The English Colonies
War in the New World
• First colony in North America?
– St. Augustine, Florida (1565, Spanish)
• Spain and England competed for land
– “Privateering” led to war (1588)
– Spain’s fleet destroyed
• Rise of England’s control of North America
English Charters
• Business contracts to settle new world
• 3 goals
#1. Money
“dig, mine, and search for all manner of mines of
Gold, Silver, and Copper.”
#2. “Northwest Passage”
#3. Spread Christianity
Jamestown, Virginia
• First successful English settlement, 1607
• Instant problems
– First few months = 51 Dead
– Following year = “starving time”
• “fed upon her till he had clean devoured all parts
saving her head.”
• Saved by local tribes
John Smith & Pocahontas
• Pocahontas (Matowaka) 11, chief daughter
– Kidnapped by colonists (1613)
– Married a colonist, John Rolfe (1614)
– Went to England, died of smallpox (1615)
• John Smith
– “he that will not work shall not eat”
– His account = recorded history
– Mapped “New England
Survival of Jamestown
• Far from England, needed structure & money
• House of Burgesses (1619)
– First Colonial representative government
• Governor + elected representatives
• First cash crop in America?
– Tobacco (John Rolfe)
Women in Jamestown
• 1619, 90 women arrived
– Free to marry?
• 120 lbs of tobacco = purchased wife
• Same year first slaves brought to America
Plymouth Charter
• In 1620, 102 left England
– 50 passengers = “Pilgrims”
• Landed outside of charter boundaries
• “Mayflower Compact”
– 1st written constitution in North America
Plymouth Colony
• Initial problems = 52/102 dead
• Local tribes saved colonists (Wampanoag)
– Tribe taught colonists how to plant crops
• Pilgrims celebrated first harvest 1621
–First “Thanksgiving”
Great Puritan Migration
• Plymouth became successful colony
– Colonists bought rights to Mass. Bay Co.
• Led to “Great Puritan Migration”
– 14,000 – 20,000 settlers (1629-1642)
Our French Neighbors
French in North America
• Major difference from British colonists?
– French interest = trade
• Not planting farms
• Not permanent communities (initially)
New France vs. New England
• French had a number of problems
1. English population growing, French stagnant
2. Trade alliances made instant enemies
• Worst enemy = Iroquois Confederacy
–5 tribes, strongest in N.A.
3. French forts were attacked
• Europeans and Native Americans
So How Did the French Expand?
• Advantage to trading vs. settlement?
– Able to move freely
• French claimed ALL Western America
– “Louisiana”
Slavery in America
“traffick in men”
Slavery in America
• Slaves brought to Jamestown 1619
– Thousands already in Caribbean & South America
• High profits and low life expectancy
Business in Colonies
• Charters = business venture
– How were most making money?
• TOBACCO in South
• Timber/fishing in North
Tobacco’s Effects
• VERY time consuming (15 months to $)
• Ruined fields after 3 years
– Forced to move (new problems)
• Required large labor force (harsh conditions)
• Who could English make work?
– Slaves were expensive, 5 year life expectancy
• 2 better choices
1. Native Americans
2. INDENTURED SERVANTS!
Indentured Servants
• Poor Europeans that couldn’t afford trip
• Mortgage life to captain/merchant
– Sold in a colony as a servant (4-7 years)
• Unpaid during service, “freedom dues” after
• Why would anyone do this?
– Land unavailable in England
• Thousands risked 5 year life expectancy
–Pushed by unemployment & hunger
–Pulled by opportunities
Indentured Servants
• Great majority = teens/early 20s
– Male = tobacco
– Females = housekeepers/maids
• 14% of 3,010 emigrants in 1635
• 1625 – 1640, 15,000 came to Chesapeake
– Population increased by 7,000?
Result of Servants in Virginia
• Rise of “great planters” (constant labor)
• Virginia grew, available land shrank
– Constantly moving into Indian territory
So Why Bring Slaves?
• Industrial Revolution = Good in England
– Not as interested in coming to Virginia
• Emigration dropped in late 1600s
– 18,000 in 1660s
– 13,000 in 1680s
• New comers went to new areas
– Jamaica, Carolina, Pennsylvania
• Most indentured servants gone by 1700
The Birth of Slavery
• African Slaves became better investment
– £25 – 30 for life service
– £15 for 4/5 years service
– Disease-deaths #s started to drop
– Slave traders increasingly visited
– Native Americans traded for slaves
Colonial Slavery
• Colonists often sent Indians to West Indies
– Exchange for enslaved Africans
• 1638 = First slaves brought to New England
– Exchanged for Native Americans
• Charleston, South Carolina
– Shipped +10,000 Indians in one year!
Colonial Slavery
• Slave revolts were planters biggest fear
• Decided an armed force was necessary
– Colonial militias formed
• Before 1670, no laws regulated slaves
– Moved, baptized, firearms, testified in court,
voted, etc.
– Anthony Johnson 250-acre plantation, 1+ slave
• Took slave to court who ran away, and won
Colonial Slavery
• African population grew, scared planters
• New laws restricted movement & trading
• New laws punished blacks exclusively
– Assault a white person = 30 lashes
– All livestock taken & given to poor whites
– Interracial intercourse laws (6 months prison & fine)
– No interracial marriages
Colonial Slavery
• Slavery racially identifiable by late 1600s
“These two words Negro and Slave have, by
custom, grown homogeneous and
convertible.”
• Virginia became a distinctive colony
– Economy dependent on slavery
• Racism grew exponentially in colonies