First English
Settlements
AGRARIAN
LIFE
Why move to the colonies?
Push
 Land scarcity
 Religious or
Political
Persecution
 Revolution
 Poverty
 Weather
Pull
• Freedom (religious
and political)
• New life
• Jobs
• Land
• Resources
England plans colonies
 merchants
supported plan
for colonies
 charter- written
contract giving
certain rights
to persons or
groups
Jamestown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne2tzfxQ6T4
 founded in 1607
 1st successful
English colony
 charter from the
Virginia
Company
 hoped to make
money/profits
Difficult at first because…





swampy land
poor water
Natives
greed for gold
low on food (2/3
starved)
 no trade
 cold winter
Jamestown succeeds
 adapted to land
 tobacco brought
in money
 1619: brought
slaves to help
work
 House of
Burgesses
(Representatives)
established
House of Burgesses
 first
representative
assembly in
America
 elected reps
met once a
year to make
laws
Plymouth
*Separatists
 1620
 wanted to escape religious
persecution in England and worship
as they pleased (Pilgrims)
Mayflower
 ship that
brought them
to America
Mayflower Compact
 document
signed aboard
the Mayflower
to ensure order
in the colonies
Difficult at first because…
 starving
 disease
 Natives
 no trade, originally
 women were chattel
Plymouth succeeds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lslqtUMwDxA
 Native Americans help them to
raise crops
 First Thanksgiving
 land ownership
 fishing/whaling,
and hunting
Famous People of the English
American Colonies
 Captain John Smith – established 1st
permanent colony in Jamestown, VA;
saved the colony with work and order
 befriended Pocahontas & Powhatan Chief
 She marries John Rolfe (brought tobacco)
Famous People of the English
American Colonies
 William Penn – Quaker; founded Pennsylvania;
pacifism (peace)
 Roger Williams – created Rhode Island colony;
practiced religious tolerance & dealing fair with
Natives; Religious Leader
 Anne Hutchinson – pioneer settler of Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, & New Netherlands; because she
believed you could directly talk to God, they banned
her from the colony; Religious Leader; challenge
authority – DISSENTER)
 John Winthrop – led Puritans to the New World, joined
Massachusetts Bay Colony; Religious Leader; “City
on a Hill”
People in the New World
 Property Owners – well off; men given property
by the governor (person in charge of the
colony)
 African Americans – slaves; 1st brought here by
the Dutch
 women – inferior; were not men’s equal
 Native Americans – “savages”; not real people
 Indentured Servants – in exchange for being
brought to the new world, a person would work
their fee off (approximately 5 years); not
permanent slaves
Differences between
NE, M, S
New England
 Town hall meetings,
Puritans, craftsmen (ship
builders), triangle trade,
small farms, ocean
products
Middle
 Craftsmen, trade, wheat,
corn, cattle, Quakers
South
• Slaves, Plantations (cash crops),
Catholics, Tobacco
SUMMARY
 QUIZ TIME
1. What was the 1st
successful colony in the
English New World?
2. What was the 1st
representative legislative
assembly in America
called?
3. Why was the Virginia
Charter established to
come to Jamestown?
4. What colonist was
banned because she
believed she could talk to
God directly?
5. Which group of people
signed a contract to work
in exchange for a ticket to
the new world?