

Um, native slaves would often run away. The other downside was they were very susceptible to European diseases. So, um, they'd run away quickly. They'd unfortunately get sick and die more frequently. Um, and the the resistance was pretty united

there from local tribes. So, they they transitioned in the Carolinas. Uh, and and the Carolinas focused primarily on indigo. So that's the cash crop there.

Um and then rice became really important which again does not exist at the same level without African knowhow.

These enslaved individuals were coming to North America with the understanding, the the generational knowledge of how to farm rice.

And that becomes a big staple crop in in the South. And the Carolinas are the first to have majority slave populations. So, um, at one point 90% of the population of South Carolina was enslaved.

Um, I don't think North Carolina ever got that that high. I think it may have been 70% at its highest. Um but we're talking a very very deep um colonial existence or you know um I I I'm blanking on the way I want to

phrase that but like the colony is integrated with the institution. Maybe this is what I mean early by the earlier distinction I was talking about um slave society versus a society of slaves. Um and again I I'll include that reading

for next week. But there is a difference um whereas uh there was a limited amount of freedom for um enslaved individuals on tobacco plantations.

Carolina's they went with the task system and it was much more sun up to sun down you're working and uh it's develop there the Carolinas are developing the systems of having overseers and very strict discipline um all integrated very very early in the

Carolina system, Georgia. I honestly this surprised me. I didn't I didn't know this um until actually uh my wife and I went on a trip to Savannah 15. No, was was it No, I don't even know how long ago it was. 10 years ago.

A little longer than that. I don't even know. Um, but a big part of the the talk in Savannah um was that Georgia was never meant to be a slave society. Like it was not supposed to be built upon enslaved

labor. Like that the the colony of Georgia was founded by a philanthropist by the name of George Ogulthorp.

James Ogle Ogulthorp. His last name is Oggothorp and you will be quizzed on this. It isn't a quiz. I just forgot his name on my notes. Sorry. Um his I mean he was anti-slavery largely. Um and it wasn't out of any any sense of racial

equality or altruism or anything like that. His idea was slavery as an institution corrupts white people.

He believed that if if you build a society off of slave labor, then people are going to get lazy. They're going to become entitled. They're going to be bad at running government. Um, so he when he created Georgia,

the practice of enslaved labor was I if it wasn't outlawed straight away, and sorry if you can hear a train in the background because apparently they're being very loud as I record this. um if it wasn't banned out outright in law

then by in practice he wanted to avoid bringing enslaved labor to Georgia for those reasons. Um the problem being that by the 1750s it was a very common understanding that um very few people very few there I need to find this and I'll put

it in a course document somewhere but uh there was a minister from the south who said no no no white person seriously thinks it's possible to come to the south and farm without slave labor.

And so there is a growing resistance to Ogulthorp um Ogulthorp's ban on uh enslaved labor very quickly. people are fighting it. Within 20 years or so of of of him founding the colony, there is a a very very vocal group of people who are

trying to overturn that ban and ultimately they succeed. And then, you know, Georgia, if you do go to Savannah, uh, on the waterfront, they still have the warehouses that, um, ships would would would trade in human resources and cotton. Um

so um all that to say I find it interesting um because culturally in my mind I didn't know that I didn't know that about Georgia that when it was created the idea was that it was not going to embrace

uh enslaved labor the way that the other southern colonies did. And I I I I just think it's it's culturally interesting because I think maybe maybe it's for myself growing up uh in Ohio in the '9s. I had this idea of what the

North was. I had this idea of what the South was. And that understanding of Georgia went against that.

also did not recognize or realize that slavery was legal in the north and it was so um sorry uh um trying not to cough into the into the microphone to save your ears.

Um slavery was legal in the north and it takes on a very different appearance than the south. So we have the three different system plantation systems um rising uh in the south but uh slave labor is very prominent in the north in

the cities. So when we talk about like the breakdown of the different you know how it looked um it was largely urban in practice in the north and almost entire I don't want to say it that way it was largely urban in the

north and largely rural in the south. So, plantation labor in the south and then um you know, city workers in the north.

So when we talk about becoming African-American, what I mean by this is um the the trade of human beings from Africa came from dozens of areas.

Um there was no one homogeneous or definitive slave culture if if that makes sense.

Um, these individuals were being enslaved from many many different regions and cultures and uh places within the African continent and and bringing um dozens upon dozens of different cultural identities to the Americas.

But um being put into this system in the North American colonies had the uh the effect of of creating a culture that was united in this shared experience, a shared experience of enslavement uh in the Americas. Um it's

not something that happens quickly. It is a process that takes time um but is built upon community and the shared experience of the middle passage, the shared experience of working side by side on these different uh plantations.

Um but also grows through the exercise of these different religious beliefs and it it it becomes um it develops in interesting ways where people are taking these cultural practices and religious beliefs that have developed over generations, over centuries, and they're integrating it

with what they're experiencing. ing in North America. So we get um African uh folklore mixed in with Catholicism or Protestantism or you name it. Um it's given voice um where these deeper understandings of belonging and identity and religion

are being melded together and it's creating a unified or more unified uh cultural experience.

And one thing I so moving on to this table uh this is uh the enslaved population as percentage of total population of the original 13 colonies as of 1770.

Look at New York. New York has a very large slave population by 1770. it. New York City itself has the highest enslaved population in the 13 colonies.

like the largest so in yeah New York City had I guess to put it another way New York City had a larger slave population than Charleston or insert any other city in the 1860s.

What that means is um this this practice, this history is going to come back. Um New York City has a very large uh Confederate sympathy. Like their industry is dependent on slave labor, the product of enslaved labor. And

I think this this chart burst a lot of will burst a lot of people's idea of the north as a bastion of freedom because yeah those numbers are lower but they're not zero.

And I will say fair enough, you know, the percentage of the population is under is in the single digits for everyone but New York uh for the northern colonies, but still it's it's not zero. And I think this is something that people often

conflate um knowing the history of anti-slavery politics of the Civil War of modern I don't know for lack of better words l the modern progressive politics in the northeast people are often under the assumption that it it did not happen in

the north and that's not the case. But I will highlight here by 1770 of the uh enslaved population, look where it's centralized. It's in Virginia.

It is the tobacco farmers. Who are the people who own large uh tobacco plantations in Virginia in 1770? Oh, it's it's people like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the center of political power.

in the United States is in the Chesapeake. So to end because I don't want to to ramble on too much for week one. Um there's often this this misguided See, I'm trying to be nice about this, and I I really

shouldn't be, but I'm going to be. There's often a misguided understanding of slavery in the United States by people that say things like, "Oh, well, if it was so horrible, why didn't they resist? Why didn't they fight back?"

They did. quite frequently the deepest fear in colonial America and for a century afterward is armed slave insurrection.

When people say, "Oh, there wasn't there wasn't resistance. There wasn't acceptance." They learned trades.

It completely ignores history. There were countless ways people resisted enslavement. Whether it's it's fighting um fighting against being forced onto these ships, whether it's um you know trying to fight back on the ship or choosing to end your life on the

ship. You know, that's that's the the earliest ways earliest points at which people tried to uh to resist.

But once people were forced into working, there was all kinds of ways that they sabotaged and resisted the work. Whether it's breaking tools or destroying crops or you name it, there's all along the line. It was there w you

know resistance was built in in into the process. They they they found ways to resist and this will be the end of our our lecture this week is on this note. The Stono rebellion um there was a war in

Spanish Florida uh involved England and Spain. It's called the War of Jenkins ear and it it kind of left the the status of Florida up in the air. It kind of created some some um contested space.

And there was this message quickly spread throughout uh the southern colonies that you know maybe if you get to Spanish Florida freedom will fall. I mean you can you can achieve freedom by getting to Spanish Florida. And so along the

Stono River there was a man named Jimmy. J E M Y Jimmy who led an armed um a large uprising. and was armed and they killed 12 to 15 white people um in the the first day of the uprising

and they they marched south recruiting um fellow uh enslaved individuals to join and I think at one point they they had between 70 and 100 that joined their force.

and they were actively u resisting and fighting back and people died and as a result uh the South Carolina militia is called up and within a day or so the group is found and they were dealt with very harshly. they

were, you know, quite a few people were were were killed as a result of leading and participating in this rebellion. But what it did was it heightened the cultural fear that existed to such a degree that the Stono

rebellion completely changes and ramps up the legal process by which slaver slavery is entrenched in American society. it pro, you know, laws were passed throughout the American colonies limiting access to firearms.

uh the amount of time that enslaved indiv individuals could be together, the number of enslaved individuals that could be together, whether or not black people could gather in daytime, you know, at night people were not allowed to be out. I mean

if if someone I never understand this when people say there was no fight that was the main fear at the time.

If if you're a a plantation owner and there are six to 10 of you in your family in your in your house and you own and Well, for the the sake of this discussion point, if you if you own

dozen, two dozen people, you're outnumbered. What's protecting you? I mean, the numbers are against you.

This was a very real real fear and as a result it was codified. It was um these laws were strengthened and the management of black bodies and time and cultural practices were hotly uh contested and defined and scrutinized

to a degree to which it hadn't been before. And it was because there was uh an armed resistance to the practice of slavery.

I have a couple pieces of reading for you to to get to on Carmen. Make sure you take the lecture quiz. Uh I will have the study questions posted along with this video. Um just two pieces of reading this week.

One and I think it's by Philip Morgan. Um it's coming it comes out of a a colonial American reader that's a collection of essays from prominent American historians. Um, I will say with that it's kind of a weird piece in that it

starts out with a discussion of the abundance of resources and materials available. This article was written in about 20 years ago, 24 years ago, I think. Uh, it makes a lot of references to like the early 2000s and late 90s. So I was like,

uh, but it wasn't published until like 2008, so I'm not not sure what the the story is, but um, it is written by one of the leading scholars of of colonial African-American life. So, uh, I will include that. And then a

uh an interesting piece that uh kind of juxtaposes the um some perspective on the Stono Rebellion from two wildly different angles. One is um compiled I think from um oh I'm forgetting the name of it um from the New Deal where they they went and

they they interviewed uh former uh formerly enslaved peoples and recorded their testimonies. But the the the one person talks about being a descendant of um of Jimmy or uh other individuals that helped lead the Stono rebellion. So it's an interesting

perspective um getting the the cultural um history, the oral histories that were passed down discussing the topic. So, uh, make sure you're taking those quizzes this week and if you have any questions, reach out and let me know. Anyway, thanks for

joining me for this lecture and I'll see you guys again next week.