CULTURE GENERALE

I- New England colonies

1. Massachusetts

Charles I went into exile in 1640, tried to invade England, failed and then was beheaded

John Winthrop
He did not want to separate from the church of England (wanted reforms)
He created a Zion => a city upon a hill (“American exceptionalism”)
Formed a gov : degree of separation between Church and State
Education (Harvard 1636) and hard work were seen as divine obligation

By 1640 : + 20 towns and villages in Boston area (each one = pol+admin Unit). Farm, fish and
fur trade + ship building (to export) : economic independence
Strict rules => society was intolerant + authoritarian => many dissents : people started to
contest, that’s why many people fled.

2. Connecticut (1636)

After disagreement with Winthrop, Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) led a group and formed
Connecticut, where people could have a voice and different ideologies.
There,all men could vote (wether church member or not)

3. Rhode Island

Founded by Roger Williams :

- expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony (because of different ideologies)
- Started the Providence plantation
- Founded the 1st Baptist Church
- Pastor in Salem

He advocated for : liberty of conscious, tolerance, separation Church/State, fair deals with
native tribes, abolitionism
Even beginning of fight against slavery

II- Middle colonies

4. Colony of New York

Henry Hudson =first European traveler to go there, English man sailing for the Dutch.
Colony became a trading post to trade fur with native population
=> new Amsterdam (south of Manhattan, where Wall Street is today) in the New
Netherlands colony : Peter Stuyvesant (1647)
Trade more important than religion
=> Catholics, French, Protestants and Jews allowed to buy land

Charles II decided to handover the management of this colony to his brother, the duke of
York => British sent warships into the harbor and took over control
New Amsterdam colony became the colony of New York (1664)
New York will soon become the largest harbor in the world.

5. New Jersey

Region first under Dutch rule and then under British rule (under king Charles II)
Duke of York handed over the administration of New Jersey which was under the
administration of multiple persons
(Glorious revolution : king Charles II was over throne, Parliament signed treaty with Dutch
king that became king of England, his authority as a king became lower than it was in the
past, Parliament had much more authority and authorized different ways of Protestantism)

6. Pennsylvania (1643)

Founded by William Penn, a Quaker

Quakers =
Branch of Christianity founded by George Fox (value spiritual communication with God,
downplay importance of clergy)
Believe in equality among men before God
Alienated the Anglican church + political elites
Refuse to serve in Army

(In the North, slavery was not as institutionalized as in the South (Virginia))

 WP. Was Persecuted in England because he refused to serve in an army => William
Penn led them and negotiated ( a win-win solution) with Charles II to create the
colony of Pennsylvania.
= no more persecution of the Quakers & no more political instability in England

Drafted Frame of Government of Pennsylvania => Holy experiment opened for all.

7. New Empshire

New Hamphshire is a colony where endangered soldiers were done with the contract and
were looking for economic opportunity, this colony is mostly made of people who fled from
Pennsylvania.

8. Delaware
First European to travel there : Henry Hudson (1609)
Delaware was part of the colony of New York.
The Dutch (1631) : first purchased land to Native Americans
After misunderstanding and massacres => too dangerous.

The Swedes : First Europeans to settle (1638)

Quickly fell under British control (1664) via force
Duke of York delivered a charter to William Penn (1681) for the “lower countries on the
Delaware “ => Separate from the charter of Pennsylvania.
(map of the southern colonies, 1750 : south Carolina, Georgia / Mason-Dixon Line 1763)

Virginia

Jamestown was first settlement in 1607

John Smith : “No work, no food” policy, the goal of this policy was to improve the
establishment and how the colony would prosper

Farming tobacco attracted more and more settlers

 Tensions w/ Natives (who is untitled to the land ?) : (settlers VS native Americans )
 Tensions between fur traders and farmers (settlers vs settlers) because trade
agreement over beaver fur but farmers wanted to have plantation

Maryland

George Calvert (Lord Baltimore) : MP(member of Parliament under James I), received
Charter (1632) declared his Catholicism
Sir Cecil Calvert (his son): land from Potomac River to Chesapeake Bay (rich resources +
farmlands)
As more Protestants took lands => Maryland Toleration Act (1649) : promised freedom to
worship (tensions remained) => the European conflicts were brought to the New World

Carolina (from Carol : in latin means Charles, to Charles I)

Charter given to group of 9 English noblemen => Lords Proprietors (1663) Economic
motivation (land, wealth)
Northern populations : small farmers coming south from Va.
Southern part : Large plantations

2 different populations (small VS large plantations : 2 different mentalities): 2 different

charters were delivered=> split : 1729 : 2 colonies with their own system of gov.
South Carolina : Rice and Indigo
North Carolina : Tobacco

Hot climate + large workforce needed (=> (slaves (from Carribean) in 1690) => slaves trade,
(first were brought to America) was developing .
Double interest :
 Slaves = free labours
  Export of their goods
Profitable business for southern colonies (triangle of trade : Africa--Carribean/America--
Europe)

Amistad (film à voir)

Georgia (1732)

Not many plantations because of geographic situations => difficulty to have plantation
James Oglethorpe : plan for Englishmen who had debts => they can come to the new world
to work and pay their debts back to Europe
Instead of jail : creation of Colony of Georgia where they could work to repay their debts.
Georgia = defensive buffer zone (against the Spanish Florida colony).

BOOK : The free and the unfree :a new history of the United States

The 7 years’ war (1756-1763)

The European tensions started to take place overseas , he 7y war = the first world war = first
time there was a conflict on the worldwide scale
Involved France and Great Britain

Why war ?
 Because of acquisition of lands, British want to expand to the west to get more lands
but the western part (us) occupied by French : French territory
 French wanted more trade posts to expand their business

The British empire could benefit from the import of raw materials from the colonies, and
these colonies could benefit from export to British colonies (tariffs on goods)

Mercantilism = gov policy consisting in insuring a favorable balance of trade and increasing
national power threw tariffs and monopoly. Goal : have gold and goods threw more trade.
French realized how healthy the British were and they feared its developed trade posts =>
main business of French empire = sugar plantations.

Colonel George Washington started to fight the French, he developed his military skills and
soon the British sent its fleet and troops.

Main losers of the war : natives

Trade agreements between Indians and French, but French no desire to settle in large
number, they sent missionaries to try to convert native Americans to Catholicism.

The defeat of French = growing number of British settlers that occupied the lands in
America, India, Western part of Africa.

End of the war went in 1763 with the Paris treaty in which French agreed to limit its
presence in the Carribean, India and North America.
War causes death : over 1million people died (mostly due to diseases) and debts : British
national debts was 75million pounds before the war and it became 133million pounds after
the war => necessity to have more lands, more trade posts.
Right after Paris treaty : Indian rebellion, fought but failed in moving British away.
Proclamation line established in 1763 was supposed to slow down the settlements toward
the West in America (Appalachian Mountains), the territory on the west was reserved for
natives, but the treaty was not respected and the line was ignored by British settlers.

War had a new impact on taxes imposed on colonies because of the debts.
 Declaration of independence against taxes, and the power of King

Voir polycopié :
Part 1 : new values and why they want independence “all men are created equals” : right of
liberty, life and pursuit of happiness.
Part 2 : list of grievances
Part 3 : official declaration of independence
End : list of states and Founding Fathers (especially Thomas Jefferson)

Official declaration of independence was after American revolution (or war of independence
1775-1783).

Enlightenment (1600-1800)

New philosophical wave : criticism of the society and government broadly.

Thinkers used sciences and reason to improve society and challenge the ruling system.

Political system was absolutism, absolute monarchy ruled by the King => Divine right of the
King given by God.

Challenge on :
 The intellectual level
 Political level

Thomas Hobbs (1558-1679) saw the evil in man, need of an absolute monarch

John Locke (1632-1704), English thinker that believed in natural rights that people were
born with rights that could not be taken away and he said “the gov is only legitimate if it
protects inalienable rights such as life, liberty and property” : direct influence on the
declaration of independence. He advocated for a limited role of the gov.
The main idea derived from John Locke’s philosophy is that people have the right to
overthrow a gov that violates these rights.
“Father of Liberalism”

Tabula Rasa : “we start with a virgin spirit and all your experiences shape your character”
Glorious Revolution (1685-1688)
John Locke tested the theory of checks and balances (separation of power)
Montesquieu believed in the separation of power and establishment of different branches
of power.
Rousseau believed in the general will : will of majority = will of the society.
Voltaire believed in the freedom of speech and religion.

= Founding Fathers = the one that created the oldest Constitution living today.

Declaration of independence (1776)

Constitution (1789)
Bill of Rights (1791) = 10 amendments to the Constitution

Thomas Jefferson from Virginia had lot of slaves

1808: act was passed to stop importing slaves

Slave = 3/5 of a man, people decide who become slave regarding to the pigmentation of
your skin

“all men are equal” = no women, no slaves, no natives

1863 = Emancipation Proclamation, 13th Amendment

What led to American Revolution ?

 Navigation Act 1651 meaning that you could have business from England to the New
World but this would be English businesses. It imposed taxation and tariffs that was
seen as intolerable (ex : the stamp act, taxes on tea) => “no taxation without
representation” = slogan said by the colonist that disagreed with the huge taxes
imposed by London
 Thomas Paine published a pamphlet “Common Sense” on the 10 th of January 1776, it
became a best seller.

Constitution

Article 1 : bicameral congress, representation of people, legislative power

Article 2 : executive power , president