01:512:205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Spanish Armada, Spanish West Indies, Primogeniture
18 May 2018
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Chapter 2: The Planting of English America, 1500-1733
1. England’s Imperial Stirrings
1. After Columbus’s landfall, the Native American peoples had nearly been
extinguished mostly from disease (only about 10% survived)
2. From Florida and New Mexico southward, most of the southern half of the
New World lay firmly within the grip of imperial Spain
3. In 1600, North America remained mostly unexplored and unclaimed
1. Three European powers planted three primitive outposts in three
distant corners of the continent within three years of one another
2. The Spanish at Santa Fe in 1610, the French at Quebec in 1608, and
the English at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607
4. England had taken little interest in establishing its own overseas colonies
during the early 16th century because of religious conflict when King Henry
VIII launched the English Protestant Reformation
1. Catholics battled Protestants for years and balance of power shifted
2. After the Protestant Elizabeth ascended to the English throne in 1558,
Protestantism became dominant in England and a rivalry with Catholic
Spain intensified (Ireland became early scene of rivalry)
5. The Catholic Irish sought help from Catholic Spain to overthrow the new
Protestant English queen but the Spanish aid never really helped
6. Elizabeth’s troops crushed the Irish and the English crown confiscated
Catholic Irish lands and planted them with new Protestant landlords
2.
3. Elizabeth Energizes England
1. English buccaneers sought to promote the twin goals of Protestantism and
plunder by seizing Spanish treasure ships and raiding Spanish
settlements, even though England and Spain were at peace (the most
famous was Francis Drake who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth)
2. The coast of Newfoundland was the site of the first English attempt at
colonization but collapsed when promoter Sir Humphrey Gilbert lost his
life at sea in 1583—the dream inspired his gallant half brother
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1. Sir Walter Raleigh organized a group of settlers who landed in 1585
on North Carolina’s Roanoke Island, off the coast of Virginia, a region
named by the Virgin Queen Elizabeth in honor of herself
2. With Raleigh busy at home, the Roanoke colony suddenly vanished
3. The English failures at colonization contrasted embarrassingly with the
glories of the Spanish Empire, whose profits were enriching Spain beyond
its ambitious dreams; Philip II of Spain, foe of the Protestant Reformation
used his imperial gains to amass an Invincible Armada
1. Preparing to invade England, in 1588, the lumbering Spanish flotilla
arrived at the English Channel and using swifter, more maneuverable,
and more able manned ships, they inflicted heavy damage on the
cumbersome overladen Spanish ships
2. The defeat of the Spanish Armada marked the beginning of the end of
Spanish imperial dreams but the New World empire would last
4. When the Spanish Netherlands secured their independence, much of the
Spanish Caribbean slipped from Spain’s grasp to Holland; it was obvious
that Spain had overreached itself, seeds of its own decline
5. England’s victory over the Spanish Armada marked a red-letter day in
American history; it dampened Spain’s spirit and helped ensure England’s
naval dominance in the North Atlantic (master of oceans)
6. England now displayed many characteristics that Spain displayed on the
eve of its colonizing adventure a century earlier
1. A strong, unified national state under a popular monarch
2. A measure of religious unity after a protracted struggle
3. A vibrant sense of nationalism existing in the state
7. A flowering of the English national spirit bloomed in the wake of the
Spanish Armada’s defeat; a golden age of literature dawned
8. The English were seized with restlessness with curiosity about the
unknown and everywhere a new spirit of self-confidence, of vibrant
patriotism, and of boundless faith in the future
9. When England and Spain finally signed a treaty of peace in 1604, the
English people were poised to plunge headlong into the planting of their
own colonial empire in the New World
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4. England on the Eve of Empire
1. England’s population rose from some 3 million people in 1550 to about 4
million in 1600 and in the English countryside, landlords were enclosing
croplands for sheep grazing, forcing many farmers to leave
2. It was no accident that the woolen districts of eastern and western
England supplied many of the earliest immigrants to America
1. The economic depression hit the woolen trade in the late 1500s and
as a result, thousands of footloose farmers took to the road
2. The farmers were unemployed and drifted about England; the
remarkably mobile population alarmed many contemporaries whom
concluded that England was burdened with a surplus population
3. At the same time, laws of primogeniture decreed that only eldest sons
were eligible to inherit landed estates and younger sons were forced to
seek their fortunes elsewhere; bad luck plagued their early enterprises
4. In the early 1600s the joint-stock company forerunner of the modern
corporation was perfected and allowed a number of investors, called
adventurers to pool their capital together for adventures
5. Peace with Spain provided the opportunity for English colonization;
population growth provided workers, and unemployment, with a thirst for
adventure, for markets, and for religious freedom, provided motives
6. Joint-stock companies provided the financial means
5. England Plants the Jamestown Seedling
1. In 1606, a joint-stock company, the Virginia Company of London, received
a charter form King James I for a settlement in the New World
1. The main attraction was the promise of gold, combined with a strong
desire to find a passage through America to the Indies
2. Like most joint-stock companies, it was intended to last for only a few
years, after which its owners hoped to liquidate it for profit
3. The arrangement put severe pressure on the colonists, who were
threatened with abandonment if they did not quickly strike it rich on
the company’s behalf; few investors touch in terms of long-term
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Document Summary
Viii launched the english protestant reformation: catholics battled protestants for years and balance of power shifted, after the protestant elizabeth ascended to the english throne in 1558, Protestantism became dominant in england and a rivalry with catholic. Spain intensified (ireland became early scene of rivalry: the catholic irish sought help from catholic spain to overthrow the new. Protestant english queen but the spanish aid never really helped: elizabeth"s troops crushed the irish and the english crown confiscated. Spanish imperial dreams but the new world empire would last: when the spanish netherlands secured their independence, much of the. Spanish caribbean slipped from spain"s grasp to holland; it was obvious that spain had overreached itself, seeds of its own decline: england"s victory over the spanish armada marked a red-letter day in. Company that amounted to a declaration of war against the indians in the.
