Unit 1
Roots of American History
Chapter 4: The 13 English Colonies
I. The New England Colonies
A. Puritans in Massachusetts – John Winthrop and his followers were part
of a religious group known as Puritans.
1. The Puritans wanted to reform the Church of England.
2. Reasons for leaving England – King Charles I disliked their religious
ideas.
a) He closed their businesses.
b) Had Puritans expelled from universities.
c) A few were even jailed.
3. In 1629, they got a charter to form the Massachusetts Bay
Company.
a) The new society would be based on the laws of God as they
appeared in the Bible.
b) Some people joined the colonists for economic reasons.
4. Winthrop was chosen as the first governor.
a) He set a good example for others by working hard to build a
home, clear land, and plant crops.
5. Voters elect an assembly called the general court.
a) Only male church members could vote.
6. The Massachusetts Bay Colony grew and prospered.
a) Great Migration- Between 1629 and 1640, more than 20,000
settlers arrived in Massachusetts Bay.
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b) Boston became the colony’s largest town.
B. Settling Connecticut – In 1636, about 100 settlers, led by a Puritan
minister named Thomas Hooker, left Massachusetts Bay. When they reached
the Connecticut River, they built a town called Hartford.
1. They left Massachusetts because they believed the governor and
other officials had too much power.
a) Fundamental Orders of Connecticut –
gave the vote to all men who were property owners and limited
the governor’s power.
2. By 1662, 15 towns were thriving along the Connecticut River.
a) Connecticut becomes a separate colony.
b) King gave them their own charter.
C. Toleration in Rhode Island- Another Puritan, Minister Roger Williams,
believed the church had too much power.
1. He believed that church and state should be separate. Williams also
believed in religious toleration.
a) Toleration- the willingness to let others practice their own
beliefs (example: The 1st Jewish synagogue was in R.I.).
b) In 1635, the court ordered him to leave the colony.
2. Indians sold him land for a new settlement, which a few years later
became the colony of Rhode Island.
D. New Hampshire
1. Massachusetts controlled the trading and fishing villages along the
coast north of Boston.
a) 1680 – the king of England made these settlements into a
separate colony called New Hampshire.
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E. Relations with Native Americans
1. Settlers fanned out across New England.
a) As more colonists settled in New England, more Native
Americans were pushed off of their land.
b) Fighting often broke out between English settlers and the
Indians.
2. King Phillips War - In 1675 the Wampanoag Indians attacked
colonial villages throughout New England.
a) Other Indian groups joined them in their fight.
b) Fighting lasted 15 months.
c) In the end the Wampanoag chief, Metacom (called King Phillip
by the English), was captured and killed.
d) The English sold his family and about a 1,000 other Indians
into slavery into the West Indies.
3. The pattern of English expansion and war was repeated for many
years.
F. A Life of Hard Work - Settling New England was not easy for the
colonists.
1. Farms - New England's rocky soil was poor for farming.
a) Settlers learned to grow Native American crops such as corn,
beans, squash and pumpkins.
2. Forests- full of riches.
a) Hunted wild turkey, deer, and hogs.
b) Collected sap from sugar maple trees.
c) Cut down trees - used for construction of ships.
3. Seas - Other New Englanders fished the coastal waters for cod and
halibut.
a) Had a lot of large shellfish (lobsters over 5 feet!).
b) In the 1700 and 1800s, whaling grew into a large business.
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4. Tightly knit towns and villages - Puritans believed that people should
worship and take care of local matters as a community.
a) On Sundays, no one was allowed to play games or visit taverns
to joke, talk, and drink.
b) The law required all citizens to attend church services.
c) At town meetings, settlers discussed and voted on many
issues.
d) Laws were strict and punishment was severe.
e) Stocks - wooden frames with holes for arms and legs. They
were used to punish people guilty of crimes such as drunkenness
and swearing.
f) In 1692, Puritans executed 20 men and women as witches in
Salem, Massachusetts.
5. Home and Family- The Puritans saw children as a blessing from god.
a) Average family had seven or eight children.
b) People lived long lives.
c) Although women had little rights, they worked as an equal
partner with their husbands to provide for their families.
6. During the 1700s, the Puritan tradition declined.
a) Fewer families left England for religious reasons.
b) Ministers had less influence on the way colonies were
governed.
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II. The Middle Colonies
A. New Netherland Becomes New York
1. Huge Land Grants- Dutch officials granted large parcels of land to a few
rich families.
a) Patroons - owners of these huge estates.
b) Patroons promised to settle at least 50 European farm families on
their land but few farmers wanted to work for them.
2. The Governor, Peter Stuyvesant, had almost absolute power.
a) he carried on costly wars with the Indians.
b) he taxed goods to pay for his wars.
c) he ignored colonist’s demands for a voice in government.
3. England takes over - English warships entered New Amsterdam harbor and
took over the city.
a) King Charles II gave the colony to his brother the Duke of York.
B. Founding New Jersey
1. The Duke of York had more land than he could handle so he gave some to
his friends, who set up a propriety colony called New Jersey.
a) Propriety colony-the king gave the land to one or more people,
called proprietors.
b) Proprietors divided the land and rented to others.
c) 1702 New Jersey became a royal colony under the control of the
English crown.
C. Pennsylvania is founded by William Penn, a Quaker.
1. Quaker beliefs
a) Protestant reformers
b) believed that all people - men, women, nobles and commoners, are all
equal in God’s sight.
c) Spoke out against war and refused to serve in the army.
d) In England, they were arrested, fined, jailed or hanged for their
beliefs.
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2. Penn's "holy experiment"
a) Religious freedom, peace, and Christian living.
b) Penn respected Native Americans-many years of peace.
c) Pennsylvania Dutch- German speaking Protestants.
d) Representative government.
e) called the capital of the colony Philadelphia.
3. Delaware- The Duke of York gave Penn an area called the lower counties
because Philadelphia had no outlet on the coast.
a) Settlers in the lower counties did not like this change.
b) They complained that they had to send representatives all the way
to Philadelphia.
c) 1701- Penn gave them their own assembly. The new colony was called
Delaware.
D. The Middle Colonies are “A Land of Plenty” (fertile soil).
1. Food to spare- farmers produced surpluses of wheat, barley and rye.
a) cash crops- crops that are sold for money on the world market.
B) The Middle Colonies produced so much grain, they became known as
the "Bread Basket."
c) Also herded cattle and pig.
2. A center for manufacturing and crafts
a) Had large supplies of iron ore.
b) Made, hardware, locks, nails, guns, glass, stoneware, and paper.
E. Town and Country
1. Building homesa) Swedes-log cabins
b) Dutch- red brick houses
c) Germans developed wood burning stoves that worked better than
fireplaces.
2. The backcountry- the area of land along the eastern slopes of the
Appalachian Mountains.
a) Great Wagon Road - settlers followed an old Iroquois road.
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III. Southern Colonies
A. Mason Dixon Line
1. A 244-mile boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland.
a) Divided the Middle Colonies from the Southern Colonies.
b) In 1763, Charles Mason and Jeremaih Dixon surveyed the
boundary.
B. Lord Baltimore's Maryland
1. George Calvert planned to build a colony, Maryland, where Catholics
could practice their religion freely. When he died his son Cecil, Lord
Baltimore continued the project.
2. Settling the colony - Colonists landed in upper Chesapeake Bay,
across from England's first colony, Virginia.
a) Land of plenty - full of fish, oysters, and crabs.
b) Many wanted to grow tobacco like they did in Virginia.
c) Lord Baltimore appointed a governor, council of advisors, and
created an elected assembly.
3. Women set up plantations - Margaret and Mary Brent set up 2
plantations, which grew to 1000 acres each.
4. Religious toleration - welcomed Protestants as well as Catholics.
a) Act of Toleration- welcomed Protestants as well as Catholics.
This freedom was not extended to Jews.
C. The Virginia Frontier - Wealthy Tobacco planters quickly took the best
lands near the coast. Newcomers pushed inland.
1. Conflict with the Indians - Conflict over land led to fighting.
a) Governor refused to take action against Native Americans. He
was profiting from the Fur trade with the Indians.
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2. Bacon's Rebellion- In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon, a planter, led an
attack on Native American villages.
a) He led followers to Jamestown and burned the capital. When
he died suddenly the revolt fell apart.
b) Governor hanged 23 of Bacon's followers. This did not stop
settlers from moving into Indian lands.
D. The Carolinas - Two separate settlements south of Virginia.
1. Northern settlement mostly made up of poor tobacco farmers.
2. Southern settlement - A group of 8 English nobles acted as
proprietors. They received a grant of land from King Charles II in
1663.
3. Carolina Rice - Rice grew well in the swampy lowlands along the
coast.
a) Became a valuable crop.
b) Needed a large number of workers.
c) Used African Slaves.
4. The difference between the two settlements led to the division of
the colony into North Carolina and South Carolina in 1732.
E. Georgia. A Haven for Debtors.
1. James Oglethorpe, a respected noble and reformer, founded
Georgia in 1732.
a) People jailed for debt in England could get a new start.
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2. Early Years- In 1733, Oglethorpe and 120 colonists built the
colonies first settlement at Savannah.
3. Spanish and Indian Neighbors - Spain and England both claimed the
land between South Carolina and Florida.
a) The Spanish and their Indian allies (Creek) tried to force the
English settlers out.
b) The English held their ground.
F. Plantation Life
1. Southern colonies enjoyed warmer weather and a longer growing
season than the colonies of the north.
a) Tobacco and rice grown on large plantations.
b) These plantations had anywhere from 20 to 100 slaves who
did most of the work.
2. Geography affected where southerners built their plantations.
a) Tidewater- an area of lowland that stretched like fingers
among broad rivers and creeks.
b) Tidewaters offered rich farmland.
c) Inland, farmers settled along rivers.
d) Plantations had their own docks; goods could be shipped
directly to and from plantations.
3. Planters set the style of life in the south.
G. Backcountry
1. Backcountry was more democratic than the tidewater.
a) Life was not easy.
b) Families worked together.
c) Farmed and hunted.
H. Growth of Slavery
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1. African had good farming skills.
a) They showed settlers how to grow rice and Indigo.
b) Slave Codes - set rules for slave's behavior and denied them
their basic rights.
c) Slaves seen as property.
2. Attitudes toward slavery - colonists believed Africans were inferior.
a) Racism - the belief that one race is superior to another.
b) Some colonists saw the evils of slavery (Quakers).
H. The Slave Trade
1. By the 1720s, between 2,000 and 3,000 Africans were arriving each
year in North America.
a) Middle Passage - trip from Africa to America.
b) Slaves were crammed into small passages below deck.
c) Records show that 10% of all Africans did not survive the trip.
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IV. Ruling the Colonies
A. England Regulates Trade - As trade increased, England began to take a
new interest in its colonies.
1. England believed that the purpose of colonies was to benefit the
home country.
a) Mercantilism - economic theory that a nation became strong
by building up its gold supply and expanding its trade.
b) Imports - goods brought into a country.
c) Exports- goods sent to markets outside a country.
d) Mercantilists thought that a country should export more than
it imports.
2. New Laws - In the 1650s, Parliament passed laws to regulate trade
between England and its colonies. These laws were known as Navigation
Acts.
a) These laws ensured that only England benefited from trade
with the colonies.
b) Only colonial or English ships could carry goods to and from
the colonies.
c) Also listed certain products, such as tobacco and cotton that
colonial merchants could only ship to England.
3. Colonists react - Navigation laws encouraged colonists to build
their own ships. Still many colonists resented the laws.
a) Laws favored the English.
b) Many colonists ignored the laws or found ways around
them.
B. Molasses, Rum, Slaves.
1. The colonies produced a wide variety of goods.
a) Colonies traded with each other.
b) New England dominated colonist's trade. They became known
as Yankees.
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2. Colonial merchants developed many trade routes.
a) Triangular trade -Three legs of the route formed a triangle.
1st - Left New England with fish, lumber, and other goods- to
West Indies to buy sugar and molasses- back to New England to
make rum. 2nd- Ships carried rum, guns, gunpowder, cloth, and
tools to West Africa to buy slaves. 3rd- Ships carried enslaved
Africans to the West Indies, bought more molasses.
b) Many disobeyed Navigation acts by buying molasses from
Dutch, French, and Spanish in the West Indies.
C. Travel and Communication
1. In the 1600s and early 1700s travel in the colonies was slow and
difficult.
a) Rough roads and few bridges.
b) Colonists set up a postal system but it was slow.
2. Slowly roads and mail service improved.
a) Families built taverns on main roads where people could stop
and rest.
3. By 1750s, most colonies published at least one newspaper.
D. Rights of English Citizens
1. Each colony had developed its own form of government. Still they
were very similar. In each colony, a governor, who was appointed by
the king or proprietor, directed the colonies affairs and enforced
laws.
a) Rhode Island and Connecticut elected their own governor.
2. Colonial Assemblies - Each colony had a legislature.
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a) Legislature - a group of people who have the power to make
laws. In most colonies the legislature had an upper house and a
lower house.
b) Upper house - advisors appointed by the governor.
c) Lower House - elected assembly.
3. The right to vote - Each colony had its own rules about who could
vote. By the1720s, all colonies had laws that restricted the right to
vote to white Christian men over the age of 21.
a) All voters had to own property.
b) In some colonies, only members of a particular church could
vote.
4. Rights from the Glorious Revolution- In 1688, King James was
removed from the British throne. William and Mary of the
Netherlands were asked to rule. In return, they signed the English Bill
of Rights.
a) Protected rights of individuals.
b) Right to a trial by jury.
c) Ruler could not raise taxes or an army without the approval of
Parliament.
5. The rights of English citizens did not extend to everyone in the
colonies.
a) Africans, Indians, women, and servants had almost no rights.
b) Unmarried women and widows had more rights than married
women.
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V. The Colonies in 1750
A. Social Classes - Colonists enjoyed more social equality than people in
England did. Still class differences existed.
1. At the top of society stood the gentry.
a) Gentry- included wealthy planters, merchants, ministers,
successful lawyers, and royal officials.
2. Below the gentry stood the middle class.
a) Skilled craft workers, farmers, and tradespeople.
b) 3/4 of the white colonists belonged to the middle class.
3. The lowest social class included hired farmhands, indentured
servants, and slaves.
a) Promised to work without wages for four to seven years for
whoever would pay their ocean passage.
B. Women in the Colonies
1. Women throughout the colonies did many of the same tasks.
a) Took care of her household, husband, and families.
b) Backcountry women often worked with and completed the
same jobs as their husbands.
c) In cities, women sometimes worked outside of the home.
C. African Cultural Influences
1. The Southern Colonies
a) More than half of the population was African.
b) Many worked along the docks and on plantations.
2. The Middle and New England Colonies
a) Fewer Africans lived here.
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D. A Renewal of Faith
1. In the 1730s and 1740s, a religious movement known as the Great
Awakening swept through the colonies.
a) A New England preacher, Jonathan Edwards called on
colonists to examine their lives.
b) An English minister, George Whitefield, also helped spread
the movement.
2. The Great Awakening aroused bitter debate, resulting in people
splitting away from their old churches, and forming new ones.
a) Colonists had to become more tolerant of people with
different religious beliefs.
E. Concern with Education
1. Public Schools in New England - Education was important in New
England. You had to be able to read in order to study the Bible.
a) All parents had to teach children to read and to understand
the principles of religion.
b) Towns with 50 families had to hire a schoolteacher.
c) Towns with 100 families or more had to set up a Grammar
School to prepare boys for college.
d) Massachusetts set up the first Public Schools, schools
supported by taxes.
e) In 1636, Massachusetts set up the first college to train
Puritan Ministers (Harvard College). Puritans in Connecticut set
up Yale College in 1701.
2. Middle and Southern Colonies - Churches and families set up private
schools.
a) Only the wealthy could afford an education.
b) Some boys were sent to private schools in England.
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c) In 1693, Virginia organized the college of William and Mary to
train ministers of the Church of England.
d) Eventually colleges began training doctors, teachers, and
lawyers.
3. Learning by doing.
a) Apprentice - worked for a master to learn a trade or craft.
4. Education for girls.
a) In New England, some girls attended private schools run by
women.
b) Most girls learned skills from their mothers.
F. The Age of Reason
1. During the 1600s, European scientists tried to use reason and logic
to understand the world.
a) Isaac Newton - Laws of gravity.
b) Others tried to discover laws of human behavior.
2. Because these thinkers believed in the light of human reason, the
movement that they started is known as the Enlightenment.
a) Ben Franklin worked his way from poverty to become an
important colonial leader.
b) He published poor Richard's Almanac - was filled with clever
quotes, calendars, and other useful information.
c) He proved lightning was a form of electricity- invented the
lightning rod.
d) In Philadelphia, he helped set up the first lending library in
the Americas.
G. The Trail of John Peter Zenger
1. John Peter Zenger published the weekly journal in New York City.
He was arrested for publishing stories that criticized the governor.
a) He was put on a trial for libel, the act of publishing a
statement that may unjustly damage a person’s reputation.
b) His lawyer argued that since Zenger was telling the truth it
was not libel, and the jury agreed. This was an early victory
for freedom of the press.
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