CHAPTER 3 LESSON 4
The Southern Colonies
VOCAB
• Indentured Servitude: laborer who agrees to work
without pay for a certain period of time in exchange for
passage to America
• Constitution: a list of fundamental laws to support a
government
• Debtor: person or country that owes money
SOUTHERN COLONIES
• A warm climate
• Long growing season
• Rich soil
• Large scale agriculture
VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND
• Settlement of
Jamestown marked
beginning of
settlement of North
America and Virginia
• Utilized tobacco crop
for $$$
• Needed a lot of
workers
• Therefore used
slave labor
(African slaves)
OTHER WORKERS
• Other workers (to harvest
tobacco) included:
• Criminals and prisoners
sent by England
• Could earn their freedom
if they work for 7 years
• Others:
• Indentured Servants
• People who wanted to
come to Americas but
did not have money to
get their
• To pay for their passage
to America, they agreed
to work without pay for
a certain length of time
FOUNDING MARYLAND
• Founded by “Lord
Baltimore” (Sir George
Calvert)
• Calvert wanted a safe
place for his fellow
Catholics who faced
persecution in England
• King Charles I gave him
land grant north of
Virginia
• Farmed- used slaves and
indentured servants
Lord Baltimore
King Charles I
MARYLAND
• Calvert and Penn families
argued a lot over boundaries
• 1760s they finally hired two
men named Charles Mason
and Jeremiah Dixon to map
the boundary between the
two colonies.
• Boundary became
known as the “Mason
Dixon Line”
• Usually used as reference
to where slaves are
• Many south of Mason
Dixon line allow
slavery later on while
those above it
eventually outlaw it
MARYLAND AND RELIGION
• Founded by Catholics
• Allowed both Protestants
and Catholics
• To protect Catholics, they
passed the “Act of Toleration”
in 1649.
• Ensured freedom of
worship for all
• However, in 1692, the
colony became “Royal”
(property of England.
And the crown limited
the worship of Catholics
yet again as they did in
England.
REBELLION IN VIRGINIA
• Virginia also experienced
conflict
• Settlers eventually began
moving west onto Native
American lands
• BUT VA governor, William
Berkeley had made a pledge to
Natives to not allow his colonists
to move further into Native
lands.
• Berkeley wanted to prevent war
between his Virginians and the
Natives
Berkeley
BACON’S REBELLION
Nathaniel Bacon
• Nathaniel Bacon
• Young planter living in
west VA
• Opposed the government
of VA because he wanted
to move west onto NA
lands.
• Also disliked gov because
it was dominated by
easterners (eastern VA)
BACON’S REBELLION
• Bacon led attacks against
Native Americans in these
areas that Virginias began to
illegally settle
• Also burned the capital,
Jamestown, to the ground in
protest of Berkeley.
• Had almost taken control of
VA when he fell ill and died.
• England sent in troops and
restored order
King Charles II
THE CAROLINAS AND GEORGIA
• 1663 King Charles II
created a proprietary
colony south of VA called
Carolina – Latin for
“Charles’ Land”
• King gave the colony to
eight nobles
• John Locke- wrote a
constitution for Carolina.
• English philosopher
• Outlined role of the
government
John Locke
TWO CAROLINAS
• Split into North and
South Carolinas
• Farmers from VA
settled North Carolina
• Grew tobacco, sold
timber and tar
• Settlers in South
Carolina took
advantage of fertile
land and the harbor at
Charleston
• Traded deerskin,
lumber and beef
CAROLINA AGRICULTURE
• 1680s- Planters discovered
that rice grew well in the wet
coastal lowlands.
• Required much labor
• Demand for slave labor
rose
• Another important crop:
Indigo
• Invented by Eliza Lucas
1740s
• Dyed clothing blue
• 1729- became two separate
royal colonies
GEORGIA
• Georgia- Founded in 1733
• Last British colony set
up in America
• James Oglethorpe
received a charter
from George II for a
colony where debtors
and poor people could
make a fresh start
• In Britain, debtors
(those who owed
debts) could be
imprisoned if they
were unable to pay
what they owed.
GEORGIA
• British also hoped Georgia would
act as a buffer for any Spanish
attack from Florida
• Oglethorpe built forts to
protect against an attack
• Colony was comprised mostly of
poor people and religious refugees
from Central Europe and a small
group of Jews
• Many colonists complained of
Oglethorpe’s rules
• Banned rum/ slave labor
• Turned Georgia over to the
king in 1751
CLOSURE:
•
Use the following vocab words in a paragraph about the southern colonies:
•
Indentured Servitude
•
Constitution
•
Debtor