APUSH Chapter 4: American Life in the Seventeenth Century

Chapter Summary
The Southern colonies were dominated by agriculture, namely tobacco in the Chesapeake and rice and indigo further down the coast. Bacon’s Rebellion is very representative of the struggles of poor white indentured servants. Nathaniel Bacon and his followers took to arms to essentially get more land out west from the Indians. This theme of poor whites taking to arms for land, and in opposition to eastern authorities, will be repeated several times. Taken altogether, the southern colonies were inhabited by a group of people who were generally young, independent-minded, industrious, backwoodsy, down home, restless and industrious. A truly unique African-American culture quickly emerged. Brought as slaves, black Americans blended aspects of African culture with American. Religion shows this blend clearly, as African religious ceremonies mixed with Christianity. Food and music also showed African-American uniqueness. New Englanders developed a Bible Commonwealth—a stern but clear society where the rules of society were dictated by the laws of the Bible. This good-vs-evil society is best illustrated by the Salem witch trials. Taken altogether, the northern colonies were inhabited by a group of people who grew to be self-reliant, stern, pious, proud, family oriented, sharp in thought and sharp of tongue, crusty, and very industrious.

Chapter Outline

 * Life in the American wilderness was harsh
 * Diseases killed many, life expectancy was short, and women were scarce
 * The Chesapeake was prosperous in tobacco
 * The headright system encouraged the growth of the Chesapeake by allowing aristocrats to purchase 50 acres of cheap land if they sponsored an indentured servant's passage to America, causing land to be gobbled by the rich and run out for the poor
 * At the time, most laborers were indentured servants
 * By the late 1600s, many men were frustrated by the lack of money, land, work, and women, which initiated Bacon's Rebellion
 * Those rebelling wanted land and were resentful toward William Berkeley's friendliness toward Indians
 * They attacked Indian settlements until Bacon died of disease and Berkeley was able to crush the uprising
 * By 1680, many landowners grew afraid of white servants, so black slaves began to outnumber white servants
 * Slave codes made it so that slaves and their children would remain slaves to their masters for life, unless they were voluntarily freed
 * Some slave revolts occurred, but they always failed
 * In the South, social gaps appeared and began to widen as some Virginian clans owned tons of land and practically dominated the House of Burgesses (First Families of Virginia)
 * The largest social group in the South was farmers
 * Disease was not as prominent in New England as it was in the South
 * Women had more power in the South than the North, as Southern men typically died early and their wives inherited their money
 * In 1636, Massachusetts Puritans established Harvard College to train men to become ministers
 * As Puritans began to worry about their children and whether or not they would be as loyal and faithful, a new type of sermon came about called jeremiads, in which preachers scolded parishioners for their waning piety in hopes of improving faith
 * In 1662, troubled ministers announced the Half-Way Covenant, in which all people could come and participate in church
 * In the early 1690s, a group of Salem girls claimed to have been bewitched by certain older women, leading to a witch-hunt killing 20 people
 * New Englanders became great traders
 * They were less ethnically mixed than their neighbors, though their climate diversified agriculture and industry
 * Most European immigrants were lower middle class citizens looking for a better future in America
 * Africans' arrival to America brought new languages, music, and cuisines to America
 * Most slaves became Christians