Chapter 1 Teacher Notes
Chapter 1
“Colonial America”
1587-1770
Section 1-“Early English Settlements”
Objectives:
1) Identify the crop that saved the people of Jamestown.
2) Explain how the colonists received political rights
1. England in America (3 entries)
In the middle to late 1500s, England and Spain had been heading towards war for many
years. Trading rivalries, conflicts over claims, and religious differences divided the two
countries.
One highly successful sea dog was Sir Francis Drake. In 1577 Drake ventured out of
England with a fast fleet of heavily armed vessels.
1588 saw the sinking of the Spanish Armada.
A. The Lost Colony of Roanoke
After establishing New Roanoke, White headed back to England for more supplies.
Affairs (the war) kept him longer than expected and when he returned in 1590, all he
found were the words “Cro” and “Crotoan” carved near the settlement.
2. The Jamestown Settlement
King James I issued the Charter of 1606, which licensed the Plymouth Company and the
London Company to organize settlements in Virginia.
A. The Virginia Company
King James I issued the Charter of 1606, which licensed the Plymouth Company and the
London Company to organize settlements in Virginia.
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B. Captain John Smith (2 x Entries)
The settlers elected Captain John Smith, as president of the council of settlers.
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The first permanent English settlers, some 100 men recruited by the London Company,
reached Virginia in the spring of 1607. They named it Jamestown.
Chapter 1 Teacher Notes
a. The help of the local Native Americans, called Powhatan by the
English, prevented a total disaster.
C. Farming the Land
A major conflict between the Native Americans and the colonists arose over tobacco, a
plant native to the Americas.
D. Representative Government
Ten towns in the colony sent two representatives to an assembly. The assembly had the
right to make local laws for the colony. On July 30, 1619, the House of Burgesses met
for the first time in a church in Jamestown.
E. New Arrivals in Jamestown
a. In 1619 the Virginia Company sent 90 women to Jamestown.
b. In 1619 a Dutch ship brought the first African slaves who were sold to the
planters to work in the tobacco fields. These first Africans came as servants, engaged to
work for a set period of time, rather than as slaves.
Section 2-“The New England Colonies”
Objectives:
1) Explain why the Puritans and the Pilgrims came to America.
2) Describe how the Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire
colonies began
1. Religious Freedom
The Pilgrims were Separatists, so called because they had broken with the Anglican
Church.
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A. The Pilgrim’s Journey (See Graphic Organizer)
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Chapter 1 Teacher Notes
Use the cause and effect diagram to help you to take notes as we go over the material.
Think about the reasons the Pilgrims founded Plymouth Colony.
Separatists were attacked for their beliefs and shut
out of their communities.
Separatists left England for the Netherlands.
Pilgrims had a difficult time earning a living in the
Netherlands and feared that their children were
being corrupted.
Some decided to move to America to establish a
colony based on religious freedom.
The pilgrims landed outside of the area of their
charter and its laws.
The Wampanaoags helped the Pilgrims hunt, plant,
and fish.
The Pilgrims set up and signed the Mayflower
Compact, an agreement to obey laws passed by
the majority.
The Pilgrims survive.
B. The Mayflower Compact
To maintain order in their American settlement, the Pilgrims signed a formal agreement
called the Mayflower Compact.
2. New Settlements
In contrast to Pilgrims, most Puritans remained in England and did not leave the Anglican
Church, they had hoped to reform the church from within.
Beginning in 1630, in what is known as the Great Migration, more than 40,000 people
left England for the Americas.
A. Growth and Government
In 1630 the company’s 11 ships set sail and carried more than 1,000 people to
Massachusetts. These Puritans did not want to cut all ties with the Anglican Church or
England. They instead wanted to provide other Christians with an example of a model
community.
B. Connecticut and Rhode Island
Minister Thomas Hooker and his congregation left Massachusetts partly because of
religious differences they moved to the Connecticut Valley.
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In 1638, John Wheelright led a group of followers to the north. They founded the town
Exeter in New Hampshire.
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Roger Williams was a minister, who was banished in 1635. In 1636 he founded
Providence, Rhode Island.
Chapter 1 Teacher Notes
C. Conflict With the Native Americans
War broke out again in 1675, the Wampanoag Chief Metacomet (King Phillip) led Native
Americans against the colonists. An estimated 3,000 Native Americans died in the
fighting and the Puritans sold the remainder of the Wampanoag as slaves.
Section 3 “Middle Colonies”
Objectives:
1) Explain why Middle Colonies had the most diverse populations in
colonial America.
2) Identify America’s first town planner
1. England and the Colonies
A. England Takes Over
The English fleet sailed into the harbor of New Amsterdam in 1664. The English
demanded that the Dutch surrender. The Dutch surrendered without a shot being fired.
B. New Jersey
The Duke of York gave the southern part of his new colony to Lord John Berkeley and
Sir George Carteret. The proprietors named their colony New Jersey.
2. Pennsylvania
A. Pennsylvania and Delaware
In 1681 King Charles II paid off a 16,000 pound debt he owed to Sir William Penn by
making his son William Penn the proprietor of a large tract of land near New York.
Section 4 “Southern Colonies”
Objectives:
1) Understand why the Southern Colonies were established
2) Compare and contrast France’s colony in North America with the
English colonies
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Most of the white colonists came to the Maryland and Virginia as indentured servants.
Some 75% of the indentured servants were men or boys between the ages of 15 and 24.
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1. Coming to America
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Chapter 1 Teacher Notes
A. Establishing Maryland
The first wealthy English nobleman to seek his fortune in the Chesapeake region was
George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore.
2. Virginia Expands
While other colonies were being founded, Virginia continued to grow. Wealthy tobacco
planters held the best land near the coast and new settlers were pushed inland.
A. Bacon’s Rebellion
This discontent erupted in violence in western Virginia in 1675. Many of the farmers and
laborers wanted to settle in the area of western Virginia that was guaranteed to the
Powhatan by a 1646 treaty.
3. Settling the Carolinas
Charles II restored the monarchy’s power in 1660, after the death of Oliver Cromwell.
A. Northern and Southern Carolinas
Many of the settlers from Maryland and Virginia established small farms in North
Carolina.
4. Georgia
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While Pennsylvania was a “Holy Experiment” Georgia was a social experiment. This
colony was the last of the “original thirteen” founded in 1733 a full century after
Jamestown’s founding.
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Chapter 1 Teacher Notes
COLONY
FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT
YEAR
REGION
FOUNDER(S) / LEADER(S)
Virginia
Jamestown
1607
Colony
Captain John Smith
Massachusetts
Plymouth
1620
New Eng
William Bradford
Massachusetts Bay Colony
1630
Colony
John Winthrop
Middle
Peter Minuit (Dutch)
John Mason/Fernando
Gorges
New York
New Amsterdam
1626
New Hampshire
Strawberry Banke/Portsmouth
1620
Colony
New Eng
Colony
Maryland
St. Mary’s City
1634
Southern
George Calvert
Rhode Island
Providence Plantations
1636
New Eng
Roger Williams
Connecticut
Windsor, Weatherford, and Hartford
1636
New Eng
Thomas Hooker
Delaware
Fort Christina/ Wilmington
1638
Middle
Swedish Settlers
Sir Walter Raleigh
North Carolina
Roanoke Island
1585
Colony
Southern
New Jersey
Bath
Burlington
1663
1664
Colony
Middle
South Carolina
Charlestown/Charleston
1670
Colony
Southern
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
1682
Colony
Middle
Georgia
Savannah
1733
Colony
Southern
Group of 8 Proprietors
John Berkley & George Carteret
Group of 8 Proprietors
William Penn
James Oglethorpe
Colony
5. New France
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New France, France’s North American Empire, never reached its full potential. France
claimed a huge area but settled very little of it. Most French colonists were either single
men in search of riches and adventure or Jesuit priests seeking to the Native Americans.
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