Missing Pages Scott McWilliams

This episode rounds out the series of overview style episodes with an exploration of the violence that permeated this era, especially the 17th century. Religious turmoil led to changing laws, even for the most devout colonies. Wars were perpetrated by and affected everyone the world over. The level of violence is higher than anyone living in America has seen on their shores for over 80 years. The mere act of survival was not guaranteed for a large portion of the populaion. Therefore, it is necessary to use this context to understand the decisions of those in the past.
The AP notes are lacking for most of these conflicts, though that is to be expected. To cover all of these would surely double the amount of curriculum necessary. So I’ll do my part and fill in those missing pages…

Music
Intro: Fractured Timeline - Sémø
Outro: You Kill Me - The Polarity
Sources
The Barbarous Years - Bernard Bailyn
Crisis and Catastrophe: The Global Crisis of the Seventeenth Century Reconsidered - Geoffrey Parker
“The Battle of Weyanoke Creek”: A Story of the Third Anglo-Powhatan War in Early Carolina - Lars C. Adams
War and Politics: Powhatan Expansionism and the Problem of Native American Warfare - James D. Rice
Tales from a Revolution: Bacon’s Rebellion and the Transformation of Early America - James D. Rice
Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Pasts - Daniel K. Richter
American Colonies: The Settling of North America - Alan Taylor



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit missingpages.substack.com

This episode covers the most difficult topic to date: slavery. This is a topic that still rouses lots of debate to this day, so I was extra careful to ensure that the facts were straight. I draw the thread of slavery from before Columbus’s journey to slightly after this era charting the transition from servant labor to slave labor. Along the way I discuss how the views of these two types of labor shifted over time and the laws that were enacted to ingrain the practice in society.
The AP notes did not cover this topic very thoroughly, so I had my work cut out for me. Regardless, I think I was able to portray the facts justly and tried to get into the heads of those involved. Join me in this effort to fill in the missing pages…
Music
Intro: Fractured Timeline - Sémø
Outro: Wild Sea - Maya Isacowitz
Sources
The Origins of American Slavery - Betty Wood
American Slavery, American Freedom - Edmund S. Morgan
New England Bound - Wendy Warren
The Barbarous Years - Bernard Bailyn
American Colonies: The Settling of North America - Alan Taylor
Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Pasts - Daniel K. Richter



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit missingpages.substack.com

On this episode of Missing Pages, I fill out some of the colonies that have been neglected thus far. These are colonies that fall outside the narrative structure of the colonial American story, but are important to that story regardless. These colonies include Maryland, South Carolina, and the entirety of New France.
These colonies are mentioned in my high school notes, but the details are incredibly lacking. These colonies spotlight the diversity of the colonial world and act as a segue to a topic that I have been hinting at and shapes the rest of the American story: slavery.
So come along with me and let’s fill in those missing pages…
Music
Intro: Fractured Timeline - Sémø
Outro: Falling - Gumo
Sources
Colonial Maryland: A History - Aubrey C. Land
Colonial South Carolina: A History - Robert M. Weir
American Colonies: The Settling of North America - Alan Taylor
Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Pasts - Daniel K. Richter
The French in North America: 1500-1783 - W. J. Eccles


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit missingpages.substack.com

This episode covers the important, though overlooked, Dutch colony in the New World: New Amsterdam. This colony was squished between Massachusetts and Virginia and was instrumental in forwarding many of the ideals that would be used to justify the American Revolution.
The initial ragtag group of settlers would slowly expand gaining more recognition from the Dutch government and the rest of the colonial powers, despite its small size. This led to a power vacuum which led to many an authoritarian trying to control the colony. This led to a growing need for representative government and liberty in religion and person. This debate was held for over a decade before the English colonies cut the process short.
There are many missing pages that help flesh out this unique colony. Let’s fill those in…
Music
Intro: Fractured Timeline - Sémø
Outro: The Beach House - Space Doves
Sources
The Island at the Center of the World - Russell Shorto
American Jezebel - Eve LaPlante
American Colonies: The Settling of North America - Alan Taylor


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit missingpages.substack.com

This episode covers the story of the two most famous rebels in the early American colonies: Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. But they weren’t the only ones. Several, far less known, people were continuously challenging the existing power structure. There is a thread that is beginning to materialize that will only grow as we move forward through history.
Along with that, this episode covers the growing call for religious tolerance in a world of increasing persecution. Carrying forward the ideas from previous episodes, the desire for liberty and democracy is bubbling under the surface in the English colonies. So grab your treatises and let’s fill in those missing pages…
Music
Intro: Fractured Timeline - Sémø
Outro: Be Bold, Be Brave - To The Valley
Sources
Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul - John M. Barry
American Jezebel - Eve LaPlante
A Stranger Among Saints: Stephen Hopkins, the Man Who Survived Jamestown and Saved Plymouth - Jonathan Mack


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit missingpages.substack.com

This episode continues to travel over well-trodden ground as we explore the founding and settling of the Massachusetts Bay colony. We cover the colonies before the Massachusetts, the impetus for the massive migration, the regional characteristics of the new arrivals, and the tumultuous first couple decades. There is plenty of intrigue in the courts, religious jockeying, and a bloody and disastrous war to discuss.
The expansion of the Puritan colonies in New England is what many generations of Americans have learned as the beginning of American history. This is not so in my AP notes, as we have seen already. However, the Puritans are covered very heavily, more so than their southern counterparts in Virginia. Nevertheless, there are lots of details that are missed in the rapidly paced, and often broad, AP notes.
We’ll have to dig deep in this episode to fill in those missing pages.
Music
Intro: Fractured Timeline - Sémø
Outro: We Won’t Survive - Assaf Ayalon
Sources
Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul - John M. Barry
Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America - David Hackett Fischer
American Jezebel - Eve LaPlante
A Stranger Among Saints: Stephen Hopkins, the Man Who Survived Jamestown and Saved Plymouth - Jonathan Mack
American Colonies: The Settling of North America - Alan Taylor


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit missingpages.substack.com