Colonial American Diversity and Racial Marginalization

Introduction

It is often said that history is written by the victors. In the case of early American history, this is also true. Although America's founding settlers — much like the Founding Fathers of the new nation — are often portrayed as enthusiastic proponents of liberty, the truth is far more complicated. The New World did offer greater social mobility to some groups than did the Mother Country from which so many settlers came. Yet a new form of social immobility, partially based upon race, was instituted in many ways, disenfranchising African Americans and Native Americans alike.

Economics and Race in the New World Colonies

The New World colonies were founded for diverse reasons, and this is reflected in their evolution. Geography, the character of the settlers, and a number of other critical social and historical factors ensured that the colonies developed in very different ways. The early English colony of Jamestown, for example, was largely founded for economic reasons. Although this particular colony was ultimately not successful in its original ambitions, later women who came to what would eventually become the state of Virginia were called "tobacco brides" because a woman's dowry was typically paid in tobacco (Foner, Give Me Liberty, 26). This highlights the extent to which the cash crop shaped the emerging economy of the new colony. This dependence upon cash crops was likewise reflected in the colony's reliance on slavery and its asymmetrical power relationships, even among freed men. Later, tobacco would be replaced by cotton as the driving economic force behind the South's economy.

The dependence upon slavery would soon become characteristic of all the Southern colonies. What was once considered a transient status among whites — in the form of indentured servitude — became a permanent condition for Black residents of the Americas through racially determined slavery. While indentured servitude was common throughout the colonies, and house slaves were present in all the new settlements, slavery as a primary means of economic production was concentrated in the South. This would later become the source of deepening tensions between the North and South, tensions evident even during the framing of the Constitution and that would ultimately culminate in the Civil War. Yet even before America was formally a nation, status, citizenship, and freedom were already racially coded.

Racial discrimination extended well beyond the institution of slavery. Tensions were rife between Native Americans and colonial incursions, particularly those of the English, in contrast to more purely trade-driven Europeans such as the French. Still, during the early stages of settlement, some efforts were made to establish better relationships with the Native American population: "Despite their insistence that Indians had no real claim to the land since they did not cultivate or improve it, most colonial authorities in practice recognized Indians' title based on occupancy. They acquired land by purchase, often in treaties" (Foner, Give Me Liberty, 56). Although later in history colonists would not honor Native Americans' right to land even when specified in treaties, during this earlier period they at least showed slightly more consideration.

Even when colonists acknowledged Indian rights through treaties, however, they were transforming the land in ways that fundamentally altered the relationship between humans and nature — with significant, negative consequences for Native peoples. Settlers fenced in land and allowed their own livestock to roam freely, which damaged Indian hunting and gathering. The burning of wood as fuel also deprived Indians of forest cover necessary for hunting (Foner, Give Me Liberty, 58). Although Native Americans engaged in some profitable trading relationships with colonists, the overall effects upon native life were harmful and ultimately undercut their claim to the land, their right to govern their territories, and their ability to sustain their way of life.

Religion and Colonial Identity

Religion similarly emerged as a key distinction among the different colonies. The New England colonies were founded by Puritans who sought to purify the Anglican Church of so-called Popish influences. In contrast to the later, secular or Deist ideals of the Founding Fathers — who would deemphasize religion and stress the need for civil liberty — John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decried so-called natural liberty as evil, asserting instead that true liberty was the freedom given by God (Foner, Voices of Freedom, 31). Although the Puritans had themselves been persecuted in England, this did not foster a love of religious liberty within their own society. In Massachusetts, individuals such as the female preacher Anne Hutchinson, who spoke out against the orthodoxy of church elders — including their advocacy of predestination — were condemned (Foner, Voices of Freedom, 34). It should be noted, however, that despite Hutchinson's trial, Puritan society sometimes offered greater prospects for female empowerment than did traditional English society, particularly for working-class women: "Although all ministers were men, the Puritan belief in the ability of believers to interpret the Bible opened the door for some women to claim positions of religious leadership" (Foner, Give Me Liberty, 66).

In contrast to the dogmatic beliefs of the Puritans, the colony of Maryland advanced the Act Concerning Religion, which permitted a degree of religious tolerance within its borders. Pennsylvania, although founded for religious reasons by the Quaker William Penn, ultimately proclaimed itself a colony that would allow freedom for all (Foner, Voices of Freedom, 47). Regardless of these more tolerant impulses, colonial practices continued in many ways to harm Native Americans, as missionaries sought to dismantle traditional religious and spiritual belief structures in the name of spreading the Gospel.

Conclusion

The enrichment of the colonial South was, in many ways, built upon the loss of freedom of many. The history of early America reveals that the ideals of liberty so frequently invoked by its founders were selectively applied — extended to some, and systematically withheld from others on the basis of race, religion, and social status. Understanding this contradiction is essential to understanding both the origins of the United States and the long arc of the struggle for genuine equality that followed.

Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011.

Foner, Eric. Voices of Freedom. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016.