Colonial America
Early Attempts
• Vikings reach Canada – 1000AD
• Spanish
• Columbus 1492
• Ponce de Leon reaches Florida 1513
• St. Augustine 1565
• British
• Roanoke 1580s
• Jamestown 1607
Recreated Norse Sod Longhouse
Why Britain colonized America
• Land Pressures in Britain
– Enclosures
– Population Growth
• Trading Companies
• Mercantilism
– Strengthen state through trade, resources
– Competition with other empires (Spain, France)
And also…
• Religion
– Freedom of Practice (Puritans)
– Spreading Christianity
Roanoke
• Raleigh received Charter 1584
• Grenville arrives with settlers Spring 1585
• Left in August, 1585
• 75 men left behind, promised to return in next spring
• He was late returning, so in June,1586, Drake (he
was passing by) taxied colonists back to England
• Grenville returns soon after, leaves men again
• 1587, Grenville sent 117 more in under John
White
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Found 1 skeleton!
White’s daughter gave birth to Virginia Dare
George Howe is killed while crabbing
John White returned to England for help1587
• Did not return until 1590! (War, then pirating)
Chartered Companies (Early 1600s)
• London Company (Virginia)
• Cape Fear, NC to Long Island
• Plymouth Company (Pilgrims)
• Chesapeake Bay to New Brunswick
Jamestown & Colonial Virginia
• Jamestown founded in
1607 by London Co.
• Followed 30 years of
failed efforts
• Bad spot – powerful
Indian tribes, swamps
• By 1624 only 1,300 of
first 8,500 colonists
still alive
Major Milestones in Virginia
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Began to plant tobacco (1612)
First Africans arrive as labor (1619)
First representative assembly (1619)
Virginia Co. bankrupt, crown takes control
(1624)
• Population begins to grow; 8,000 by 1640
Major Milestones in Virginia
• Indian tribes and colonial government agree
on line separating control along Blue Ridge
Mountains (1644)
• Colonial population continues to grow
(16,000 by 1650, 40,000 by 1660) and
colonists keep moving west
• Tensions between colonists in east, west
Colonial Massachusetts
• Pilgrims land far north
of Virginia in 1620
• Other Puritans follow
– 1,000 in 1630 under
Mass. Bay Co.
• John Winthrop seeks
“City Upon a Hill”
(theocracy?)
Pilgrims
1620
Puritans
1630
Jamestown
1607
The Puritans of Massachusetts
Origins of Puritanism
• Reform movement in English Anglican
Church, began around 1560
• Movement a response to view that:
– Anglican Church structure too
hierarchical
– Religious practices too close to
Catholicism
Major Puritan Beliefs
• Original Sin
– Humans by nature sinful; they can only achieve grace
through self-examination and self discipline.
• Emphasis on Community
– Community had right to make sure members adhered to
community standards and expectations.
• Predestination
– Person born as one of the elect (will go to heaven) or
not. Best evidence? Live life rightly.
Evidence of a Life Lived Rightly
• Public confession of an experience of
conversion
• Being a good member of the faith,
following its moral codes
• Being frugal, self reliant and hard-working
– Ideally leads to wealth
Politics in Puritan Massachusetts
• Theocracy? Yes & No
• Puritan men had
influence in selecting
church leaders
• Puritan men had vote
in selecting colony’s
elected assembly
• Emphasis on
education, schools
The end of Puritan control
• As colony’s population grew, it also grew
more diverse (more non-Puritans)
• After 62 years, charter of 1692 gave all
males the right to vote
• However, Puritan cultural influence remains
– Emphasis on hard work, democracy, education,
‘exceptional’ nature of society (City Upon a
Hill)
Diverse Colonies
• Unlike Va. and Mass.
most colonies
“proprietorships”
• Maryland – Founder
Catholic but most
colonists Protestants
• New York diverse
(English, Dutch,
German, French, etc.)
Diverse Colonies
• Pennsylvania founded
by Quaker, prospered
from start, good
relations with Indians
• Georgia last
established (1733),
created as barrier to
Spanish, home for
poor of England
Similarities across colonies
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Most people work in agriculture (80%)
Representative assemblies take root
Less class-based than in England
More social mobility than in England
– Land plentiful, laborers not
Differences: North and South
Southern Colonies
•Good agricultural lands
•Large-scale agriculture
•Slavery extensive,
expanding
•Little manufacturing
•Religion less important
Northern Colonies
•Not as bountiful
•Small-scale agriculture
•Slavery fades
•Rifles, furniture, ships,
lumber, fishing
•Religion central