Southern Colonies & Lifestyles
Jamestown Pages 85-87
Question 3: Definitions
~Charter: Legal document giving certain rights to a person or company
~Representative Government: a government in which voters elect representatives (delegates)
to make laws for them
~Magna Carta: Great Charter, a document that said that the King of England (1215-King John)
could not raise taxes without first consulting the Great Council of nobles and church leaders.
LAW OF THE LAND--Constitution
~Parliament: The Great Council that turned into a representative assembly. We call ours a
Congress
Question 4a: What were the origins of representative government in the English colonies?



People forced King John to sign the Magna Carta so he wouldn’t raise taxes
(1215)
Great Council grew into Parliament and elected representatives
Parliament was divided into: House of Lords and House of Commons
Virginia formed the House of Burgesses; Today we have Congress
Question 4b: Which Virginia colonists were denied equal rights?

Women, non-white, people who did not own property, non-Christian
Question 7: In the 1600’s, there was representative government in Jamestown. How do we
have representative government in the United States today?
Representative government in America:



Every state sends two representatives to the Senate (Congress)
Every state sends representatives to the House of Representatives (Congress)
Voting/Representative Democracy
Jamestown & Virginia Notes:
~Founded 1607 (1st English Colony)
~King James I gave charter to Virginia Company of London (connect England to the new world)
~Political: Formed 1st Representative Gov’t=House of Burgesses
~Economic: Tobacco is major cash crop; Roots of slavery in tobacco farming
~Major Rebellion known as Bacon’s Rebellion: Fights with Native Americans over land, farmers
asked for help of government, defined, so in 1676, Nathaniel Bacon rebelled (challenge
authority/government)
Southern Colonies & Lifestyles pages 106-111
Question 3 Definitions:
~Indigo: Plant that was used to make blue dye
~Debtors: people which owed money they could not pay back to make a new start (GA became
a safe haven for debtors: a way to pay for debt in return to farm land within the area)
~Buffer: land located between tow larger lands that reduces the possibility of conflict between
them (GA known as buffer state between English and Spanish Florida)
~Plantation: large estate farmed by many workers (anywhere from 20 to 100 slaves worked in
the fields)
~slave codes: laws that set out rules for slaves that deny basic rights (treated as property). Ex,
can’t travel, can’t read or write, can’t meet more than 3 in a group, can’t own weapons
~Racism: belief that one race is superior than another
Question4a: Why did the founder set up the colony of Maryland?
~Political reasons: Proprietary Colony-land grant elected own assembly
~Geography &Economic: Fertile land, rich and beautiful; Chesapeake Bay
to expand trade
~Religion freedom: Safe haven for Catholics
~Maryland’s Act of Toleration = Religious toleration for Christians, not Jews
~Social Change: Women own land; becomes the division between North & South
(slavery)—Mason-Dixon Line: 1767 divided the middle and southern life (Stone markers
with P & M indicating borders between PA & MD)
Question4b: Why did the founder set up the colony of Georgia?
Political: Proprietary colony- split off from SC; elect own assembly
Geography: Buffer state between Spanish Florida and the Carolinas; Savannah becomes
a major southern Port City
Economic: land and cash crops; ports; Home for debtors (people in debt)
Social: At first, no trade/no slaves/no plantations. However, this was not successful, so
once the laws changed, population increased
Question 5: How was life in the Tidewater different from life in the backcountry South?
~Backcountry: moving west along Great Wagon Road, it became more democratic
(equal)
Vs.
~Tidewater Plantations: Along rivers & creeks of coastal plain: area offered rich soil and
easy access to move goods. Wealthiest plantations
Living in the Great House: wealthiest families living on the estate who owned
slaves. The VOICE of the South… Less than 1% of the Southern population lived
this lavish lifestyle. Majority were poor farmers; 1 or 2 slaves
Question 7: What role did slaves play in the economy of the Southern Colonies by 1700?
~Used farming skills they brought from West Africa (example-how to grow rice), use of
wild plants, made buckets and other bowls out of gourds, palmetto leaves to make fans,
brooms, baskets. Economically, the south relied on slave labor (cleared land, worked
the crops, and tended the livestock). Mostly agricultural.
North & South Carolina Notes:
~ Colonists started moving south of Virginia and Maryland
~Founded 1663; North and South divide: 1712
~North: Poor tobacco farmers looking for land
~South: 8 English Proprietors who received Land Grant from King
Economic: Farming and Trade; Major cash crops: tobacco/rice/indigo/cotton
Charleston (than known as Charles Town after King Charles II) SC important port city
Cultural Diversity: Germans/Swiss/French Protestants/Spanish Jews arrived in this area
Religious Freedom
Social structure: Slavery for farming—leads to Civil War/Civil Rights