the american yap chapter 3 british north america section 1 introduction whether they came as servants enslaved laborers free farmers religious refugees or powerful planters the men and women of the american colonies created new worlds native americans saw fledgling settlements grow into unstoppable beachheads of vast new populations that increasingly monopolized resources and made the land into something else entirely meanwhile as colonial societies developed in the 17th and 18th centuries fluid labor arrangements and racial categories solidified into the race-based chattel slavery that increasingly defined the economy of the british empire the north american mainland originally occupied a small and marginal place in that broad empire as even the output of its most prosperous colonies paled before the tremendous wealth of caribbean sugar islands and yet the colonial backwaters on the north american mainland ignored by many imperial officials were nevertheless deeply tied into these larger atlantic networks a new and increasingly complex atlantic world connected the continents of europe africa and the americas events across the ocean continue to influence the lives of american colonists civil war religious conflict and nation building transformed 17th century britain and remade societies on both sides of the ocean at the same time colonial settlements grew and matured developing into powerful societies capable of warring against native americans and subduing internal upheaval patterns and systems established during the colonial era would continue to shape american society for centuries and none perhaps would be as brutal and destructive as the institution of slavery section 2 slavery and the making of race after his arrival as a missionary in charlestown carolina in 1706 reverend francis lejao quickly grew disillusioned by the horrors of american slavery he met enslaved africans ravaged by the middle passage native americans traveling south to enslave enemy villages and colonists terrified of invasions from french louisiana and spanish florida slavery and death surrounded him la zhao's strongest complaints were reserved for his own countrymen the english english traders encouraged wars with native americans in order to purchase and enslave captives and planters justified the use of an enslaved workforce by claiming white servants were good for nothing at all although the minister thought otherwise and baptized and educated a substantial number of enslaved people he was unable to overcome enslavers fears that christian baptism would lead to slave emancipation the 1660s marked a turning point for black men and women in english colonies like virginia in north america and barbados in the west indies new laws gave legal sanction to the enslavement of people of african descent for life the permanent deprivation of freedom and the separate legal status of enslaved africans facilitated the maintenance of strict racial barriers skin color became more than a superficial difference it became the marker of a transcendent all-encompassing division between two distinct peoples two races white and black all 17th century racial thought did not point directly toward modern classifications of racial hierarchy captain thomas phillips master of a slave ship in 1694 did not justify his work with any such creed i can't think there is any intrinsic value in one color more than another nor that white is better than black only we think it's so because we are so for phillips the profitability of slavery was the only justification he needed wars offered the most common means for colonists to acquire enslaved native americans 17th century european legal thought held that enslaving prisoners of war was not only legal but more merciful than killing the captives outright after the pequol war 1636 to 1637 massachusetts bay colonists sold hundreds of native americans into slavery in the west indies a few years later dutch colonists in new netherland new york and new jersey enslaved algonquins during both governor keith's war 1645 and the two essabas wars 1659-1663 the dutch sent these war captives to english settled bermuda as well as curacao a dutch plantation colony in the southern caribbean an even larger number of enslaved native americans were captured during king philip's war 1675-1676 an uprising against the encroachments of the new england colonies hundreds of native americans were bound and shipped into slavery the new england colonists also tried to send enslaved native americans to barbados but the barbados assembly refused to import them for fear that they would encourage rebellion in the 18th century wars in florida south carolina and the mississippi valley produced even more enslaved native americans some wars emerged from contests between native americans and colonists for land while others were manufactured as pretenses for acquiring captives some were not wars at all but merely illegal raids performed by slave traders historians estimate that between 24 000 and 51 000 native americans were forced into slavery throughout the southern colonies between 1670 and 1715 while some of the enslaved native americans remained in the region many were exported through charlestown south carolina to other ports in the british atlantic most likely to barbados jamaica and bermuda many of the english colonists who wished to claim land in frontier territories were threatened by the violence inherent in the native american slave trade by the 18th century colonial governments often discouraged the practice although it never ceased entirely as long as slavery was in general a legal institution enslaved native americans died quickly mostly from disease but others were murdered or died from starvation the demands of growing plantation economies required a more reliable labor force and the transatlantic slave trade provided such a workforce european slavers transported millions of africans across the ocean in a terrifying journey known as the middle passage writing at the end of the eighteenth century oluda etriano recalled the fearsomeness of the crew the filth and the gloom of the hold the inadequate provisions allotted for the captives and the desperation that drove some enslaved people to suicide equiano claimed to have been born in ingbalet in modern nigeria but he may have been born in colonial south carolina where he collected memories of the middle passage from african-born enslaved people in the same time period alexander falconbridge a slave ship surgeon described the sufferings of enslaved africans from shipboard infections and close quarters in the hold dysentery known as the bloody flux left captives lying in pools of excrement chained in small spaces in the hold enslaved people could lose so much skin and flesh from chafing against metal and timber that their bones protruded other sources detailed rapes whippings and diseases like smallpox and conjunctivitis aboard the slave ships middle had various meanings in the atlantic slave trade for the captains and crews of slave ships the middle passage was one leg in the maritime trade in sugar and other semi-finished american goods manufactured european commodities and enslaved africans for the enslaved africans the middle passage was the middle leg of three distinct journeys from africa to the americas first was an overlanded journey in africa to a coastal slave trading factory often a trek of hundreds of miles second and middle was an oceanic trip blasting from one to six months in a slaver third was acculturation also known as seasoning and transportation to the american mine plantation or other location where enslaved people were forced to labor the impact of the middle passage on the cultures of the americas remains evident today many foods associated with africans such as cassava were originally imported to west africa as part of the slave trade and were then adopted by african cooks before being brought to the americas where they are still consumed west african rhythms and melodies live in new forms today in music as varied as religious spirituals and synthesized drum beats african influences appear in the basket making and language of the gala people on the carolina coastal islands recent estimates count between 11 and 12 million africans forced across the atlantic between the 16th and 19th centuries with about 2 million deaths at sea as well as an additional several million dying in the trade's overland african leg or during seasoning conditions in all three legs of the slave trade were horrible but the first abolitionists focused especially on the abuses of the middle passage southern european trading empires like the catalans and the aragonese were brought into contact with the levantine commerce in sugar and enslaved laborers in the 14th and 15th centuries europeans made the first steps toward an atlantic slave trade in the 1440s when portuguese sailors landed in west africa in search of gold spices and allies against the muslims who dominated the mediterranean trade beginning in the 1440s ship captains carried enslaved africans to portugal these africans were valued primarily as domestic servants as peasants provided the primary agricultural labor force in western europe european expansion into the americas introduced both settlers and european authorities to a new situation an abundance of land and a scarcity of labor portuguese dutch and english ships became the conduits for africans forced to america the western coast of africa the gulf of guinea and the west central coast were the sources of african captives wars of expansion and raiding parties produced captives who could be sold in coastal factories african slave traders bartered for european finished goods such as beads cloth rum firearms and metal wares slavers often landed in the british west indies where enslaved laborers were seasoned in places like barbados charleston south carolina became the leading entry point for the slave trade on the mainland the founding of charleston known as charlestown until the 1780s in 1760 was viewed as a serious threat by the spanish in neighboring florida who began construction of castillo de san marcos in saint augustine as a response in 1693 the spanish king issued the decree of sanctuary which granted freedom to enslaved people fleeing the english colonies if they converted to catholicism and swore an oath of loyalty to spain the presence of africans who bore arms and served in the spanish militia testifies to the different conceptions of race among the english and spanish in america about 450 000 africans landed in british north america a relatively small portion of the 11 to 12 million victims of the trade as a proportion of the enslaved population there were more enslaved women in north america than in other colonial enslaved populations enslaved african women also bore more children than their counterparts in the caribbean or south america facilitating the natural reproduction of enslaved people on the north american continent a 1662 virginia state law stated that an enslaved woman's children inherited the condition of their mother other colonies soon passed similar statutes this economic strategy on the part of planters created a legal system in which all children born to enslaved women would be enslaved for life whether the father was white or black enslaved or free most fundamentally the emergence of modern notions of race was closely related to the colonization of the americas and the slave trade african slave traders lacked a firm category of race that might have led them to think that they were selling their own people in much the same way that native americans did not view other indigenous groups as part of the same race similarly most english citizens felt no racial identification with the irish or even the welsh the modern idea of race as an inherited physical difference most often skin color that is used to support systems of oppression was new in the early modern atlantic world in the early years of slavery especially in the south the distinction between indentured servants and enslaved people was initially unclear in 1643 however a law was passed in virginia that made african women tithable this in effect associated african women's work with difficult agricultural labor there was no similar tax levied on white women the law was an attempt to distinguish white women from african women the english ideal was to have enough hired hands and servants working on a farm so that wives and daughters did not have to partake in manual labor instead white women were expected to labor in dairy sheds small gardens and kitchens of course because of the labor shortage in early america white women did participate in field labor but this idealized gender division of labor contributed to the english conceiving of themselves as better than other groups who did not divide labor in this fashion including west africans arriving in slave ships to the colonies for many white colonists the association of a gender division of labor with englishness provided a further justification for the enslavement and subordination of africans ideas about the rule of the household were informed by legal and customary understandings of marriage and the home in england a man was expected to hold paternal dominion over his household which included his wife children servants and enslaved laborers in contrast enslaved people were not legally masters of a household and were therefore subject to the authority of the white in marriages between enslaved people were not recognized in colonial law some enslaved men and women married abroad that is they married individuals who were not owned by the same enslaver and did not live on the same plantation these husbands and wives had to travel miles at a time typically only once a week on sundays to visit their spouses legal or religious authority did not protect these marriages and enslavers could refuse to let their enslaved laborers visit a spouse or even sell an enslaved person to a new enslaver hundreds of miles away from their spouse and children within the patriarchal and exploitative colonial environment enslaved men and women struggled to establish families and communities section 3 turmoil in britain religious conflict plagued 16th century england while spain plundered the new world and built an empire catholic and protestant english monarchs vied for supremacy and attacked their opponents as heretics queen elizabeth cemented protestantism as the official religion of the realm but questions endured as to what kind of protestantism would hold sway many radical protestants often called puritans by their critics looked to the new world as an opportunity to create a beacon of calvinist christianity while others continued the struggle in england by the 1640s political and economic conflicts between parliament and the crown merged with long-simmering religious tensions made worse by a king who seemed sympathetic to catholicism the result was a bloody civil war colonists reacted in a variety of ways as england waged war on itself but all were affected by these decades of turmoil between 1629 and 1640 the absolute rule of charles the first caused a considerable friction between the english parliament and the king conflict erupted in 1640 when a parliament called by charles refused to grant him subsidies to suppress a rebellion in scotland the irish rebelled the following year and by 1642 strained relations between charles and parliament led to a civil war in england in 1649 parliament won charles the first was executed and england became a republic and protectorate under oliver cromwell these changes redefine england's relationship with its american colonies as the new government under cromwell attempted to consolidate its hold over its overseas territories in 1642 no permanent british north american colony was more than 35 years old the crown and variety sorry the crown and various proprietors controlled most of the colonies but settlers from barbados to maine enjoyed a great deal of independence this was especially true in massachusetts bay where puritan settlers governed themselves according to the colony's 1629 charter trade in tobacco and naval stores tied the colonies to england economically as did religion and political culture but in general the english government left the colonies to their own devices the english revolution of the 1640s forced settlers in america to reconsider their place within the empire older colonies like virginia and proprietary colonies like maryland sympathized with the crown newer colonies like massachusetts bay populated by religious dissenters taking part in the great migration of the 1630s tended to favor parliament yet during the war the colonies remained neutral fearing that support for either side could involve them in war even massachusetts bay which nurtured ties to radical protestants in parliament remained neutral charles's execution in 1649 challenged american neutrality six colonies including virginia and barbados declared allegiance to the dead monarch's son charles ii parliament responded with an act in 1650 that leveled an economic embargo on the rebellion colonies forcing them to accept parliament's authority parliament argued that america had been planted at the cost and settled by the english nation and that it as the embodiment of that commonwealth possessed ultimate jurisdiction over the colonies it followed up the embargo with the navigation act of 1651 which compelled merchants in every colony to ship goods directly to england in english ships parliament sought to bind the colonies more closely to england and prevent other european nations especially the dutch from interfering with american possessions the monarchy was restored with charles ii but popular suspicions of the crown's catholic and french sympathies lingered charles ii suppression of the religious and press freedoms that flourished during the civil war years demonstrated the crown's desire to reimpose order and royal rule but it was the openly catholic and pro-french policies of his successor james ii that once again led to the overthrow of the monarchy in 1688 in the that year a group of bishops and parliamentarians offered the english throne to the dutch prince william of holland and his english bride mary the daughter of james ii this relatively peaceful coup was called the glorious revolution in the decades before the glorious revolution english colonists experienced religious and political conflict that reflected transformations in europe as well as distinctly colonial conditions in the 1670s and early 1680s king charles ii tightened english control over north america and the west indies through the creation of new colonies the imposition of the new navigation acts and the establishment of a new executive council called the lords of trade and plantations as imperial officials attempted to curb colonists autonomy threats from native americans and new france on the continent led many colonists to believe that native americans and catholics sought to destroy english america in new england an uprising began in 1675 led by wampanoag leader matakom or king philip as the english called him seemed to confirm these fears conflicts with the native americans helped trigger the revolt against royal authorities known as bacon's rebellion in virginia the following year james ii worked to place the colonies on firmer administrative and defensive footing by creating the dominion of new england in 1686. the dominion consolidated the new england colonies new york and new jersey into one administrative unit to counter french canada but colonists strongly resented the loss of their individual provinces the dominion's governor sir edmund andros did little to assay's fears of arbitrary power when he forced colonists into military service for a campaign against native americans in made in early 1687. impressment into military service was a long-standing grievance among english commoners that was transplanted to the colonies in england james's push for religious toleration of catholics and dissenters brought him into conflict with parliament and the anglican establishment in england after the 1688 invasion by the protestant william of orange james fled to france when colonists learned imperial officials in boston and new york city attempted to keep the good the news of the glorious revolution secret simmering hostilities toward provincial leaders burst into the open in massachusetts new york and maryland colonists overthrew colonial governments as local social antagonisms fused with popular animosity toward imperial rule colonists in america quickly declared allegiance to the new monarchs they did so in part to maintain order in their respective colonies as one virginia official explained if there was no king in england there was no government here a declaration of allegiance was therefore a means towards stability more importantly colonists declared for william and mary because they believed that their ascension marked the the rejection of absolutism and confirmed the centrality of protestantism and liberty in english life settlers joined in the revolution by overthrowing the dominion government restoring the provinces to their previous status and forcing out the catholic-dominated maryland government they launched several assaults against french canada as part of king william's war and rejoiced in parliament's 1689 passage of a bill of rights which curtailed the power of the monarchy and cemented protestantism in england for english colonists it was indeed a glorious revolution as it united them in a protestant empire that stood counter to catholic tyranny absolutism and french power section 4 new colonies despite the turmoil in britain colonial settlement grew considerably throughout the 17th century and several new settlements joined the two original colonies of virginia and massachusetts in 1632 charles the first set a tract of about 12 million acres of land at the northern tip of the chesapeake bay aside for a second colony in north america named for the new monarch's queen maryland was granted to charles's friend and political ally cecilius calvert the second lord baltimore calvert hoped to gain additional wealth from the colony as well as to create a haven for fellow catholics in england many of that faith found themselves harassed by the protestant majority and more than a few considered migrating to america charles the first a catholic sympathizer was in favor of lord baltimore's plan to create a colony that would demonstrate that catholics and protestants could live together peacefully in late 1633 both protestant and catholic settlers left england for the chesapeake arriving in maryland in march of 1634 men of middling means found greater opportunities in maryland which prospered as a tobacco colony without the growing pains suffered by virginia unfortunately lord baltimore's hopes of a diverse christian colony were thwarted most colonists were protestants relocating from virginia many of these protestants were radical quakers and puritans who were frustrated with virginia's efforts to force adherence to the anglican church also known as the church of england in 1650 puritans revolted setting up a new government that prohibited both catholicism and anglicanism governor william stone attempted to put down the revolt in 1655 but was not successful until 1658 two years after the glorious revolution from 1688 to 1689 the calverts lost control of maryland and the province became a royal colony religion was a motivating factor in the creation of several other colonies as well including the new england colonies of connecticut and rhode island the settlements that would eventually compose connecticut grew out of settlements in saybrook and new haven thomas hooker and his congregation left massachusetts for connecticut because the area around boston was becoming increasingly crowded the connecticut river valley was large enough for more cattle and agriculture in june 1636 hooker led 100 people and a variety of livestock in settling an area they called newtown later hartford new haven colony had a more directly religious origin as the founders attempted a new experiment in puritanism in 1638 john davenport theophilus eaton and other supporters of the puritan faith settled in konapayak new haven area of the connecticut river valley in 1643 new haven was officially organized with eaton named governor in the early 1660s three men who had signed the death warrant for charles the first were concealed in new haven this did not win the colony any favors and it became increasingly poorer and weaker in 1665 new haven was absorbed into connecticut but its singular religious tradition endured with the creation of yale college religious radicals similarly founded rhode island after his exile from massachusetts roger williams created a settlement called providence in 1636. he negotiated for the land with the local narragansett sachems canonicus and mayan tonemi williams and his fellow settlers agreed on an egalitarian constitution and established religious and political freedoms in the colony the following year another massachusetts exile anne hutchinson and her followers settled near providence others soon arrived and the colony was granted a charter by parliament in 1644 persistently independent and with republican sympathies the settlers refused a governor and instead elected a president and a council these separate communities passed laws abolishing witchcraft trials imprisonment for debt and in 1652 chattel slavery because of the colony's policy of toleration it became a haven for quakers jews and other persecuted religious groups in 1663 charles ii granted the colony a royal charter establishing the colony of rhode island and providence plantations until the middle of the 17th century the english neglected the area between virginia and new england despite obvious environmental advantages the climate was healthier than the chesapeake and more temperate than new england the mid-atlantic had three highly navigable rivers the susquehanna the delaware and the hudson the swedes and dutch established their new colonies in the region new sweden in delaware valley and new netherland in the hudson valley compared to other dutch colonies around the globe the settlements on the hudson river were relatively minor the dutch west india company realized that in order to secure its fur trade in the area it needed to establish a greater presence in new netherland toward this end the company formed new amsterdam on manhattan island in 1625 although the dutch extended religious tolerance to those who settled in new netherland the population remained small this left the colony vulnerable to english attack during the 1650s and 1660s resulting in the handover of new netherland to england in 1664. the new colony of new york was named for the proprietor james the duke of york brother to charles ii and funder of the expedition against the dutch in 1664. new york was briefly reconquered by the netherlands in 1667 and class and ethnic conflicts in new york city contributed to the rebellion against english authorities during the glorious revolution of 1688 and 1689 colonists of dutch ancestry resisted assimilation into english culture well into the 18th century prompting new york anglicans to note that the colony was rather like a conquered foreign province after the acquisition of new netherland charles ii and the duke of york wished to strengthen english control over the atlantic seaboard in theory this was to better tax the colonies in practice the awarding of the new proprietary colonies of new jersey pennsylvania and the carolinas was a payoff of debts and political favors favors in 1664 the duke of york granted the area between the hudson and delaware rivers to two english noblemen these lands were split into two distinct colonies east jersey and west jersey one of west jersey's proprietors included william penn the ambitious pen wanted his own larger colony the lands for which would be granted by both charles ii and the duke of york pennsylvania consisted of about 45 000 square miles west of the delaware river and the former new sweden penn was a member of the society of friends otherwise known as quakers and he intended his colony to be a colony of heaven for the children of light like new england's aspirations to be a city upon a hill pennsylvania was to be an example of godliness but penn's dream was to create not a colony of unity but rather a colony of harmony he noted in 1685 that the people are a collection of diverse nations in europe as french dutch germans swedes danes finns scotch and english and all of the last equal to all the rest because quakers in pennsylvania extended to others in america the same rights they demanded for themselves in england the colony attracted a diverse collection of migrants slavery was particularly troublesome for some pacifist quakers of pennsylvania on the grounds that it required violence in 1688 remember members of the society of friends in germantown outside philadelphia signed a petition protesting the institution of slavery among fellow quakers the pennsylvania soil did not lend itself to the slave-based agriculture of the chesapeake but other colonies depended heavily on slavery from their very first foundations the creation of the colony of carolina later divided into north and south carolina and georgia was part of charles ii scheme to strengthen the english hold on the eastern seaboard and pay off political and cash debts the lord's proprietor of carolina eight powerful favorites of the king used the model of colonization of barbados to settle the area in 1670 three ships of colonists from barbados arrived at the mouth of the ashley river where they founded charlestown this defiance of spanish claims to the area signified england's growing confidence as a colonial power to attract colonists the lord's proprietor offered alluring incentives religious tolerance political representation by assembly exemption from fees and large land grants these incentives worked and carolina grew quickly attracting not only meddling farmers and artisans but also wealthy planters colonists who could pay their own way to carolina were granted 150 acres per family member the lord's proprietor allowed for enslaved people to be counted as members of the family this encouraged the creation of large rice and indigo plantations along the coast of carolina these were more stable commodities than deerskins and enslaved native americans because of the size of carolina the authority of the lord's proprietor was especially weak in the northern reaches on the albemarle sound this region had been settled by virginians in the 1650s and was increasingly resistant to north carolina authority as a result the lord's proprietor founded the separate province of north carolina in 1691 section 5 riot rebellion and revolt the 17th century saw the establishment and solidification of the british north american colonies but this process did not occur peacefully english settlements on the continent were rocked by explosions of violence including the pequo war the mystic massacre king phillips war the susquehanna war bacon's rebellion and the pueblo revolt in may 1637 an armed contingent of english puritans from massachusetts bay plymouth and connecticut colonies trekked into native american territory that was claimed by new england referring to themselves as the sword of the lord this military force intended to attack that insolent and barbarous nation called the pequos in the resulting violence puritans put the mystic community to the torch beginning with the north and south ends of the town as pequo men women and children tried to escape the blaze other soldiers waited with swords and guns one commander estimated that of the 400 souls in this fort not above five of them escaped out of our hands although another counted near six or seven hundred dead in a span of less than two months the english puritans boasted that the pequo were drove out of their country and slain by the sword to the number of fifteen hundred the foundations of the lore the war lay within the rivalry between the pequo the narragansett and the mohegan who battled for control of the fur and wampum trades in the northeast this rivalry eventually forced the english and dutch to choose sides the war remained a conflict of native interests and initiative especially as the mohegan hedged their butts on the english and reaped the rewards that came with displacing the peckwell victory over the pequo not only provided security and stability for the english colonies but also propelled the mohegan to new heights of political and economic influence as the primary power in new england ironically history seemingly repeated itself later in the century as the mohegan desperate for a remedy to their diminishing strength joined the wampanoag war against the puritans this produced a more violent conflict in 1675 known as king phillips war bringing a decisive end to native american power in new england in the winter of 1675 the body of john sasseman a christian harvard-educated wampanoag was found under the ice of a nearby pond a fellow christian native americans informed english authorities that three warriors under the local sachim named medicom known to the english as king philip had killed sassaman who had previously accused medicom of planning an offensive against the english the three alleged killers appeared before the plymouth court in june 1675 they were found guilty of murder and executed several weeks later a group of wampanoags killed nine english colonists in the town of swansea medicom like most other english sachems had entered into covenants of submission to various colonies viewing the arrangement as relationships of protection and reciprocity rather than subjugation native americans and the english lived traded worshipped and arbitrated disputes in close proximity before 1675 but the execution of three of metacom's men's at the hand of plymouth colony epitomized what many native americans viewed as the growing inequality of that relationship the wampanoags who attacked swansea may have sought to restore balance or to retaliate for the recent executions neither they nor anyone else sought to engulf all of new england in war but that is precisely what happened authorities in plymouth sprang into action enlisting help from the neighboring colonies of connecticut and massachusetts matakom and his followers eluded colonial forces in the summer of 1675 striking more plymouth towns as they moved northwest some groups joined his forces while others remained neutral or supported the english the war badly divided some indigenous communities metacom himself had little control over events as panic and violence spread through new england in the autumn of 1675. english mistrust of neutral native americans sometimes accompanied by demands that they surrender their weapons pushed many into open war by the end of 1675 most of the native americans of present day western and central massachusetts had entered the war laying waste to nearby english towns like deerfield hadley and brookfield hapless colonial forces spurning the military assistance of allies such as the mohegans proved unable to locate more mobile native communities or intercept attacks the english compounded their problems by attacking the powerful and neutral narragansett of rhode island in december 1675. in an action called the great swamp fight one thousand englishmen put the main neragonset village to the torch gunning down as many as a thousand narragansett men women and children as they fled the maelstrom the surviving dragon set joined those already fighting the english between february and april 1676 native forces devastated a succession of english towns closer and closer to boston in the spring of 1676 the tide turned new england colonies took the advice of men like benjamin church who urged the greater use of native allies including pequo and mohegan to find and fight the mobile warriors as the combatants were unable to plant crops and forced to live off the land their will to continue the struggle waned as companies of english and native allies pursued them growing numbers of fighters fled the region switched sides or surrendered in the spring and summer the english sold many of the latter group into slavery colonial forces finally caught up with metacom in 1676 and the sachim was slain by a christian native american fighting with the english the war permanently altered the political and demographic landscape of new england between 800 and 1 000 english and at least 3 000 native americans perished in the 14 month conflict thousands of others fled the region or were sold into slavery in 1670 native americans comprised roughly 25 of new england's population a decade later they made up perhaps 10 percent the war's brutality also encouraged a growing hatred of all indigenous people among many new england colonists though the fighting ceased in 1676 the bitter legacy of king philip's war lived on 16 years later new england faced a new fear the supernatural beginning in early 1692 and culminating in 1693 salem town salem village ipswich and andover all tried women and men as witches paranoia swept throughout the region and 14 women and six men were executed five other individuals died in prison the causes of the trials are numerous and include local rivalries political turmoil enduring trauma of war faulty legal procedure where accusing others became a method of self-defense or perhaps even low-level environmental contamination enduring tensions with native people framed the events however and a native american or african woman named tituba enslaved by the local minister was at the center of the tragedy native american communities in virginia had already been decimated by wars in 1622 and 1644 but a new clash arose in virginia the same year that new englanders crushed metacom's forces this conflict known as bacon's rebellion grew out of tensions between native americans and english settlers as well as tensions between wealthy english landowners and the poor settlers who continually pushed west into territory controlled by native americans bacon's rebellion appropriately enough with an argument over a pig in the summer of 1675 a group of dog people visited thomas matthew on his plantation in northern virginia to collect a debt that he owed them when matthew refused to pay they took some of his pigs to settle the debt this theft sparked a series of raids and counter rates the susquehanna people were caught in the crossfire when the militia mistook them for doe eggs leaving 14 dead a similar pattern of escalating violence then repeated the susquehannics retaliated by killing colonists in virginia and maryland and the english martial forces and laid siege to the susquehanna the conflict became uglier after a militia executed a delegation of susquehanna ambassadors under a flag of truce a few parties of warriors intent on revenge launched raids along the frontier and killed dozens of english colonists the sudden and unpredictable violence of the saxophoconic war triggered a political crisis in virginia panicked colonists fled and mass from the vulnerable frontiers flooding into coastal communities and begging the government for help but the cautious governor sir william berkeley did not send an army after the susquehanna he worried that a full-scale war would inevitably drag other native americans into the conflict turning allies into deadly enemies berkeley therefore insisted on a defensive strategy centering on a string of new fortifications to protect the frontier and strict instructions not to antagonize friendly native people it was a sound military policy but a public relations disaster terrified colonists condemned berkeley building contracts for the forts went to berkeley berkeley's famous friends who conveniently decided that their own plantations were the most strategically vital colonists denounced the government as corrupt banned of oligarchs more interested in lining their pockets than protecting the people by the spring of 1770 1676 a small group of frontier colonists took matters into their own hands naming the charismatic young nathaniel bacon as their leader these self-styled volunteers proclaimed that they took up arms in defense of their homes and families they took pains to assure berkeley that they intended no disloyalty but berkeley feared a coup and branded the volunteers as traders berkeley finally mobilized an army not to pursue the susquehanna but to crush the colonists rebellion his drastic response catapulted a small band of vigilantes into a full-fledged rebel group whose survival necessitated bringing down the colonial government bacon and the rebels stalked the susquehanna as well as a friendly native americans like the paw monkeys and the akanichi the rebels became convinced that there was a massive native american conspiracy to destroy the english berkeley's stubborn persistence in defending the natives and destroying the rebels led bacon to accuse the governor of conspiring with a powerful cabal of elite planters and with the protected and darling indians to conquer his english enemies in the summer of 1676 bacon's neighbors elected him their burgess and sent him to jamestown to confront berkeley though the house of burgesses enacted pro-rebel reforms like prohibiting the sale of arms to native americans and restoring suffrage rights to landless freemen bacon's supporters remained unsatisfied berkeley soon had bacon arrested and forced the rebel leader into the humiliating position of publicly begging forgiveness for his treason bacon swallowed this indignity but turned the tables by gathering an army of followers and surrounding the state house demanding that berkeley name him the governor sorry the general of virginia and bless his universal war against native americans instead the 70 year old governor stepped onto the field in the in front of the crowd of angry men unafraid and called bacon a traitor to his face then he tore open his shirt and dared bacon to shoot him in the heart if he was so intent on overthrowing his government here he shouted before the crowd shoot me before god it is a fair mark shoot when bacon hesitated berkeley drew his sword and challenged the young man to a duel knowing that bacon could neither back down from a challenge without looking like a coward nor kill him without making himself into a villain instead bacon resorted to bluster and blasphemy threatening to slaughter the entire assembly if necessary he cursed god damn my blood i came for a commission and a commission i will have before i go berkeley stood defiant but the coward burgesses finally prevailed upon him to grant bacon's request virginia had its general and bacon had his war after this dramatic showdown in jamestown bacon's rebellion quickly spiraled out of control berkeley slowly rebuilt his loyalist army forcing bacon to divert his attention to the coasts and away from the native americans but most rebels were inch more interested in defending their homes and families than in fighting other englishmen and they deserted in droves at every rumor of native activity in many places the rebellion was less an organized military campaign than a collection of local grievances and personal rivalries both rebels and loyalists smelled the opportunities for plunder seizing their rivals estates and confiscating their property for a small but vocal minority of rebels however the rebellion became an ideological revolution sarah drummond wife of rebel leader william drummond advocated independence from england and the formation of a virginian republic declaring i fear the power of england no more than a broken straw others struggled for a different kind of independence white servants and enslaved black people fought side by side in both armies after promises of freedom for military service everyone accused everyone else of treason rebels and loyalists switched sides depending on which side was winning and the whole chesapeake disintegrated into a confusion a confused melee of secret plots and grandiose crusades sordid vendettas and desperate gambits with native americans and english alike struggling for supremacy and survival one virginian summed up the rebellion as our time of anarchy the rebels steadily lost ground and ultimately suffered a crushing defeat bacon died of typhus in the autumn of 1676 and his successors surrendered to berkeley in january of 1677. berkeley summarily tried and executed the rebel leadership in a succession of kangaroo court's marshall before long however the royal fleet arrived bearing over 1 000 red-coated troops and a royal commission of investigation charged with restoring order to the colony the commissioners replaced the governor and dispatched berkeley to london where he died in disgrace but the conclusion of bacon's rebellion was uncertain and the maintenance of order remained precarious for years afterward the garrison of royal troops discouraged both incursion by native americans and insurrection by discontented colonists allowing the king to continue profiting from tobacco revenues the end of armed resistance did not mean a resolution to the underlying tensions destabilizing colonial society native americans inside virginia remained an embattled minority and those outside virginia remained a terrifying threat elite planters continued to grow rich by exploiting their indentured servants and marginalizing small farmers most virginians continued to represent their exploitation with a simmering fury virginia legislators did not or sorry did recognize the extent of popular hostility toward their colonial rule however and improved the social and political conditions of poor white virginians in the years after the rebellion during the same period the increasing availability of enslaved workers throughout the atlantic world contributed to planters long-scale adoption of slave labor in the chesapeake just a few years after bacon's rebellion the spanish experienced their own tumult in the area of contemporary new mexico the spanish had been maintaining control partly by suppressing native american beliefs friars aggressively enforced catholic practice burning native idols and masks and other sacred objects and banishing traditional spiritual practices in 1680 the pueblo and religious leader pope who had been arrested and whipped for sorcery five years earlier led various pueblan groups in rebellion several thousand pueblo and warriors raised the spanish countryside and besieged santa fe they killed 400 including 21 franciscan priests and allowed 2 000 other spanish and christian puebloans to flee it was perhaps the greatest act of indigenous resistance in north american history in new mexico the puebloans eradicated all traces of spanish rule they destroyed churches and threw themselves into rivers to wash away their christian baptisms the god of the christians is dead pope exclaimed and the puebloans resumed traditional spiritual practices the spanish were exiled for 12 years they returned in 1692 weakened to conquer new mexico the late 17th century was a time of great violence and turmoil bacon's rebellion turned white virginians against one another king philip's war shattered native american resistance in new england and the pueblo revolt struck a major blow to spanish power it would take several more decades before similar patterns erupted in carolina and pennsylvania but the constant advance of european settlements provoked conflict in those areas as well in 1750 the yamasi carolina's closest allies and most lucrative trading partners turned against the colony and nearly destroyed it entirely riding from carolina to london the settler george rod believed the yamasi wanted nothing less than the whole continent and to kill us or chase us all out the yamasi would eventually advance within miles of charlestown the yamasi war's first victims were traitors the governor had dispatched two of the colony's most prominent men to visit and pacify a yama city council following rumors of native unrest the yamasee quickly proved all the fears were well-founded by killing the emissaries and every english trader they could corral the yamasi like many other native americans had come to depend on english courts as much as the flintlock rifles and ammunition that traders offered them for enslaved labors and animal skins feuds between english agents had crippled the court of trade and shut down all diplomacy provoking the violent yamasi reprisal most villages in the southeast sent at least a few warriors to join what quickly became a cause against the colony and united various native american peoples yet charlestown ultimately survived the onslaught by preserving one crucial alliance with the cherokee by 1717 the conflict had largely dried up the only remaining memphis was roaming yamasi bands operating from spanish florida most native american villages returned to terms with carolina and resumed trading the lucrative trade in enslaved native americans however which had consumed 50 000 souls in five decades largely dwindled after the war the danger was too high for traders and the colonies discovered even greater profits by importing africans to work new rice plantations herein lies the birth of the old south that expanse of plantations that created untold wealth and misery native americans retained the strongest militaries in the region but they never again threatened the survival of english colonies if a colony existed where peace with indigenous people might continue it would be pennsylvania at the colony's founding william penn created a quaker religious imperative for the peaceful treatment of native americans while penn never doubted that the english would appropriate native american lands he demanded that his colonists obtain these territories through purchase rather than violence though pennsylvanians maintained relatively peaceful relations with native americans increased immigration and booming land speculation increased the demand for land coercive and fraudulent methods of negotiation became increasingly prominent the walking purchase of 1737 was emblematic of both colonists desire for cheap land and the changing labor or changing relationship between pennsylvania and their native neighbors through a treaty negotiation in 1737 native delaware leaders agreed to sell pennsylvania all of the land that a man could walk in a day and a half a common measurement used by delawares in evaluating distances john and thomas penn joined by the land speculator and longtime friend of the pens james logan hired a team of skilled runners to complete the walk on a prepared trail the runners traveled from wrightstown to the present-day town of jim thorpe and proprietary officials then drew the new boundary line perpendicular to the runner's route extending northeast to the delaware river the colonial government thus measured out a tract much larger than the delaware had originally intended to sell roughly 1200 square miles as a result delaware propriet delaware proprietary relations suffered many delaware left the lands in question and migrated westward towards shawnee and other delaware already living in the ohio valley there they established diplomatic and trade relationships with the french memories of the suspect purchased endured into the 1750s and became a chief point of contention between the pennsylvanian government and the delaware during the upcoming 7 years war section 6 conclusion the 17th century saw the creation and maturation of britain's north american colonies colonists ward against unforgiving climates imperial intrigue and native americans they did so largely through ruthless expressions of power colonists attacked native americans provoked european rivals and joined a highly lucrative transatlantic economy rooted in slavery after surviving a century of desperation and war british north american colonists fashioned increasingly complex societies with unique religious cultures economic ties and political traditions these societies would come to shape not only north america but soon the entirety of the atlantic world you