Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the New World [1607]. Established by
a joint stock company, the settlers endured several years of starvation and the deaths of many
until tobacco made the settlement sustainable. Anxious to attract more settlers, the London
Company initiated the headright system that provided land to anyone who paid their own passage
or the passage of others to the settlement. The headright system promoted the establishment of
large tobacco plantations and thus conflict over land with the natives as the settlers took more
land for tobacco production. Tobacco growers enlarged their landholding through the headright
and secured workers by paying for the passage of indentured servants. By the end of the 1600s
however, they had turned to a more reliable source of labor – African slaves. The London
Company also established the House of Burgesses [1619] so that settlers would have a voice in
the governance of the colony. Although not completely democratic, this assembly was in keeping
with English political tradition since the Magna Carta. Jamestown grew into the colony of
Virginia and established the pattern for the southern colonies.
The New England colonies were founded as a haven for religious groups persecuted in England.
The Separatists [Pilgrims] landed at Plymouth after signing the Mayflower Compact [1620]
establishing another bedrock of American democracy – the idea that the people form the
government. They struggled to survive as had the Jamestown settlers. With the help of a Native
American, they learned to plant corn and sustained themselves but never prospered. A much
larger migration of Puritans landed in the Massachusetts Bay [1630s]. The Puritans invested in
their own joint stock company and brought their charter with them to the New World
Consequently they established a democratic form of government that included town meetings
and a general assembly. All male church members could vote. They prospered almost
immediately, harvesting the lumber of the great northern woods, building ships, and engaging in
trade. They established schools so that their children could learn to read the Bible and established
religious conformity. Dissenters were exiled to other parts of the region. Puritan families were
large so the population grew and spread to other areas of New England, taking its religious and
governing ideas along. New Englanders enjoyed religious homogeneity, a thriving economy
based on trade, and a democratic government.
Settlers to the Middle Colonies included a great variety of Europeans, including the Dutch who
first settled New York and the Swedes who first settled Delaware. English Puritans also moved
into the Middle Colonies and English Quakers settled Pennsylvania. The Quakers were a group
of religious dissenters who believed that everyone had an inner light. They promoted religious
tolerance and good relations with the natives in their region and so the colony attracted many
other groups of people. The Middle Colonies had the greatest diversity of people and religions in
British North America. The king (Charles II) granted William Penn land in payment of a debt so
Penn had the rights of a proprietor and could name the governor of the colony. Pennsylvania also
had a representative assembly as did the other colonies in the region. Founded for the purpose of
profit, this region’s economic prosperity rested on its good harbors and fertile fields. It became
known as the ‘breadbasket’ of the colonies.
South Carolina was founded as a proprietary colony when the king (Charles II) granted land to
the eight Lords Proprietors in payment of a debt, just as he had to a single proprietor in
Pennsylvania. The proprietors hoped to make a profit by charging settlers a quitrent on the land.
The proprietors commissioned John Locke to write the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina.
This document included policies, such as religious toleration, designed to attract settlers. It also
included provisions for establishing a social class system based on the granting of titles to large
landholders. Although this provision was never carried out, it shows the intention to make
Carolina a society based on deference to the elites, unlike the experiences in New England and
the middle colonies where religion at first emphasized equality. In order to encourage
immigration, the proprietors granted large tracts of land to settlers through the headright system,
just as in Virginia. The headright system led to the establishment of large plantations based on
cash crops that made South Carolina a distinctly southern colony. The first settlers were
Englishmen who emigrated from the British colony of Barbados and brought a well-developed
slave system with them (8-1.4). Slavery made the plantation owners very wealthy (8-1.5). Other
settlers attracted to the prosperous colony came from France, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland,
and Ireland. Assured of religious choice by the Fundamental Constitutions, settlers came from
diverse religious backgrounds, including French Huguenots and Jewish settlers. The South
Carolina colony’s natural resources, including fertile land, a mild climate, and many waterways,
also contributed to the development plantations and prosperity (8-1.5). Originally the Lords
Proprietors controlled the government through a Governor and Grand Council, which included
representatives of the proprietors, the Carolina elite and a smaller representation of the common
people of the colony. Just as in the other colonies, Carolina had some degree of democracy from
the beginning
1. What was the first permanent
English settlement in the New
World? When was it established?
2. What type of colony was
Jamestown (Virginia)?
3. What crop led to the success of
Jamestown?
4. What was the headright system?
5. Who replaced indentured
servants as the primary labor force
on plantations?
6. Why were African slaves
considered a more reliable source of
labor than indentured servants?
7. What was the governing body in
Virginia?
8. Why were most of the colonies in
New England settled?
9. What was the Mayflower
Compact and why was it significant?
10. Who established the
Massachusetts Bay colony?
11. Describe the government in
both colonies.
12. Why were schools established in
the Massachusetts Bay colony?
13. What happened to dissenters?
*people who disagreed with the
leaders
14. Describe the New England
colonies.
15. What groups of people settled in
the Middle Colonies?
16. Who were the Quakers?
17. Why were most of the colonies
in this region founded?
18. What was the economy of the
Middle Colonies based upon?
19. What was the Fundamental
Constitutions of Carolina?
20. How were the southern colonies
different from the other regions of
America?
21. What was the headright system?
22. How did the headright system
impact the development of
Carolina?
23. Where did most of Carolina’s
early settlers immigrate from?
24. What natural resources in
Carolina contributed to its success?
8-1.3 People to Know…
French Huguenots—French Protestants who were persecuted and harassed by the Catholic
population in Europe during the 17th century. As a result, many Huguenots traveled to the New
World to make a fresh start, and thousands settled in South Carolina.
Settlers from Barbados (Barbadians)—Many Europeans who came to the New World first
arrived in Barbados (an island in the Caribbean). Once there, they developed a plantation system
to grow sugar cane. When the British settlement of Charles Town began to thrive, many settlers
from Barbados decided to come to South Carolina. They brought with them the secrets of the
plantation system (which was used to grow rice and indigo in South Carolina), along with
thousands of African slaves to work on the plantations.
VOCABULARY:
Joint Stock Company
Indentured Servant
a laborer under contract of the employer in exchange for an extension
to the period of their indenture, which could thereby continue
indefinitely (normally it would be for seven years).
Slave
person owned by another individual that does not have any rights or
freedoms
Slavery
system where an individual is owned by another person and used as a
source of labor
(Slave Labor)
Charter
large scale farm on which cash crops were grown – depended on slaves
to provide labor
a document giving royal permission to start a colony
Democracy
government run by the people of the country;
Quitrent
fee paid by a property owner
Headright method
system for granting land, usually to settlers moving into an area
uninhabited by settlers. Most headrights were for 50 to 100 acres of
land, and were given to anyone willing to cross the Atlantic Ocean and
help populate the colonies. These were granted to anyone who would
pay for the transportation costs of a laborer or Indentured servant.
Magna Carta
British constitutional charter which limited the power of kings and was
signed by King John I in 1215; constitution ensuring rights and liberties
Representative Assembly
a political institution in which a number of persons representing the
population or privileged orders within the population of a state come
together to debate, negotiate with the executive (originally the king or
other ruler) and legislate (Make laws)
General Assembly
public meeting, legislative assembly
Plantation
*governing body in Carolina
Mayflower Compact
agreement created in 1620 by the passengers on the Mayflower that
established the first local government system in the New World
House of Burgesses
the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in
North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company,
who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English
craftsmen to settle in North America and to make conditions in the
colony more agreeable for its current inhabitants
Grand Council
Governor
the chief executive of a colony or state
Fundamental Constitutions of
Carolina
adopted in March 1669 by the eight Lords Proprietor of the Province of
Carolina, which included most of the land between what is now
Virginia and Florida. It replaced the Charter of Carolina and the
Concessions and Agreements of the Lords Proprietors of the Province
of Carolina (1665). Unpopular with many of the early settlers, the
Fundamental Constitutions were never ratified by the assembly, and
were largely abandoned by 1700
Primary Source Reading:
In 1669, the 8 Lord Proprietors who had been granted the land of Carolina had John Lock write a form of
government for the new colony. Below is the beginning of the Fundamental Constitution of Carolina.
Our sovereign lord the King having, out of his royal grace and bounty, granted unto us the
province of Carolina, with all the royalties, properties, jurisdictions, and privileges of a county
palatine, as large and ample as the county palatine of Durham, with other great privileges; for the
better settlement of the government of the said place, and establishing the interest of the lords
proprietors with equality and without confusion; and that the government of this province may be
made most agreeable to the monarchy under which we live and of which this province is a part; and
that we may avoid erecting a numerous democracy, we, the lords and proprietors of the province
aforesaid, have agreed to this following form of government, to be perpetually established amongst
us, unto which we do oblige ourselves, our heirs and successors, In the most binding ways that can
be devised.
1. Who granted the lord proprietors the land?
2. According to this government, will their land stay under the monarchy?
3. The last line states that the government should be upheld “in the most binding ways that can be
devised.” Do you think a government should be most binding? Why or why not?
Workbook pages:
Page 41 Literacy Elements: Data Retrieval Chart
Page 42 Literacy Elements: Reading a Flow Chart