Unit 2, Period 2: 1607–1754
Topic 2.1: Contextualizing Period 2
Patterns of Empire and Resistance
📚 Topic Overview
Period 2 (1607-1754) marks a critical transition from initial exploration to permanent colonization in North America. During this era, European powers—Spain, France, the Netherlands, and England—established distinct colonial systems based on their unique imperial goals, cultures, and the varied environments where they settled. The period witnessed intense competition among European rivals and with Native American groups for land, resources, and influence. British colonies along the Atlantic coast developed regional differences in economy, society, and labor systems, while participating in transatlantic exchanges that both strengthened and complicated their relationship with Great Britain. This period laid the foundation for diverse colonial societies and the tensions that would eventually lead to calls for independence.
🎯 Learning Objective
Explain the context for the colonization of North America from 1607 to 1754.
💡 Key Concepts for Period 2
KC-2.1: Diverse Colonization Patterns
Europeans developed a variety of colonization and migration patterns, influenced by different imperial goals, cultures, and the varied North American environments where they settled, and they competed with each other and American Indians for resources.
KC-2.2: Transatlantic Exchanges
The British colonies participated in political, social, cultural, and economic exchanges with Great Britain that encouraged both stronger bonds with Britain and resistance to Britain's control.
🌎 The Big Picture: What Makes Period 2 Unique?
From Exploration to Colonization:
- Period 1 (1491-1607): Initial contact, exploration, conquest, and the Columbian Exchange
- Period 2 (1607-1754): Permanent settlement, diverse colonial development, regional distinctions emerge
- Shift in focus: From extracting wealth to building lasting societies
- Key date: 1607 — Jamestown founded (first permanent English settlement)
- End date: 1754 — French and Indian War begins (sets stage for Period 3)
🗺️ Four European Powers: Different Goals, Different Colonies
⚡ Critical Point: Each European power colonized North America differently based on their goals, culture, and the environments they encountered.
| Power | Primary Goals | Territories | Labor Systems | Native Relations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇪🇸 Spain | Extract wealth (gold, silver); spread Catholicism; control large populations | Southwest (Florida, New Mexico, Texas, California); Mexico; South America | Encomienda system; mission system; forced Native labor | Conversion and incorporation; missions controlled Native populations; strict hierarchy |
| 🇫🇷 France | Fur trade; missionary work; trade alliances | Canada (New France); Great Lakes; Mississippi River Valley (Louisiana) | Small trading posts; relatively few settlers; relied on Native trappers | Cooperative alliances; intermarriage common; learned Native languages; Jesuits converted peacefully |
| 🇳🇱 Dutch | Trade and profit; build commercial empire | New Netherland (New York); Hudson River Valley | Trading company (Dutch West India Company); diverse workforce | Trade relationships; less emphasis on conversion; pragmatic alliances |
| 🏴 England/Britain | Land for settlement; religious freedom; economic opportunity; entrepreneurship | Atlantic Coast (13 colonies from New England to Georgia) | Indentured servitude → African slavery; family farms (North); plantations (South) | Displacement and land seizure; limited integration; conflicts over territory; some trade |
🏛️ Regional Differences in British Colonies
⚡ The 13 British colonies developed distinct regional characteristics based on geography, climate, economy, demographics, and culture.
🌊 New England Colonies
Colonies: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
Geography & Climate:
- Cold climate, long winters, short growing season
- Rocky, thin soil—difficult for large-scale agriculture
- Dense forests, good harbors, access to Atlantic Ocean
Economy:
- Small family farms growing subsistence crops
- Fishing (cod, whaling) major industry
- Shipbuilding thrived due to lumber and harbors
- Trade and commerce important (triangular trade)
- Skilled craftsmen and merchants
Society & Culture:
- Puritan influence: Religious communities seeking to create "city upon a hill"
- Town-based communities: Compact settlements with central meeting houses
- High literacy rates: Emphasis on reading Bible
- Town meetings: Direct democracy in local governance
- Relatively homogeneous population
Labor:
- Family labor on small farms
- Some indentured servants
- Limited slavery (existed but not central to economy)
🌾 Chesapeake Colonies
Colonies: Virginia, Maryland
Geography & Climate:
- Warm, humid climate with long growing season
- Fertile soil ideal for cash crops
- Chesapeake Bay provided transportation and trade routes
Economy:
- Tobacco was king—dominant cash crop
- Plantation agriculture: Large estates producing for export
- Single-crop economy: Heavy reliance on tobacco prices
- Labor-intensive cultivation
Society & Culture:
- Dispersed settlement pattern: Plantations spread along rivers
- Gentry class: Wealthy planters dominated society and politics
- High mortality rates: Disease, especially malaria
- Male-dominated: More men than women initially
- Less emphasis on religion than New England
Labor:
- Early period (1600s): Indentured servants from England
- Late 1600s-1700s: Shift to African slavery
- Headright system encouraged bringing laborers
- Bacon's Rebellion (1676) accelerated shift to slavery
🌆 Middle Colonies
Colonies: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware
Geography & Climate:
- Moderate climate between New England and South
- Fertile soil suitable for grain crops
- Good harbors (New York, Philadelphia)
Economy:
- "Breadbasket colonies": Grew wheat, barley, rye
- Diverse economy: Farming, trade, commerce, small manufacturing
- Export grains to other colonies and West Indies
- Merchants and artisans thrived in cities
Society & Culture:
- Most diverse region: Dutch, English, German, Swedish, Irish settlers
- Religious tolerance: Quakers (Pennsylvania), Catholics, Jews welcomed
- Urban centers: New York City, Philadelphia became major colonial cities
- Cosmopolitan culture with multiple languages and traditions
Labor:
- Mix of family farms and indentured servants
- Some slavery (especially in New York) but less than South
- Wage laborers in cities
☀️ Lower South Colonies
Colonies: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
Geography & Climate:
- Hot, humid climate; subtropical
- Swampy lowlands ideal for rice cultivation
- Long growing season
Economy:
- Rice and indigo were main cash crops
- Large-scale plantations: Most extensive in British America
- Export-oriented: Sold crops to Britain and West Indies
- Naval stores (tar, pitch from pine trees)
Society & Culture:
- Planter aristocracy: Wealthy elite controlled politics and society
- Charleston, South Carolina: Major port and cultural center
- African majority: In some areas, enslaved Africans outnumbered whites
- Gullah culture developed among enslaved populations
Labor:
- Heavily dependent on slavery: Most enslaved population
- Rice cultivation required specialized knowledge (West African expertise valued)
- Task system: Enslaved people assigned daily tasks
- High mortality rates from disease (malaria, yellow fever)
⛓️ Evolution of Labor Systems: From Servitude to Slavery
⚡ The transition from indentured servitude to African slavery was one of the most significant developments of Period 2, fundamentally shaping American society and economy.
Why Did Colonies Need Labor?
- Labor-intensive cash crops (tobacco, rice, indigo, sugar)
- Large plantations required massive workforce
- Not enough colonists willing to do hard agricultural labor
- Goal: maximize profits for landowners
Three Labor Systems Tried:
1. Native American Slavery (Failed)
- Attempted but unsuccessful
- Natives knew the land and could escape easily
- Disease had already decimated populations
- Some Native slavery in South Carolina, but limited
2. Indentured Servitude (1600s)
- Definition: Poor Europeans agreed to work 4-7 years in exchange for passage to America
- Conditions: No pay, harsh treatment, but eventually gained freedom
- Headright system: Landowners received 50 acres for each servant brought over
- Majority in Chesapeake during early 1600s
- After serving term, became free with "freedom dues" (land, tools, clothes)
Why Indentured Servitude Declined:
- Life expectancy improved → servants lived to claim freedom
- Freed servants demanded land, creating competition
- Bacon's Rebellion (1676): Poor whites and servants rebelled, threatening planter elite
- Fewer Europeans willing to come as conditions became known
- Supply couldn't meet growing demand
3. African Slavery (late 1600s onward)
- Chattel slavery: Enslaved people treated as property
- Hereditary: Children of enslaved mothers were automatically enslaved
- Lifelong: No freedom at the end of service
- Race-based: Justified by claims of African inferiority
- 1619: First Africans arrived in Virginia
- 1660s-1680s: Slave codes passed legalizing slavery
- 1700s: Slavery became central to Southern economy
🌍 The Atlantic Slave Trade & Middle Passage
The transatlantic slave trade forcibly brought millions of Africans to the Americas, forming a crucial part of the Atlantic economy and transforming colonial societies.
The Triangular Trade:
- Leg 1: Europe → Africa (manufactured goods, guns, cloth)
- Leg 2: Africa → Americas (enslaved Africans via Middle Passage)
- Leg 3: Americas → Europe (sugar, tobacco, rice, rum)
The Middle Passage:
- Horrific voyage from Africa to Americas
- 2-3 months at sea in brutal conditions
- Enslaved people packed tightly in ship holds
- Disease, starvation, suicide common
- ~15-20% mortality rate during voyage
Regional Differences in Slavery:
- Lower South: Majority enslaved; rice cultivation; task system; Gullah culture
- Chesapeake: Growing enslaved population; tobacco; gang labor system
- Middle Colonies: Some slavery in cities and farms, but less central
- New England: Limited slavery; some in households and shipping
⚔️ Competition Over Resources: Conflict in the Americas
Competition over land, furs, and trade routes led to conflicts among European powers and between colonists and Native Americans.
European Rivalries:
- England vs. Spain (competition for Atlantic dominance)
- England vs. France (fur trade, North American territory)
- England vs. Netherlands (seized New Netherland in 1664)
- Series of imperial wars fought in North America (King William's War, Queen Anne's War, etc.)
Colonist-Native Conflicts:
- Powhatan Wars (Virginia, 1610s-1640s): Conflicts over land between English settlers and Powhatan Confederacy
- Pequot War (1636-1638): English colonists and Native allies destroyed Pequot tribe in Connecticut
- King Philip's War (1675-1676): Metacom (King Philip) led Native uprising in New England; bloodiest per capita war in U.S. history; ended Native power in region
- Bacon's Rebellion (1676): Virginia frontiersmen (Nathaniel Bacon) rebelled against colonial government, demanding right to seize Native lands; accelerated shift to African slavery
Fur Trade Competition:
- Beaver Wars (1600s): Iroquois (allied with British/Dutch) vs. French-allied tribes (Huron, Ottawa) for control of fur trade
- Native groups allied with Europeans to gain access to guns and goods
- Over-hunting depleted beaver populations
- Shifted balance of power among Native groups
🌊 Transatlantic Exchanges: Bonds and Tensions
British colonies participated in constant exchanges with Great Britain—economic, political, religious, and cultural—that both strengthened and strained their relationship.
Economic Exchanges:
- Mercantilism: Colonies existed to benefit mother country
- Navigation Acts (1651-1696): Required colonial trade to go through England; restricted colonial manufacturing
- Colonies exported raw materials (tobacco, rice, timber, furs)
- Colonies imported manufactured goods from Britain
- Created prosperity but also resentment over restrictions
Political Exchanges:
- Colonists claimed "rights of Englishmen"
- Colonial assemblies modeled on Parliament
- Growing tradition of self-governance and local autonomy
- Salutary neglect: Britain often didn't enforce laws strictly
Religious & Philosophical Exchanges:
- Great Awakening (1730s-1740s): Religious revival emphasized personal faith
- Enlightenment ideas: Reason, natural rights, social contract spread across Atlantic
- Print culture: Books, newspapers, pamphlets circulated
Cultural Impact:
- Colonists developed distinct American identity while remaining British
- Intercolonial connections strengthened (postal service, trade)
- Seeds of resistance to British authority planted
- Set stage for conflicts in Period 3
📝 Essential Key Terms & Concepts
Jamestown (1607)
First permanent English settlement in North America; Virginia Company; tobacco economy
Indentured Servitude
Labor system: workers served 4-7 years for passage to America, then gained freedom
Headright System
Landowners received 50 acres for each person brought to colony; encouraged immigration
Chattel Slavery
Enslaved people treated as property; hereditary, lifelong, race-based system
Middle Passage
Horrific voyage of enslaved Africans across Atlantic; 2nd leg of triangular trade
Triangular Trade
Three-way trade between Europe, Africa, Americas; goods, enslaved people, raw materials
Cash Crops
Crops grown for sale/export: tobacco (Chesapeake), rice/indigo (Lower South)
Puritans
Religious group seeking to "purify" Church of England; settled Massachusetts Bay
Mercantilism
Economic theory: colonies exist to benefit mother country; export raw materials
Navigation Acts
Laws requiring colonial trade go through England; restricted colonial manufacturing
Bacon's Rebellion (1676)
Virginia uprising by frontiersmen; accelerated shift from servitude to slavery
King Philip's War (1675-76)
Metacom led Native uprising in New England; ended Native power in region
Salutary Neglect
Britain's policy of loose enforcement of colonial laws; allowed colonial self-governance
Gentry
Wealthy colonial elite; large landowners who dominated politics and society
Town Meetings
Direct democracy in New England; male property owners voted on local issues
Encomienda System
Spanish forced labor system using Native Americans in mines and fields
💡 AP® Exam Tips for Topic 2.1
- Compare European powers: Know differences in Spanish, French, Dutch, and British colonization goals and methods
- Master regional differences: New England, Chesapeake, Middle, Lower South—different geography, economy, labor, society
- Trace labor evolution: Native slavery → indentured servitude → African slavery; explain WHY this shift occurred
- Understand causation: Geography shaped economy; economy shaped labor; labor shaped society
- Connect to Period 1: Show continuity (Columbian Exchange continues) and change (exploration → settlement)
- Know major conflicts: King Philip's War, Bacon's Rebellion, Beaver Wars—causes and effects
- Transatlantic exchanges matter: Economic, political, cultural connections both unite and divide colonies from Britain
- Set up Period 3: This period creates tensions (salutary neglect, colonial autonomy) that lead to revolution
📚 AP® U.S. History Unit 2, Topic 2.1 Study Notes | Period 2: 1607–1754