Colonizing the Chesapeake
and New England
Colonies
APUSH
Unit One
English Colonization
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1497- John Cabot commissioned to find a
Northern route to reach the Indies (America).
Cabot claims land in New England, Nova
Scotia and Newfoundland for the English.
For about 100 years the English chose to
pirate Spanish and Portuguese ships on the
seas.
Most famous “pirate” was Sir Francis Drake.
1607-Jamestown established in Virginia.
1621-colony of Massachusetts established!
English colonization had begun!
Joint Stock Companies
formed
English decided to make
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the “process” of
colonization less dangerous
for them.
Two companies are formed
to colonize the Americas.
– Plymouth Company.
– London Co. Of Virginia.
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They are going to set up a
colony in territory claimed
by Raleigh.
Territory was named
Virginia.
Takes three years to raise
money, supplies for trip.
Joint Stock Companies
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Designed to make investors money!
Controlled by a Board of Directors.
Pay Employees to work for them!
Shareholders make money when
products are brought back from
Colony and sold for a profit.
Main Goal is to Make Money!
London Company of Virginia
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Organized by Business
investors.
June of 1606, King
James grants them a
Charter to form colony
of Jamestown!
December of 1606money secured in
England for 3 ships and
144 men.
Hired No Farmers!
All City Folk!
April 1607
• Rough Atlantic Crossing during
Hurricane season!
• Many have never been on board of a
ship before!
• 39 men die during the Voyage!
• Reach the Chesapeake in July of
1607! Weather is warm and Muggy!
• Orders opened upon arrival dictate
John Smith as one of the leaders.
July / August 1607
• Settlers build a trading post in the Middle
of a River Delta / swamp.
• People start to die off immediately!
• No Sanitation!
• Pit dug near the river to be used as a
toilet/waste disposal…below the water line!
• Colonists contract “Bloody Flux”
January of 1608
• Things are at their
worst!
• A Supply ship
arrives with 120
new men!
• They found a large
Graveyard with only
38 survivors!
• 5 Days after arrival,
supplies and shelter
burn to the ground!
Spring of 1608
• 158 people are able to survive through
the Winter!
• Aided by the local Indian tribes. Chief
Opeshcancanough believes that is what
he should do!
• English start digging up the surrounding
countryside looking for Gold!
• Indian people are amazed!
Smith’s Mission
• Survival is his Number
One priority!
• Motto: “you don’t
work…you don’t eat!”
• Daily life becomes like a
boot camp!
• Up at Dawn, in bed
before dark!
• Saved the citizens of
Jamestown!
Captain John Smith
• By Spring of 1608 He has had enough!
• He has a military background!
• Seized control of settlement in January
of 1608.
• He reorganizes the settlement in a
military fashion!
• Moved settlement of Jamestown up
River to higher ground!
Pocahontas
• She was the daughter of
the chief of the Powhatan.
• She married John Rolfe, a
tobacco farmer and went
to England.
• She died there and is
buried in a London
graveyard.
• She never married John
Smith!
Three types of colonies in New World
• Plantation Colonies: A
society based on the cultivation
of a cash crop. (tobacco, rice,
indigo)
• Trading Colonies: A society
based on trade with the native
peoples of a region. (beaver
fur, pelts, fish)
• Settlement Colonies: A
society based on subsistence
farming. (lumber,
shipbuilding, trade with
Europe)
Jamestown after Smith
• Smith had moved the
settlement upstream & it
was moved again after
he left.
• Eventually became a
trading port for English
tobacco farmers.
• English never found any
Gold of significance.
• Original settlement was
excavated recently and
artifacts are being
catalogued.
New
England
Colonies
Middle
Colonies
Chesapeake
Colonies
Southern
Colonies
Prison
Colony
Mercantilism
Economic Theory of most European Nations
between 1500 and 1700.
Basically means “the more gold / money you
have, then the more powerful you are.”
Most European nations wanted to collect as
much bullion (raw gold or silver) as possible.
•Difficult winter (44 out of 102 survived)….
•First year went through a “starving time”
•Developed friendly relations with Indian tribes
•Squanto befriended settlement
•Plymouth settlement survived under the
leadership of Gov. William Bradford
•First Thanksgiving
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Contrast with Virginia: Different
environment & key role of religion for
Puritans
Congregationalists & Separatists
Pilgrims (the latter) found Plymouth
(1620)
– Fled Religious and Political Persecution
•41 Male passengers on the
Mayflower formed into a
“civil body politic”, signed a
compact promising to write
and obey "just and equal
laws ... for the general good
of the colony."
•The compact brought an
element of democracy to
America and was an example
of the practice of selfgovernment in the colonies.
•All the colonies practiced
some form of selfgovernment…………
James I (1603 - 1625)
•James I was the son of Mary, Queen of
Scots. He had become James VI of
Scotland after Mary lost her head, and he
became James I when he took over
England.
•He was the first to call himself "King of
Great Britain." James struggled with
Parliament - he thought he ruled by divine
right.
•There was a new English translation of
Bible - the "King James Bible.“
•He persecuted Pilgrims because they
would not recognize him as the religious
leader of the Church of England.
•So, they became a political risk as well.
Pilgrims merge with
the Puritans to form
Massachusetts Bay
Colony
•John Winthrop, founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
•Middle class settlers, educated and organized
•Successful as fur traders, fishermen and shipbuilders
•Ruled as “Bible Commonwealth” or theocracy
•New England Way
= Puritan covenant with God
•To establish holy society----”city upon a hill”
Pilgrims merge with
the Puritans to form
Massachusetts Bay
Colony
Communities well
organized
Established towns
Protestant Work Ethic
Family values
New England
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Building the Bay Colony
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Franchise (right to vote) extended to
“freemen” – adult Puritan men of
Congregational church (about 40% of men in
the colony ~ higher percentage than in
England)
However, in town government, all propertyowning males could vote in town meetings
– Direct democracy----self government
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Since idea of government was to enforce
God’s laws, religious leaders (e.g. John
Cotton) were very influential
Building the Bay Colony
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Clergy were barred from formal political office –
early “church/state separation”
Puritan ideas: “calling” to God’s work, Protestant
work ethic, limited worldly pleasures, fear of hell
Trouble in Bible Colony
(Puritan Rebels)
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Social harmony when only Puritans,
but that didn’t last
Quakers: fines, floggings,
banishments, executions
Anne Hutchinson: truly saved don’t
need to obey (“antinomianism”
the theological doctrine that by
faith and God's grace a Christian is
freed from all laws (including the
moral standards of the culture)
– Banished from Mass. Bay
– Travels to Rhode Island with her
children and helps organize this
settlement
Trouble in Bible Colony
(Puritan Rebels)
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Roger Williams
Roger Williams: extreme
Separatist, denied right of civil
government to govern religious
behavior, challenged charter for
illegally taking land from Indians
Avoided exile to England by
fleeing to Rhode Island where in
1636, aided by Indians, he
started a colony in the
Providence area
Started the first Baptist church
Allowed complete freedom of
religion
New England Spreads Out
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1635: Hartford (Conn.) founded by
Dutch/English settlers. Some Puritans moved
westward to Connecticut with Rev. Thomas
Hooker
1639: Fundamental Orders – modern
constitution established democratic government
1641: New Hampshire taken over by overly
aggressive Bay Colony
1679: Annoyed by greed of Bay Colony, king
arbitrarily separates it, becomes royal colony
Half-Way Covenant
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1st generation’s Puritan zeal diluted over
time
Problem of declining church membership
1662: Half-Way Covenant – partial
membership to those not yet converted
(usually children/ grandchildren of
members)
Eventually all welcomed to church, erased
distinction of “elect”
Middle Colonies
New York
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Delaware
New Netherland
(New York)
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1609: Henry Hudson sailing for Dutch East India
Company sails into Hudson river looking for
passage through continent ~ claims area for Dutch
1623-24: Dutch West India Company establishes
New Netherland
Goal: quick-profit fur trade
“Bought” Manhattan from Indians
Company town: no religious tolerance or free
speech, harsh governors
New York Harbor, 1639
New Amsterdam
Dutch Conflicts
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Dutch cruelties to Indians brought
retaliatory massacres – Dutch built
wall (Wall Street)
Connecticut rejected Dutch settlers
Dutch in New
York
An Angry Peter Stuyvesant
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Duke of York
English immigration to New Netherland
resulted in 1/2 total population English regarded Dutch as intruders
Charles II brazenly granted area to his
brother (Duke of York)
English squadron comes, New
Netherland leader, Peter Stuyvesant,
governor of New York had no defense;
surrendered, renamed New York
New Jersey
Lord John Berkeley
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James gave 2 friends, Lord John Berkeley
and Sir George Carteret, the section of New
York located between the Hudson River
and Delaware Bay in 1664
– He felt the territory of New York was too
large to administer
Both proprietors allowed religious freedom
and an assembly in addition to giving
generous land offers to attract settlers
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Mid-1600s: religious
dissenters named
Quakers arose in
England
Hated by authorities
because they refused
to pay taxes to Church
of England, refused to
take oaths, refused
military service
Penn’s
family
owed a large debt
from the British
Crown. Given a
land grant in 1681.
Pennsylvania
Penn
governs the colony, unusual for a proprietor
Advertised in Europe, promising land & freedoms
Frame of Government (guaranteed elected assembly),
Charter of Liberties (freedom of worship, open
immigration), fair treatment of Native Americans
•This was known as the
"Glorious Revolution."
(Revolution because they
overthrew the last Catholic
monarch, Glorious because
no one died.)
• Parliament put more
restrictions on the
monarch.
•The king couldn't make or
suspend laws, have an
army during peacetime,
and the king couldn't
interfere with freedom of
speech in Parliament.
•English Bill of Rights
•Charles II was the son of
Charles I.
•Because his father had been
killed, Charles II had the ravens
caged so they couldn't leave.
•He was a "Merry Monarch," a
very popular king.
•Charles II encouraged religious
toleration.
Charles II
(1660 - 1685)
•The “Restoration Colonies”
were settled during his reign.