Essential Question
Why did the English establish
colonies in North America?
English Colonies in America
Southern Colonies
Sir Walter Raleigh
Colony chartered by
Queen Elizabeth
Sailed to the Outer
Banks, NC
Landed on the
island of Roanoke
Jamestown
1606 – charter granted for the Virginia Company
Arrived in Virginia in 1607, established the
settlement of Jamestown
Problems at Jamestown
Colonists were
townspeople
No farming, livestock
experience
Upper class refused to
work, hoped to get rich
Only 38 of the
colonists made it
through the first winter
Quote, Jamestown Survivor
“When our people were fed out of the
common store and labored jointly . . . Glad
was the man that could slip from his labor .
. . Presuming that howsoever the harvest
prospered, the general store must
maintain them, by which means we reaped
not so much corn for the labors of 30 men,
as three men have done for themselves.”
John Smith
Emerged as
Jamestown’s leader
Began trading with
local Indians, the
Powhatan
Confederacy
Helped colonists make
it through the winter
Tobacco
John Rolfe brought
seeds of tobacco
from the Caribbean
Became the primary
cash crop of
Virginia
Virginia House of Burgesses
First representative
government for the
colonists
Right to elect an
assembly and make
own laws
Virginia River Plantations, 1640
Georgia
James Oglethorpe –
asked the king for
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a colony for the poor
in debtor’s prison
buffer between the
Carolinas and
Spanish Florida
Savannah
New England
Settlements
Puritans
Desired to purify
the Anglican
Church
Faced persecution
by King James I
Massachusetts
Royal charter in 1629
granted to the
Massachusetts Bay
company
John Winthrop – led
a group to
Massachusetts in
1630 due to
increased Puritan
persecution in
England
The Mayflower
Set sail September
1620 – 102
passengers
Storm blew the ship
off course and it
arrived off the coast of
Cape Cod
Decided to land at
Plymouth
Quote, John Winthrop
“The Lord will make our name a praise and
glory, so that men shall say of succeeding
plantations: ‘The Lord make it like that of
New England.’ For we must consider that
we shall be like a City upon a Hill; the eyes
of all people are on us.”
Religious Dissent
Puritans only allowed male Puritan church
members to vote and participate in the
governing of Mass.
All residents were also forced to attend
church services- regardless of church
affiliation
This angered some church members

These members left and founded two other
colonies
Founding of Rhode Island
Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson
challenged leadership of Massachusetts
Williams believed in religious
tolerance
Hutchinson believed that women
had a place in church leadership
Rhode Island
They were forced to
leave Mass and settle
elsewhere
Established colony for
religious reasons
Connecticut
1636 – Thomas
Hooker moved his
congregation from
Mass. to the
Connecticut River
Valley
Wanted all men, not
Puritan church
members to be able
to vote
The Middle Colonies
New Netherland/New York
Originally was
called New
Netherland



1609– Dutch sent
explorer Henry
Hudson
He discovered the
Hudson River Valley
Economy based on
trade
New Amsterdam
Major settlement of
New Amsterdam on
Manhattan Island
Other immigrants
arrived as well
New York
1664 – King Charles
II decided to seize
New Netherland
Wanted it for trade
income
Fur trade, wheat, rye
Pennsylvania
King Charles II
granted William
Penn land to pay off
a debt
Penn was a Quaker,
part of a persecuted
religious group
Penn desired
political and
religious freedom
Legislative
assembly elected
by voters
Called his colony
“The Holy
Experiment”
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
Quaker settlers
Germans
Scots-Irish
Lower counties
purchased by Penn
became Delaware