Unit 1 Comparison – the Content

What You Have to Read for Each Possible Comparison and What the Terms Mean?

Reminder about the Requirements with Each of These Topics – Now in Yellow

Essential Background – Still Applicable to the Unit 1 Comparison

Background on Forced Labor (Servitude)

Background about Slavery of Africans in Africa by Africans

Background about the Term English Servant (Indentured Servant)

Backgrounds You Can Observe in the Table – Including the Reality about Numbers of African Slaves and Servants Compared to Whites and Still Applicable to the Unit 1 Comparison

Your Instructor’s Tips on Change over Time

 

Reminder: the Instructions are in the link above this link in the folder.

 

What You Have to Read for Each Possible Comparison and What the Terms Mean?

For dictionary definitions for these key terms, you can find them beneath this link.

Reminder about the Requirements with Each of These Topics – Now in Yellow

·         You must examine only Southern colonies at this time.

o    From 1620 to 1676, the South refers to the Chesapeake area—the colonies of Virginia and Maryland.

o    After the 1660s, the South includes not only Virginia and Maryland and but also the Carolinas (particularly South Carolina) and eventually Georgia

You do 1 of the 3 choices exactly as written. In each these 3 choices for Comparison topics, make sure you meet the listed requirements above.

 

1.     African people in servitude from 1620s to about 1660 compared with their slavery in 1720 and “throughout the rest of the century”

Areas in Time Order

What You Read

What to Observe and How to Pay Attention to Terms

Servitude of Africans in English colonies in the South (about 1620 to 1660)

Chapter 2: “Africans in Early Virginia.”

 

What varied things happened to Africans sold in early Virginia?

Term: servant, see its use in Chapter 2: “Tobacco Boom.”

Slaves (both Africans and African Americans) in the British# colonies in the South from 1720 and “throughout the rest of the century” – a phrase used in Chapter 3 in “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina” (In the 4th edition paper, that is on 79.)

Chapter 3: “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina,” focusing on African issues only.
For the South Carolina variation including the Stono uprising, see the last 2 paragraphs in “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina.”

 

Chapter 4: “The Growth of the African-American Population.” Do not read about slavery outside of the South.

Reminder: The slavery of this period existed because of laws passed after 1660. Do not ignore them. Re-read Chapter 3: “Systems of Slavery in North America.” Focus on the South and on the beginning of that section.

 

Notice the differences in slavery even in the South.

Notice knowledge, worship, and how they resisted slavery, including the Stono Rebellion.

 

Tip: Do not deceive yourself. Look at the bottom of this webpage in the chart. Notice what a small proportion of the population is African in 1660 and even in 1720.



2.     English people in servitude from the 1660s through Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 compared with the conditions of “non-landholding whites” after 1720

Areas in Time Order

What You Read

What to Observe and How to Pay Attention to Terms

Servitude of English servants in English colonies in the South (1660s through Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676)

Chapter 3: “War in the Chesapeake”—but only for content about the years after about 1660.

Reminder: Prior to this time English servants received land at the end of their service. Do not ignore that. Re-read Chapter 2: “Tobacco Boom” and “The Colony Expands” and Chapter 3: “War in the Chesapeake”—but only for content about the years before about 1660.

 

What did the investigation say about these events and what happens to landless freemen? What happens about the slave trade and the planters (the owners of land)? The textbook makes some powerful statements at the end of that section. Notice carefully.

 

Term: freemen and landless freemen – English servants who had completed their term of service, with some having no land in return for their promised years of labor

“Non-landholding whites” in British# colonies in the South after 1720 – a phrase used in Chapter 3 in “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina” (In the 4th edition paper, that is on 79.)

Chapter 3: “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina,” focusing on “non-landholding whites” only.

 

For the conditions of the Anglican Church, see Chapter 4:“Religious Diversity Before the Great Awakening” (In the 4th edition paper, that is on 91.)

 

For the absence of education for this group, see Chapter 4:“Education in the British Colonies.” Look for the phrase “large numbers of poor whites.” (In the 4th edition paper, that is on page 88.)

 

 

The term “non-landholding whites” is explained at the beginning of that section. Ask yourself if it means the same thing as “landless freemen” at the time of Bacon’s Rebellion.

 

Notice the South develops without needing ports. (In the 4th edition paper, that is on page 80.) Notice what that does.

 

Notice worship. Reminder: The Anglican Church is the established church. If you don’t know what that is, ask.

 

Notice knowledge.

 

Tip: Do not deceive yourself. Look at the bottom of this webpage in the chart. Notice what a small proportion of the population is African in 1660 and even in 1720.

 

3.     Compare Bacon’s Rebellion with the Stono uprising, being sure to cover the conditions that led them to rebel and what changes (both law and actions by those in power) occurred after their rebellions were crushed.

Tip: This is the hardest question of the three.

 

Areas in Time Order

What You Read

What to Observe and How to Pay Attention to Terms

Servitude of English servants in English colonies in the South (1660s through Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676)

Chapter 3: “War in the Chesapeake”—but only for content about the years after about 1660.

What did the investigation say about these events and what happens to landless freemen? What happens about the slave trade and the planters (the owners of land)? The textbook makes some powerful statements at the end of that section. Notice carefully.

 

Term: freemen and landless freemen – English servants who had completed their term of service, with some having no land in return for their promised years of labor

Slaves (both Africans and African Americans) in the British# colonies in the South from 1720 and “throughout the rest of the century” – a phrase used in Chapter 3 in “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina” (In the 4th edition paper, that is on 79.)

Chapter 3: “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina,” focusing on African issues only.
For the South Carolina variation including the Stono uprising, see the last 2 paragraphs in “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina.”

 

Chapter 4: “The Growth of the African-American Population.” Do not read about slavery outside of the South.

Reminder: The slavery of this period existed because of laws passed after 1660. Do not ignore them. Re-read Chapter 3: “Systems of Slavery in North America.” Focus on the South and on the beginning of that section.

 

Notice the differences in slavery even in the South.

Notice knowledge, worship, and how they resisted slavery, including the Stono Rebellion.

 

Tip: Do not deceive yourself. Look at the bottom of this webpage in the chart. Notice what a small proportion of the population is African in 1660 and even in 1720.

 

Essential Background – Still Applicable to the Unit 1 Comparison

Students fail at understanding history because they start writing before they have read enough and even tried to figure things out. The remaining things on this webpage cover where students have frequently misunderstood.

Background on Forced Labor (Servitude)

 

Caution: There is a difference in labor (something most of us have to do for our daily bread and a roof over our heads) and forced labor. With forced labor:

  • You cannot stop.
  • You may be doing things that will kill you (as your textbook covers)
  • Your master gains from your labor and you gain only that you live another day. 

 

Background about Slavery of Africans in Africa by Africans

The content and the quotations in the second column on Slavery in Africa of the table at the bottom of this link are from the 3rd edition. To see that page, click here. (It is also used with a reading example provided in the Good Habits for Evidence link (next to the last page from the Rubric with Links or directly by clicking here).

 

This link also shows an example of how I label in the margins any words I have to do something with—including explain the content to another person. I was taught to do this kind of marking years ago by a community college professor. Although I marked this page very quickly, it is shows two basic principles of any information where you have to do something:

1) Read once, but mark the facts with labels so you can:

2) When you use your marked text, you not only save time but also begin to understand it better and catch your own mistakes.

Background about the Term English Servant (Indentured Servant)

In the textbook, the phrase used for indentured servants in some locations is English servants. What’s the word indentured mean with the word servant? Merriam Webster Online explains it is “a person who signs and is bound by indentures to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses [like a trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Virginia] and maintenance [like something to eat and a roof over your head].”  To sign a document indicates the signer is a free person who agrees to the terms of the indenture. What’s an indenture? “to divide (a document) so as to produce sections with irregular edges that can be matched for authentication.” Think of it this way: when you tear paper, the ragged edge is unique.

Backgrounds You Can Observe in the Table – Including the Reality about Numbers of African Slaves and Servants Compared to Whites and Still Applicable to the Unit 1 Comparison

Notice these things:

·         Column 1 – There was servitude before it occurred in the Americas

·         Column 2 – There was servitude in Africa before the slave trade—but their slavery was different.

·         Below Column 2 in blue – The Portuguese created two new systems that spread to the new world. Notice them both.

·         Column 3 – In the Americas, the English were not alone in trying servitude. The Spanish tried two forms of servitude in the Americas. Notice them both.

·         Columns 4, 5, and 6 – You can and should try to read the materials for these columns and fill them in on your own. Then compare them with your instructor’s version.

·         Column 7 – You need to read this content on your own, but the points listed may help you.

·         Columns 5, 6, and 7 - The Notice statements in blue. Look at the numbers. Don’t get fantasies about slavery. Notice how few slaves there are. To about 1676, it is white indentured servants (servitude for a period of years) who are doing the work

 

In the table, the content and the quotations on Slavery in Africa are from the 3rd edition, which has a few more details. To see the page, click here.

 

For the table below and columns 4, 5, and 6, read the materials for these columns and try to fill them in (on a piece of notebook paper for example). Click here to compare your answers with your instructor’s. Compare your meaning only. Do not worry about matching the exact words.

 

Your Instructor’s Tips on Change over Time

You must realize that the south becomes as Ayers says frequently a “planter aristocracy” by Part C.

 

The South went from:

·         The earliest period

-       when some Africans were slaves but some were like English indentured servants (who even used the courts to protect their plantation!)

-       when English servants got their land for their years of service

·         The middle period
- when the colonial legislatures made any African servant a lifetime slave and switched all the rules of English primogeniture and had status (slavery) pass through the mother, not the father
- when the English servants did not get their land for their years of service and Bacon’s Rebellion blew up
(Notice what the planters did and the English government said about this.)

·         The last period which lasts beyond the end of the 1700s
- when “non-landholding” whites were in deep poverty

- when Africans were enslaved and some even tried the Stono uprising
(Notice what the local government did about this.)

 

 

Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2015

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

Last Updated:

2015

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/