MJ+Chapter+4+Notes

Chapter 4 Temporary outposts started to give way to more permanent settlements as the 17th century wore on. Differences were soon noticeable among the colonies including the Southern Colonies’ increasing need of slave labor. Disease cut at least 10 years off of the life expectancy of people living in the Chesapeake Bay area. By 1650, men outnumbered women 6 to 1. These numbers meant that life for men was a never ending competition. At the beginning of the 18th century, Virginia stood some 59,000 strong while Maryland had approximately 30,000 inhabitants. The searches for new land to plant tobacco lead the settlers up rivers which promoted Indian attacks. By 1700, 40 million pounds of tobacco were shipped out of the Chesapeake every year. With Indians too vulnerable to disease and Africans too expensive, labor was sought in the form of indentured servants coming over from England. In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a rebellion of a thousand Virginians to search for arable land. Nearly 10 million Africans were taken out of Africa and only about 400,000 of them ended up in North America. In 1662, legal codes for slaves were heavily influenced by racial discrimination. According to the codes, Blacks and their children were property for life and some states even made it illegal to teach blacks how to read or write. In 1712, a slave revolt in New York City resulted in the death of a dozen whites and the execution of 21 blacks. The South’s social ladder started with Plantation owners, small farmers, landless whites, indentured whites, and then black slaves. In 1692, 20 individuals were executed on the charges of witchcraft. In 1693, the witch hunts were ended when the governor’s wife was suspected. All colonist women wove, cooked, cleaned, and cared for the children, while men cleared land, cut firewood, and butchered livestock. Compared to European living, the lives of Americans were relatively easy. With land being cheap and wages roughly three times that in Europe, English emigrants had very good reason to come to America if their current situation was not great. Rarely would very wealthy men leave their lives in England and risk it all in the American wilderness.