The Other Source of Inexpensive Labor - Indentured Servants

As noted in an earlier post on slavery, the English colonies in the Americas fell short when it came to having a large and inexpensive labor force in order to turn a profit for a colony's proprietor and in return also for the Crown. After all, sending people across the ocean is expensive, and the typical laborer England and Ireland didn't have the means to make the voyage.

Indentured servants arrive early in the history of the colonies, one letter from 1623, describes conditions in Virginia from the perspective of Richard Frethorne. Frethorne opens his letter painting a fairly bleak picture.

"I your child am in a most heavy case by reason of the country, [which] is such that it causeth much sickness, [such] as the scurvy and the bloody flux and diverse other diseases, which maketh the body very poor and weak. And when we are sick there is nothing to comfort us; for since I came out of the ship I never ate anything but peas, and loblollie (that is, water gruel)...people cry out day and night Oh! That they were in England without their limbs – and would not care to lose any limb to be in England again, yea, though they beg from door to door" - Frethorne

From what we know of indentured servitude, it appears to have been a nasty business. It was a way for the English government to tackle a few problems in what probably seemed like pragmatic fashion. The first problem was to do with debtors, in England at the time being poor was likely to brand you as a criminal. As noted in an earlier post, Georgia was specifically setup as a colony for debtors, but indentured servitude was another route to the colonies. Second it was also the only route available for those laborers who could not afford passage to the Americas. And lastly, another source of indentured servants was the English colonization of Ireland, which ramped up during the reign of Oliver Cromwell and caused many Irish Catholics to be branded "criminals" later under the Penal Laws.

But what exactly was indentured servitude?

One description from Pennsylvania in 1750 describes it this way, Colonists " go on board the newly arrived ship that has brought and offers for sale passengers from Europe, and select among the healthy persons such as they deem suitable for their business, and bargain with them how long they will serve for their passage money, which most of them are still in debt for. When they have come to an agreement, it happens that adult persons bind themselves in writing to serve 3, 4, 5 or 6 years for the amount due by them" - Gottlieb Mittelberger

The outcome is a contract binding a person to a master for a period of time (like 5-10 years). The contents of these contracts is fairly interesting. Here are two examples: John Reid - 1742 and William Buckland - 1755 Reid's contract provides a little more detail although they read similarly. In short the servant works for the master and must always be available to work during the duration of the contract, and the master must only provider basic necessities such as food and water. The servant must

"...faithfully shall serve (his Master), his Secrets keep, his lawfull Commands gladly every where obey: he shall do no Damage to His said Master nor see to be done by others without letting or giving Notice to his said master he shall not waste his said Masters Goods, nor lend them unlawfully to any, he shall not commit Fornication, nor contract Matrimony within the said Term. At Cards, Dice or any other unlawful Game, he shall not play, whereby his said Master may have Damage with his own Goods, nor the Goods of others within the said Term, without Lisence [sic] from his said Master, he shall neither buy not [sic] sell, he shall not absent himself Day nor Night from his said Masters Service without his Leave..." - Reid contract 1742

For the duration of the contract, the servant does not have liberties.

There are a few key differences between the indentured servants and slaves in the colonies which should be noted before continuing:

• Servanthood was for a defined period of time and could not be passed on to your offspring
• Indentured servants were considered persons with legal rights

As persons, indentured servants had some legal recourse. as "legal persons with legal rights. Many used the court system to argue that they were being held beyond their term."

Indentured servants also self-liberated periodically, and ads to track down run-aways can be found here.

In the end, at least part of the colonies' economy was built on this source of free labor. (Between indentured servants and slaves, there is a lot of free labor happening.) The problems in England with what to do with some debtors and how to remove Irish Catholics was at least partially solved, and for those that could endure a contracted period of captivity, they would earn their freedom at the end of their term. How well did this system work for the servant? It's hard to say as clearly it caused Mr. Frehorne distress, and others likely felt similar distress in choosing to run-away. What can be said is that clearly from the start, the colonies were lands of freedom and opportunity for those who could afford it, but not a land of liberty for those who could not.

Early Abolitionists and Slave Revolts - Welcome to the 18th Century

As noted in earlier posts, enslaved Africans were brought to the English colonies in the Americas as early as 1619 (Virginia) and this practice continued and spread throughout the colonies during the 17th Century including places we often think of as free-states, like Massachusetts (earliest slaves in Mass. around 1638).

Senator Tom Cotton recently called slavery a necessary evil in describing conditions in the American colonies. This is an argument that has been made long before the senator's recent comment, as slavery in the colonies is still often attributed to a shortage of necessary labor. In other words, it was difficult for the rich proprietors of the colonies to turn a profit from the colonies for the English Crown without forcing people into free labor.

To describe it as a "necessary evil" is however a radical simplification and discounts movements which started in the 17th Century which questioned the morality of slavery and can be seen as the roots abolitionism.

We'll start this exploration by revisiting William and Hannah Penn's colony, Pennsylvania. William Penn was a Quaker and had founded Pennsylvania as a haven, but while being a Quaker haven the colony allowed slavery. In 1688 a group of Quakers puts together a religious argument against slavery (I call out a religious argument because we are also entering the Enlightenment, a time when humanist arguments are used to describe the state of man and society) noting that the Africans:

"are brought hither against their will and consent, and that many of them are stolen. Now, they are black, we can not conceive there is more liberty to have them as slaves as it is to have other white ones. There is a saying, that we shall do to all men like as we will be done ourselves, making no difference of what generation, descent or color they are." - 1688 Germantown Friends Protest Against Slavery

The Quakers are able to draw on the Gospel teaching of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" here. And having endured persecution and feeling that their religious liberties and rights as people had been trampled upon, these Quakers did not see how they could justify doing worse. The argument is made in plain language, that those who have suffered persecution in Europe, certainly can't rightly be a part of oppression in the colonies and still consider themselves Christians.

"But to bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, we stand against. In Europe, there are many oppressed for conscience sake; and here there are those oppressed are of a black color...Ah! Do consider well this thing, you who do it, if you would be done at this manner? And if it is done according to Christianity?"

This is 70 years after the first enslaved Africans were brought to the American colonies. It would another almost 100 years after this that Pennsylvania would become a free-state and almost 200 years before slavery was abolished in the United States.

That's not to say that there weren't efforts, some of which moved from paper and out onto the streets. Less than 40 years later, in New York (formerly New Amsterdam), there was a slave revolt. Like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, New York is often a place we do not associate with slavery, but by 1711 an official slave market was built by the city and the local government collected sale tax revenues from the slave trade. On April 6, 1712 a group of 23 slaves, "Armed with swords, knives, hatchets and guns, the group sought to inspire the city’s slaves to rise up against their masters by staging a dramatic revolt." A militia is sent out to quell the revolt and capture the slaves, and after being captured "the majority were sentenced to brutal, public executions, including being burned alive and being hung by chains in the center of town."

Less than 30 years later, in South Carolina, slaves marched "down the road, carrying banners that proclaim "Liberty!". They shout out the same word. Led by an Angolan named Jemmy, the men and women continue to walk south, recruiting more slaves along the way. By the time they stop to rest for the night, their numbers will have approached one hundred."

The Stono Revolt, as it's known, comes at a time of escalating tension between England and Spain, with a quick note that Spain still held significant lands in the Americas, including nearby Florida with a colony at St. Augustine. White colonists at the time were required to carry firearms even on Sundays while at church, On their march, "The slaves went to a shop that sold firearms and ammunition, armed themselves, then killed the two shopkeepers...the few whites whom they now encountered were chased and killed, though one individual, Lieutenant Governor Bull, eluded the rebels and rode to spread the alarm." It's not long before armed white colonists are able to respond in kind, "By dusk, about thirty slaves were dead and at least thirty had escaped. Most were captured over the next month, then executed.

In 1733, six years before the Stono Revolt, James Oglethorpe founds Georgia as a free-state, a place for English debtors to work, and Oglethorpe believes slavery will lead to idleness. Oglethorpe also had a moral stance against slavery after hearing about "Job" (the Senegambian - Muslim merchant turned slave in Maryland who I referred to in an earlier post on religion in the colonies). "In December 1732, Job’s distant benefactor (Oglethorpe) sold his stock in the Royal African Co. and severed all ties with British slaving corporation. The precocious prince arrived in London during the spring 1733 while Oglethorpe was establishing the Georgia colony". Oglethorpe feeling terrible about what had happened to Job, purchases Job's freedom and goes about establishing a colony free of slavery. It's hard for us, living after the Civil War, to imagination a time when New York and Massachusetts allowed slavery but Georgia did not.

The empathy expressed by the Quakers in Pennsylvania and the ideas behind Georgia's founding make it clear that slavery wasn't a given. Moral arguments were made by the Quakers in the light of their own persecution, and Oglethorpe presented his case in opposition as a case against white idleness; he expected his white colonists to work. To assume then that slavery was a "necessary evil" is to ignore that not long after it's institution, white settlers in the colonies were questioning it. And it ignores that the enslaved Africans were marching, fighting and dying to assert their own liberties since at least the early 18th Century.

Over time, pleas which start on paper in 1688 evolve into small revolts like 1712 in New York and escalate into bigger revolts like Stono in 1739. These are moments of opportunity to stop and do something different, to recognize a series of escalations and to make reforms as suggested by the Quakers or Oglethorpe. Instead of pursuing the cause of the liberty, the colonies instead become more oppressive and crackdown on African slaves. Codified oppression takes hold in a number of the colonies. One example is the Negro Act of 1740 in South Carolina. This act establishes that:

"all Negroes and Indians....shall hereafter be, in this province and all their issue and offspring, born to be born, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be, and remain forever hereafter, absolute slaves"

And then goes on to detail other things which will sound more like the institution of slavery, which we imagine when thinking about the Civil War. Slaves shall not leave their towns or plantations and if they do then they shall receive 20 lashes. Any slave who assaults or strikes a white person will be punished by death. Any assembly or meeting of slaves will be dispersed. Acts like this are designed specifically to ensure that the enslaved African community cannot rebel against their enslavement, and once in place many of these laws will effectively stand until the end of the Civil War. To be sure, the abolition movement isn't dead as result of these laws, but it is pushed to the background throughout much the 18th Century. As we get closer to the framing the US Constitutions we'll revisit the progress abolitionism is able to make in the 18th Century.

Mothers of the Colonies - Burdens to Bare

So far, in our adventure through US History, many of the sources I've pulled from have been written by men, about things men were doing. But the colonies would not survive past the first generation without the women of the colonies. In fact, the need was so important that Jamestown was sent "supplies of young women for wives"

Of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower's Manifest about 20 were women, many appear to be wives of the men that we may already be more familiar with: Myles and Rose Standish, William and Dorothy Bradford, William and Mary Brewster. The sufferings of the Pilgrims in their attempt to survive that first winter in Massachusetts after arriving in the autumn of 1620 were incredible. Of the 102 who crossed the Atlantic only 51 survive, only 5 of the women passengers survived the winter. I admit that I didn't factor in children, but in short around 50% of the men died and around 75% of the women. This is a remarkable amount of suffering carried by the men and women of the colony.

Both Edward Winslow and William Bradford left behind reasonably detailed accounts of the events in Plymouth Colony but they don't actually spend time detailing the activities of the women in the colony. Winslow's wife, Elizabeth, dies at the end of the first winter, and Edward eventually marries, Susanna White, whose husband died in the first winter. We know that four of her children with Edward survive, and that while traveling to the Americas she was pregnant from her first marriage and gave birth to the first Pilgrim in the colony, Peregrine White. Establishing the family in the Americas, was a critically important role for women in the colonies. For other Pilgrim families, only the men traveled in 1620 and once established, wrote back to their families requesting that their wives and children join them at Plymouth Colony, as noted in William Hilton's letter to his family.


Beyond establishing family life, women were part of the workforce. At Plymouth Colony, Bradford notes that women of the colony are engaged in agriculture by 1623 as each family is given a plot of land farm:

"This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corne was planted then other waise would have bene by any means ye Govr or any other could use, and saved him a great deall of trouble, and gave farr better contente. The women now wente willingly into ye feild, and tooke their litle-ons with them to set corne, which before would aledg weaknes, and inabilitie; whom to have compelled would have bene thought great tiranie and oppression."

The line about women is particularly telling. Not only are the women laying seed, but they are childrearing at the same time, taking the kids with them into the field. He also seems to allude that before this either sowing seed wasn't a job women were willing to do or which they had not been perceived as capable for. What's great about this,  is that he is also noting that their corn production was much better.

The story of Plymouth Colony is quite different from the story of Jamestown. The Pilgrim families had already escaped to the Netherlands before setting sail, so the colony had family in mind from the start. Jamestown on the other hand was intended as an economic venture, initially populated almost entirely by men. We know that John Rolfe marries Matoaka (Pocahantas) and is eventually compelled to write a letter explaining his reasons for breaking with his religion and taking "strange wives". Eventually the colony needs to be sent "supplies of young women" almost like mail order brides. Jamestown like Plymouth was not going to survive without women in the colony.

Beyond having children to ensure the colony survived another generation, "Many of these women were recruited for their skills. They could make butter and cheese, brew, bake and cook, plus raise children and tend to the sick..." These women sailed over to Jamestown to meet the men there for the first time in two waves: 'Ninety arrived in 1620 and the company records reported in May of 1622 that, "57 young maids have been sent to make wives for the planters, divers of which were well married before the coming away of the ships."' These women were just as brave as their male counterparts already living in Virginia, not knowing exactly what life was waiting for them there.

Whether in Massachusetts or Virginia, women faced unequal law and justice in the Americas. An exhibit in Virginia displays:

"a 17th-century ducking chair, a hideous device as torturous as it was humiliating. Women, for the most part, received this punishment for not controlling their “brabbling” tongues. They were repeatedly dunked in the water for up to 30 seconds at a time. "

Perhaps the best known account of injustice directed primarily at women arrived in the late 17th Century in the form of the Salem Witch Trials. 13 women and 5 men were hanged during the hysteria, and the executions were a public spectacle:

"This day [in the margin, Dolefull! Witchcraft] George Burrough, John Willard, Jno Procter, Martha Carrier and George Jacobs were executed at Salem, a very great number of Spectators being present. Mr. Cotton Mather was there, Mr. Sims, Hale, Noyes, Chiever, &c. All of them said they were innocent, Carrier and all. Mr. Mather says they all died by a Righteous Sentence. Mr. Burrough by his Speech, Prayer, protestation of his Innocence, did much move unthinking persons, which occasions their speaking hardly concerning his being executed." - Sewall Diary

Dorcas Hoar (who before the witch trials had led or aided a gang of thieves), was accused in 1692 with other women, in September:

"A petition is sent to Town in behalf of Dorcas Hoar, who now confesses: Accordingly an order is sent to the Sheriff to forbear her Execution, notwithstanding her being in the Warrant to die to morrow. This is the first condemned person who has confessíd."-Sewall Diary

Dorcas confesses and gives the authorities the names of other women to investigate as potential witches. Dorcas is not executed but by the time the trials have come to end, she has spent close to a year in jail.

While women of the 17th Century colonies bore the sufferings of sickness and death, and the injustices of a patriarchal society, I would be remiss if I did not note that they were also loved and demonstrated an ability to successfully navigate colonial life. Hannah Callowhill Penn was William Penn's second and much younger wife. At the time of their introduction, she was living in England, and he had business to conduct in England but was trying to live in Pennsylvania.

"I had a blessed time...many miles about that city, Bristol, and it was a working time as well as a wooing time and my soul blesseth the Lord therefor." - William Penn (Quoted in another work)

Apparently William's wooing was sufficient, and the two are married. Hannah joins William in his Quaker colony disembarking in Philadelphia in December 1699, the twilight of the 17th Century. William had 2 children, still living, from his previous marriage William (born 1680) and Letitia (born 1678), and Hannah and William would have another 6 children. Hannah sailed to the Americas pregnant and gave birth to Jonathan a month after arriving.

William Penn's proprietorship of Pennsylvania was interrupted with frequent trips back to England, in total, he appears to have spent around 4 years in the colony. In 1701, William and Hannah return to England. While in England, either Penn himself or his deputies in the colony run up a debt, and Penn is placed in debtors prison. In 1712, William suffers a series of strokes, and Hannah steps in as proprietor for the colony and is in regular correspondence with James Logan in Pennsylvania. Hannah Penn straightens out Pennsylvania finances and acts as proprietor of the colony from 1712 "until her death in 1726 at age 55. Her expertise and skillful management of Indian relations, the boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland, and many other difficult colonial issues have earned her the respect of historians, some of whom refer to her as America’s first female governor."

Today, Hannah Penn is remembered as Pennsylvania's first female governor and her portrait has been hung in the state capitol.

At this point in our journey, the American colonies have made it to the 18th Century. Women played an important role in ensuring the colonies survived bearing the same hardships as the male counterparts while also facing injustice and baring children. Without dedicated, brave, and clever women like Hannah Penn, the American colonies might not have survived.

Missions to the American Southwest

Many recent posts have focused on the events surrounding the founding of colonies on the Atlantic coast, many of which were English. It's important to keep in mind that today the United States is far larger than the colonies which fought in the American Revolution.

As noted in an earlier post, Columbus never stepped foot in the United States, however subsequent Spanish voyages destroyed the Aztec civilization in Mexico. The Spanish Empire was able to colonize the Western Hemisphere including where Mexico is today, and pioneering conquistadors and priests extended the Empire's reach into the American Southwest.

Don Juan Onate ventures into today's Texas and New Mexico in 1598.

"I set out, on the sixteenth of March, with the great multitude of wagons, women, and children...bringing me to these provinces of New Mexico with all his Majesty's army enjoying perfect health....I reached these provinces on the 28th day of May (going ahead with as many as 60 soldiers to pacify the land." - Onate

Two things I'll call out for now. The colonization of the Americas is consistently at least in part a military operation. The Spanish seem to do it a more robust way, but the idea of needing pacify the land isn't unusual. This particular expedition with 60 soldiers sounds more equipped to engage in hostilities when compared to the Plymouth Colony. The other noteworthy thing, is that role of the family here. Colonization is also a family affair. In order for the colony to be perpetuated whether you are settling Massachusetts or New Mexico, you need women and children, otherwise your colony won't survive the current generation. (At some point, I'll need to circle back to this idea specifically)

Other recurring themes of colonization play out for Onate in the Southwest, but the heavier military presences allows for the events to unfold somewhat differently.

"exciting a rebellion among more than 45 soldiers and captains, who under the pretext of not finding immediately whole plates of silver lying on the ground..." - Onate

This mutiny of sorts arrises in August, not quite 6 months into their venture. If he truly set out with 60 soldiers, he's lost whatever connection or credibility he needs with 75% of his soldiers. We also see here the hope or expectations that colonization will return riches quickly, and when they fail to, it leads to tension and unrest.

While all colonization was somewhat religious in nature, it was a main focus for the Spanish mission. Onate indicates that by October, his church was ready to hold mass, "in order to lose not time, at the beginning of October, this first church having been founded, wherein first mass was celebrated on the 8th of September."

Spanish missions such as the Alamo in San Antonio still exist today. One of the oldest examples still standing today is at Acoma Pueblo, the mission of San Estavan del Rey built in 1629. As noted in an earlier post about Native Americans in the American Southwest, the Anasazi culture had been their for long period of time before unrest at Chaco Canyon appears to have given rise to Pueblo culture where more cities were built up higher in the cliffs. Acoma Pueblo has been inhabited for 500 years before the mission church was built.

Of course colonies are expected to turn a profit, and Onate does note that they eventually have some success and there "are places where we recently discovered the rich mines..." Even with these mines, Onate specifically calls out other things which have economic value, "Others wear buffalo hides, of which there is a great abundance. They have the most excellent wool, of whose value I am sending a small sample...It is land abounding in flesh of buffalo, goats with hideous horns, and turkeys...there is game of all kinds" Onate also sends back a sample of ores and honey.

Colonies need a population of people, and part of the Spanish mission was to bring Native Americans into the fold as Catholic subjects of the Crown of Spain, Onate reports on this as well, "to make a conservative estimate, seventy thousand Indians settled after our custom, house adjoining house with square plazas". And Onate comments on local religions of the local people, "Their religion consists in worshipping idols of which they have many, and in their temples, after their own manner, they worship them with fire, painted reeds, feathers, and universal offerings...." And what happens when these cultures collide?

From Onate's own latter, he claims to have met Apaches who were living in pueblos and attempted to compel them to "render obedience to His Majesty, although not by means of legal instruments like the rest of the provinces" Onate goes on to note that after a dozen of his counterparts are killed by the residents of Acoma, "As punishment for its crime and its treason against his Majesty, to whom it had already rendered submission by a public instrument and as warning to the rest, I raised and burned it completely."

In short, Onate expects that the Native Americans should be willing subjects of the Spanish Crown and willing converts to Catholicism and Spanish culture. Resistance met is to be put down as a warning to the other tribes. By his own estimates, Acoma was populated with thousands of people, and if his account is accurate, he had not qualms about committing genocide to put everyone on notice.

Onate closes his letter requesting 500 additional men, preferably married to aid in the settling of and pacifying of the land, and the preaching of the Gospel. Noteworthy here, that at least in his letter, Onate's description of the Spanish colonization sounds somewhat dissimilar to English colonization. Where the Plymouth Colony or Jamestown seem to have a defined border where the colony ends and the Native American lands start, the Spanish colonization reads more like occupation and conversion.

The National Park Service describes the Spanish mission thusly: "The Spanish colonization of the southwest and California followed the same patterns and methods, as in Mexico, with the obligatory adaptations as well as abuses and errors of any conquest. All expeditions into unknown lands were guided by the sword of the soldier and the cross of the missionary. In the great expeditions in North America during the mid-1500s, friars marched among hundreds of soldiers."

A history of American colonization shows that both English and Spanish colonization had little regard for the Native American peoples already living in the Americas. At the same time as European civilization is transplanted along the Atlantic Coast, it is spreading into the American Southwest. The history of the Spanish colonization of the Southwest during the 16th and 17th Centuries (and alongside the colonization of the Atlantic Coast) is important to recognize as part of US History, as the decedents of the Spanish colonials become part of the United States when the Southwest annexed into the United States (also a post for a later time). The establishment of these Spanish colonies within what is today the United States is an important part of not only of Latinx or Hispanic heritage but also the history and heritage of the United States as a whole.

Plurality of Religions - Colonies of New Netherlands and Maryland

The Reformation in Europe brought with it much unrest in England, as much discussed, the unrest often played out as Anglican vs. Catholic vs. Puritan. On the continent, this played out in events like the 30 Years War (1618-1648). This unrest is a major player in the formation of the American colonies as various groups looked to escape incarceration, violence, political persecution, and war.

In a previous post, we touched on the arrival of Puritans, as the Pilgrims settled in Massachusetts. Before arriving in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims migrated to the Netherlands, seen as a place of religious tolerance. At around the same time as the Pilgrims get settled in Massachusetts, (we'll talk about state sponsored monopolies in the future), the Dutch West Indian Company organized  the colony of New Netherlands, including founding a port city on the Hudson River, New Amsterdam (today's New York).

New Netherlands initially finds its fortunes in the fur trade, As noted in 1626,"The ship which has returned home this month [November] brings samples of all sorts of produce growing there, the cargo being 7246 beaver skins, 675 otter skins, 48 mink, 36 wild eat, and various other sorts". The colony itself is naturally founded by Calvinist Dutch Reformers, and it is to the best of my understanding that my earliest ancestor in the US was a deacon in the First Dutch Reformed Church (Teunis Covert).

It is clear that in the 1620's on the Atlantic Coast in what will be the 13 colonies of the American Revolution, there are English Puritans in Massachusetts, Dutch Reformers in New Amsterdam (New York City), Anglicans and Africans in Jamestown, and of course the Native Americans who already had their own established nations and religions here. But a little deeper digging into religious unrest in Europe will reveal others fleeing persecution and landing in New Amsterdam.

As noted in the post about Christopher Columbus, he set out from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. In 1492, Jews are expelled from Spain. Many eventually end up in the Netherlands, as noted by Bradford (one of the Pilgrims) as place of religious freedom. Religious unrest in Europe doesn't just present itself in the form of Catholic monarchs like Ferdinand and Isabella, the Reformation itself poses a threat to European Jews. Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, writes a treatise entitled the "Jews and Their Lies":

"Therefore be on your guard against the Jews, know that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils in which sheer self glory, conceit, lies, blasphemy, and defining of God and men are practiced....First set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This be done in honor of our Lord..."-Martin Luther

A reformed Europe isn't any safer for the Jewish people, if anything it may have been less safe. Just as other persecuted peoples flee to the Western Hemisphere, Jews begin to arrive in New Amsterdam in 1654 and found the Congregation Shearith Israel..

Other examples of religious plurality can be found further south. Maryland, named after the Virgin Mary, is found by Cecil Calvert, remembered in US History classes as Lord Baltimore. Maryland is founded as a haven for English Catholics, much like the Puritans, finding a home further away from the English Crown is a safer option than living in England. The Charter of Maryland is granted in 1632 by King Charles I. Catholics were looking for refuge from the Protestant Reformation, and would still find persecution through out the US History, as the fear of "papists" was on full display as late as the 1928 presidential election and anti-Catholicism dogged even JFK during his presidential run.

At this point in the 17th Century, the three main factions openly engaged against one another in the British Isles are now setting up their own havens across the Atlantic. Dutch Reformers have a colony wedged in between with a Jewish congregation in the main port. By the time the Congregation Shearith Israel is setup, it's been 35 years since the first Africans arrived in Jamestown, and enslaved Africans were first sold in the Massachusetts colony 16 years earlier. If Colonial America is starting to sound more diverse than you remember, that isn't an accident or mistake. Someone makes the decisions about what ends up in textbooks and is taught in schools (do some googling on the Texas State Board of Education).

In doing some digging on Maryland, I came across an interesting account from later in colonial history, a story from around 1730, which got me thinking a little bit more about what the world of the 17th and early 18th Century looked like. The account from 1730 is of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, a Senegambian merchant and son of a Muslim cleric, who is sent by his father to sell two of their slaves at a port near the Gambia River. Ayuba has the misfortune of being attacked while en route by Mandigo bandits; he stripped of his valuables, clothing, etc, and sold into slavery at the port himself. Ayuba ends up in Maryland where he comes to be known as Job.

While assigned to work on the plantation, he "withdraw(s) into the woods to pray; but a white boy frequently watched him, and whilst he was at his devotion would mock him, and throw dirt in his face. This very much disturbed Job, and added considerably to his other misfortunes; all which were increased by his ignorance of the English language." Ayuba was a Muslim, enslaved, practicing his religion in the American colonies in 1730.

Historically speaking, at the time Columbus set sail, Islam had spread throughout the Middle East, across North Africa, into Spain, and across the Black Sea as various kingdoms and empires from the Saracens to the Ottomans rose and fell. The map below represents the spread of Islam today according to Pew Research.



It stands to reason that Ayuba wasn't the only Muslim person to be enslaved and brought to the United States. History Detectives from PBS estimates that 10 to 15% of enslaved Africans brought to the US were Muslims. If that holds true, that means 2 or 3 of the original slaves brought to Jamestown would have been Muslim. The Africans forcibly brought to the United States were largely purchased at ports along Africa's west coast. Looking at the PEW map, it's entirely possible that 10-15% is accurate.

Of course, these people would have been enslaved and not been allowed to practice their religion freely, and for the most part not allowed to read or write either, so it's hard for us to know exactly who these people were, how many there were, etc. And when we think of these enslaved peoples as property, we forget that they had unique cultures, languages, and religions which were forcibly stripped from them upon being enslaved.

Based on the evidence and accounts available, we must acknowledge that the American Colonies were in fact not really Christian colonies. As has already been argued, in the 17th Century there is no overarching "Christianity", that's a more modern concept, and it's abundantly clear that the three main Abrahamic religions were present in the American Colonies prior to the American Revolution. In the future we'll circle back to this point when we go deeper on the First Amendment, the Freedom of Religion.

The Persecutions of Christians One Against the Other - The Pilgrims Arrive

In 1593, as part of Queen Elizabeth's rule and Anglican Church reforms, The Act Against Seditious Sectaries made it a felony to not attend an Anglican church or chapel's services, pray as they prayed, or in short, the act demanded "conformity to her majesty's laws and statutes" and to  the one who would not "shall forfeit and lose to her majesty all his goods and chattels for ever, and shall further lose all his lands, tenements, and hereditaments"

As noted in a earlier post, England and large part of Europe experienced a period of religious unrest. The initial development of the reformation in England is interesting in that it starts from a fundamentally different place when compared with other Protestant movements. In England, the initial claim is simple, that English Crown has supreme authority over the church in England and not the Pope. Compared with Luther's or Calvin's movements which start with individuals becoming involved in religion by doing things like reading scripture in their native tongue. The Reformation in other parts of Europe is more of a grassroots movement that stems from differing interpretations about the state of mankind and the nature of their relationship with God and how to earn forgiveness, as opposed to a political argument about who has authority to preside over church affairs.

Again as noted before, this means in England that state and the church are effectively one and a perceived threat to the church is also a threat to the Crown. This is a messy place to be because the English Crown rules over Catholic, Anglican, and other new Protestant subjects. One such Protestant movement was Puritanism, also known as Separatists or Pilgrims.

William Bradford describes the Pilgrim's position in opposition Queen Mary's Catholic Church and Elizabeth's Anglican Church like this:

"The one side laboured to have the right worship of God and discipline of Christ established in the-church, according to the simplicity of the gospel, without the mixture of men's inventions; and to have and to be ruled by the laws of God's Word, dispensed in those offices, and by those officers of Pastors, Teachers and Elders, etc. according to the Scriptures. The other party, though under many colours and presences, endeavoured to have the episcopal dignity (after the popish manner) with their large power and jurisdiction still retained; with all those courts, canons and ceremonies...(after the transition to the Anglican Church) And that their offices and callings, courts and canons, etc. were unlawful and antichristian: being such as have no warrant in the Word of God, but the same that were used in popery and still retained. "

Bradford likens his congregation to the Apostles and early Saints, who were persecuted by the Roman Empire. But his writings also seek to find a simpler church, without the manmade constructs of the Roman Church or Church of England. And because they are not willing to submit to the Crown's authority, after enduring some persecution, Bradford's congregation flees to the Netherlands.

"or some were taken and clapped up in prison, others had their houses beset and watched night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and the most were fain to flee and leave their houses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood...Yet seeing themselves thus molested, and that there was no hope of their continuance there, by a joint consent they resolved to go into the Low Countries, where they heard was freedom of religion for all men"

There's a really important line here, that we'll certainly touch more on it as we get to the Bill of Rights, but the Puritans have left England to find "freedom of religion for all men".

While able to be Puritans in the Netherlands, the going is rough, this group of English immigrants isn't really a part of Dutch society and has trouble finding employment. While not threatened by the English Crown, it isn't exactly the future they had envisioned for their church. They begin thinking about migrating again, this time a bit further away:

"The place they had thoughts on was some of those vast and unpeopled countries of America, which are fruitful and fit for habitation, being devoid of all civil inhabitants, where there are only savage and brutish men which range up and down, little otherwise than the wild beasts of the same."

Bradford makes clear their opinion of the Native Americans which they may encounter, continuing in a line of European Christian superiority we have heard before. But despite many other risks, he's able to detail, the group decides that the risks of staying in the Netherlands are higher (in particular a concern about war with the Spanish), so they hatch a plan to work with the English to help establish a colony north of Virginia to be part of New England. It's a win-win of sorts, the English Crown (James I) is able to send the Separatists away across an ocean (arguably harder to make much trouble), the Puritans are able to practice their flavor of Christianity, and England gets another foothold in the Americas.

The colony's charter is known as the Mayflower Compact. The compact is an unusual document as the Puritans sign it as an agreement to become a single body politic loyal to the Crown. Some say it's an early example of a constitution.

There voyage is delayed and when they do set sail, they are already behind schedule. The Puritans disembark in Cape Code in November, as noted in previous posts, colonization is hard. And in New England in November, it's even harder, They are quick to send out scouts on the Nov 15, they have brief contact with local people who "fled from them and ran up into the woods, and the English followed them, partly to see if they could speak with them, and partly to discover if there might not be more of them lying in ambush. But the Indians seeing themselves thus followed, they again forsook the woods and ran away."

The year is 1620, Columbus' voyage is 118 years in the past, epidemics and the attempt to enslave Native Americans have rippled out from the Caribbean where the process started and have impacted even the Wampanoag civilization. It's no surprise that the local people run from the English, the local Patuxet tribe were totally wiped out by European disease, and the lone survivor, Tisquantum, had been captured and sold into slavery.

The scouts find fresh water, and they find something else the Pilgrims are in much need of, food. (Again it's November in New England, there won't be any crops to plant) Bradford reports that the scouts "found in them divers fair Indian baskets filled with corn, and some in ears, fair and good, of divers colors, which seemed to them a very goodly sight... So, their time limited them being expired, they returned to the ship lest they should be in fear of their safety; and took with them part of the corn and buried up the rest.". From Bradford's accounting, the corn is stolen, and Edward Winslow's account of foraging sounds similar:

"a flock of geese in the river, at which one made a shot, and killed a couple of them...This done, we marched to place where he had the corn formerly, and digged and found the rest...we also digged a place a little further off and found a bottle of oil...more corn, two or three basket full of Indian wheat, and a bag of beans...in all about 10 bushels."

The Pilgrims spend much of November and December scouting, looking for food, fish, being afraid of the calls of wolves, foxes, and afraid that the local people will attack them. They explore and find other deserted homes and signs of the epidemic which had run rampant.

"We found a great burying place, one part whereof was encompassed with a large palisade like a churchyard...within it was full of graves, some bigger, and some less...we digged none of them up, but only viewed them."

The next morning they have skirmish with the local people who fire arrows while the Pilgrims return fire with muskets. Two weeks later, they have beer on Christmas and begin to regularly describe the weather as foul. Winslow describes how winter takes its toll on them:

"wading at Cape Code had brought much weakness amongst us, which increased everyday more and more, and after was the cause of many deaths"

Having suffered much over the winter and living off of stolen food, enough of the Pilgrims survive the winter to begin doing some musket training in March. On March 16, an English speaking Native American comes alone to greet them, Samoset:

"bade us welcome, for he had learned some broken English amongst Englishmen...he was a man free in speech, so far as he could express his mind...he was a tall straight man, the hair of his head black, long behind, only short before, none on his face at all..." - Edward Winslow

They share a meal with him, and he explains how the local tribe, Patuxet, had been wiped out by a plague. He spends the day with the Pilgrims and spends the night at Stephen Hopkin's house. He gives them the lay of the land, let's them know that the Massasoits' Wampanoags and Nausets are their nearest neighbors and explains that the tribes are weary of Europeans:

"These people are ill affected toward the English, by reason of one Hunt, a master of a ship, who deceived the people and then under color of trucking with them, twenty out of this very place where we inhabit, and seven men from Nauset, and carried them away, and sold them for slaves like a wretched man that cares not what mischief he doth for his profit" - Winslow

There's some amount of hope in Winslow's tone, here. While this might not be abolitionist speech, it's certainly not a ringing endorsement of slavery either. From what I can gather, it does not appear that settlers in the original Plymouth Colony engaged in the slave trade. That said, later Puritans in Massachusetts would. By 1638, enslaved Africans are being bought in Massachusetts.

On the 22nd of March 1621, Samoset returns to visit the Puritans, and brings Tisquantum with him. Tisquantum helps organize a parley between Chief Massasoit and Edward Winslow. A successful meeting is had. The chief and the governor eventually meet and organize a peace which to paraphrase had 5 points: 1. Neither should harm each other 2. Tools should not be stolen 3. Mutual defense from outside threats 4. Confederate tribes could join the peace 5. Not to come armed to each others villages. Like Jamestown, the Plymouth Colony initially enjoys a good relationship with it's neighbors thanks in large part to Samoset and Tisquantum acting as bridges between cultures. A successful trading relationship allows the Plymouth Colony to turn a profit in furs.

Trust between different peoples is a hard to thing to build, and it relies not only on leaders like tribal chiefs and colonial governors to build a relationship but for all of their advisors and subordinates to work the peace as well. Winslow describes how in the spring of 1622, Tisquantum is caught trying to play the different tribes and Puritans against each other. The rationale for this isn't entirely clearly, it may have simply been an ego thing, it does however anger Chief Massasoit who demands that Tisquantum be executed. The Pilgrims refuse because they recognize the value he brings to their colony. Winslow notes later that "Massasoit seemed to frown on us, and neither came or sent to us as formerly", and it seems plain that the relationship is coming undone.

To further complicate matters, other settlers arrive and plan to settle in the Bay of the Massachusetts. When the new settlers "had not been long from us, ere Indians, filled our ears with clamors against them, for stealing their come" And at some point, word reaches Plymouth that some of the tribes plan to attack the new settlers. Captain Myles Standish kills "Pecksuot and Witowamat, whose head was there, the other three were Powahs, being yet living" escaped. Winslow describes the results for the Native American community like this:

"This sudden and unexpected execution...hath so terrified and amazed them...they forsook their houses, running to and fro like men distracted, living in swamps and other desert places, and so brought manifold diseases amongst themselves, whereof many are dead."

A functional relationship between the local people and the Pilgrims has lasted from 1621 to 1624 and when the wheels came off, they came off hard. Both William Bradford and Edward Winslow document having celebrated a feast in 1621 along with Massasoit's Wampanoags. Abraham Lincoln made this a national holiday, Thanksgiving. The story has been terribly told over time with people not really knowing who the Puritans / Pilgrims are, and not really being aware of the delicate relationship between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags. The story is as nuanced and complex as most chapters in American history from the Pilgrim's stealing food to survive, to novel ideas about the freedom of religion, to successful relationship building across cultures, and to seeing how quickly and easily trust can be broken. There's a lot to unpack here and reflect on when next we celebrate Thanksgiving.

The Fate of Such - Slavery Starts in Jamestown

After the failure of the Roanoke Colony and finding that tobacco could be potential cash crop to help Jamestown succeed, John Rolfe notes the arrival of enslaved African people...

1619? How did we get here? Let's take a giant step backwards in time. Slavery has a long, storied human tradition. It appears in the Bible: from the captivity in Egypt to the Apostle Paul telling slaves to be obedient to their masters and masters to be good to their slaves. (See Ephesians 6) The ancient kingdoms from Persia, to Egypt, to Greece had well organized systems of slavery. Roman slavery is well documented and studied, and initially it seems for many of the ancient kingdoms, slavery is the result of one kingdom conquering another.

Slavery persists in Europe after the Roman Empire, and as the continent becomes mostly Catholic and transitions to feudal forms of government, slavery is largely phased out and replaced with serfdom. There's a nuanced distinction between a slave and serf to clarify. The slave is the direct property the master or the master's family, the serf is more bound to the master's land or manor. The serf worked the master's land in exchange for security, justice, and some of land of their own to farm. To be clear serfdom was still pretty miserable and was another way for the wealthy, gentry or noble classes to benefit from free or mostly free labor.

Throughout the Middle Ages, slavery in form of one Christian owning another is largely done away with, but slavery is known to have existed in the form of Christians owning Muslims or Muslims owning Christians. As Europeans begin navigating beyond the Mediterranean in the 15th Century, the nature of the European slave trade changes and is legitimized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Nicholas V in 1452 in the Dum Diverseas authorized that Saracens and pagans could be kept enslaved perpetually, and in 1455 in the Romanus Pontifex authorized King Alfonso:

"to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods"

This is the approach Columbus takes when he sails to the Americas, meets the Taino, and by day 3 has seven people captive on his ship to be brought back to Spain as servants for Queen Isabella. Initially slavery in the Americas uses the local people as the workforce. This system smells a little more like feudal serfdom, these Native Americans live on this land, this land has been claimed for Spain, therefore these people work the land for Spain. There's one major problem with the plan for leveraging the Native Americans for slave labor, epidemic.

As noted in an earlier post, the indigenous people of the Americas had not been exposed to diseases from the Eastern Hemisphere and within 50 years, various American nations are devastated. Diseases like influenza and smallpox spread not only to the nations which have had direct contact with the Europeans but also to other nearby nations as peoples engaged in travel and trade.

Europeans had already explored along the west coast of Africa (remember Dias made it south around Africa to reach in India in 1488), with the new colonies in the Americas short on labor, Europeans turned to another source of slaves, Africa.

At the time European encroachment into Africa was primarily limited to coastal colonies (pretty much true until the development of quinine). It is here that the Europeans are able to trade goods for slaves. Like many other parts of the world, slavery existed in Africa, and like many other parts of the world it was part of the spoils of war, "Those sold by the Blacks are for the most part prisoners of war, taken either in fight, or pursuit, or in the incursions they make into their enemies territories..To conclude, some slaves are also brought to these Blacks, from very remote inland countries, by way of trade, and sold for things of very inconsiderable value - John Barbot.

The Spanish and Portuguese start the Atlantic slave trade very simply by trading European made goods to coastal African kingdoms. And as these people are sold as property, they marked as such, "These being set aside, each of the others, which have passed as good, is marked on the breast, with a red- hot iron, imprinting the mark of the French, English, or Dutch companies, that so each nation may distinguish their own," These enslaved people are now marked for shipping and ready to sail across the Atlantic as property, as Barbot notes, "Many of those slaves we transport from Guinea to America are prepossessed with the opinion, that they are carried like sheep to the slaughter". Their primary job upon reaching the colonies is to grow whatever the local cash crop is, whether growing sugar in the Caribbean or tobacco in Virginia.

That brings us back to Jamestown. The Spanish may have started bringing slaves over, and the English are all too eager to follow suit. The slave trade is a product of religious supremacy as noted in the papal bulls form 1452 and 1455 but also as seen Queen Elizabeth's charter for Walter Raleigh's Roanoke colony. The lives of Saracens, heathens, pagans, etc are simply are not of value, and Christians of the time feel perfectly justified committing violence against people or lands that are not Christian (keeping in mind that it means their particular version of Christianity, as noted in earlier posts on European religious unrest). There's also a practical problem they are trying to solve, colonies across the Atlantic are expensive and difficult to prop up, especially if you don't strike gold upon landing. Massive, industrialized farming appears to be needed in order for agriculture to make colonial profit, and the expense of being a free European who wants to cross the ocean is largely cost prohibitive. The age old, tried and tested, and now religiously approved use of slave labor is the solution. Other solutions will be tried as well and will be discussed in future posts, but the economic foundation of the Virginia colony, the first English colony in the US, is built on slavery.

Jamestown is the first successful English colony in the US. The first enslaved Africans arrived in 1619, right at the point when the colony realizes tobacco is the future, and within a little more than a decade after its founding. We may never know what languages these first slaves spoke or what religions they practiced, although some google searching will suggest they came from Angola. What we can know is that these slaves are amongst the first people to settle in the English colonies, the first lasting English colony to more precise. This American society started culturally pluralistic, and we have often failed to recognize it.

We also shouldn't assume that the Atlantic slave trade was inevitable. It was a convenient solution to be sure, and one which Europeans could easily encourage by trading manufactured goods and helping to prop up kingdoms that were willing to capture and sell slaves. In many ways, it's a precursor to later Imperialism and certain subtler forms of modern day Imperialism and global trade. In the 18th Century, John Wesley writes, "It was some time before the Europeans found a more compendious way of procuring African slaves, by prevailing upon them to make war upon each other, and to sell their prisoners," as he rebukes the rationale for starting and maintaining the slave trade. The choice to start and continue the slave trade was deliberate, and well before Wesley, there were voices of dissent.

One hundred years after the papal bulls which gave legitimacy to slavery, Pope Paul III believing that Jesus intended believers to spread the Gospel to the corners of the Earth, flatly condemns the slave trade:

"Hence Christ, who is the Truth itself, that has never failed and can never fail, said to the preachers of the faith whom He chose for that office 'Go ye and teach all nations.' He said all, without exception, for all are capable of receiving the doctrines of the faith. The enemy of the human race, who opposes all good deeds in order to bring men to destruction, beholding and envying this, invented a means never before heard of, by which he might hinder the preaching of God's word of Salvation to the people: he inspired his satellites who, to please him, have not hesitated to publish abroad that the Indians of the West and the South, and other people of whom We have recent knowledge should be treated as dumb brutes created for our service, pretending that they are incapable of receiving the Catholic Faith."

As we leave Jamestown and 1619, we leave a colony populated with Anglican Englishmen who owe their very survival to the local Powhatan, and who will build their tobacco fortunes on the backs of African men and women. In just this one colony the face of America is already many, but we will explore the other early colonies, we'll see how other peoples formed the foundation of the pluralistic society that we live in today.

Jamestown - Finding Virginia and Violence

After the failure to successfully establish a colony on Roanoke Island, the English don't give up. They make another attempt at establishing a presence in Virginia, it's called Jamestown.

The colony at Roanoke had not gone to plan and a voyage in 1590 found a twice deserted colony; however, this gave the English some time to learn their lessons and to learn from others. As John Smith prepares to set sail for Virginia, drafts a notice ahead of time which suggests a variety of actions from describing a good place to make land to how to defend oneself.


"And to the end that you be not surprized as the French were in Florida by Melindus, and the Spaniard in the same place by the French, you shall do well to make this double provision. First, erect a little stoure at the mouth of the river that might lodge some ten men; with whom you shall leave a light boat, that when any fleet shall be in sight, they may come with speed to give you warning. Secondly, you must in no case suffer any of the native people of the country to inhabit between you and the sea coast; for you cannot carry yourselves so towards them, but they will grow discontented with your habitation, and be ready to guide and assist any nation that shall come to invade you: and if you neglect this, you neglect your safety." - John Smith

As noted in earlier posts, the English Reformation put in England in a difficult spot, especially with regards to Catholic countries. Spain in particular has significant holdings in the Western Hemisphere with claims on Florida, the American Southwest, Mexico, and more. The French have also joined the parade of European nations looking for a passage around or through the Americas to reach India. The City of Quebec is founded in 1608, and serves as a toehold for the French in North America. For English persons headed to the Virginia colony, assistance from England would take time to arrive, and it's clear Smith's first concern is interference from other European nations. In a way, you could almost liken the colonization of the Americas to the space race. European countries attempt to explore and claim land faster than they actually know what they are claiming, mostly to outcompete each other.

His second warning is something of a consistent lesson learned in colonizing the Americas. Initial encounters between local people and Europeans often seem to start well and then become hostile. We established earlier that there was trade between the Native American nations, and we can certainly assume that word travels about the European arrivals. In my last post, I noted that the initial greeting when the English reached Roanoke seemed more aggressive than the greeting Columbus received. Knowing that the first settlers of Roanoke sailed back to England, and that the second group mysteriously disappeared, Smith recommends ensuring that this new group of settlers have a clear path back to the ocean. He also has other advice on their survival:

"In all your passages you must have great care not to offend the naturals, if you can eschew it; and imploy some few of your company to trade with them for corn and all other lasting victuals if you [?they] have any: and this you must do before that they perceive you mean to plant among them; for not being sure how your own seed corn will prosper the first year, to avoid the danger of famine, use and endeavour to store yourselves of the country corn."

The first Roanoke colony had supply problems. Colonization is difficult, you can only carry so much across the ocean, and then you need establish shelter, fortifications, crops, and find some way to produce profit. Smith's suggestion here is to establish good relations with the local people, in particular as a way to attain food.

Other documents from the voyage appear to indicate that initial interactions (accounts from 1602) with Native Americans in Virginia go pretty well. They dine and drink together,

"The seventh, the seignior came again with all his troop as before, and continued with us the most part of the day, we going to dinner about noon, they sat with us and did eat of our bacaleure and mustard, drank of our beer."

 Smith also indicates that other early interactions are agreeable.

"In the midway staying to refresh our selves in little Ile foure or five savages came unto us which described unto us the course of the River, and after in our journey, they often met us, trading with us for such provision as wee had, and ariving at Arsatecke, hee whom we supposed to bee the chiefe King of all the rest, moste kindely entertained us, giving us in a guide to go with us up the River to Powhatan, of which place their great Emperor taketh his name, where he that they honored for King used us kindely" - John Smith

From the early accounts, it sounds as if the Powhatans are willing to guide the English on the river, help them forage for food, and make trade with them. Just after spending a day learning to forage for mussels, Smith claims, "where the first we heard was that 400. Indians the day before assalted the fort, & surprised". The English strengthen their palisade defenses and manage to find peace with their neighbors for a short time after.

And then another setback, this time instead of Native Americans getting sick, some of the English start getting sick. "Shortly after Captaine Gosnold fell sicke, and within three weeks died, Captaine Ratcliffe being then also verie sicke and weake, and my selfe having also tasted of the extremitie therof," and they pray that God would have their neighbors bring them corn, rather than prey upon them while they are ill. After 46 of Smith's compatriots had died and with their supplies dwindling, "the Indians brought us great store both of Corne and bread ready made". If Smith's accounts are to be taken at face value, he spends much of the summer and fall making trades with different Native American villages to bring supplies into the colony that seems to often be on the verge of collapse.

Smith goes on to tell a tale that sounds vaguely Marco Polo-esque. While out with a couple of Native American guides, he and a few men are attacked. Smith survives and is carried away, and then treated as a sort of royal prisoner, where he ingratiates himself with their king and eventually returned to the fort. "The Empereur Powhatan, each weeke once or twice, sent me many presents of Deare, bread Raugroughcuns; halfe alwayes for my father whom he much desired to see, and halfe for me". His accounts seem quite fantastic, but accounts seem to indicate that Smith presides over a period of time where there was some chance for a stable-ish coexistence. After Smith returns to England, things begin to unravel.

By 1610, again short on supplies, a convoy arrives late, and an an assessment of the Virginia Colony is made which lists a variety of faults from the general character of the men of the colony, to the lack of care in mending and maintaining fishing nets, to even a the story of a grizzly murder whereby a man dismembered his wife. This account is almost as fantastic Smith's but in the opposite direction. After accounting for many of the Englishmen's faults and sins, the author notes:

"The state of the Colony, by these accidents began to find a sensible declying: which Powhatan (as a greedy Vulture) observing, and boyling with desire of revenge, he invited Captaine Ratclife, and about thirty others to trade for Corne, and under the colour of fairest friendship, he brought them within the compasse of his ambush, whereby they were cruelly murthered, and massacred.".

The relationship between the English settlers and Powhatans stays sour at this point and devolves into violence. An account from 1614 claims, "Being thus justly provoked, we presently manned our boats, went ashoare, and burned in that verie place some forty houses, and of the things we found therein, made freeboote and pillage." Peace is only able to be brokered after the English are able to hold the chief's daughter, Matoaka or Pocahontas, hostage:

"two of Powhatans sonnes being very desirous to see their sister who was there present ashore with us, came unto us, at the sight of whom, and her well fare, whom they suspected to be worse intreated, though they had often heard the contrary, they much rejoyced, and promised that they would undoubtedly perswade their father to redeem her, and to conclude a firme peace forever with us"

Pocahontas marries John Rolfe, in what feels like a feudal marriage, a marriage to help create a peace between kingdoms. The first interracial marriage in Virginia brings about a short period of peace between Powhatan and the English. Rolfe is able realize the potential of planting tobacco in Virginia, and England begins to see a return on investment. Pocahontas dies in 1617, and the future events are somewhat predictable. The English and Powhatan return to fighting, but the fate of the colony is already decided, a letter from 1619 notes, "All our riches for the present doe consiste in Tobacco". The letter foreshadows other events of 1619, John Rolfe's notes from the same year highlight the coming of colony's first slaves, a "free" labor source to help make cropping in the colonies profitable.

Jamestown might be a lesson in what could have been. Perhaps there was a window of opportunity for Europeans peoples and Americans peoples to chart a path together. Or perhaps Jamestown is simply a foreshadowing of future events with English settlers arriving on the coast, working their way inland, taking whatever land they can, and then using slave labor to work stolen land.

The First Colony of Virginia Starts in North Carolina

Queen Elizabeth I reigns during a time of unrest in England after her father, Henry VIII, broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in order to secure a divorce; her brother Edward doesn't last long on the thrown; her sister, Mary becomes queen and tries to reverse the course of the English reformation and attempts by force to bring the country back to the Catholic Church. After Mary's death, Elizabeth is now queen of England and Ireland and her church...

Elizabeth's reign is an interesting time for both English history and world history, and whole sets of college coursework can be found on Elizabethan England, the Tudor-Stuart House, and early modern Britain & Ireland. There's exactly 0 chance of me unpacking all of that here. What's most important  to be aware of is that:

• On the continent of Europe the Protestant Reformation is playing out. England's in a tricky spot because Ireland, France, and Spain are Catholic. The English crown is currently Anglican, which while not Catholic, it isn't really seen as truly protestant either as opposed to Lutherans or Calvinists. (Reformation as being played out by German and Dutch reformers and Scottish Presbyterianism)
• The global picture has Spain as the dominant naval force. At about the same time as Elizabeth was born, Pizarro massacres the Incans and executes their emperor. Spain is extracting goods for trade (tobacco) and gold out of the New World. Stolen New World gold is filling Spanish coffers. The Spanish Empire is very much on the rise and Spain's Armada (navy) is the means. European kingdoms become quickly aware of the need to explore and colonize in order to keep pace.
• Domestically, Elizabeth has her hands full. She isn't married, she's the "Virgin Queen". Rulers from outside England and the English nobility are all interested suitors. She also has religious affairs to attend to and anyone not participating in the Anglican church like Catholics is a potential threat to her rule.

Enter Sir Walter Raleigh, whose name will one day be given to the capital of North Carolina. As noted above, Queen Elizabeth has plenty to keep her eye on during her reign, including Irish Catholics (subjects to the English crown, despite not being English or Anglican, or having much say in the matter) connect with Spanish and Italian Catholics in common cause. The rebellion takes places on Irish soil where English gentry had been given rights to Irish lands and turned these into plantations (If this sounds a bit like American history, that's because it is.) This particular uprising in 1580 takes place in Munster, where Spanish and Italian forces had joined Irish Catholics in revolt. Walter Raleigh was an officer in the English response and appears to have participated in the Massacre at the Siege of Smerwick. Raleigh ends up being one of Queen Elizabth's closest allies and suitors and is granted the rights to colonize part of the Americas.


The language used in granting these rights is worth noting specifically: "discover, search, finde out, and view such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countreis, and territories, not actually possessed of any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people, as to him, his heires and assignes, and to every or any of them shall seeme good, and the same to have, holde, occupy".


In short, Raleigh has the go ahead to go adventuring. Any land he finds that is populated by non-Christian (probably means non-Anglican based on the religious events of the day) is his to keep because those currently in possession are just barbarians anyway. Queen Elizabeth is well aware that the Spanish encountered nations across the ocean. She certainly expects that Raleigh will as well, and she's given him the go ahead to dispossess these nations of their land.

The plan for the English colonization of the Americas is something being tested out in Ireland, and which Walter Raleigh already some experience of from his time Ireland during the Munster rebellion.

Walter Raleigh funds and assembles the expedition to establish a colony in the Americas, ultimately be called Virginia, named after her majesty the Virgin Queen. The first attempt at colonization is led by John White who lands at Roanoke Island (in modern day North Carolina).

The initial encounter between the English and local Algonquins is described like this:

"Inhabitants therof as soone as they saw us began to make a great and horrible crye, as people which never befoer had seene men apparelled like us, and camme a way makinge out crys like wild beasts or men out of their wyts. But beeng gentlye called backe, wee offred them of our wares, as glasses, knives, babies, and other trifles, which wee thougt they deligted in. Soe they stood still, and percevinge our Good will and courtesie came fawninge uppon us, and bade us welcome. Then they brougt us to their village in the iland called, Roanoac, and unto their Weroans or Prince, which entertained us with Reasonable curtesie, althoug they wear amased at the first sight of us."

This interaction sounds roughly similar to Columbus' first interaction with the Taino. Europeans arrive on ships. The people already living there come out to greet them (arguably in a more aggressive fashion this time), and they are start with an amicable meeting, sharing goods and greeting the local village and leaders. The attire of the local people is one of the first things noted including descriptions of hair, robes, and jewelry made of pearls and copper.

The village where the English arrive is described thusly:

"Their townes that are not inclosed with poles are commonlye fayrer then suche as are inclosed, as appereth in this figure which livelye expresseth the towne of Secotam. For the howses are Scattered heer and ther, and they have gardein expressed by the letter E. wherin groweth Tobacco which the inhabitants call Uppowoc. They have also groaves wherin thei take deer, and fields wherin they sowe their corne"

The local people are planting and harvesting corn which as noted in an earlier post was a staple food crop in the Americas. What's also noteworthy here is the description of growing tobacco in a garden. Tobacco had become known to the Europeans as the Spanish began to bring it back. This is a new world plant which we are familiar with today, and like today it was used for smoking. The English at this point don't know it but the writing is already on the wall for Virginia.

Unlike the Spanish who encountered civilizations that had amassed some gold which the Spanish stole to fill their coffers, and then used to pay for their Armada; there is no gold, just the copper and pearl jewelry. The future success of the colony won't be in repossessing Native American gold, the English are eventually going to need to learn to grow Native American crops for a profit.

A colony is setup on the island in 1585, and the colony fails to thrive. The situation is described like this:

"They answered him that they lived all; but hitherto in some scarsity: and as yet could heare of no supply out of England: therefore they requested him that hee would leave with them some two or three ships, that if in some reasonable time they heard not out of England, they might then returne themselves.".

Their supplies and food are low, and they ask Francis Drake to leave ships (when he stops by apparently in the midst of other voyages) so they can return to England if they want.

Colonization is hard. Some small number of people need to find or grow food successfully, build their own housing, and craft whatever tools or parts they need without the usual resources. They also know that any help from England is a long time away. Colonization is even harder if you thought that you were going to land and immediately find gold which could be funneled back to Walter Raleigh and the Queen of England, but you fail to find any.

The first colony is abandoned by the English who return with Drake bringing corn, tobacco, and potatoes back to England.

A more famous second attempt is made which plays out more like an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. The Lost Colony continues to be the one taught in US History classes as it's the one that captures our imaginations.

However the story of the first colony teaches a number of valuable lessons: First, we can see clearly that the English intention is clearly to repossess whatever land they can from whatever people are already living there. Second, we can also see that this isn't a first attempt at this kind of colonization, it's something these same figures were trying in Ireland. Third, we can see the foreshadowing that colonization of North America is going to take longer to fetch a real return on investment; it will have to grow up around trade and farming rather than looting temples and cities of their gold.


But at the end of the day, the first of the 13 colonies is effectively established.

Skipping Cortez and Pizarro and Jumping Back to England

In 1492 CE, Italian navigator Christopher Columbus led a Spanish expedition to the Americas. Within three days of encountering the native Taino, he enslaved some and claimed their island home in the name of the Spanish crown. His voyages to the Americas popularized the European quest to find an easier route to India, the known route was sailing south around Africa....

The Spanish sent subsequent expeditions to find gold, spices, slaves, and any other valuables that could be claimed for the crown. Two of the best known voyages and conquests are Cortez's war against the Aztecs and Pizarro's massacre of Incas and execution of their emperor. It can be argued that teaching about Cortez's destruction of the Aztec Empire adds value to understanding US History: the spread of old world diseases as an epidemic, the enslavement of the native peoples is the foundation of New Spain, and Spanish Colonial territory which spread as far North as the American Southwest. And some point, we'll revisit some of this. I submit however that teaching about the destruction of the Aztec and (especially) Incan (in Peru) civilizations as part of US History is way to avoid talking about atrocities committed against native people in the United States. Textbook makers can point to these as examples of what Europeans did when they reached the Americas without it being the forefathers of the 13 American Colonies on the Atlantic coast. It's an effective way to talk about a real and uncomfortable issue without really talking about it.

So as we are not going to dwell on Spanish colonies in Mexico and South America, then we can skip ahead to the establishment of colonies on North America's Atlantic Coast.

In order to understand the colonization of the Atlantic coast, revisiting England is useful as these are mostly English colonies. As noted in an earlier post, the Roman Catholic Church has been the glue that held European society uneasily together. In 1517, just 25 years after Columbus sailed to the Americas, the protestant reformation begins. The reformation shakes the foundation of European society. Ten years after Martin Luther writes his 95 theses, King Henry VIII requests the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

In 1529, Parliament (we'll come back to Parliament) is called to consider religious reformation, and Thomas Cromwell, a reformer, enters stage right prepared as a lawyer to argue in favor splitting with the Roman Catholic Church. In 1532, the House of Commons (part of Parliament) passes Cromwell's petition, Supplication against the Ordinaries In short, this is a list of grievances targeted at the church's ability to enforce religious laws like charging / punishing people for heresy and raised concerns about clergy who held both the powers to enforce church law while also potentially holding positions within the English state. A longer story made short, the eventual outcome is that King Henry VIII becomes the head of the church in England in place of the Pope and the Anglican Church is born, starting the English Reformation.

This next part might be easiest to tell via a Timeline, but the key information to hold on to is that the state and church are the same. (ie the king or queen is now the head of the state (government) of England while also the head of the church of England, this means anyone who is not part of the state's religion can be perceived as threat to the state.)

• Edward VI - coronated 1547 - Anglican
• Mary I - coronated 1553 - Catholic
• Elizabeth I - coronated 1559 - Anglican
• James I - coronated 1603 - Anglican
• Charles I - coronated 1633 - Anglican
• English Civil War - 1642
• Charles I - executed - 1649
• Commonwealth of England - established as a Republic - 1649 (could be described a military dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell)

Each of these rulers passed laws about how church services should be held, defined religious rites, enforced particular prayer books, and either persecuted, imprisoned, executed or waged war against people who would not be compelled to follow. English Catholics and the Irish were regular targets but so were Puritans, Scottish Presbyterians, etc. Coalitions formed periodically to persecute one group or other, but this was period of significant civil and religious unrest in the British Isles.

This time period also overlaps with the foundation of colonies on the Atlantic coast. Maryland as an example is founded as refuge for English Catholics. While a Puritan settlement is founded in Massachusetts. It's important to keep in mind (and it is evident from the unrest), that there isn't a unified view of Christianity, instead each group is pretty confident that they are on the righteous path and the others are wrong in fact,  so wrong that people take up arms against one another, including the 30 Years War fought in modern day Germany.


There are two other things to establish as part of the backdrop for the English colonization of the Americas. One is Parliament, the other is the Magna Carta. Parliament was as a close to a legislature as existed for it's time. It was composed of two houses: The House of Lords (essentially English Lords or clergy), and the House of Commons (knights or city representatives). Parliament was a council for the monarchy and sort of a check and balance. The Magna Carta, written in 1215 was a list of rights (in particular rights of barons) but these included protection against illegal imprisonment, taxation reforms, and protections for the church. This document gets additional attentions after the turmoil of the English 17th Century and by Enlightenment thinkers.


The English establish Roanoke Colony in 1585, and subsequent colonies during this time of unrest. This unrest and English institutions like Parliament, the Magna Carta, and the Commonwealth of England will influence the formation of the United States a century later. This all serves as the backstory for future posts.

Maritime Traditions and Why We Remember Columbus

As a child in grade school, I was taught "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" to prove the world was round, and he discovered America, to continue to recite this myth is to discount other maritime traditions and to discredit the intelligence of educated Europeans of the time...

While Gavin Menzie's book 1421 has been widely discredited, it did shed some light on forgotten maritime history. Western Europeans weren't the only ones with ocean-worthy vessels. So I'll start tonight recognizing other oceanic voyages which certainly merit our respect and can help contextualize European voyages.


One of the greatest maritime cultures can be found in the Pacific. The islands of the Pacific were populated by Polynesian voyagers. These explorers settled Hawaii before the Norse made their way to Canada. Making the Polynesians the first people in United States after the Native Americans. The Polynesians sailed vast expanses of the Pacific on outrigger canoes, and ongoing research appears to suggest that the Polynesians may have had contact with the Native American peoples of South America, bringing the Sweet Potato back to the islands one thousand years ago.

There is also solid evidence that the Norse established a colony in Canada 400 years before Columbus set sail. The Norse ventured all over the world, raiding most of Europe, while colonizing Iceland and Greenland. Their ships had a shallow draft and were able to sail both the ocean and the rivers. It does not appear that the Norse made their way to the current United States and ultimately their colony in Canada appears to have been abandoned.


Meanwhile in the 15th Century, the Chinese constructed ocean-going ships like the world had not seen. Admiral Zheng He commanded the mighty treasure fleet of Chinese junks which sailed around Indonesia, India and Eastern Africa. While widely discredited, Menzie's book 1421 suggests the Chinese sailed around the world. Evidence does not support this claim, but their vessels and endeavors are certainly impressive and worthy of further study. The Chinese junks were cruising around the Indian Ocean while Arab dhows were also used to visit Africa and India. My point being that by the time of Columbus' voyages, humanity was traversing the oceans in a variety of different kinds of vessels.

The other maritime tradition I will visit is that of the European fisherman. There is archaeological evidence of Basque fisherman visiting Canada just after Columbus' voyages, and some quick internet searches will reveal that there's at least some discussion that some of these fishermen may have sailed before Columbus. Again, my point being that Columbus is part of a bigger maritime happening, and circling back to the idea that humans are by their nature curious and looking for the next horizon.


So at this point, it can be safely stated that the Norse reached the Americas before Columbus and likely that the Polynesians did as well (and if they didn't, they certainly reached Hawaii which is part of the United States before Columbus). And it can be asserted the Columbus' voyage is part of bigger movement of peoples taking to the ocean.


Columbus, an Italian navigator, is part of a European movement to sail the seas. Prince Henry the Navigator established a school for navigators and cartographers in the early 15th Century, and Europeans begin setting sail along the African Coast. In 1487, Bartolomeu Dias sets sail, eventually rounding Africa and reaching India. He returned to Portugal in 1488.


To be clear, Dias' patrons didn't worry about him sailing off the edge of the world. Educated Europeans were aware the world was round. The model of the universe supported by the Roman Catholic Church and ancient Greek studies held that the Earth and planets were perfect spheres with the Earth at the center of the universe. The model is at play in Dante's Paradiso, the final part of the Divine Comedy written in the 1300's. This model of the universe would later be challenged by Copernicus and Galileo. Using Ptolemy's model of the Earth, the big question of the day was not 'if the world was round' but rather 'how far around'. Dias' voyage demonstrated that India could be reached from Western Europe, but was there a shorter route? That was purpose of Columbus' voyage.


Believing the world was smaller around than it is, Columbus set sail westward to find a faster route to India. But why were Europeans so keen on getting to India?

Western Europeans had established the Crusader States as colonies during the Middle Ages and enjoyed lucrative and beneficial trade for goods like spices and silks across the Mediterranean. The Crusader States were eventually reclaimed by the people of the Middle East, and eventually the Ottoman Turks conquer the Middle East and the remnants of the Eastern Roman Empire, taking Constantinople in 1453 CE. Without their colonies in the Middle East, Europeans use the Mongol controlled Silk Road to reach Asia and continue trade, but overland trade is slow, difficult, and risky. By the 15th Century, the Mongol Khanates which kept the silk road going were gone, and this pathway falls into disuse. There is economic competition amongst European nations to establish trading relationships, and oceanic travel could both provide advantage and be the great equalizer.


Columbus sets sail in 1492, less than 20 years after the start of the Spanish Inquisition. His bravery should not be questioned, this first voyage was an incredible risk. Columbus reaches the Americas thinking he is near India. On October 11th, Columbus makes land and meets the Taino, people already living in the Caribbean. He writes, "It appears to me, that the people are ingenious, and would be good servants and I am of opinion that they would very readily become Christians." By day two, Columbus is looking to make a deal, saying I "strove to learn if they had any gold. Seeing some of them with little bits of this metal hanging at their noses." By the 14th of October, he has taken 7 people as slaves to be brought back to the Queen of Spain and claims he could conquer the whole island with 50 men. Columbus and his crew bring with them: religion, disease, firearms, and a belief that their European culture is superior to the Taino. The Spanish claim these populated islands in the name of Spain. Columbus completes 4 voyages to the Americas and never steps foot in the United States.


Columbus' ultimate legacy isn't that he proved the world was round. He didn't find India either. His voyages did popularize European exploration, looking for a western (later Northwest) passage to Asia. After his voyages, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, and English sailors explore the Americas, map it, and colonize it. The Spanish return the Americas claiming territory from South America to the American Southwest and Florida. They bring Catholicism, which spreads via Missions; they bring horses and firearms, and they bring diseases unknown to the Americas which spread as epidemics amongst the enslaved Taino. In a matter of 50 years, the Taino civilization is largely wiped out, and Europeans diseases start to spread to other native peoples who had contact with the Taino. Ultimately Columbus is the first in a series of Europeans who enslave and kill native peoples in the name of their home country, monarch, and/or church. It's the root of the later idea of Manifest Destiny.


So if he didn't prove the world was round, and he didn't step foot in the United States, and he wasn't the first European to reach the New World, why do we celebrate Columbus Day? Oddly enough the answer has it's roots in white supremacy, but maybe not in the way you would think. In the late 19th Century, Italian immigrants were not welcomed by white American society; they were the migrant of the day to hate. In New Orleans, in 1891, 11 Italian-Americans were lynched. Columbus, while he sailed for Spain was Italian, and the following year (1892), President Harrison declared Columbus Day as a holiday to honor the victims.