A SUMMARY of Time Period #2 [1607–1754]

Europeans and American Indians maneuvered and fought for dominance, control, and security in North America as distinctive colonial and Native societies emerged.

European powers developed different approaches to colonization in North America. Spanish colonization relied heavily on extracting wealth, converting Native peoples to Christianity, and incorporating Native Americans and Africans into a racially diverse colonial society. French and Dutch colonization involved relatively few European settlers and depended heavily on trade, alliances, and cultural exchange with Native peoples. English colonization followed a different pattern. Beginning with Jamestown in 1607, large numbers of English men and women migrated to North America seeking economic opportunity, religious freedom, and improved living conditions. English settlers established permanent agricultural communities, claimed Native lands, and generally remained more socially separate from Native peoples.

The English desire for land became a major source of conflict with Native Americans. Differences over land ownership, political authority, gender roles, religion, and the use of natural resources further complicated relations. Native peoples responded to European expansion in different ways, including diplomacy, trade, accommodation, alliance, and armed resistance. Conflicts such as the Pequot War and King Philip's War reflected growing competition for land and power. In the Spanish Southwest, the Pueblo Revolt demonstrated Native resistance to Spanish efforts to impose Christianity and control Native labor. European colonization therefore produced neither uniform cooperation nor continuous warfare. Relationships varied according to place, economic interests, military circumstances, and the colonial policies of different European powers.

Geography, climate, migration, religion, and labor systems contributed to the development of distinct regions within Britain's North American colonies. New England, initially settled largely by Puritan families, developed around towns, small farms, commerce, and a relatively diversified economy. The Chesapeake colonies of Virginia and Maryland prospered through tobacco cultivation, while the middle colonies developed successful export economies based largely on cereal crops and attracted ethnically and religiously diverse populations. Farther south, South Carolina and Georgia developed plantation economies based on crops such as rice and indigo. The British West Indies became even more heavily dependent on sugar production and enslaved labor.

The demand for labor profoundly shaped colonial development. During much of the seventeenth century, Chesapeake planters relied heavily on indentured servants from Europe. As the supply of indentured labor declined and plantation agriculture expanded, colonial elites increasingly turned to enslaved Africans. Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 exposed tensions between Virginia's wealthy planters and poorer colonists and contributed to the transition toward a labor system increasingly based on racial slavery. By the eighteenth century, slavery had become firmly established in the British colonies, particularly in the Chesapeake, the southern colonies, and the West Indies.

As slavery expanded, British colonists created increasingly rigid racial categories and slave codes that defined African slavery as permanent and hereditary. Enslaved Africans nevertheless preserved and adapted elements of African language, religion, family life, music, and cultural traditions while creating new African American cultures. They also resisted slavery through both overt and covert means, including rebellion, escape, work slowdowns, sabotage, and the preservation of independent cultural practices. The growth of slavery tied Britain's North American colonies more closely to a larger Atlantic economy connecting Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas.

Colonial society became increasingly diverse during the first half of the eighteenth century. Immigration from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and other parts of Europe expanded the colonial population, while the forced migration of enslaved Africans continued. Population growth and economic expansion contributed to the growth of seaports, commerce, and a colonial merchant class. Although colonial society remained hierarchical, economic opportunity and the widespread ownership of land among white colonists created greater social mobility than existed in much of Europe.

Religion and political life also contributed to the development of a distinctive colonial society. Puritan religious influence weakened over time, while the First Great Awakening challenged established churches and emphasized a more personal and emotional religious experience. At the same time, Enlightenment ideas encouraged greater interest in reason, science, and individual rights. Both movements contributed to a colonial culture increasingly willing to question traditional sources of authority.

By the mid-eighteenth century, Britain's North American colonies had become economically prosperous, geographically expansive, and increasingly diverse. Colonial assemblies and traditions of local self-government gave many colonists experience managing their own political affairs. Britain's policy of allowing considerable colonial autonomy strengthened these habits of self-government. Although colonists generally continued to identify themselves as British subjects, decades of economic growth, religious diversity, local political participation, and relative autonomy had produced colonial societies with interests and institutions increasingly distinct from those of Britain.

APUSH Historical Thinking Focus

Period 2 is especially important for comparison, causation, and continuity and change over time. Students should be able to compare Spanish, French, Dutch, and British approaches to colonization; compare the New England, middle, Chesapeake, and southern colonies; explain the development of racial slavery; and trace changing relationships among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans. They should also recognize an important continuity: throughout the period, competition for land, labor, trade, and political power remained central to the development of colonial North America.