Part I Old and New Worlds Meet 1

1 The Peoples of Eastern North America: Societies in Transition 3

1 America Before Columbus and the Problem of History 4

2 The Americas in Ancient Times 5

3 The Eastern Woodlands, 1000–1300 9

4 Eastern Woodlands Societies in Transition, 1300–1500 20

5 Earliest Contacts with Europeans 22

2 The Age of European Exploration 27

1 Western Europe, 1300–1450 28

2 The Portuguese in Africa 30

3 Spain Encounters the New World 32

4 Sixteenth-Century European Competitors 39

5 England: The Elizabethan Prelude 41

Part II The Seventeenth-Century Settlements 51

3 The English Conquer Virginia, 1607–1660 53

1 Virginia Before the English 54

2 The Virginia Company: Early Settlement 55

3 The Charter of Liberties 64

4 The Massacre of 1622 and Fall of the Company 69

5 Growth and Consolidation, 1625–1660 72

4 The Conquest Continues: New England, 1620–1660 78

1 New England Before the English 79

2 The Pilgrims 80

3 Massachusetts: A City on the Hill 84

4 Establishing and Defending Order 91

5 Challenges from England 101

6 Stable Societies 103

5 Diverse Colonies: New France, New Netherland, Maryland, and the West Indies 106

1 New France 108

2 New Netherland and Delaware: The Dutch and Swedish Beginnings 113

3 Maryland: A Catholic Proprietary 120

4 English Colonies in the West Indies 128

6 The Restoration Era 134

1 The Return of Charles II 135

2 Mercantilism: The Navigation Laws 138

3 New York Becomes an English Colony 140

4 The Carolinas: Early Settlement 148

7 The Later Years of Charles II 156

1 Virginia: Bacon’s Rebellion and Its Aftermath 157

2 Massachusetts: The Struggle to Remain Self-Governing 167

3 New Jersey and Pennsylvania: The Beginnings 173

8 James II and the Glorious Revolution 181

1 The Dominion of New England 182

2 Massachusetts Reclaims Control 186

3 New York: Leisler’s Rebellion 189

4 Maryland 194

5 Aftermath 196

9 The Eras of William and Mary, and Queen Anne 200

1 William and Mary’s Colonial Policy 201

2 The Salem Witchcraft Trials 203

3 War on the Northern Frontier, 1689–1713 213

4 War and Political Change in the Carolinas 217

5 Proprietary Problems in Pennsylvania and New Jersey 222

Part III The Eighteenth-Century Provinces in a Changing Continent 227

10 The Economy and Labor System in British North America 229

1 The British Atlantic Economy 230

2 The Southern Plantation System 232

3 Northern Farming and Commerce 240

4 The Mercantilist System 246

5 Money and Taxation 251

6 The Standard of Living: Poverty and Prosperity 255

11 Settler Families and Society 260

1 New World Families 261

2 Children 267

3 Patriarchal Authority 272

4 Social Structure: Rank and Class 278

12 White Women and Gender 284

1 Gender and the Settler Experience in the Seventeenth Century 285

2 Regional Variations 289

3 Gender in a Commercializing Culture: The Eighteenth-Century Refined Lady 296

4 Gender in a Commercializing Culture: Middling and Working White Women 300

13 British North American Religion, Education, and Culture, 1689–1760 308

1 Religion 309

2 Education 318

3 The Anglicization of Taste 324

4 Libraries, Literature, and the Press 326

5 Science and the Arts 329

6 Popular Culture 332

14 Slavery and the African American Experience, 1689–1760 335

1 Slavery: An Evolving Institution 336

2 Slaves’ Experiences 341

3 The African American Family 352

4 African American Culture 355

5 Free African Americans 359

6 Resistance to Slavery 362

15 Expanding Spanish and French Empires in North America 367

1 Florida 369

2 New Mexico 375

3 The Growth of New France 380

4 The French Upper Country, or Pays d’en Haut 384

5 Louisiana 389

6 Texas 394

7 Significance for the British Colonies 396

16 Native American Societies and Cultures, 1689–1760 397

1 Native American Societies in the Eighteenth Century 399

2 The Nations of the Northern Frontier 402

3 The Nations of the Southern Frontier 416

4 Adaptation or Decline? 424

17 Immigration and Expansion in British North America, 1714–1750 427

1 The Germans and Scots-Irish 428

2 The Founding of Georgia 438

3 The Urban Frontier 441

18 British North American Institutions of Government 447

1 The Royal Framework 449

2 Local Government: Town Meeting and County Court 450

3 The Provincial Assembly: Crown versus People 453

4 Parties and Factions in the Age of Walpole 466

5 Toward a Republican Ideology 470

19 Britain, France, and Spain: The Imperial Contest, 1739–1763 473

1 The War of Jenkins’ Ear 474

2 The Struggle for the Ohio 477

3 The Conquest of Canada 489

4 The War’s Consequences 499

Selected Bibliography 507

Index 573