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The 13 English Colonies

Unifying the English Nation

England and Ireland
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

England's methods to subdue Ireland in the sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries established patterns that would be repeated in
America.
England and North America


England's stability in the sixteenth century was undermined by
religious conflicts.
The English crown issued charters for individuals such as Sir Humphrey
Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh to colonize America at their own
expense, but both failed.
Motives for Colonization
Anti-Catholicism had become deeply ingrained in English popular
culture.
A Discourse Concerning Western Planting argued that settlement would
strike a blow at England's most powerful Catholic enemy: Spain.
 National glory, profit, and a missionary zeal motivated the English
crown to settle America.
 It was also argued that trade, not mineral wealth, would be the basis
of England's empire.
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The Social Crisis



A worsening economy and the enclosure movement led
to an increase in the number of poor and to a social
crisis.
Unruly poor were encouraged to leave England for the
New World.
Masterless Men

The English increasingly viewed America as a land
where a man could control his own labor and thus gain
economic independence, particularly through the
ownership of land.
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
English Emigrants


Sustained immigration was vital for the settlement's
survival.
Between 1607 and 1700, a little over half a million
persons left England.



Indentured Servants



Two-thirds of English settlers came to North America
as indentured servants.
Indentured servants did not enjoy any liberties while
under contract.
Land and Liberty


Land was the basis of liberty.
Englishmen and Indians



The English were chiefly interested in displacing the
Indians and settling on their land.
Most colonial authorities acquired land by purchase.
The seventeenth century was marked by recurrent
warfare between colonists and Indians.


Wars gave the English a heightened sense of superiority.
The Transformation of Indian Life


English goods were quickly integrated into Indian life.
Over time, those European goods changed Indian
farming, hunting, and cooking practices.


They settled in Ireland, the West Indies, and North
America.
The majority of settlers in North America were young,
single men from the bottom rungs of English society.
Growing connections with Europeans stimulated warfare
among Indian tribes.
The Jamestown Colony
Settlement and survival were questionable in the colony's early
history because of high death rates, frequent changes in
leadership, inadequate supplies from England, and placing gold
before farming.
 By 1610, only 65 settlers remained alive.
 John Smith's tough leadership held the early colony together.
 New policies were adopted in 1618 so that the colony could
survive.


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
Headright system
A "charter of grants and liberties" provided an elected assembly
(House of Burgesses), which first met in 1619.
Powhatan and Pocahontas


Powhatan, the leader of thirty tribes near Jamestown, eagerly
traded with the English.
English-Indian relations were mostly peaceful early on.

Pocahontas married John Rolfe in 1614, symbolizing Anglo-Indian
harmony.
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
The Uprising of 1622

Once the English decided on a permanent colony instead of
merely a trading post, conflict was inevitable.

Opechancanough led an attack on Virginia's settlers in 1622.
Through a treaty, the English forced Indians to recognize their
subordination to the government at Jamestown and moved
them onto reservations.
 The Virginia Company surrendered its charter to the crown in
1624.


A Tobacco Colony



Tobacco was Virginia's substitute for gold.
The expansion of tobacco production led to an increased
demand for field labor.
Women and the Family


Virginian society lacked a stable family life.
Social conditions opened the door to roles women rarely
assumed in England.
 Consisting
of: Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Maine (part of MA)
 These
men and women were known as
Puritans


A religious group who sought to reform the
Church of England
Sought to eliminate remaining Roman Catholic
influences


organ music
ornate decoration for church and clergy, etc.
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 The
Puritans faced opposition and
oppression in England from King Charles I


The English viewed them as a potential threat.
Convinced that England had become an evil
place, the decision was made to establish a new
society in New England.
 Male
church members would elect
representatives and form a representative
government known as the General Court.
 The
success of the colony gave way to
15,000 English migrating to North America.


Specifically Boston
Called today The Great Migration.
 Connecticut
was born from this Puritan
colony.


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Minister Thomas Hooker led 100 settlers
He felt the General Court held far too much
power
Hooker established the Fundamental Orders of
Connecticut
Allowed non-property owning males to vote.
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 Rhode
Island came to be settled through
the efforts of Roger Williams.


Like Thomas Hooker, Williams felt the General
Court held too much power.
Williams Believed in religious tolerance


Allowing people of other faiths to practice freely.
Williams was to be exiled back to England for his
beliefs
 He fled instead to Rhode Island
 Survived with the help of local Native Americans.
 Later purchased land from the Native Americans and
established the colony of Rhode Island.
 Colonial
expansion throughout New
England created conflict with the
Wampanoag Indians


Led by Chief Metacom, who destroyed 12
towns and killed over 600 settlers over a
period of a year.
Metacom was later captured and executed.
(Metacom’s war)
 As
a colony founded by a devout religious
group, the development of New England
reflected this.

Sundays or the Sabbath were very strict:
talking,



drinking, and games were all prohibited.
Church services could last all day.
Town meetings were the common form of
government


Decisions were made for communities
Ideas and problems were discussed and voted upon.
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 Sustained
through hunting, logging, and
fishing or whaling.
 With the soil being very rocky, farming was
difficult.
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