Colonization:
Who, What, When, Where, and Why
Reasons for Colonization
Economic Reasons - $$$$$
• High unemployment in England caused by landowners forcing small farmers off
the land in order to raise wool-producing sheep
• Manufacturing interests in England wanted markets for their goods
• Manufacturers wanted a source for raw materials
Political Reasons
• Search for a new passage to India in order to compete with Spain and Portugal
• Promise of gold to increase England’s wealth
• Acquisition of territory to add to empire
• Buffer against Spanish colonies in America
Social Reasons
• Freedom from religious persecution and the ability to spread their religion
• Protection of culture
• Provide opportunities for unhappy or unemployed English people
Answer the following Question…
Which of the following is a reason for the
establishment of English Colonies in America?
A. Source of raw materials
B. Freedom from religious persecution
C. High unemployment in England
D. Acquisition of territory to add to empire
E. All of the above
1st attempt to colonize…
In 1587, 117 colonists arrived in North America. They settled on
Roanoke Island. This was the second English attempt to
colonize Roanoke. By 1590, Roanoke Island was once more
abandoned. All traces of the English settlers had vanished,
except for the mysterious word CRO, carved into a tree trunk.
What do you think happened to the colonist? Consider the
following information…
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It had a poor climate
It was swampy, humid, and insect infested
It offered little protection from the surrounding Indians
The native population was resentful of the settler’s demands for food
and labor
• The settlers were basically ignored by the British government while
they were fighting Spain in Europe
Reflection
Write a one paragraph (3-5 sentences)
response to explain what you think
happened at the lost colony of Roanoke.
New England Colonies
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Connecticut
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
New England Colonies
Who founded the colonies and why…
• Massachusetts: Freedom of Religion
• Boston had a major port for trade
• Pilgrims
• 1620 Plymouth
• Mayflower Compact
• set forth ideas of self government in the colonies
• saw the Compact as a way to bind themselves to agreed upon
laws.
• Was written on board the Mayflower before the pilgrims landed
at Plymouth and established a permanent settlement.
• Became a basis for ideas in the US Constitution written in 1787.
• Puritans
• Emigrated to escape religious persecution
• Established the Massachusetts Bay Colony for a settlement
involved in a more “purified” church.
• Also founded New Hampshire and Connecticut
New England Colonies
Who founded the colonies and why…
• Rhode Island: Freedom of Religion
• Roger Williams
• Anne Hutchison
• Believed that God spoke directly to her and not through the
bible as everyone else believed
• Caused her and her followers to be banished
• Both were trying to find a more accepting place to live
• The government was separate from church leadership
• Connecticut
• Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
• Extended voting rights to non-church members
• Limited the power of the governor in charge
• Expanded the idea of representative government
New England Colonies
• Geography and Climate
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Long, cold winters
Rocky soil, not good for farming.
Positioned on the North Atlantic Coast
Many forests and rivers
New England Colonies
Based on their geography and climate as well
as the location of the New England
colonies; what resources do you think they
might have used to make a living? How did
the New England colonists make money to
survive?
New England Colonies
• Economy (how they made their money)
• Used the ocean as a source of food and
commerce (trade, economics)
• Fishing, Whaling, Timber, Shipping, and Trade.
• Traded furs
• Subsistence farming: small farms where people
grew just enough to feed themselves and their
families… they did not sell their goods.
Middle Colonies
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New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Middle Colonies
Who founded the colonies and why…
• New York: Founded to make money
• Had a major port for trade
• New Jersey: Founded to make money
• Pennsylvania: Founded for religious freedom
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William Penn
THE QUAKERS
Gave religious freedom to ALL Christians
Contributed to future reform movements in the US
Philadelphia had a major port for trade
• Delaware: Founded for political freedom from the
people living in Pennsylvania.
Middle Colonies
• Geography and Climate
• Very flat, fertile land
• Mild winters
Middle Colonies
Based on their geography and climate as well
as the location of the Middle Colonies; what
resources do you think they might have
used to make a living? How did the middle
colonists make money to survive?
Middle Colonies
• Economy (how they made their money)
• “Breadbasket Colonies”
• Farmed wheat and other food products to feed
the colonies.
• Produced wheat, grain, iron, and dairy
Religious Groups in the New
England and Middle Colonies
• Pilgrims: Separatists (wanted to break away from the
Church of England) group that wanted to settle as “a
distinct body by themselves”. Created the Mayflower
Compact
• Puritans: Wanted to “purify” the Church of England.
They left to move to the new world in hopes of finding
a better life during the 1630’s and 1640’s (this was
called The Great Migration) The church controlled
every aspect of life: town meetings, elected
representatives, made laws
• Quakers: Believed that all people should live in peace
and harmony. Wrote a constitution and established a
legislature.
Answer the following question
• What is the difference between Puritans,
Pilgrims, and Quakers?
Southern Colonies
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Virginia
Maryland
North and South Carolina
Georgia
Southern Colonies
Who founded the colonies and why…
• Maryland: Founded for religious freedom
• Lord Baltimore
• The Catholics
• Maryland Toleration Acts
• A law granting religious freedom in hopes of attracting more settlers.
• Virginia: Founded for economic reasons (to MAKE MONEY)
• John Smith
• Jamestown 1607
• Virginia House of Burgesses
• The first elected law-making body in the colonies.
• Provided local control over some issues so colonists didn’t have to wait for
Britain to decide the outcome of all things.
• Expanded the idea of representative government
John Smith
• Most early settlers in Jamestown had NO idea how
to create a settlement. They mostly looked for gold
instead of trying to build a sustainable place to
live and learning how to farm to feed themselves.
• Almost all the settlers died the first year and more
had to come replace them.
• Smith saved the colony of Jamestown from certain
death by instituting new rules such as everyone
helping out and “if you don’t work, you don’t eat”
• Worked to develop trade relationships with the
Powhatan Indians which gave the colonists food.
Southern Colonies
• Who founded the colonies and why…
• North and South Carolina: Founded for economic
reasons to make money
• Georgia: Founded as a refuge for debtors and as a
buffer between the Spanish and English colonies.
• James Oglethorp
Southern Colonies
• Geography and Climate
• Fertile soil
• Very long growing seasons
• This area was very warm and sunny
Southern Colonies
Based on their geography and climate as well
as the location of the Southern Colonies;
what resources do you think they might
have used to make a living? How did the
southern colonists make money to survive?
Southern Colonies
• Economy (how they made their money)
• Plantation agriculture such as cotton, rice,
tobacco, indigo, and sugar cane.
• Southern crops took many nutrients out of the
soil that were hard to replace.
• Farms needed to be much larger to profitable
• This helped develop the plantation system caused
people to be much more spread out across the
Southern colonies than in the Middle and New
England colonies.
Southern Colonies and the growth of
Slavery
• Why did slavery grow in the south?
• Labor intensive crops
• Cotton is REALLY hard to pick and clean and takes
lots of people a long time to have enough to make
money.
• Not as many indentured servants were coming
over from Europe because land was starting to
run short.
• Without these people to work the land, owners
needed a stable workforce to continue to make
money
The Plantation System
• As the Southern Colonies grew and slavery
increased many small land owners with just one or
two slaves couldn’t make enough money to
survive.
• These small farmers usually sold their land and
moved elsewhere, leaving large pieces of land for
the farmers who had the money to buy lots of
slaves.
• This helped create the plantation system where
owners of plantations were very rich and had
many slaves and were often in charge of the
colonies in which they lived.
The Colonists and Trade
• Colonies traded in 3 ways
• Within the colonies (to each other)
• By directly exchanging goods back and forth
with Europe.
• Various triangular trade routes.
Triangular Trade
• A trading route with 3 stops.
• The colonists would send rum and iron to Africa
where it would be traded for slaves and gold.
• The slaves would then be transported to the West
Indies where they were traded for molasses and
sugar.
• Slaves were then sold at auction or transported to the
colonies to be sold there. These slaves were mostly
used on plantations in the South.
• The molasses and sugar was then taken back to
New England where it would be turned into rum
and the pattern would start over again.
• New England made HUGE profits from this trade
and this also made the slave trade big business.
Triangular Trade
• Now lets look at the route in action, then
put it into practice in the room.
1st: Interactive Map: Triangular Trade Routes
2nd: Now lets put it into practice!
The Backcountry
• Area to the West of the colonies
• Settled by many different nationalities of
people.
• The Appalachian Mountains restricted more
people from moving further West.
How the colonists affected our future
economic system…
• Many colonists came looking for economic
opportunity (money) which helped the future US
grow into a system of free enterprise.
• Colonists’ human nature: rugged, determined,
individuals which also helped the future US
develop as a free enterprise system because they
didn’t want the government telling them how to
run their lives.
Check for Understanding
• What are the similarities and differences in
physical and human characteristics of the
New England, Middle, and Southern
Colonies?
Mercantilism
• Britain's policy to control Colonial trade (all
trade done by the colonies and any trade
going through the colonies).
• The reason they did this was to make
money!
• Britain used the natural resources found in
the colonies to make manufactured goods.
Britain then sold those goods back to the
colonies and charged them a much higher
price than the colonies made from selling
the resources.
Mercantilism in Action
Draw the following chart on your paper so
that you understand the flow of the
mercantilist policy of Britain:
Colonies
Raw Materials
Manufactured Goods
Mother
Country
(Britain)
Representative Government
• A government where people are involved in the
decision making & law making for themselves and
the people in their community.
• Democracy/Republicanism
• Britain helped the colonies work towards this type
of government by staying out of their business for
many years. This became known as salutatory
neglect. This ‘neglect’ helped the colonies learn
how to deal with their own problems & issues
instead of waiting for Britain to fix things for them