{"id":67,"date":"2015-08-02T14:06:50","date_gmt":"2015-08-02T14:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/?page_id=67"},"modified":"2021-08-01T15:56:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-01T15:56:31","slug":"british-north-america","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/british-north-america\/","title":{"rendered":"British North America Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Drawing

“Stowage of the British slave ship Brookes under the regulated slave trade act of 1788,” 1789, via Wikimedia<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n\n \n\n \n

Introduction<\/h1>\nThe seventeenth century saw the creation and maturation of Britain\u2019s North American colonies. Colonists faced a century of struggle against unforgiving climates, imperial intrigue, and Native Americans defending their lands. They did so largely through ruthless expressions of power. Colonists attacked Native Americans, provoked European rivals, and joined a highly lucrative transatlantic economy rooted in slavery. After surviving a century of desperation and war, British North American colonists fashioned increasingly complex societies with unique religious cultures, economic ties, and political traditions. These sources reveal the often brutal conditions of life in colonial America.\n

Documents<\/h1>\n

1. Olaudah Equiano describes the Middle Passage, 1789<\/a><\/h2>\n

In this harrowing description of the Middle Passage, Olaudah Equiano described the terror of the transatlantic slave trade. Equiano eventually purchased his freedom and lived in London where he advocated for abolition. <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n

2. Recruiting settlers to Carolina, <\/em>1666<\/a><\/h2>\n

Robert Horne\u2019s wanted to entice English settlers to join the new colony of Carolina. According to Horne, natural bounty, economic opportunity, and religious liberty awaited anyone willing to make the journey. Horne wanted to recruit settlers of every social class, from those \u201cof Genteel blood\u201d to those who would have to sign a contract of indentured servitude. <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n

3. Letter from Carolina, 1682<\/a><\/h2>\n

Thomas Newe\u2019s account of his experience in Carolina offers an interesting counter to Robert Horne\u2019s prediction of what would await settlers. Newe describes deadly disease, war with Native Americans, and unprepared colonists. Newe longs for news from home but also appears committed to making a new life for himself in Carolina. <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n

4. Francis Daniel Pastorius describes his ocean voyage, 1684<\/a><\/h2>\n

The journey across the Atlantic was difficult at best and deadly at worst. Francis Pastorius left his home in Germany to create a new life in Pennsylvania. This account shows the discomforts and dangers of oceanic travel in the seventeenth century. <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n

5. Song about life in Virginia<\/a><\/h2>\n

Some English men and women understood the New World to be a place of opportunity, where they could create new lives. More common, however, was the belief that the New World was a place of great danger and suffering. This song was written from the perspective of a young girl who was sent to Virginia against her will, where she faced a life of hunger and never-ending work.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n

6. Haudenosaunee thanksgiving address<\/a><\/h2>\n

This Thanksgiving address was used by the six nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) to open and close major gatherings or meetings. The prayer was also sometimes used individually at the beginning or end of the day.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n

7. Rose Davis is sentenced to a life of slavery, 1715<\/a><\/h2>\n

Rose Davis was born to an indentured servant white woman and a Black man. Slave law claimed that children inherited the status of their mother, a law which enabled enslavers to control the reproductive functions of their enslaved women laborers. However, as race increasingly became a marker of slavery, even the children of free white women could be vulnerable to enslavement. Rose had been working as an indentured servant when she petitioned the court for her freedom. Instead, she was sentenced to a lifetime of slavery.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n

Media<\/h1>\n

Print of the slave ship Brookes, 1789<\/a><\/h2>\n
\"Drawing<\/a>

“Stowage of the British slave ship Brookes under the regulated slave trade act of 1788,” 1789, via Wikimedia<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n\n

\n

Slave ships transported 11-12 million Africans to destinations in North and South America, but it was not until the end of the eighteenth century that any kind of regulation was introduced. The Brookes<\/em> print dates to after the Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788, but still shows enslaved Africans chained in rows using bilboes, which were iron leg shackles used to chain pairs of enslaved people together during the Middle Passage throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The slave ship Brookes<\/em> was allowed to carry up to 454 enslaved people, allotting 6 feet (1.8 m) by 1 foot 4 inches (0.41 m) to each man; 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) by 1 foot 4 inches (0.41 m) to each women, and 5 feet (1.5 m) by 1 foot 2 inches (0.36 m) to each child, but one slave trader alleged that before 1788, the ship carried as many as 609 enslaved Africans.<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Map of British North America, 1733<\/a><\/h2>\n
\"A<\/a>

Henry Popple, \u201cA map of the British Empire in America with the French and Spanish settlements adjacent thereto,\u201d 1733 via Library of Congress<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n\n \n

British colonists in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries occupied a constantly contested frontier. The British Empire competed with French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and even Scottish explorers to claim land in North America and the Caribbean \u2013 much of it already settled by Native Americans. This diverse territory would continue to be contested throughout the eighteenth century. Eventually, the British Empire included twenty-six colonies in North America, producing everything from grain and timber to luxury goods like tobacco and sugar.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Introduction The seventeenth century saw the creation and maturation of Britain\u2019s North American colonies. Colonists faced a century of struggle against unforgiving climates, imperial intrigue, and Native Americans defending their lands. They did so largely through ruthless expressions of power. Colonists attacked Native Americans, provoked European rivals, and joined a highly lucrative transatlantic economy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-67","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/67\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2158,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/67\/revisions\/2158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}