hello and welcome to this video today we will be addressing the question how did people living in the american colonies rationalize the opportunities that some people got and the oppression other people suffered under there's a lot to unpack so let's get to it [Music] part one the land of opportunity the land that would someday become the united states has been lived on cultivated and celebrated by native american peoples for between 40 000 and 15 000 years there were hundreds of different tribes nations and people groups speaking an estimated 300 or more languages and developing complex economic religious and social systems disclaimer just like it is wrong to lump all african peoples together or all asian peoples together or all european peoples together it is wrong to push all the different native american nations into one group yet today we are used to thinking of native americans as one homogeneous culture which is not true or accurate to cut down on time in this video i'm going to use some generalizations about native american nations and cultures but this doesn't mean that what i'm saying is true for all native american groups or individuals we don't really know how many native americans were living in the western hemisphere at the time of european arrival because so many native americans were killed by disease whole nations disappeared and the survivors often formed new tribes and groups out of the remains many archaeologists and historians estimate that around 90 percent of native americans alive before columbus sailed to the caribbean islands died of disease and disease-related causes most of the diseases were introduced to native american people in central and south america by the spanish in the 1500s unlike west africans who who we will be talking about shortly native americans had never been exposed to viruses and diseases like smallpox influenza cholera measles mumps and more because of this lack of exposure the diseases spread quickly through communities and along trading networks by the time the british arrived in the early 1600s the population of native americans was already extremely reduced from what it had been a century earlier the diseases which decimated the native american population meant that communities had been wiped out and those that survived were moving around this is one of the reasons that the americas had such a low population density compared to europe which was densely populated north and south america seemed to be a place in which europeans could find untold riches in space the land that the europeans were encountering had not been farmed to exhaustion the waters were not yet polluted by byproducts of manufacturing and human and animal waste and there was timber to build homes businesses and cities in addition land in europe was owned by a small group of elites which left the majority of the population without a chance to gain wealth or change their social situation in the americas europeans didn't recognize native americans ownership of the land so in their eyes it was free for the taking in central and south america european conquistadors and conquerors exploited native american lands and labor to explore gold silver and cash crops like sugar cane and coffee in north america european merchants exploited native trading networks and lands to export first faco and indigo many different european powers colonized the land that would make up the united states impacting the culture or food language traditions holidays etc that still exist today in different regions of the united states spanish conquistadors claimed what would become florida texas and most of the american west french fur trappers traders and missionaries claimed the great lakes region and the port of new orleans the dutch established new york which at the time was called new amsterdam and delaware was originally founded by the swedish in 1741 russian fur traders trappers and fishermen would claim alaska as part of their country and in 1609 british investors and merchants began the process of colonizing much of the american east coast as colonies for the british king instead of trying to cover all these european powers and their enormous impacts on the lands and peoples they interacted with we are going to highlight the british north american colonies the reason we are focusing on britain's relationship with colonies is because many of the social economic and political systems developed while the colonies were under british control are the foundations for many of our social economic and political systems in the united states today the british quickly pushed other countries out of the north american east coast and governed all of the territory from maine down to georgia to help with governing an organization the british king gave charters to two different british trading companies whose goal was to make as much money as possible there were a few ways that the companies in the colonies they organized achieved this part two the southern colonies one of the companies was in charge of the south in the southern colonies of delaware maryland virginia north carolina south carolina and georgia landowners began to grow cash crops the biggest of the cash crops was tobacco tobacco had a growing market in europe for two reasons one it was considered a sign of wealth if you could afford it and two it was and still is very addictive landowners knew they could make a killing if they grew tobacco but growing it is difficult and it requires a lot of labor landowners had tobacco they had the land to grow it but they didn't have anyone to help with the planting growing harvesting drying and shipping of the finicky crop native americans who had been planting and smoking tobacco for generations were thought by landowners to be a solution to their lack of a workforce hundreds of thousands of native americans were enslaved and forced to work on lands that their people had lived on for centuries native americans were also shipped south to work sugarcane plantations in the caribbean in exchange for indigenous people from the islands who would be forced to work in the tobacco fields there were a couple of problems that british landowners came across when they exploited native american labor one native americans had friends and allies who would wage war with the british two native americans knew the land much better than the british and were able to escape and disappear from their captors and three which was the most likely native americans would die of disease malnutrition and mistreatment after the period of enslavement ended and in conjunction with the devastation wreaked by disease the population of native americans on the north american continent was down to only 2 million people clearly the exploitation of native american labor was not going to solve the problems of british landowners in the american colonies they needed to find workers from somewhere else meanwhile britain and much of the rest of europe was going through a major economic depression many people were out of work and there was a shortage of food poor british citizens were desperate to get to the american colonies where they could advance their social and economic situations but they had no money to pay for passage on a ship landowners and laborers made agreements with each other to solve their respective problems landowners would pay for laborers passage on a ship in return for a promise to work for them most commonly laborers would promise seven years of work in return for passage in many contracts servants were promised land seeds and tools after they completed their years of work the system is called indentured servitude many indentured servants were english but landowners would also buy the labor of other european groups like the irish scots welsh etc indentured servants worked in harsh conditions and were often mistreated and malnourished they did have some laws protecting them and they were able to sue in court so they did have a legal identity unlike other laborers that will get too soon most importantly though upon release from service they had an extremely important commodity land land was important because it provided for colonists basic needs like food water and shelter but what made land different from other commodities was that land was inheritable this allowed indentured servants all of whom were white to pass wealth onto their children and set up future generations for success during this time of indentured servitude a ship captained by privateers would arrive on the shores of virginia this ship carried at least 20 west africans but we don't know exactly how many people were aboard because the ship's logs did not count the women and children these west africans would become the first enslaved africans in the american british colonies at first west african enslaved people worked alongside white indentured servants and other white laborers and had many of the same protections that poor whites had they were even sometimes given land and freedom at the end of a set period of time just like their white counterparts however indentured servitude quickly became more trouble than it was worth to landowners because of harsh conditions many indentured servants and enslaved people died this meant that if landowners wanted more indentured servants they had to pay costly passage aboard ships and train new people how to cultivate tobacco the economic crisis in britain was getting better and only the most desperate british citizens wanted to become indentured servants it was also getting harder to promise land to indentured servants the british colonies were sandwiched in a fertile plain belief between the atlantic ocean and the appalachian mountains pushing west over the appalachian mountains meant conflict with native americans who lived there and the french who had established training posts and military forts in the area because landowners weren't paying for labor it freed up the profits from their farms and plantations to buy more land which in turn needed more indentured servants and enslaved people to work it but also left less land to award to indentured servants upon the completion of their contracts in short it became cheaper and easier to buy west african enslaved people than it was to continue with the system of indentured servitude it was during this time that many colonies beginning with new york and massachusetts put laws in place that shaped the way slavery was practiced in the united states like other european colonies in the western hemisphere a form of slavery called chattel slavery was developed in the british colonies slavery has existed in the world for as long or longer than complex societies have existed and it still exists today though it is often called human trafficking extent slavery has existed on every continent except antarctica but chattel slavery was different from any form of slavery that had ever existed in the world when it was formed the name chattel slavery comes from the concept of personal property that is not localized chattel was often used to refer to livestock like horses cattle and sheep movable property that owners could do with what they liked for the first time slavery was entirely race-based for the first time the condition of slavery lasted for an entire slaved person's life because unlike other forms of slavery there was little to no chance of buying or working your way out of chattel slavery for the first time the children of enslaved people inherited slavery from their parents resulting in children being born enslaved working as enslaved people and dying as enslaved people for wealthy landowners in colonial america buying an enslaved person was an investment it is important to note that not all white colonials owned enslaved people most white colonials were merchants artisans business owners and yeoman farmers slave owners were concentrated in the southern colonies though they existed in northern colonies as well and only the most wealthy colonists exploited the labor of enslaved people of the slave owners very few owned more than 20 enslaved people yet this small portion of society were the ones who helped to make the laws helped govern and help judge they made sure that the institution of chattel slavery was protected in the colonies part 3 the northern colonies things looked very different in the northern colonies of pennsylvania new jersey rhode island connecticut massachusetts new york and new hampshire there are several reasons that the north and south developed different social and economic system during this period of colonialism one reason is that northern colonies were established by a different company than those in the south unlike in the south some colonies within the north were founded by christian religious groups that had been persecuted in britain because the king of britain was also the head of the church he mandated that everybody believe in his sect of christianity called anglicanism since its founding christianity has broken into many sects all of which worship the same god but interpret the texts of the religion in different ways anglicanism is one of those sects so is catholicism lutheranism eastern orthodoxy and many others british christians who disagreed with anglicanism were prevented from worshipping and were sometimes jailed and fined thus the american colonies provided an escape for the christian sects of pilgrims puritans quakers and others pilgrims founded plymouth colony later observed into massachusetts puritans established the massachusetts bay colony and quakers established pennsylvania in an ironic twist these formerly persecuted groups often turned around and restricted religious freedom for those in their colonies at this time catholics were almost universally discriminated against and were barred from certain professions and from holding office in some colonies non-christian religions were not tolerated at all including native american religions and religious traditions brought from west africa with enslaved people another reason the north and south differed was because northern geography and climate did not support cash crops like tobacco and indigo due to the short growing season and harsh winters therefore in the north the large environment and climate made large plantations with large populations of enslaved people impossible very few northerners were opposed to slavery and it wasn't uncommon for wealthy northerners to have enslaved people as nannies housekeepers carriage drivers manservants etc but slavery never developed in the north the way it did in the south because it simply wasn't profitable enough instead the mountainous terrain and numerous rivers made water powered mills and harbors a staple of northern colonies these harbors which had been used by native americans for centuries were renamed after british cities and customs and then transformed into major economic centers for the triangular trade cities like boston baltimore and new york became important processing and shipping centers for the western hemisphere sugar cane planted and harvested by enslaved people in the caribbean islands was shipped to these quickly growing cities to be made into molasses and rum from there these products were shipped to britain to be sold in european markets tobacco ii was often shipped first to the northern cities before going to britain and europe in this way the wealth of the northern colonies was built on the exploitation of native american lands and west african enslaved labor outside of the coastal cities most northern colonists made small communities of human farmers artisans tradesmen and shopkeepers the heart of these communities was often the church which helps celebrate important life events like births deaths and weddings provided some education and helped keep law in order part four opportunities and oppression as discussed people in the british american colonies were treated with vast differences in this period of american history today we have focused on the eastern coast of what would become the united states because it provided a foundation for the government that would soon form there and spread westward across the continent however the inequalities that we discussed in the british colonies were apparent in spanish and french controlled territories as well american colonies were begun as money-making ventures and for the most part these business ventures were successful the colonies became a place for white europeans to get a new start and a chance to accumulate wealth to pass on to their children these european immigrants worked incredibly hard to give themselves and their children a chance to improve their economic and social situations we have to recognize and acknowledge the human cost at which these new starts came economic social and political systems that were developed at this time simultaneously created opportunities for white europeans and oppressed native americans whose land and lives were taken from them and west africans whose freedom was taken and labor exploited knowing what you do now how do you think the people living in the american colonies rationalized the opportunities that some people got and the oppression that other people suffered under why did they put these systems in place how do you think white colonists viewed the colonization of the east coast what about the native americans or west africans what would you do if you were in their shoes you