AP United States History

Chapters 4-5
I. BACON'S REBELLION
• 1676
• Virginia civil dispute
• Governor William Berkeley
• Demonstrations against governor/Jamestown government buildings
• Nathaniel Bacon was fairly well-of, but became a champion of poor farmers
• Richer plantation owners lived in eastern Virginia (the "Tidewater") on the
Chesapeake Bay
o They supported the Crown because they received land grants from the
king, they needed European markets in which to sell their goods, and
they belonged to the Tory party (an English political party that
supported the Crown)
o Consisted of 1/3 of the population
• Frontiersmen were "Patriots": anti-Tory party
o Consisted of 1/3 of the population
• Third group existed, not affiliated with any of the above
o Consisted of 1/3 of the population
o Weren't really political, just trying to survive
• Nathaniel Bacon united frontiersmen and marched into Jamestown
o Initially, they all just wanted to discuss with the governor, William
Berkeley, about why they weren't being protected from native raids
o Berkeley didn't care what they thought; his job was to protect the rich
people
• The plantation owners were angered and started burning government
buildings
• The militia disbanded when Bacon died; the rebellion had no real effects

II. MIDDLE PASSAGE

• English sailors coined the term "middle passage" in the 18th century
• It was part of the triangular trade route
• Slave ships were called "slavers"
o Decks were 2.5-3 feet tall
o The slavers were designed to hold 400-500 people, but 500-600 people
were often packed in
o Dysentery and other diseases were common
o Sanitation was sometimes nonexistent
o 1 in every 5 slaves died on the journey
o Netting was installed on slavers to prevent slaves from escaping
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Chapters 4-5
o Before arrival to the destination, the slaves were fattened up and
washed in preparation for sale

III. THE TOBACCO COLONIES

• Slavery in the colonies began with tobacco plantations
o Demand for tobacco increased dramatically in the 1700s
o Demand for slaves rose accordingly
o Most slaves were sent to the Tidewater area (consisting of parts of
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina)
o When those areas filled up, tobacco plantations spread into the
Piedmont region—the foothills of the Appalachians
• Slaves were treated differently in North America, the Caribbean, and South
America
o The Caribbean was the worst, as exemplified by the Barbados slave
code. It was also harder to escape from Caribbean islands. The French
and Spanish, who ran most Caribbean islands, treated slaves as
expendable
o South America loosely followed the Barbados slave code, but it was not
as severe there
o Only South Carolina in North America followed the Barbados slave
code. The English treated slaves better than the Spanish and French
o (1) Food supplies: the Caribbean islands grew only cash crops, meaning
other food had to be imported. Oftentimes, there wasn't enough food
for all the slaves
o (2) Work schedules: in English North America (excluding South
Carolina), slaves had more reasonable work schedules
o (3) Overall living conditions: in English North America (excluding South
Carolina), slaves had better housing and clothing
o In 1892, Brazil became the last American country to ban slavery
o In 1808, the United States stopped importing slaves (slavery remained
legal)

IV. LOWER SOUTH

• South Carolina
o First slaves appeared in 1715
o Grew mainly rice and indigo
o Elizabeth Pinckney brought back indigo from India
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Chapters 4-5
o 1 in 5 African-Americans trace arrival to Charleston, where a
shipbuilding industry began to develop
• Georgia
o When first founded in 1732 by James Oglethorpe, slavery was illegal
o Oglethorpe welcomed outcasts of all kinds, including runaway slaves
o Slowly, South Carolinians began encroaching on Georgia's lands (as
land in South Carolina began to run out) and brought their slaves with
them
o Oglethorpe reluctantly allowed slavery in 1752
o Slaves grew rice, indigo, and later cotton
• Slave Economy of the South
o Most slave owners owned only one slave. This life was much better for
slaves than life on a plantation
o On average, plantations had 50-75 slaves; some had as many as 500

V. SLAVERY IN THE NORTH

• Beginning in the 1680s, Philadelphia became a shipping center
o Rural areas had fewer slaves, since Quakers (more common in rural
areas) did not approve of slavery
o In Philadelphia, most slaves worked at the port: unloading ships, etc.
o Other important ports include Savannah, Georgia and Virginia Beach,
Virginia
• New York and New Jersey
o These bread colonies had more slaves than anywhere else north of the
Chesapeake
• Quakers
o At first, they purchased slaves
o Soon decided it was against their beliefs
o Began purchasing slaves just to release them
• Colleges and Universities
o Generally speaking, education correlates with tolerance
o The first colleges and universities were established for religious
purposes, and equality plays a large role in religion
o There was less support for slavery in the North

VI. AFRICAN-AMERICAN DAILY LIVES/CULTURE/MISCELLANEOUS

• Jobs
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Chapters 4-5
o Most slaves were fieldhands
o Lighter-skinned, older (and therefore more loyal) slaves were domestic
servants
o Domestic servants often learned to read to teach the children
o Their superior position kept them alienated from other blacks
o On larger plantations, there was more specialized labor (blacksmiths,
carpenters, tanners, etc.)
• Slave codes
o All colonies except Pennsylvania had some sort of slave code
o They were more severe in the southern colonies
o Owners discouraged bonding between slaves, especially marriages
• African kinship
o Slave owners wanted an impersonal society to prevent uprisings
o Africans began to call each other familial titles (auntie, uncle, sister,
brother)
• Music/Dance
o Thomas Jefferson studied Africans' behavior and saw that they were
always singing and humming
o Slave owners banned drums to prevent them to be used as signaling
devices
o Slaves began to make homemade instruments, such as "patting Juba"—
making music by patting the thighs
• Gullah/Geeche
o On the coasts and barrier islands of South Carolina and Georgia
o A mixture of African language and English that white people didn't
understand
o Called "saltwater" Africans and "lowcountry" Africans
• Diet
o They often ate roots (nutritional and cheap), cornbread, pork, and
gumbo
• The Stono Rebellion
o Not widely reported on at the time
o Took place in South Carolina in 1739
o Runaway slaves formed a militia and attacked a white settlement
o They broke into a warehouse of guns and ammunition and killed
indiscriminately
o 44 Africans and 30 whites died
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Chapters 4-5
VII. NORTHEASTERN ECONOMY/STRUCTURE/MISCELLANEOUS
• In New England, there were no plantations or cash crops—what agriculture
existed was subsistence
o The soil was too rocky to maintain plantations
o There were no cash crops
o Corn was common because it can grow anywhere
• Grand Banks
o The Gulf Stream meets cold water, which causes plankton growth,
which feed large populations of cod
o Cod was very profitable
o Whales were harvested for their oil
• Lumber
o New England is full of dense forests
o Fall line: sawmills
o Shipbuilding was common
o Furniture is one of the first finished goods to be produced in the
American colonies
o Naval stores—tar, pitch, and turpentine
• "Yankee enterprise"
o American businesses began to trade among themselves, cutting out the
English middlemen
o This was one of the causes of the American Revolution
o This movement to buy more American goods happened primarily in
New England—the southern colonies were more dependent on English
purchase of cash crops
• Town Meetings
o Supposedly an example of "pure democracy", but technically not: only
applied to white males with property
• Salem Witch Trials
o Occurred in 1692
o Several girls were influenced by a minister's slave, Tituba
o A "witch hunt" began, leading to 20 deaths after 27 trials
o Cotton Mather was a conservative Massachusetts citizen who believed
that non-Puritans should be kicked out of the colony or executed; he
supported the Salem Trials
o His brother, Increase Mather, was a moderate who wanted the publicity
to just end
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Chapters 4-5
o Increase convinced Governor William Phips to release the "witches",
thereby ending the bad publicity (it also saved Phips' wife from going to
trial on charges of witchcraft)

VIII. THE ENLIGHTEMENT/GREAT AWAKENING

• The Enlightenment was a European cultural movement that challenged the
authority and elevated the power of human reason and logic
o The most famous Enlightenment thinkers were John Locke, Jean-
Jacques Rousseau, and the Baron de Montesquieu
• The Enlightenment caused the Great Awakening
o The Enlightenment was a threat to conservative Biblical thought
• Conservatives favored a purely Biblical learning, while the radicals wanted
more sciences in education; moderates wanted a little of both
o The Enlightenment was a threat to conservative Biblical thought
• Some people demanded that their clergy had to have a religious education
o They were called the "old lights"
• Some people wanted their ministers to have charisma and be effective
public speakers
o They were called the "new lights"
o This was the beginning of theatrics in church, soon followed by church
choirs and instruments
o This type was especially popular in the backcountry, where people
were less educated
• It lasted from the 1730s to the 1760s
o There was a lot of unrest, which caused religion to come to
prominence
o The Great Awakening died down once the actual revolution began
o A Second Great Awakening occurred in the 1820s and 1830s, once the
USA's sovereignty was secure
• Three denominations gained the most members as a result of the Great
Awakening: Baptists (gained most), Congregationalists, Presbyterians
o Anglicanism declined
• The Great Awakening appealed to the poor, blacks, and women: alienated
classes

IX. "OLD LIGHTS" VS. "NEW LIGHTS"

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Chapters 4-5
• The old lights were traditional and favored educational standards for
ministers
o They were uneasy about the social effects of the Great Awakening
o They were usually rich and Tory
• The new lights emphasized supernaturalism, emotionalism, and radicalism
o They believed ministers should preach charismatically and persuasively

X. JOHN PETER ZENGER

• Journalist, arrested in 1735
o Attacked Cosby, the royal governor of New York; accused him of
preferential treatment of the elite
• He was charged with libel, but defended by Andrew Hamilton, who won his
case for him by saying that it wasn't libel, just the truth
• It was a victory for freedom of speech and proof that a middle-class person
could win against a powerful rich person

XI. PAXTON BOYS

• Background:
o 1754-1763: the French and Indian War was taking place
o There had been 89 years of non-continuous fighting between France
and Britain
• In the Pennsylvania backcountry and central Pennsylvania, Scots-Irish
people had begun to encroach on natives' land
• The Paxton Boys (named for the Paxton River region) were angered that the
natives, in their eyes, had more rights
o Attacked the natives and Quakers
o The Quakers remained nonpartisan until the bloodshed got to be too
much
• The Paxton Boys killed at least 20 natives (reports vary), leading the Quakers
to take action against the Paxton Boys
o The Quakers were pacifist, so the Germans assisted them in putting
down the conflict