Marchand Archive

← Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 486 487 Next →

House Loft, Jamestown, VA

Image ID: 7011

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Jamestown Memory, 17th Century Interiors, Agriculture, Architecture, British Empire, Colonial America, Early Virginia, Environmental History, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Plantation Interior, Pullman and Model Towns, Southern Society

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.10 - The historical developments of the Scientific Revolution and its lasting effect on religious, political, and cultural institutions, 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason)

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Interior view of loft, Jamestown. For 15,000 years, shelters in Virginia were constructed from local organic materials. For 15,000 years, shelters in Virginia were constructed from local organic materials. Native Americans built the frames of their houses from saplings for structural support, then covered them with wetlands tree bark or reeds to form the exteriors. Though they manufactured pottery from clay, they did not make bricks. The early English colonists built structures from readily-available wood and reeds, and added clay to the mix. The palisade of the Jamestown fort was constructed from tree trunks. Structures like this reconstructed house, inside the fort at Jamestown Settlement, were made from woven strips of wood covered with clay, known as "wattle and daub." The English used local reeds to create thatched roofs for those structures, and the first church at Jamestown was built with wood, clay, and reed-thatched roof. The English who settled in Virginia in the early 1600s knew how to build only a brick or timbered house such as they had known in England. It was a major undertaking to hew and split timbers and clapboards by hand, and only the more industrious and prosperous - and healthy - could accomplish it. Enslaved Africans and white indentured servants built most such houses. Wealthy English immigrants generally received land grants from the Crown and held onto the best lands through judicious marriage, a tight hold on political power, and economic dominance founded on the ownership of large numbers of slaves. In 1686, a Frenchman observed the newly-settled region of Stafford County: "Some people in this country are comfortably housed. The farmers' houses are built entirely of wood, the roofs being made of small boards of chestnut, as are the walls. Those who have some means, cover them inside with a coating of mortar in which they use oyster-shells for lime; it is as white as snow, so that although they look ugly from the outside, where only the wood can be seen, they are very pleasant inside, with convenient windows and openings. They have started making bricks in quantities, & I have seen several houses where the walls were made entirely of them. Whatever their rank, & I know not why, they build only two rooms with some closets on the ground floor, & two rooms in the attic above; but they build several like this, according to their means. They build also a separate kitchen, a separate house for the Christian slaves, one for the negro slaves, & several to dry the tobacco, so that when you come to the home of a person of some means, you think you are entering a fairly large village." Unlike New England villages, those of the Chesapeake Bay region were few and far between. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of colonial dwellings in the South was their isolation along rivers and creeks among forest and cleared fields. This rural development was unlike the communal village setting typical of England or even New England. Roads except near the established towns of the Tidewater were almost nonexistent, so transportation was via rivers and the bay. The wealthy gentry took over large tracts of land on major waterways so they could easily transport their tobacco and corn to England and have personal access to the water routes. They built their mansions facing the river, overlooking their docks. Surrounding the main house were out-buildings: kitchen, storehouse, smoke house, barn, stable, tobacco sheds and slaves’ quarters. Even 125 years after Jamestown was settled, Yorktown near the Chesapeake Bay consisted of fewer than 30 families of whom only ten had good houses. For many newcomers a hut was followed, as soon as could be, by a weatherproof but cheaply-built house not expected to last longer than it took its owners to accumulate enough capital to build yet another, more substantial dwelling. Over and over again homesteaders on each new frontier moved in the same three steps from primitive shelters to temporary, impermanent buildings, to the "faire houses." Wealthier settlers, who expected in a few years to build a fully framed house on a waterproof brick or stone foundation, often had their slaves build their first house so that it could later be used as the kitchen. A grim reality for pioneers who settled along the great waterways of Virginia and Maryland was the high incidence of tropical diseases like typhoid fever, yellow fever, and malaria - imported from Africa with the slave trade - which led to a much shorter life expectancy in the mid-Atlantic colonies than in New England. The life expectancy for a white man who reached his majority was only 45 years, compared with an average of 70 in New England and 60 in England. Parents' early mortality was devastating to children, two-thirds of whom lost at least one parent before they reached their 21st birthday; fully one-third lost both. Parents therefore had no certainty that the little wealth they were able to acquire would be passed on to their heirs. These realities and their limited financial resources made it reasonable to invest first in greater crop production rather than in a “faire framed” dwelling that could last 200 years. Furthermore, everywhere in the mid-Atlantic colonies, experienced carpenters and masons were in short supply and their wages were high - twice or three times those in England. Thus it was very expensive to build a fully framed and proper house - unaffordable really - even for most of the better-off, as archaeological excavations have demonstrated.

Plaque, Virginia House of Burgesses, Jamestown, VA

Image ID: 7014

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Seventeenth Century, Jamestown Memory, Bicentennial, British Empire, Class Separation, Colonial America, Developing Nations, Early Virginia, Immigrant Societies and Organization, National Events, Politics & Government, Pre-Revolution, Southern Society, Statuary, Taxes, Upper class ante bellum

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 5.5 - The causes of the American Revolution, 5.7 - People and events associated with the development of the U.S. Constitution and it's significance as the foundation of the American republic, 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy, 8.3 - The foundation of the American political system and the ways in which citizens participate in it

National Standard(s): Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620) , Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Plaque marking the Virginia House of Burgesses, the first popularly elected legislature in the New World. "First representative government body in North America, first assembled July, 1619." The monument salutes the first 22 members of the House. In 1619, 22 burgesses (citizens) and Governor George Yeardley joined in the first legislative assembly of the American colonies, which inspired the American Revolution and the creation of the United States. The English kings who ruled the 13 original colonies reserved the right to decide the fate of their colonies as well, but not absolutely. The colonists claimed their traditional English rights and insisted on raising their own representative assemblies. The House of Burgesses held its first meeting in the choir at Jamestown Church in 1619. Its first order of business was to set a minimum price for tobacco. English landowners had insisted on consulting with their leaders in local matters ever since the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, and Virginia settlers expected that same right. In April 1619, Gov. Yeardley arrived in Virginia from England and announced that the Virginia Company had voted to abolish martial law and create a legislative assembly modeled after the English Parliament. The first assembly of the House of Burgesses met on July 30, and present were the governor, Council, and 22 elected burgesses representing 11 plantations (or settlements). Only white men who owned a certain amount of property were eligible to vote for burgesses. Members of the House of Burgesses met at least once a year with their royal governor to decide local laws and taxation. King James I, a believer in the divine right of monarchs, attempted to dissolve the assembly but the Virginians would have none of it. Among the hundreds of members of Virginia's House of Burgesses are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. What is the importance of a small legislative body formed so long ago? The tradition established by the House of Burgesses was extremely important to colonial development as each new English colony demanded its own legislature in turn. Historians often ponder why the American Revolution was successful. The French, Russian, and Chinese Revolutions each ended with a rise to power of a leader more autocratic than the pre-revolutionary monarch. But starting with the Virginia House of Burgesses, Americans had 157 years to practice democracy. By the time of the Declaration of Independence, they were quite good at it. This plaque was set into the Jamestown Tercentennial Monument at the entrance of Historic Jamestown, VA. The monument was built in 1907 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown. It cost $50,000, stands 103 feet high, and is made of New Hampshire granite. Each side of the large obelisk, and one side of the base, are engraved with the following texts: "Virginia Company of London Chartered April 10, 1606 Founded Jamestown and Sustained Virginia 1607-1624. This Monument was Erected by the United States A.D. 1907 to Commemorate the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement Here." "Jamestown The First Permanent Colony of The English People The Birthplace of Virginia and of The United States May 13, 1607." “'Lastly and Chiefly the Way to Prosper and Achieve Good Success is To Make Yourselves All of One Mind for The Good of Your Country and Your Own, And To Serve and Fear God The Giver of All Goodness for Every Plantation Which Our Heavenly Father Hath Not Planted Shall Be Rooted Out.' Advice of London Council for Virginia To The Colony - 1606." "Representative Government Began in The First House of Burgesses Assembled Here July 30, 1619."

English Voyages to Roanoke, Modern Display

Image ID: 7019

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Seventeenth Century, Arrival, British Empire, Children, Colonial America, Discovery and Conquest, Early Virginia, Emigration and Passage, European Exploration, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Indian-White Relations Before Revolution, John White, Mythology, Roanoke Memory, Symbols

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation

National Standard(s): Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620) , Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Text of Roanoke display in museum: "Although the Roanoke voyages did not result in permanent English colonies, they did provide England with valuable information for future colonization. In 1607, just twenty years after the last voyages, England successfully planted a colony at Jamestown, Virginia. Plimoth Colony, in modern day Massachusetts, was founded by Pilgrims soon after in 1620. From these beginnings have grown America's English Heritage." In July 1587, over thirty years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, a group of 117 weary men, women and children waded ashore on Roanoke Island in the first known attempted settlement in No. America. Recruited by Sir Walter Raleigh, among these settlers was John White, his pregnant daughter, Eleanor Dare, her husband Ananias Dare, and the Native chief Manteo, who had become an English ally during a previous visit to Britain. They unloaded their belongings and repaired an old fort previously erected on the island. On August 18, 1587, Eleanor Dare gave birth to a daughter she named Virginia, the first English child we know of to be born on American soil. Ten days later, John White departed for England, promising to return with more supplies. It was the last time he would see his family. Three years later, John White returned to Roanoke Island on his granddaughter’s third birthday only to find the settlement deserted, plundered and surrounded by overgrown brush. On one of the palisades he found the single word "CROATOAN" carved into the surface, and the letters "CRO" carved into a nearby tree. White took the carving as a sign that the colonists had moved inland to Croatoan, the home of Chief Manteo’s people south of Roanoke in the Outer Banks. Before he could make further exploration, however, a great hurricane arose, damaging his ships and forcing him back to England. Despite repeated attempts, he was never again able to raise the resources to return. Raleigh gave up hope of settlement, and White died years later ignorant of the fate of his family and the colony. The 117 pioneers of Roanoke Island had vanished into the great wilderness and into folklore. Their collective fate has been subject to various theories for centuries.

Earliest European Colonies in North America, Display

Image ID: 7020

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Seventeenth Century, Jamestown Memory, 17th Century Exteriors, 17th Century New England, 17th Century Portraits, Arrival, British Empire, Colonial America, Discovery and Conquest, Early Images -- America, Early Virginia, Ensemble, European Exploration, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Maps, National Politics, Plantation Exterior

Region(s): Canada, Caribbean, Mexico, North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.8 - The origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance, 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620) , Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Museum display of early North American map showing the French, English and Spanish colonies, the "Virginia Company Chart" of 1607; the building of an English colonial church; and the signing of the 1620 Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of Plymouth Colony, written by the male passengers of the Mayflower, who were separatist Puritans, adventurers, and tradesmen. Three ships brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607. The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery sailed from London on Dec 20, 1606 carrying 105 passengers and 39 crew members on the four-month transatlantic voyage. The expedition was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, a business venture organized by investors to form a colony in Virginia. The fleet reached the Virginia coast in April, and after two weeks of inland waterway exploration, arrived at the selected settlement site on May 13, 1607. The Susan Constant and Godspeed returned to England in June, while the Discovery remained in Virginia to explore Chesapeake Bay and the coast. England in the 1600s was a good place to leave. People were being forced off their lands and into poverty by enclosure, a legal process of consolidating (enclosing) small landholdings and public lands into larger farms. Once enclosed, the public could no longer use the land, which had been common land for everyone's use; it became restricted to the owner. Enclosure was sometimes accompanied by force, resistance, and bloodshed. Marxist historians argue that rich landowners used their control of the government to take public land for their private benefit. The process of enclosure eventually created a landless working class, as the number of people living in England increased. So there was not enough land in the countryside to be farmed and not enough jobs in the cities to accommodate the farmers who flocked there. With few jobs and little land to farm, the English poor could not survive. The lure of land of their own was very enticing. Thus, most of the people who settled at Jamestown were indentured servants - craftsmen and laborers who paid for their ship passage by promising to work for seven or more years without pay, but after those years keep the land - if they had also paid a large fee. The northwestern part of the Virginia Company map of the New World, c. 1607, shows New France (Nova Francia), Virginia, Florida and the Caribbean Islands. The entire map includes Western Europe, West Africa and South America. This map was likely commissioned for the Virginia Company, and it is therefore known as the "Virginia Company Chart." This is a fair assumption but no documentation exists to support it; the Virginia Company's records of 1605-16 are presumed to have been destroyed in the 1666 great fire of London. England was a relatively poor nation in the late 1500s, with a ruler willing to send privateers (government-sponsored pirates) against other colonial powers, but she was unwilling to risk public funds on a standing English colony. Queen Elizabeth I gave her blessing to Sir Walter Raleigh’s personal funding of the Roanoke colony, but it failed. The answer seemed to be a joint-stock venture, an early version of today’s corporations. Wealthy London gentlemen bought shares in the Virginia Company, giving it the capital monies to start and supply a colony, and they hoped the colony would return them a profit. King James I granted the Virginia Company a royal charter for the colonial pursuit in 1606. The company had the power to appoint a council of leaders in the colony, a governor, and other officials. It also took on the continual responsibility to provide settlers, supplies, and ships for the venture. The company’s plan was simply to identify profitable raw materials such as gold and silver in Virginia to repay the investors in England. Profit was the sole motive for the colony. The initial public reaction to the company was favorable, but as the mortality rate at Jamestown rose and the prospects for profit grew dim, financial support for it waned. The leaders resorted to lotteries and even tried silkworm production at Jamestown. As the industries failed, the company promoters argued that converting the Virginia Indians to Christianity was a worthy goal for the venture. Tobacco cultivation finally provided a profitable return, but it came too late to save the Virginia Company. Following company mismanagement and the Indian Massacre of 1622 that killed hundreds of settlers, the English king revoked the company’s charter in 1624 and made Virginia a royal colony under his control. In their first winter, more than half of the colonists perished from famine and illness. Company instructions in late 1606 stressed “above all things” the need to hide the numbers of English sick and dead to prevent the Native Virginians from seizing upon the colony’s weakness. Archaeologists have uncovered a large English burial ground inside the crowded confines of the fort walls. Manuscript map, drawn in gold and colors on vellum, detail.

Memorial to First Jamestown Dead at Colony's First Burial Ground, VA

Image ID: 7025

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Seventeenth Century, Jamestown Memory, 17th Century Gravestones, Arrival, British Empire, Class Separation, Colonial America, Discovery and Conquest, Early Virginia, Emigration and Passage, Founding Myths, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Indian-White Relations Before Revolution, Mythology, National Events, Statuary

Region(s): Europe, North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.8 - The origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance, 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620) , Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), Intensified Hemispheric Interactions 1000-1500 CE

Card Text: Memorial to first Jamestown dead at the site of the colony's first burial ground. The memorial on the pedestal of the Burial Ground cross reads, "To The Glory of God and in Grateful Memory of Those Early Settlers, The Founders of This Nation who Died at Jamestown During The First Perilous Years of the Colony. Their Bodies Lie Along the Ridge Beyond This Cross, in The Earliest Known Burial Ground of the English in America." "These are They Which Came Out of Great Tribulation [and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb]." Revelation 7:14. Erected by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, 1957. As they set sail from London to the distant shores of America in December 1606, the men and boys aboard the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery surely expected the best from their adventure. They would establish a British settlement and find gold and silver, a passage to the Orient, and perhaps the lost colony of Roanoke. The explorers, funded by a group of London entrepreneurs called the Virginia Company, could not have anticipated the fate that actually awaited most of them: drought, hunger, illness, and death. Their journey started off as badly as it ended. The three ships were stranded for weeks off the British coast and food supplies dwindled. Over the course of the voyage, dozens died. But 104 colonists — many gentlemen of privilege, but also artisans, craftsmen, and laborers — survived to reach the shores of Virginia. On May 13, 1607, they decided to make landfall on the swampy ground of what was then a peninsula (and now an island) along the James River, some 60 miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Within a month the settlers had constructed a triangle-shaped wooden fort for protection against the Native peoples and the Spanish, who did not want the British to establish any kind of foothold in the New World. The settlers of the new colony — named Jamestown for their king — were soon besieged by rampant disease, internal political strife, and retaliatory attacks from Native Algonquians. In their first winter, more than half of the colonists perished from famine and illness. Eventually, more colonists and new supplies were brought from Britain and the settlement found some stability under the leadership of Captain John Smith. With the help of Pocahontas, daughter of the Algonquian chief Powhatan, Smith managed to broker an uneasy peace with the Native peoples before leaving the colony and returning to England in Sept 1609. The following winter, disaster once again struck Jamestown. Only 60 of 500 colonists survived the period, now known as “the starving time.” Historians have never determined exactly why so many perished, although disease, famine (spurred by the worst drought in 800 years), poor leadership, and retaliatory Indian attacks took their toll. The colonists had never planned to grow all of their own food. They depended on England to supply them, refused to eat local foods, and were busy searching for gold rather than farming, which was unknown to the poor Englishmen and beneath the gentlemen anyway. On June 7, 1610, Jamestown’s residents abandoned the hapless town, but the next day their ships were met by a convoy from England led by the new governor of Virginia, Thomas West, Lord De La Ware, who ordered the settlers back to the colony.

Ship at Anchor on Chesapeake Bay, Jamestown, VA

Image ID: 7031

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Jamestown Memory, 17th Century Exteriors, Arrival, Colonial America, Columbian Exchange, Discovery and Conquest, Early Virginia, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Immigrant Societies and Organization, National Events, Southern Society

Region(s): Caribbean, North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 5.2 - Routes of early explorers and early explorations of the Americas, 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.10 - The historical developments of the Scientific Revolution and its lasting effect on religious, political, and cultural institutions, 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770, Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620)

Monument to Virginia Company, Chartered 1606, Jamestown

Image ID: 7032

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Seventeenth Century, Jamestown Memory, Agriculture, Arrival, British Empire, Business, Class Structure, Colonial America, Columbian Exchange, Discovery and Conquest, Early Virginia, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Founding Myths, Immigrant Societies and Organization, National Events, Politics & Government, Southern Society, Statuary, Work and Workers

Region(s): Europe, North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.8 - The origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy, 8.10 - The multiple causes, key events, and complex consequences of the Civil War

National Standard(s): Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620) , Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Monument engraving, "Virginia Company of London Chartered April 10, 1606 Founded Jamestown and Sustained Virginia 1607-1624." This plaque was set into the Jamestown Tercentennial Monument at the entrance of Jamestown in Historic Jamestown, VA. The monument is the largest of several scattered around Historic Jamestown. It was built in 1907 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the English landing there. It cost $50,000, stands 103 feet high, and is made of New Hampshire granite. Each side of the large obelisk and one of the base are engraved with several texts, including this one. By the 1620s, Virginia had weathered the worst and gained a degree of permanence. Political stability came slowly, but by 1619 the fledgling colony was operating under the leadership of a governor, a council and a House of Burgesses (citizens, officials). Economic stability came from the lucrative cultivation of tobacco. Smoking tobacco had been a long-standing practice among Native peoples, and English and other European consumers soon adopted it. In 1614, the Virginia colony began exporting tobacco to England, which earned it a sizable profit and saved the colony from ruin. A second tobacco colony, Maryland, was formed in 1634, when King Charles I granted its charter to the Calvert family for their loyal service to England. Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, conceived of Maryland as a refuge for English Catholics. Growing tobacco proved very labor-intensive, and the Chesapeake colonists wanted a steady workforce to do the hard work of clearing the land and caring for the tender young plants. The mature leaf of the plant then had to be harvested and cured (dried), which necessitated the construction of drying barns. Once cured, the tobacco had to be packed in hogsheads (large wooden barrels) and loaded aboard ship, which also required considerable labor. To meet these labor demands, early Virginians first relied relied on indentured servants and later on African slaves. An indenture was a labor contract signed in England by young, impoverished, and often illiterate Englishmen and some Englishwomen, pledging to work for a number of years (usually between five and seven) growing tobacco in the Chesapeake colonies. In return, the indentured servants received paid passage to America and food, clothing, and lodging. At the end of their indenture servants received “freedom dues,” usually food and other provisions, and in some cases, land provided by the colony. The promise of a new life in America was a strong attraction for members of England’s underclass, who had few if any options at home. In the 1600s, some 100,000 indentured servants traveled to the Chesapeake Bay. Most were poor young men in their early twenties. Life in the colonies proved harsh, however. Indentured servants could not marry and they were subject to the will of the tobacco planters who bought their labor contracts. If they committed a crime or disobeyed their masters, they found their terms of service lengthened, often by several years. Female indentured servants faced special dangers in what was essentially a bachelor colony. Many were exploited by unscrupulous tobacco planters who seduced them with promises of marriage. These planters would then sell their pregnant servants to other tobacco planters to avoid the costs of raising a child. Nonetheless, those indentured servants who completed their term of service often began new lives as tobacco planters themselves. To entice even more migrants to the New World, the Virginia Company implemented the headright system, in which those who paid their own passage to Virginia received fifty acres (of Native land, of course) plus an additional fifty for each servant or family member they brought with them. The headright system and the promise of a new life for servants acted as powerful incentives for English migrants to hazard the journey to the New World. Slavery of Africans soon followed. The transition from indentured servitude to slavery as the main labor source for some English colonies happened first in the West Indies. On the small island of Barbados, colonized in the 1620s, English planters first grew tobacco as their main export crop but in the 1640s they converted to sugarcane and began increasingly to rely on African slaves. In 1655, England wrested control of Jamaica from the Spanish and quickly turned it into a lucrative sugar island, run on slave labor, for its expanding empire. While slavery was slower to take hold in the Chesapeake colonies, by the end of the 17th century, both Virginia and Maryland had also adopted chattel slavery—which legally defined Africans as property and not people—as the dominant form of tobacco labor. Chesapeake colonists also enslaved Native people. When the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, slavery—which did not exist in England—had not yet become an institution in colonial America. Many Africans worked as servants and like their white counterparts could acquire land of their own. Some Africans who converted to Christianity became free landowners with white servants. The change in the status of Africans in the Chesapeake to that of slaves occurred in the last decades of the 17th century. Bacon’s Rebellion was an uprising of both whites and blacks who believed that the Virginia government was impeding their access to land and wealth and seemed to do little to clear the land of Indians, and it hastened the transition to African slavery in the Chesapeake colonies. Nathaniel Bacon was a wealthy young Englishman who arrived in Virginia in 1674. Despite an early friendship with Virginia’s royal governor, William Berkeley, Bacon found himself excluded from the governor’s circle of influential friends and councilors. He wanted land on the Virginia frontier, but the governor, fearing war with neighboring Indian tribes, forbade further expansion. Bacon marshaled others, especially former indentured servants who believed the governor was unfairly limiting their economic opportunities in denying them the right to own tobacco farms. Bacon’s followers believed Berkeley’s frontier policy did not do enough to protect English settlers. Worse in their eyes, Governor Berkeley tried to keep peace in Virginia by signing treaties with local Native peoples. Bacon and his followers saw the Natives as obstacles to their access to land and wealth, and pursued their extermination. Tensions between the English and the Native peoples in the Chesapeake colonies led to open conflict. In 1675, war broke out when Susquehannock warriors attacked settlements on Virginia’s frontier, killing English planters and destroying plantations, including one owned by Bacon. In 1676, Bacon and other Virginians attacked the Susquehannock without the governor’s approval. When Berkeley ordered Bacon’s arrest, Bacon led his followers to Jamestown, forced the governor to flee and burned the city. This civil war was a vicious struggle between supporters of the governor and those who supported Bacon. Reports of the rebellion reached England, leading King Charles II to restore order in the tobacco colonies. By the end of 1676 Virginians loyal to the governor gained the upper hand, executing several leaders of the rebellion. Bacon escaped the hangman’s noose, instead dying of dysentery. The rebellion had fizzled, but Virginians remained divided as Bacon's supporters continued to resent their blocked access to Native land. Bacon’s Rebellion helped to catalyze the creation of a system of racial slavery in the Chesapeake colonies. At the time of the rebellion, indentured servants made up the majority of laborers in the region. Wealthy whites worried over the presence of this large class of laborers and their relative freedom, and the alliance that black and white servants had forged in the course of the rebellion. Expanding Black slavery diminished these risks, alleviating the planters' reliance on the white indentured servants, who were often dissatisfied and troublesome, and creating a caste of racially defined laborers whose movements were strictly controlled. It also lessened the possibility of further solidarity between black and white workers. Racial slavery even served to heal some of the divisions between wealthy and poor whites, who could now unite as members of a “superior” racial group. Although slavery had been legal in the colonies before Bacon’s Rebellion, new laws passed in its wake severely curtailed black freedom and laid the foundation for racial slavery. Virginia passed a law in 1680 prohibiting free blacks and slaves from bearing arms, banning blacks from congregating in large numbers, and harshly punishing slaves who assaulted Christians or attempted escape. Two years later, another Virginia law stipulated that all Africans brought to the colony would be slaves for life. Thus, the increasing reliance on slaves in the tobacco colonies—and the draconian laws instituted to control them—not only helped planters meet labor demands, but also eased English fears of further uprisings and class tensions between rich and poor whites. "All of One Mind for The Good of Your Country and Your Own" now meant for all but the enslaved Africans who themselves created the the wealth of the colonies.

Ships at Jamestown Dock, Virginia

Image ID: 7035

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Jamestown Memory, 17th Century Exteriors, Arrival, British Empire, Colonial America, Columbian Exchange, Discovery and Conquest, Early Virginia, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Immigrant Societies and Organization, National Events, Southern Society

Region(s): Caribbean, North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 5.2 - Routes of early explorers and early explorations of the Americas, 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 7.10 - The historical developments of the Scientific Revolution and its lasting effect on religious, political, and cultural institutions, 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Reconstructed Colonial Ship, Jamestown, VA

Image ID: 7041

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Jamestown Memory, 17th Century Exteriors, Arrival, British Empire, Business, Class Structure, Colonial America, Discovery and Conquest, Early Virginia, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Founding Myths, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Market Economy, National Events, Politics & Government, Southern Society

Region(s): Europe, North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620) , Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Sailor Re-enactors on Deck, Jamestown, VA

Image ID: 7044

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Jamestown Memory, 17th Century Exteriors, Arrival, British Empire, Colonial America, Columbian Exchange, Discovery and Conquest, Early Virginia, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Immigrant Societies and Organization, National Events, Slavery, Working, and Living Conditions, Southern Society, Transportation

Region(s): Europe, North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.2 - Routes of early explorers and early explorations of the Americas, 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.8 - The origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance, 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620) , Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Ship Storage or Bunks, Jamestown Dock, VA

Image ID: 7046

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Jamestown Memory, 17th Century Exteriors, Arrival, British Empire, Colonial America, Columbian Exchange, Discovery and Conquest, Early Virginia, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Immigrant Societies and Organization, National Events, Slavery, Working, and Living Conditions, Southern Society, Transportation

Region(s): North America, United States, Europe

CA Standard(s): 5.2 - Routes of early explorers and early explorations of the Americas, 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.10 - The historical developments of the Scientific Revolution and its lasting effect on religious, political, and cultural institutions, 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770, Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620)

Card Text: Below deck of ship, storage compartment or bunk, aboard the reconstructed Susan Constant, Jamestown. Three ships brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607. The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery sailed from London on Dec 20, 1606 carrying 105 passengers and 39 crew members on the four-month transatlantic voyage. The expedition was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, a business venture organized by investors to form a colony in Virginia. The fleet reached the Virginia coast in April, and after two weeks of inland waterway exploration, arrived at the selected settlement site on May 13, 1607. The Susan Constant and Godspeed returned to England in June, while the Discovery remained in Virginia to explore Chesapeake Bay and the coast. England in the 1600s was a good place to leave. People were being forced off their lands and into poverty by enclosure, a legal process of consolidating (enclosing) small landholdings and public lands into larger farms. Once enclosed, the public could no longer use the land, which became restricted to the owner, and it ceased to be common land for everyone's use. Enclosure was sometimes accompanied by force, resistance, and bloodshed. Marxist historians argue that rich landowners used their control of the government to take public land for their private benefit. The process of enclosure eventually created a landless working class, as the number of people living in England increased. So there was not enough land in the countryside to be farmed and not enough jobs in the cities to accommodate the farmers who flocked there. With few jobs and little land to farm, the English poor could not survive. The lure of land of their own was very enticing. Thus, most of the people who settled at Jamestown were indentured servants - craftsmen and laborers who paid for their ship passage by promising to work for seven or more years without pay, but after those years keep the land - if they had also paid a large fee.

Jamestown 300th Anniversary Monument, 1907

Image ID: 7054

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): Seventeenth Century, Jamestown Memory, Agriculture, Arrival, British Empire, Business, Class Structure, Colonial America, Columbian Exchange, Discovery and Conquest, Early Virginia, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Founding Myths, Immigrant Societies and Organization, National Events, Politics & Government, Southern Society, Statuary, Working Conditions

Region(s): Caribbean, North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.8 - The origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance, 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620) , Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Jamestown Anniversary Monument, 1907. "This Monument was Erected by the United States A.D. 1907 to Commemorate The Three Hundredth Anniversary of The Settlement Here." This memorial was carved into the Jamestown Tercentennial Monument at the entrance of Jamestown in Historic Jamestown, VA. The monument is the largest of several scattered around Historic Jamestown. It was built in 1907 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown. It cost $50,000, stands 103 feet tall, and is made of New Hampshire granite. Each side of the large obelisk and one side of the base are engraved with several texts including this one. By the 1620s, Virginia had weathered the worst and gained a degree of permanence. Political stability came slowly, but by 1619 the fledgling colony was operating under the leadership of a governor, a council and a House of Burgesses (citizens, officials). Economic stability came from the lucrative cultivation of tobacco. Smoking tobacco had been a long-standing practice among Native peoples, and English and other European consumers soon adopted it. In 1614, the Virginia colony began exporting tobacco to England, which earned it a sizable profit and saved the colony from ruin. A second tobacco colony, Maryland, was formed in 1634, when King Charles I granted its charter to the Calvert family for their loyal service to England. Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, conceived of Maryland as a refuge for English Catholics. Growing tobacco proved very labor-intensive, and the Chesapeake colonists needed a steady workforce to do the hard work of clearing the land and caring for the tender young plants. The mature leaf of the plant then had to be cured (dried), which necessitated the construction of drying barns. Once cured, the tobacco had to be packaged in hogsheads (large wooden barrels) and loaded aboard ship, which also required considerable labor. To meet these labor demands, early Virginians first relied relied on indentured servants and later on African slaves. An indenture was a labor contract signed in England by young, impoverished, and often illiterate Englishmen and occasionally Englishwomen, pledging to work for a number of years (usually between five and seven) growing tobacco in the Chesapeake colonies. In return, the indentured servants received paid passage to America and food, clothing, and lodging. At the end of their indenture servants received “freedom dues,” usually food and other provisions, and in some cases, land provided by the colony. The promise of a new life in America was a strong attraction for members of England’s underclass, who had few if any options at home. In the 1600s, some 100,000 indentured servants traveled to the Chesapeake Bay. Most were poor young men in their early twenties. Life in the colonies proved harsh, however. Indentured servants could not marry and they were subject to the will of the tobacco planters who bought their labor contracts. If they committed a crime or disobeyed their masters, they found their terms of service lengthened, often by several years. Female indentured servants faced special dangers in what was essentially a bachelor colony. Many were exploited by unscrupulous tobacco planters who seduced them with promises of marriage. These planters would then sell their pregnant servants to other tobacco planters to avoid the costs of raising a child. Nonetheless, those indentured servants who completed their term of service often began new lives as tobacco planters themselves. To entice even more migrants to the New World, the Virginia Company implemented the headright system, in which those who paid their own passage to Virginia received fifty acres (of Native land, of course) plus an additional fifty for each servant or family member they brought with them. The headright system and the promise of a new life for servants acted as powerful incentives for English migrants to hazard the journey to the New World. Slavery of Africans soon followed. The transition from indentured servitude to slavery as the main labor source for some English colonies happened first in the West Indies. On the small island of Barbados, colonized in the 1620s, English planters first grew tobacco as their main export crop but in the 1640s they converted to sugarcane and began increasingly to rely on African slaves. In 1655, England wrested control of Jamaica from the Spanish and quickly turned it into a lucrative sugar island, run on slave labor, for its expanding empire. While slavery was slower to take hold in the Chesapeake colonies, by the end of the 17th century, both Virginia and Maryland had also adopted chattel slavery—which legally defined Africans as property and not people—as the dominant form of tobacco labor. Chesapeake colonists also enslaved Native people. When the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, slavery—which did not exist in England—had not yet become an institution in colonial America. Many Africans worked as servants and like their white counterparts could acquire land of their own. Some Africans who converted to Christianity became free landowners with white servants. The change in the status of Africans in the Chesapeake to that of slaves occurred in the last decades of the 17th century. Bacon’s Rebellion was an uprising of both whites and blacks who believed that the Virginia government was impeding their access to land and wealth and seemed to do little to clear the land of Indians, and it hastened the transition to African slavery in the Chesapeake colonies. Nathaniel Bacon was a wealthy young Englishman who arrived in Virginia in 1674. Despite an early friendship with Virginia’s royal governor, William Berkeley, Bacon found himself excluded from the governor’s circle of influential friends and councilors. He wanted land on the Virginia frontier, but the governor, fearing war with neighboring Indian tribes, forbade further expansion. Bacon marshaled others, especially former indentured servants who believed the governor was unfairly limiting their economic opportunities in denying them the right to own tobacco farms. Bacon’s followers believed Berkeley’s frontier policy did not do enough to protect English settlers. Worse in their eyes, Governor Berkeley tried to keep peace in Virginia by signing treaties with local Native peoples. Bacon and his followers saw the Natives as obstacles to their access to land and wealth, and pursued their extermination. Tensions between the English and the Native peoples in the Chesapeake colonies led to open conflict. In 1675, war broke out when Susquehannock warriors attacked settlements on Virginia’s frontier, killing English planters and destroying plantations, including one owned by Bacon. In 1676, Bacon and other Virginians attacked the Susquehannock without the governor’s approval. When Berkeley ordered Bacon’s arrest, Bacon led his followers to Jamestown, forced the governor to flee and burned the city. This civil war was a vicious struggle between supporters of the governor and those who supported Bacon. Reports of the rebellion reached England, leading King Charles II to restore order in the tobacco colonies. By the end of 1676 Virginians loyal to the governor gained the upper hand, executing several leaders of the rebellion. Bacon escaped the hangman’s noose, instead dying of dysentery. The rebellion had fizzled, but Virginians remained divided as Bacon's supporters continued to resent their blocked access to Native land. Bacon’s Rebellion helped to catalyze the creation of a system of racial slavery in the Chesapeake colonies. At the time of the rebellion, indentured servants made up the majority of laborers in the region. Wealthy whites worried over the presence of this large class of laborers and their relative freedom, and the alliance that black and white servants had forged in the course of the rebellion. Expanding Black slavery diminished these risks, alleviating the planters' reliance on the white indentured servants, who were often dissatisfied and troublesome, and creating a caste of racially defined laborers whose movements were strictly controlled. It also lessened the possibility of further solidarity between black and white workers. Racial slavery even served to heal some of the divisions between wealthy and poor whites, who could now unite as members of a “superior” racial group. Although slavery had been legal in the colonies before Bacon’s Rebellion, new laws passed in its wake severely curtailed black freedom and laid the foundation for racial slavery. Virginia passed a law in 1680 prohibiting free blacks and slaves from bearing arms, banning blacks from congregating in large numbers, and harshly punishing slaves who assaulted Christians or attempted escape. Two years later, another Virginia law stipulated that all Africans brought to the colony would be slaves for life. Thus, the increasing reliance on slaves in the tobacco colonies—and the draconian laws instituted to control them—not only helped planters meet labor demands, but also assuaged English fears of further uprisings and class tensions between rich and poor whites. "All of One Mind for The Good of Your Country and Your Own" now meant for all but the enslaved Africans who themselves created the the wealth of the colonies.

Witch Jail Sign, Salem, MA

Image ID: 7058

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): 17th Century New England, 17th Century Gravestones, Agriculture, British Empire, Class Separation, Class Structure, Colonial America, Developing Nations, Domesticity, Early Images -- America, Environmental History, Family to 1920, Founding Myths, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Institutions and social disorder, Moral lessons, National Politics, Nature and Civilization, Prejudice and Discrimination, Religion, Salem Witch Trials, Slaves Stereotypes, Symbols of mass society, Women's image, Women's work, Working Conditions

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.10 - The historical developments of the Scientific Revolution and its lasting effect on religious, political, and cultural institutions, 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Witch Jail sign, 1930. "This house contains the frame and timbers of the jail where those accused of witchcraft were imprisoned in 1692. Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission." The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people, nearly all women, were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil’s magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony's leaders admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later. The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil’s magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony's leaders admitted the trials had been a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the trials have become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and they continue to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later. Many practicing Christians and people of other religions have periodically through history been convinced that the Devil can give people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. A “witchcraft craze” rippled through Europe from the 1300s to the end of the 1600s. Tens of thousands of supposed witches—mostly women—were executed. The craze spread to America in 1689, when the English king and queen William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies. Known as King William’s War to colonists, it ravaged upstate New York, Nova Scotia and Quebec, sending refugees into Essex County and specifically Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The displaced people strained Salem’s resources, aggravating the existing rivalry between families dependent on the port of Salem and those dependent on agriculture. Controversy also brewed over Rev. Samuel Parris, Salem Village’s first ordained minister in 1689, was disliked because of his rigidity and greed. The Puritan villagers believed the quarreling was the work of the Devil. In January 1692, Rev. Parris’ daughter Elizabeth, age 9, and niece Abigail Williams, age 11, started having “fits.” They screamed, threw things, uttered peculiar sounds and contorted themselves into strange positions, and a local doctor blamed the supernatural. Another girl, Ann Putnam, age 11, experienced similar episodes. In February, under pressure from the local magistrates, the girls blamed three women for afflicting them: Tituba, the Parris’ Caribbean slave; Sarah Good, a homeless beggar; and Sarah Osborne, a poor elderly woman. Thus began the witch-hunt. All three women were brought before the local magistrates and interrogated for several days. Osborne claimed innocence, as did Good. But Tituba said that “The Devil came to me and bid me serve him.” She described elaborate images of black dogs, red cats, yellow birds and a “black man” who wanted her to sign his book. She said that she signed the book, and said that several other witches were looking to destroy the Puritans. All three women were jailed. With the seed of paranoia planted, a stream of accusations followed for the next few months. Charges against Martha Corey, a loyal member of the church in Salem Village, greatly concerned the community; if she could be a witch, then anyone could. Magistrates even questioned Sarah Good’s 4-year-old daughter, and her timid answers were construed as a confession. The questioning got more serious when Deputy Governor Danforth attended the hearings. Dozens of people from Salem and other Massachusetts villages were brought in for questioning. On May 27, 1692, Governor William Phipps ordered the establishment of a Special Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) for Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex counties. The first case brought to the court was Bridget Bishop, an older woman known for her gossipy habits and "promiscuity." When asked if she had committed witchcraft, Bishop responded, “I am as innocent as the child unborn.” The defense must not have been convincing, because she was found guilty and, on June 10, became the first person hanged on Gallows Hill. Five days later, the respected minister Cotton Mather implored the court not to allow into the trials "spectral evidence"—testimony about dreams and visions. The court ignored this request and five more people were sentenced and hanged in July, five more in August and eight in September. On October 3, following in his son’s footsteps, Increase Mather, then president of Harvard, denounced the use of spectral evidence: “It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person be condemned.” Governor Phipps, in response to Mather’s plea and his own wife's being questioned for witchcraft, prohibited further arrests, released many accused witches and dissolved the court. Phipps replaced it with a court that disallowed spectral evidence and condemned only 3 of 56 defendants. He eventually pardoned all those imprisoned on witchcraft charges by May 1693. But the damage had been done: 19 were hanged on Gallows Hill, a 71-year-old man was pressed to death with heavy stones, several people died in jail, and nearly 200 people had been accused of practicing “the Devil’s magic.” Restoring good names took years. Following the trials and executions, many involved, like judge Samuel Sewall, publicly confessed error and guilt. In 1697, the General Court ordered a day of fasting and soul-searching for the tragedy at Salem. In 1702, the court declared the trials unlawful. And in 1711, the colony passed a bill restoring the rights and good names of those accused and granted £600 restitution to their heirs. However, it was not until 1957—more than 250 years later—that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts formally apologized for the persecutions of 1692. In the 20th century, historians, artists and scientists continued to be fascinated by the Salem witch trials. Playwright Arthur Miller resurrected the tale with his 1953 play "The Crucible," using the trials as an allegory for the Republican McCarthy paranoia and abuses of innocent people accused of Communism in the 1950s. Many hypotheses have been suggested to explain the strange behavior that occurred in Salem in 1692. Psychologist Linnda Caporael blamed the abnormal habits of the accused on the fungus ergot, found in rye, wheat and other cereal grasses: Toxicologists say that eating ergot-contaminated foods can lead to muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions and hallucinations. The fungus thrives in warm, damp climates—like the swampy meadows of colonial Salem Village, where rye was the staple grain during the spring and summer months. In 1992, to mark the 300th anniversary of the trials, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel dedicated the Witch Trials Memorial in Salem, where the Peabody Essex Museum houses the original court documents. The town’s most-visited attraction, the Salem Witch Museum, attests to the public’s continuing enthrallment with the 1692 hysteria at 19-1/2 Washington Square N, Salem, MA 01970 .

Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom, 1662

Image ID: 7070

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): 17th Century New England, Arrival, British Empire, Class Structure, Colonial America, Domesticity, Emigration and Passage, Family to 1920, Founding Myths, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Institutions and social disorder, Middle-Class Culture, Moral lessons, Propaganda, Religion, Research - Bartlett, Pilgrim Fathers, Research -- Pilgrim Guides, Temp to 1870's

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Smith, Major Thomas Savage, Boston, MA, 1679

Image ID: 7077

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): 17th Century New England, 17th Century Portraits, 17th Century Exteriors, Arrival, British Empire, Class Structure, Colonial America, Discovery and Conquest, Emerging industrial city, Emigration and Passage, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Indian Warfare, Landscape, Market Economy, National Events, Politics & Government, Religion, Saugus Iron Works

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Thomas Smith (attrib.), "Major Thomas Savage," Boston, MA, 1679. The coat of arms of Maj. Savage of Cheshire, England was six sable lions on an argent (silver or white) background, surmounted by an ocher (yellow or gold) “crest out of a coronett” below a sable lion’s paw. Surrounding the crest is a jagged mantle, representing a torn soldier’s cloak. Crests of this type were granted to military officers, and Maj. Savage (c.1606–c.1681) became one of the most important military and civic leaders of colonial Boston. A young tailor, he embarked on the ship "Planter" from London in 1635 and was made a freeman of Boston within a year. He engaged in a variety of occupations in New England, raising cattle, purchasing farmlands, operating as a merchant, and becoming part owner of the Saugus Iron Works. His will of 1675 disposed of property totaling nearly £3,500, an enormous sum in an era when the average estate of the wealthiest Bostonians averaged £600. Savage fathered seven children by his first wife, Faith Hutchinson (c. 1617–c. 1651), and ten (only four of whom survived childhood) by his second wife, Mary Symmes (1628–1710). As early as 1637, Savage provoked government authorities by defending his mother-in-law, the famous Puritan dissident Anne Hutchinson. At her trial Savage argued, “My mother not beinge accused for any haynows [heinous] fact but only for opinion … I cannot consent that the church should proceed yet to admonish her for this.” Mrs. Hutchinson was convicted of heresy for testifying that she had received direct revelations from God, and was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Savage also left Massachusetts and with her helped to found Rhode Island. In 1638, Savage returned to Boston and joined the town’s militia force, in which he served as captain for decades. In 1673 he helped to barricade Boston Harbor against Dutch attack, and two years later during King Philip’s War commanded the Massachusetts forces. The view from the window in the Savage portrait onto Boston Harbor and Beacon Hill may represent these high points in his military career and may be the earliest surviving depiction of these places. Savage was also a civic leader, beginning in 1652, as town clerk, selectman, court assistant, and founder in 1669 of the Third (Old South) Church. Savage’s age at the time of this portrait—73, as given in the inscription—is apparent in his attire. The falling band, two oblong pieces of cloth tied to the neck, was popular in England from 1640 to 1670 and the fashion of his youth. By 1670, shoulder-length hair had been replaced by curled wigs, yet Savage kept his. The heavy leather coat and shoulder knot, however, were contemporary military dress. This portrait is a pivotal work of 17th-c. New England, one of several closely related canvases indicating the presence of a skilled painter who was influenced more by Dutch realism than by flat Elizabethan decoration. Savage is positioned with his head turned slightly to his left; his right shoulder is forward, with his body at a 45-degree angle from the viewer in a contrapposto posture. Demonstrating understanding of linear perspective, the artist has made the far eye slightly smaller than the near one, and the value of the whites deeper than the flesh tones. Oil on canvas on masonite, 42 x 37 in.

Van Der Spriett, Increase Mather, 1688

Image ID: 7083

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): 17th Century New England, 17th Century Portraits, Arts and Architecture, Arrival, British Empire, Class Structure, Colonial America, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Founding Myths, Future Progress, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Indian Warfare, Institutions and social disorder, Labor, Moral lessons, National Events, New England Indians, Politics & Government, Prejudice and Discrimination, Religion, Upper Class to 1865, US Destiny, US Nationalism, Utopias pre 1860

Region(s): North America, Europe, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 5.7 - People and events associated with the development of the U.S. Constitution and it's significance as the foundation of the American republic, 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy, 8.2 - The political principles underlying the U.S. Constitution and compare the enumerated and implied powers of the federal government

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Jan Van Der Spriett, "Increase Mather," London, England, 1688. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the Reverend Mather (1639 – 1723) was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was a Puritan minister involved with the government of the colony, the administration of Harvard College, and notoriously, the Salem Witch Trials. He was the father of the influential Cotton Mather. Increase was born to the Puritan Rev. Richard Mather and Kathrine Holt Mather following their participation in the Great Migration from England to America due to their nonconformity with the Church of England. He was the youngest of six brothers. His parents were highly religious, and three of his brothers also became ministers. His first name honored "the never-to-be-forgotten increase, of every sort, wherewith God favored the country about the time of his nativity." Increase graduated from Harvard and trained for the ministry, giving his first sermon on his 18th birthday. In 1664 he was ordained minister of the Old North Church, the original Old North meetinghouse of Boston, whose congregation included many of the upper class and governing elite. He held this post until he died. By virtue of his position, he quickly became one of the most influential people in the colony. As President of Harvard College, he re-implemented Greek and Hebrew instruction, replaced classical Roman authors with Biblical and Christian authors in ethics classes, and required that students attend classes regularly, live and eat on campus, and not haze other students. Increase successfully aroused opposition to King James II of England's appointment of the haughty Edmund Andros, who disliked Puritanism and ruled Massachusetts as a near dictator. The Puritans also disliked his 1687 prohibition of discrimination against Catholics. Following the Glorious Revolution and subsequent overthrow of Andros in 1692, a new charter was granted to the colony guaranteeing sweeping home rule, establishing an elective legislature, enfranchising all freeholders (previously only men admitted to a congregation could vote), and uniting the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colonies. Increase Mather was involved in the notorious witch hysteria of Salem, Massachusetts. He defended the judges and trials, but denounced the spectral (supernatural, ghostly) evidence used by them, saying that "It were better that Ten Suspected Witches should escape, than that one Innocent Person should be Condemned." His refusal to repudiate the trials was probably due to his longtime friendship with the judges involved. Although Increase was one of the few ministers to associate sexual activity with witchcraft, he flatly rejected such tests for accused witches as reciting the Lord's Prayer, swimming, or weeping; superstition held that witches lacked these abilities. Yet he firmly believed in the existence of apparitions, witches, and diabolical possessions, asserting that the sins of the population had brought on God's disfavor, causing the Indian wars, the unusual thunderstorms, fires, political dissension, and other divine judgments upon New England. He warned his readers of the dangers of Satan and urged them to change their sinful ways. He maintained these beliefs until rumors began that his wife would be named a witch, when he dramatically broke from his former position on witchcraft. Throughout his life Increase Mather was a staunch Puritan, opposing anything openly contradictory to or even "distracting" from his religious beliefs. He supported the suppression of liquor, unnecessary effort on Sundays, and ostentatious clothing. He was strenuous in attempting to keep people to his idea of morality, especially in getting government officials to enforce it. He continued bitterly to oppose reform-minded members who tried to liberalize Puritanism by baptizing children of non-Puritan parents and admitting nearly all people to services. He died August 23, 1723 in Boston. Oil on canvas.

Rev. John Eliot with Algonkian Bible, c. 1660

Image ID: 7086

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): New England Indians, 17th Century Portraits, 17th Century New England, Arrival, Arts and Architecture, British Empire, Class Separation, Colonial America, Emigration and Passage, Ensemble, Founding Myths, Future Progress, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Indian Assimilation, Indian Warfare, Indian-White Relations Before Revolution, Institutions and social disorder, Moral lessons, National Events, Politics & Government, Prejudice and Discrimination, Religion, Utopias pre 1860

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Unidentified artist, "John Eliot" with Algonkian Bible, c. 1660, the first Bible printed in America. Eliot (1604-90) was called "The Apostle to Native Americans." As a Puritan missionary to the Massachusetts Bay Colony he energetically evangelized Native peoples, but the long-range impact of his work was destroyed by his fellow colonists' fears of them. Eliot was born to a wealthy family in Hertfordshire, England and graduated from Cambridge in 1622. He was soon converted to Puritanism, chiefly by the Rev. Thomas Hooker. "When I came to this blessed family," Eliot later wrote, "I then saw, and never before, the power of godliness in its lively vigor and efficacy." In 1631, as Anglican leaders applied heat to Puritans, Eliot emigrated to Roxbury, Massachusetts. There he became pastor of a church composed of many of his English friends, and the following year married Ann Mumford. In 1640 he produced the first book published in New England, "The Bay Psalm Book," putting the psalms in metrical verse. Eliot was a quintessential Puritan: he was frugal, eating just one plain dish for dinner, and rejected tobacco, wigs, and long hair for men. But he cared deeply for the Native peoples of New England. He began learning Algonkian and by 1647 was preaching in that Native tongue. He began translating, and in 1663 published the entire Algonkian Bible—the first Bible printed in America. Unfortunately, he was a product of his age: he confused Christianity with English culture. He delayed many Native baptisms "until they were come up unto civil cohabitation, government, and labor, which a fixed condition of life will put them upon." In other words, until they began living like Englishmen, "they were not so capable to be trusted with that treasure of Christ." This meant, among other things, haircuts for the men, English clothing for all, and restriction to villages patterned after English towns. By 1674, there were 14 such towns with a total of 1,100 "praying Indians," as they were called. The system gave some of them the rudiments of the Christian faith and training for the ministry. But it also isolated them from their own Native people, whose culture they were required to reject, and from their English sponsors, whose Puritan churches banned them from membership. During the bloody King Philip's War (1675–76) between Wampanoags and the English, the "praying Indians" were caught in the middle. Though the praying Indians supported the English, the English colonists distrusted their loyalty, rounded them up, and confined them to concentration camps. The war destroyed the Natives' trust in the whites, all but four of the "praying" villages, and nearly all copies of Eliot's Algonkian Bible. Eliot refused to be discouraged, continuing to minister to broken bands of Native people until his death. Villages of "praying Indians" continued into the early 18th century. Eliot's methods, his belief that Natives must be Anglicized to be Christian, and his training and use of Native teachers and evangelists set the pattern for Christian missionary work for the next two centuries.

Massasoit, Plymouth, MA, 1921

Image ID: 7087

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): New England Indians, 17th Century Portraits, Arrival, Arts and Architecture, British Empire, Class Separation, Colonial America, Columbian Exchange, Discovery and Conquest, Early Images -- America, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Founding Myths, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Indian Portraits, Indian-White Relations Before Revolution, Institutions and social disorder, National Events, Pilgrim Pageants, Plymouth, Statuary, Symbols

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Massasoit, statue, Cole's Hill, Plymouth, MA, 1921. Chief Massasoit (c. 1581 - 1661) was the great sachem (chief) of the Wampanoag peoples, who became famous for helping the Mayflower pilgrims, preventing the failure of Plymouth Colony and the almost certain starvation that the pilgrims faced during the earliest years of the colony. Conventional (white) narratives of Massasoit depict a friendly Indian who came to the aid of the starving pilgrims, even joining them in the first Thanksgiving feast, and maintaining harmonious relationships with them for four decades. This much is true, but little attention is paid to the historical context of Massasoit and the Wampanoag peoples. Massasoit was born in Montaup (today's Bristol, Rhode Island), a village of the Pokanoket, later known as the Wampanoag. By the time of the Mayflower pilgrims' arrival he had been a great leader for years, with authority throughout southern New England. When the pilgrims landed in Plymouth in 1620, the Wampanoag had suffered devastating population losses to a plague brought by Europeans in 1616. With no immunity to these diseases, upwards of 45,000, two-thirds of the entire Wampanoag nation, had perished. Many other Native peoples had also suffered extensive losses throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The arrival of the English with their encroachments on Indian territories, Native depopulation from sickness, and the century-long Native slave trade led to increasing instability in tribal relationships. Further, the Wampanoag were threatened by the powerful Narragansett people. It was in this vulnerable state that Massasoit as the Wampanoag leader sought alliances with the equally vulnerable Mayflower pilgrims, who by 1621 had lost to disease and starvation fully half of their original population of 102. Convinced of the value of a thriving trade with the newcomers, Massasoit set out to ensure peaceful accord between the races—a peace that lasted as long as he lived. He and his fellow Native peoples shared their techniques of planting, fishing, and cooking essential to the settlers’ survival in the wilderness. When Massasoit entered into a treaty of mutual peace and protection with the pilgrims in 1621, there was more at stake than a simple desire to make friends with the newcomers. Other peoples in the region were entering into agreements with the English colonies as well, and by 1632 the Wampanoags were engaged in full-scale war with the Narragansetts. From 1649 to 1657, under pressure from the English and to ease tensions with them, he sold them several large tracts of land in Plymouth Colony. After abdicating his leadership in favor of his eldest son Wamsutta, he is said to have retired, to live the rest of his days with the Quaboag people. Massasoit is often held up in American history as a hero because of his alliance and assumed love for the English, but some of the documentation hints that his esteem for them was overstated. In one story Massasoit contracted an illness, and the Plymouth colonist Edward Winslow is reported to have perhaps saved his life. However, there is doubt that Winslow could have healed Massasoit, considering the Natives' superior knowledge of local medicines and the likelihood that the sachem was being attended to by the tribe's most skilled physicians. Bronze, Cyrus E. Dallin designer, modern postcard.

Revere, Metacomet, King Philip's War, mid-18th c.

Image ID: 7088

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): New England Indians, 17th Century Exteriors, 17th Century New England, 17th Century Portraits, Arrival, Arts and Architecture, British Empire, Class Separation, Colonial America, Columbian Exchange, Discovery and Conquest, Early Images -- America, Emigration and Passage, Environmental History, Founding Myths, Immigrant Societies and Organization, Indian Assimilation, Indian Portraits, Indian Warfare, Indian-White Relations Before Revolution, Institutions and social disorder, National Events, Plymouth, Prejudice and Discrimination, Race, Social Disorder, Symbols

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Paul Revere, "Metacomet, or King Philip," mid-18th c. King Philip's War, 1675-76. Wampanoag chief Metacomet (c.1639 - 76), after years of tolerating the colonists in Massachusetts, finally rebelled against their continued encroachment upon his lands. In the years following the Pilgrims' arrival and founding of Plymouth in 1620, the Puritan population of New England grew rapidly as new colonies and towns were established. Through the first decades of settlement, the Puritans maintained an uneasy but largely peaceful relationship with the neighboring Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuck, Pequot, and Mohegan peoples. Treating each group separately, the Puritans bartered European products for Native American trade goods. As the Puritan colonies began to expand and their desire for trade goods lessened, the Native peoples began exchanging land use for tools and weapons. In 1662, the second son of Massasoit, Metacomet, became sachem (chief) of the Wampanoag after the death of his brother Wamsutta. Though long distrustful of the Puritans, he continued to trade with them and attempted to maintain the peace. He adopted the English name Philip. Yet Metacomet's position became increasingly tenuous as the Puritan colonies continued to grow and the Iroquois Confederation began encroaching from the west. Unhappy with Puritan expansion, he began planning attacks against outlying Puritan villages in late 1674. Concerned about Metacomet's intentions, one of his advisors, John Sassamon, a Christian convert, informed the Puritans. Plymouth governor Josiah Winslow was stunned to learn that Sassamon was murdered in February 1675. After finding Sassamon's body, the Puritans received information that he had been killed by three of Metacomet's men. An investigation led to the arrest of three Wampanoags, who were tried, convicted, and hanged in June. Metacomet saw their executions as an insult to Wampanoag sovereignty, and possibly without Metacomet's approval, a group of Wampanoags attacked the village of Swansea. Puritan leaders in Boston and Plymouth immediately dispatched a force that burned the Wampanoag town at Mount Hope, RI. As the summer progressed, the conflict escalated as additional tribes joined Metacomet and launched numerous raids against Puritan towns. The New England Confederation declared war on Metacomet's troops on September 9. Nine days later the Native forces beat the colonials at the Battle of Bloody Brook as they sought to collect crops for the winter. The Native soldiers attacked and burned Springfield, MA in October. Seeking to stem the tide, Winslow led a 1,000-man force of Plymouth, Connecticut, and Massachusetts militia against the Narragansetts, believed to be sheltering the Wampanoags. In December, in the Great Swamp Fight, the colonists killed about 300 Narragansetts and lost about 70. Through the winter of 1675-76, the Native peoples raided numerous villages along the frontier; in March they penetrated the heart of Puritan territory and attacked Plymouth Plantation. Two weeks later, Native warriors surrounded and destroyed a colonial company in Rhode Island. Then they burned Providence, RI, forcing most of Rhode Island's Puritans off of the mainland. As the spring progressed, Metacomet's men drove the Puritans from many of their outlying villages to the safety of the large towns. With the weather warming, Metacomet's momentum began to fade as a shortage of supplies and manpower began to hamper his operations. Meanwhile, the Puritans improved their defenses and began successful counterattacks against the Native American alliance. In April 1676, colonial forces killed the Narragansett chief Canonchet, effectively taking the tribe out of the conflict. Allying with the Mohegan and Pequots of Connecticut, the colonists successfully attacked a large Native American fishing camp in Massachusetts in May. In June 12, another of Metacomet's forces was beaten at Hadley. Unable to secure alliances with other tribes such as the Mohawk and short on provisions, Metacomet's allies began to leave the ranks. Another defeat in late June hastened this process. As increasing numbers of Native soldiers began surrendering in July, the Puritans began sending raiding parties into Metacomet's territory to end the war. Retreating to southern Rhode Island, Metacomet hoped to regroup, but in August his party was attacked by Puritan force. In the fighting, a converted Native American, John Alderman, shot and killed Metacomet. Following the battle, the Puritans beheaded Metacomet and his body was drawn and quartered. The head was returned to Plymouth, where it was displayed atop Burial Hill for the next two decades. Metacomet's death effectively ended the war though sporadic fighting continued into the next year. In the course of King Philip's War, about 600 Puritan settlers were killed and twelve towns destroyed. Native American losses are estimated at around 3,000. During the conflict, the colonists received little support from England and had to fight the war themselves. This forced self-reliance aided the early development of a separate colonial identity that would continue to grow over the next century. With the end of the war, efforts to integrate colonial and Native American societies ended and a deep resentment took hold between the two groups. Metacomet's defeat broke the back of Native American power in New England and the tribes never again posed a critical threat to the colonies. Although badly damaged by the war, the colonies soon recovered their lost populations and rebuilt the destroyed towns and villages. Engraving.

Cooking, Hobbamock's Homesite, Plimoth Plantation, MA

Image ID: 7091

Collection: Karen Halttunen

Topic(s): New England Indians, 17th Century Exteriors, 17th Century New England, Agriculture, Class Separation, Colonial America, Columbian Exchange, Discovery and Conquest, Domesticity, Early Images -- America, Environmental History, Family to 1920, Indian Civilization, Indian-White Relations Before Revolution, Invention, Nature and Civilization, Pilgrim Pageants, Plymouth, Pre-Industrial Work - Misc., Technology, Women's work

Region(s): North America, United States

CA Standard(s): 5.1 - The major pre-Columbian settlements…, 5.3 - The cooperation and conflict among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, 5.4 - Political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era. , 7.11 - political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), 7.9 - The historical developments of the Reformation, 8.1 - Major events preceding the founding of the nation and the development of American constitutional democracy

National Standard(s): Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Card Text: Cooking, Hobbamock's Homesite, Plimoth Plantation, MA. Because agriculture was so important to both the Wampanoag and English colonists, most of their work involved gathering, growing and preparing food. For both peoples, good or bad harvests meant the difference between comfort and hardship. Wampanoag planting customs have been passed down for generations. Each Wampanoag family generally provided for its members, but there was also a great deal of sharing of food. Sachems (leaders) supported widows and the poor, and families gave freely to the sick or elderly. Families planted crops on ground assigned to them, while hunting, fishing and gathering took place on commonly-held lands. Since food came from local resources that were shared or assigned, the diet varied little between social levels. In general, everyone in the community ate equally well. Planting began in the spring. With gratitude for the gifts from Mother Earth, the Wampanoag caught herring in the rivers and used them to fertilize the planting soil. Corn seeds were planted in soft earth mounds covering the herring. When the corn plants were about the height of a human hand, it was time to plant the beans and squash, including pumpkins, around the base of the corn. As the corn grew, the beans climbed and wound around the corn stalks. Beans add nitrogen, an important nutrient the corn uses up, to the soil, and Wampanoag followed the Creator’s instructions for growing these plants together. Melons, smaller versions of modern watermelons, were part of the Wampanoag gardens and offered a sweet treat. As the squash and melon leaves grew large enough, they helped to keep weeds down and the ground moist around the mounds during the warmest time of year. Most foods were eaten ripe but some were preserved by drying or smoking. At harvest time, beans would be picked and eaten fresh, or dried and saved for winter food or for seeds. All corn was dried on the cob. Some dried kernels were parched over a fire and then pounded into a fine corn flour used as a traveling food or thickening for soups. Seeds were saved from all the best plants for planting the following year. Squashes were sliced and dried for later use, although some were cooked fresh as well. The melons could not be preserved, so they had to be eaten as soon as they were ripe. Farmed foods such as corn and beans made up about 70% of the Wampanoag diet, and although they favored meat, it made up less than 20% of their diet. Roots, berries and other gathered plant materials, as well as eggs, fish, and shellfish made up the rest. To the Wampanoag, Mother Earth always gave wonderful and nourishing foods from her garden. For many Wampanoag, it is the same today. Their appreciation for plant life is given to the Creator all through the year as they are nourished again and again by these great gifts. Pilgrims at Plymouth grew crops in large open fields and the women planted and tended vegetables and herbs in small gardens behind their houses. Because many of them had come from cities or towns in England with markets, many of the colonists had never farmed before coming to Plymouth. They had to learn to feed themselves. In the minds of English people, the perfect diet was one of meat or fish, bread or grain-based porridges, and beer. Dairy products and vegetables were eaten but were not considered essential for health. In England, however, only wealthy people could afford the perfect diet. Poorer families ate vegetables, dairy products, and meat when they could afford it. Since hunting and trapping were the privileges of landowners only, wildfowl like turkeys and game like deer were not a major part of the common person’s diet. In Plymouth Colony the colonists’ diet was more varied. In New England, supplies of fish and shellfish were plentiful. Without hunting restrictions, deer, wild fowl, rabbits and other small animals were available to anyone who wanted to hunt them. The Pilgrims also brought farm animals with them, including pigs, chickens, goats, sheep and cows. These animals provided meat, eggs and dairy products for the colonists. Families in Plymouth planted enough in their fields to feed themselves, and their main crop was a kind of corn they had never seen before. Because it was native to North America and grew better in America than English grains did, the Pilgrims called it “Indian corn.” The Wampanoag taught the English colonists to plant and care for this crop. They had to clear the land, chop down trees and pull up grass and weeds, dig holes in the ground, put two or three herring in the hole and cover them with dirt, and plant 4-5 corn seeds in every mound. Indian corn was different from the sweet yellow corn that we eat today. It had various colors – red, black, yellow and white – on the same ear, and was not eaten fresh from the cob. Instead, Indian corn was dried and then pounded into flour and cornmeal for cooking and baking. Indian corn was part of almost every meal in Plymouth Colony. The Pilgrims also grew beans, pumpkins, wheat, barley, oats and peas. In their gardens, women grew many kinds of herbs and vegetables, like parsley, lettuce, spinach, carrots and turnips. Some foods, like salt, sugar, oil and vinegar, had to be imported from England. The combination of available meat and shellfish, Indian corn and other field crops and garden plants made the Pilgrims’ diet a rich and varied one through most seasons of the year. Like the Wampanoag, however, the colonists experienced seasonal variations. Not all foods were available at every season of the year, so the Pilgrims extended the life of their foods through preservation: salting, smoking, drying and pickling were common. As the years passed, the Pilgrims learned to grow more food than they needed to eat. Some colonists began to trade their extra corn with Native peoples for animal furs. They sent the furs back to England to sell, and used these profits to buy many of the goods they imported from England. Farming was not just a way to eat, then, but also a way to get goods that they could trade for English sugar, spices, oil, vinegar, clothes, shoes, baskets and gunpowder.