Of the People
Chapter 3:
The English Come to Stay
1600–1660
Common Threads
>> After the failure at Roanoke, how were the English
finally able to plant successful colonies?
>> Why did the Jamestown Colony almost fail, and why did
the New England ones succeed almost immediately?
Can the Chesapeake or New England experience be
considered more “typical” of what would become the
United States?
>> How did the gender and family orders differ in the
Chesapeake and in New England, and what impact did
gender and family have in shaping these societies?
>> What were the similarities and differences in each
region’s relations with Native Americans?
>> What role did religion play in shaping the Puritan
colonies?
The English Come to Stay
1600-1660
• Overview
– The First Chesapeake Colonies
– The Political Economy of Slavery Emerges
– A Bible Commonwealth in the New
England Wilderness
– Dissension in the Puritan Ranks
The English Come to Stay
1600-1660
• The First Chesapeake Colonies
– Planning Virginia
– Starving Times
– Troubled Relations with the Powhatans
– Toward a New Political Economy
– Toward the Destruction of the Powhatans
– A New Colony in Maryland
The English Come to Stay
1600-1660
• The Political Economy of Slavery
Emerges
– The Problem of a Labor Supply
– The Origins of Slavery in the Chesapeake
– Gender and the Social Order in the
Chesapeake
The English Come to Stay
1600-1660
• A Bible Commonwealth in the New England
Wilderness
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The English Origins of the Puritan Movement
What Did the Puritans Believe?
The Pilgrim Colony at Plymouth
The Puritan Colony at Massachusetts Bay
The New England Way
Changing the Land to Fit the Political Economy
The Puritan Family
The English Come to Stay
1600-1660
• Dissension in the Puritan Ranks
– Roger Williams and Toleration
– Anne Hutchinson and the Equality of
Believers
– Puritan Indian Policy and the Pequot War
The English Come to Stay
1600-1660
• Conclusion
AMERICAN PORTRAIT
The Adventures of John Rolfe
“Rarely in history is one person so directly responsible for
the demise of his own dreams.”
– Rolfe became famous in England for:
• introducing a successful strain of tobacco in Virginia
– The economic salvation of the colony
• marrying a Powhatan princess, Pocahontas
– Rolfe believed the English and Indians could live in harmony.
– Yet, his life with Pocahontas and the Powhatans ended in
tragedy.
• In what ways was he directly responsible for the demise of his
dreams?
“Tobacco proved the economic salvation of Virginia,
making many men and women rich and robbing others of
their freedom.”
The First Chesapeake Colonies
– Planning Virginia
• After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, her successor—King
James I—altered the course of English colonization with two
interrelated policy changes:
– Peace with Spain
– Adoption of Richard Hakluyt’s vision of colonization
» Two charters granted by James in 1609: The Virginia Company
and The Plymouth Company
• How did the King and the company members intend to profit from
their investments in these ventures?
• Jamestown founded in 1607
– The colony was designed to find gold and/or the elusive “northwest
passage” while acquiring food from local Indians through trade.
– How did the Virginia expedition differ from Roanoke?
» Did the organizers take full advantage of the Roanoke disasters?
– Why did the colonists fail to get along with each other and the local
Indians?
The First Chesapeake Colonies
– Starving Times, 1607-1616
• Why did colonists die off in droves?
• Captain John Smith takes charge, 1608-1609
– Smith’s military-style discipline works to offset these losses.
» In what ways didn’t this style of leadership work?
– Troubled Relations with the Powhatans
• How had the English antagonized Chief Powhatan during the
first few years of the colony?
• First Anglo-Powhatan War, 1610-1614
– Governor De La Warr launches an attack on an Indian village,
1610
» How did the colonists conduct themselves in this attack?
– The marriage between John Rolfe and the Chief’s daughter
Pocahontas ushers in peace.
The First Chesapeake Colonies
– Toward a New Political Economy
• How did everything begin to change for the colony beginning in
1616?
– How did the introduction of tobacco affect the colony’s:
» Population?
» Territory?
» Labor needs?
– Toward the Destruction of the Powhatans
• Second Anglo-Powhatan War, 1622
– What brought on this second war with the Powhatans and their new
chief, Opechancanough
– What new Indian policy was established?
– A New Colony in Maryland
• What commercial opportunity lured Sir George Calvert, the first Lord
Baltimore, to obtain in 1632 a colony charter in North America?
– What was unique about the governing structure of Maryland?
The Political Economy of Slavery
Emerges
•
“Like other foreign colonies, Virginia achieved prosperity by feeding
European cravings.”
Four forces shaped Chesapeake society:
•
•
•
•
weak government
the market for tobacco
the availability of land
need for labor
– The Problem of a Labor Supply
• ~90% of Virginia immigrants were indentured servants
– Who were they and what were their lives like?
– The Origins of Slavery in the Chesapeake
• It would take roughly 3/4 of a century for Virginia to shift completely to black slavery.
– What conditions made black slave labor more desirable for Virginia planters than white servant
labor?
• “As long as the black population remained small, the color line was blurry.”
– Although northern Europeans harbored prejudices against dark-skinned peoples, they did not
use race (yet) to justify slavery
– Black slave and white servant societies commingled
– Laws restricting free African Americans would not be passed in Virginia until the late 17 th
century.
– Gender and the Social Order in the Chesapeake
• How did the advent of the tobacco economy impact gender relations and the family
structure.
A Bible Commonwealth in the
New England Wilderness
“In many ways the Virginia and Massachusetts colonies could not
have been more different.…Nonetheless, the Puritan movement was
a product of the same consolidation and growth of national states in
Europe and the expansion of commerce that led to the European
exploration of the New World.”
– The English Origins of the Puritan Movement
• Why did King Henry VIII establish a new independent Anglican Church?
– What Did the Puritans Believe?
• How did the Puritan rejection of Catholicism differ from King Henry’s?
– The Pilgrim Colony at Plymouth
• What was the purpose of this “separatist” colony?
– How did they serve the interests of the Virginia company?
– Why did they leave Holland?
• The Mayflower Compact, 1620
• Why was the peace arrangement established with Chief Massoit and the
Pokanokets.
– What role did the cultural mediator, Squanto, play in this arrangement?
A Bible Commonwealth in the
New England Wilderness
– The Puritan Colony at Massachusetts Bay
• How was this colony able to quickly eclipse the economy of
Plymouth and catch up to Virginia?
– The New England Way
• How did this “non-separatist” colony differ from Plymouth?
– What was Governor John Winthrop’s vision of the colony?
– Changing the Land to Fit the Political Economy
• “The Puritans’ notion of exclusive land rights was a cornerstone of
their political economy.”
– The Puritan Family
• “Puritans lived in fear of lawlessness, and they used the family as
an instrument of order.”
– Wife as “deputy husband”
• What were the broader social consequences of this arrangement?
Dissension in the Puritan Ranks
“The Puritan movement embodied tensions that inevitably
made for individual and social turmoil.”
– Roger Williams and Toleration
• Owing to his extreme separatists views, Williams charges the
colony with committing a number of heresies.
• Williams is subsequently banished from the colony, 1635
– Williams and other dissenters congregate in Rhode Island and receive
their royal charter in 1644.
– Anne Hutchinson and the Equality of Believers
• How did Hutchinson’s strict Calvinist views lead her into troubles
with the authorities in the colony?
– Puritan Indian Policy and the Pequot War
• What were the economic forces that led to the Pequot War of 1637?
• What was the legacy of this war for the Indians of southern New
England?
The English Come to Stay
1600-1660
• Revisiting the Common Threads
>> After the failure at Roanoke, how were the English
finally able to plant successful colonies?
>> Why did the Jamestown Colony almost fail, and why did
the New England ones succeed almost immediately?
Can the Chesapeake or New England experience be
considered more “typical” of what would become the
United States?
>> How did the gender and family orders differ in the
Chesapeake and in New England, and what impact did
gender and family have in shaping these societies?
>> What were the similarities and differences in each
region’s relations with Native Americans?
>> What role did religion play in shaping the Puritan
colonies?