"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
Plymouth, New Amsterdam, Jamestown, and Quebec
What were the factors (political, social, economic, and geographic) that led to the success of these colonies? Specify.
Economic
Geographic
Social
Political
Colony
New England Plymouth
Middle Atlantic – New
Amsterdam
Southern - Jamestown
French - Quebec
Create a visual for the factor that best led to the success of each colony.
Plymouth
Colonies
New Amsterdam
Jamestown
Quebec
"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
What were the factors (political, social, economic, and geographic) that made things challenging for these colonies? Specify.
Economic
Geographic
Social
Political
Colony
New England Plymouth
Middle Atlantic – New
Amsterdam
Southern - Jamestown
French - Quebec
Create a visual for the most challenging factor(s) facing each colony.
Plymouth
Colonies
New Amsterdam
Jamestown
Quebec
"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
New England: Plymouth Colony 1620-1691
I
n September 1620, around 100 English men
and women set sail for the New World
aboard the Mayflower, a three-masted
merchant ship. Many of them sought (desired)
religious freedom. The ship landed on the
shores of Cape Cod, in present-day
Massachusetts, two months later, and in late
December anchored at Plymouth Rock, where
they would form the first permanent
settlement of Europeans in New England.
Though more than half the original settlers
died during that grueling first winter, the
survivors were able to secure peace treaties
with neighboring Native American tribes and
build a largely self-sufficient economy within
five years.
Surviving the First Year in Plymouth Colony
For the next few months, many of the settlers stayed on the Mayflower while ferrying back and forth
to shore to build their new settlement. In March, they began moving ashore permanently. More than
half the settlers fell ill and died that first winter, victims of an epidemic of disease that swept the new
colony. Soon after they moved ashore, the Pilgrims were introduced to a Native American man
named Squanto, who would become a member of the colony. A member of the Pawtuxet tribe (from
present-day Massachusetts and Rhode Island) who had been kidnapped by the explorer John Smith
and taken to England, only to escape back to his native land, Squanto acted as an interpreter and
mediator between Plymouth's leaders and local Native Americans, including Chief Massasoit of the
Pokanoket tribe.
All the adult males aboard the Mayflower had signed the so-called Mayflower Compact, a document
that would become the foundation of Plymouth's government. The compact created a "Civil Body
Politic" to put into place "just and equal Laws.” Every adult male had to sign the agreement before
going ashore. The compact remained in effect until Plymouth was incorporated into the short-lived
Dominion of New England in 1686 and subsequently absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in
1691.
Growth and Decline of the Plymouth Colony
With peace secured, the colonists in Plymouth were able to concentrate on building a viable
(survivable) settlement for themselves rather than spend their time and resources guarding
"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
themselves against attack. Squanto taught them how to plant corn, which became an important crop,
as well as where to fish and hunt beaver. Plymouth has rolling hills, fertile valleys; however much of
New England has rocky soil that prevented farming from being a major source of revenue for the
colony. Though Plymouth would never develop as robust (strong) an economy as later settlements–
such as Massachusetts Bay Colony–agriculture, fishing
and trading made the colony self-sufficient within five
years after it was founded.
Many other European settlers followed in the Pilgrims'
footsteps to New England. As the settlers worked to
take more and more land in the region, relations with
Native Americans deteriorated, and sporadic violence
broke out that would peak decades later in the bloody
King Philip's War of 1675.
By that time, the ideal of Plymouth Colony–conceived
(thought out) in the Mayflower Compact as a selfcontained community governed by a common
religious–had given way to trade, and the devout
(religious) Pilgrims had splintered into smaller, more
Captain John Smith
self-serving groups. Still, the original idea served as
the foundation for many later settlements. These included John Winthrop's Massachusetts Bay
Colony, founded in 1630, which became the most populous and prosperous colony in the region.
Plymouth's influence in New England declined accordingly, until it was absorbed by Massachusetts
in 1691.
"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
Middle Atlantic: New Amsterdam – New York City (1644-Present)
A
fter unsuccessful efforts at colonization, the Dutch Parliament
created the "West India Company," a national-joint stock
company that would organize and oversee all Dutch travels in
the Western Hemisphere. Sponsored by the West India Company, 30
families arrived in North America in 1624, establishing a settlement on
present-day Manhattan. Much like English colonists in Virginia,
however, the Dutch settlers did not take much of an interest in
agriculture, and focused on the more lucrative fur trade despite the fertile
land. In 1626, Director General Peter Minuit arrived in Manhattan,
charged by the West India Company with the task of governing the
struggling colony. Minuit "purchased" Manhattan Island from Native
American Indians for the now legendary price of 60 guilders, formally
established New Amsterdam, and consolidated and strengthened a fort located far up the Hudson
River, named Fort Orange (present-day Albany). The colony grew slowly, as settlers, responding to
generous land-grant and trade policies, slowly spread north up the Hudson River.
Under Dutch rule, New Netherlands had suffered from ethnic tension, political instability, and
protracted Indian warfare, which limited immigration. Similar problems continued under English
administration. One source of tension was the Duke of York's refusal to permit a representative
assembly or a government in which people were elected, which was not established until 1683.
The slow expansion of New Netherland, however, caused conflicts with both English colonists and
Native Americans in the region. In the 1630s, the new Director General Wouter van Twiller sent an
expedition out from New Amsterdam up to the Connecticut River into lands claimed by English
settlers. Faced with the prospect of armed conflict, Twiller was forced to back down and recall the
expedition, losing any claims to the Connecticut Valley. In the upper reaches of the Hudson Valley
Evolution of New Amsterdam to modern-day New York City
"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
around Fort Orange, where the needs of the profitable fur trade required a careful policy of
appeasement with the Iroquois Confederacy, the Dutch authorities maintained peace, but corruption
and lax (lazy) trading policies plagued the area. In the lower Hudson Valley, where more colonists
were setting up small farms, Native Americans came to be viewed as obstacles to European
settlement. In the 1630s and early 1640s, the Dutch Director Generals carried on a brutal series of
campaigns against the area's Native Americans, largely succeeding in crushing the strength of the
"River Indians," but also managing to create a bitter atmosphere of tension and suspicion between
European settlers and Native Americans.
The year 1640 marked a turning point for the colony. The West India Company gave up its trade
monopoly, enabling other businessmen to invest in New Netherland. Profits flowed to Amsterdam,
encouraging new economic activity in the production of food, timber, tobacco, and eventually, slaves.
Another source of tension was the "patroon" system, which the Dutch West India Company set up in
1629 to promote settlement. Patroons were given huge estates, which they rented to tenant farmers.
Patroons had the power to control such aspects of settlers' lives as their right to move, establish
businesses, and marry. The Duke of York allowed Dutch landowners to retain these estates, and gave
equally large tracts of land to his supporters. By 1703, five families held approximately 1.75 million
acres of New York. By 1750, these families had become among colonial America's wealthiest landed
elite. Although these landowners lost their feudal privileges (think medieval castles) as a result of the
Revolution, they still owned about 1.8 million acres of land in the early nineteenth century. Between
1839 and 1846, tenant farmers on these properties staged "Anti-Rent Wars," demanding title to lands
that they felt rightfully belonged to them. In 1846, New
York granted the tenants their farms.
The Dutch New Netherland colony came under British
control in 1664. Part of the colony and a major
settlement were renamed New York in honor of James II,
the Duke of York. James was a major shareholder of the
Royal African Company, which held a royal monopoly on
the British slave trade. With the British in power, slave
trading vessels were granted port privileges and
warehouse priorities and a slave market was established
on Wall Street near the East River docks.
In the 18th century, the slave trade became a cornerstone of New York’s commercial prosperity.
Between 1700 and 1722, over 5,000 enslaved Africans entered the colony. About two-thirds arrived
directly from Africa and the other third from British colonies in the Caribbean and the South. New
York City officials established a Wall Street slave market in 1711. In 1698, when the population of the
New York colony was approximately 18,000 people, roughly 2,000 people, or 12%, were enslaved
Africans. From 1730 to 1750 more Africans arrived in New York than Europeans. By 1746, one in five
people in New York City were of African descent and fifteen percent of the non-native population of
the entire colony.
"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
Southern: Jamestown 1607-Present
O
n May 14, 1607, a group of roughly
100 members of a joint venture called
the Virginia Company founded the
first permanent English settlement in North
America on the banks of the James River.
(Over 20 African slaves were brought over to
work the lands.) Famine, disease (due to the
swampy conditions) and conflict with local
Native American tribes in the first two years
brought Jamestown to the brink of failure
before the arrival of a new group of settlers
and supplies in 1610. Tobacco became
Virginia's first profitable export (cash crop),
and a period of peace followed the marriage
of colonist John Rolfe to Pocahontas, the
daughter of an Algonquian chief. During the
1620s, Jamestown expanded from the area
around the original James Fort into a New
Town built to the east; it remained the capital
of the Virginia colony until 1699.
English Settlement in the New World
After Christopher Columbus' historic voyage
in 1492, Spain dominated the race to establish
colonies in the Americas, while English
efforts, such as the "lost colony" of Roanoke (1587), met with failure. In 1606, King James I granted a
charter to a new venture, the Virginia Company, to form a settlement in North America. At the time,
Virginia was the English name for the entire eastern coast of North America north of Florida; they
had named it for Elizabeth I. The Virginia Company planned to search for gold and silver deposits in
the New World, as well as a river route to the Pacific Ocean that would allow them to establish trade
with the Orient.
Roughly 100 colonists left England in late December 1606 on three ships (the Susan Constant, the
Godspeed and the Discovery) and reached Chesapeake Bay late the next April. After forming a
governing council—including Christopher Newport, commander of the sea voyage, and John Smith,
a former mercenary who had been accused of insubordination aboard ship by several other company
members—the group searched for a suitable settlement site. On May 14, 1607, they landed on a
narrow peninsula–virtually an island–in the James River, where they would begin their lives in the
New World.
"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
Captain John Smith became the colony’s leader in September 1608 – the fourth in a succession of
council presidents – and established a “no work, no food” policy. Smith was instrumental (vital) in
trading with the Powhatan Indians for food. However, in the fall of 1609 he was injured by burning
gunpowder and left for England. Smith never returned to Virginia, but promoted colonization of
North America until his death in 1631 and published numerous accounts of the Virginia colony.
The first representative government in British America began at Jamestown in 1619 with the
convening of a general assembly, at the request of settlers who wanted input in the laws governing
them. After a series of events, including a 1622 war with the Powhatan Indians and misconduct
among some of the Virginia Company leaders in England, the Virginia Company was dissolved by
the king in 1624, and Virginia became a royal colony. Jamestown continued as the center of
Virginia’s political and social life until 1699 when the seat of government moved to Williamsburg.
Surviving the First Years
Known variously as James Forte, James Towne
and James Cittie, the new settlement initially
consisted of a wooden fort built in a triangle
around a storehouse for weapons and other
supplies, a church and a number of houses. By
the summer of 1607, Newport went back to
England with two ships and 40 crewmembers to
give a report to the king and to gather more
supplies and colonists. The settlers left behind
suffered greatly from hunger and illness, as well
as the constant threat of attack by members of
local Algonquian tribes, most of which were
organized into a kind of empire under Chief Powhatan.
An understanding reached between Powhatan and John Smith led the settlers to establish muchneeded trade with Powhatan's tribe by early 1608. Though skirmishes still broke out between the two
groups, the Native Americans traded corn for beads, metal tools and other objects (including some
weapons) from the English, who would depend on this trade for sustenance in the colony's early
years. After Smith returned to England in late 1609, the inhabitants of Jamestown suffered through a
long, harsh winter, during which more than 100 of them died. In the spring of 1610, just as the
remaining colonists were set to abandon Jamestown, two ships arrived bearing at least 150 new
settlers, a cache of supplies and the new English governor of the colony, Lord De La Warr.
"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
French – Quebec 1608-1755
O
n July 3, 1608, Samuel de Champlain sailed up the
St. Lawrence River in the company of 26 recruits—
lumberjacks, carpenters, and laborers. At the
request of Pierre Dugua de Mons, who held a monopoly
over the fur trade, Champlain had come to establish a
trading post. When he arrived, he could find no trace of
Stadacona (an Iroquois village). Its Iroquois population
had abandoned the St. Lawrence Valley for reasons that
remain a mystery to this day. Only the nomadic Algonquin
people ventured there to barter and fish for eels.
Champlain settled along Québec’s shoreline, a natural
harbor where Place Royale is situated today. The location
was perfect. From atop Cape Diamond, it was easy to keep an
eye on comings and goings along the St. Lawrence River.
Champlain’s Habitation
Champlain quickly built his wooden Habitation on the site of today’s Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
Church. The building served as a home, fort, and store. It soon became a meeting place where various
First Nation peoples (name for Canadian Indians) came to barter furs for European goods.
Champlain also gave thought to the city’s defenses. In 1620 he began to construct Fort Saint-Louis on
the headlands near where the Château Frontenac stands today. It was the beginning of the Upper
Town. The location was a strategic one: the fort looked out across the river and down on the
Habitation below. A few wooden buildings surrounded by a palisade made up the fort, while a trail
connecting the Lower Town’s Habitation to Fort Saint-Louis traced the same route as part of today’s
Côte de la Montagne.
Québec City Strengthens Its Defenses
From 1620 to 1665, Québec City’s fortifications were quite rudimentary. In 1690, a wall consisting of
11 redoubts (towers) linked by palisades was hastily erected. It was the first in a series of walls built
to encircle the city. It would not be until 1745—when Québec was panic-stricken after the fall of
Louisbourg (the capital of the Île Royale colony, today Cape Breton Island) to the English—that a new
wall permanently surrounded the city. Following the plans of engineer Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros
de Léry, these fortifications were formed from previous walls.
A Capital Is Born
Since its founding, Québec City was ruled by a governor. His responsibilities included the military
command, the civil administration, and the execution of royal decrees. The only authority not
"History is the memory of time, the life of the dead and the happiness of the living." – Captain John Smith
granted to him was financial management, which was ensured by trading companies more interested
in the fur trade than any commitment to populate the colony. Interestingly, governors were
occasionally stakeholders in these companies.
But things changed in 1663: King
Louis XIV of France took direct
control of the colony and established
a true colonial administration.
Henceforth an administrator and a
sovereign council ruled the city,
along with a governor. Québec City
officially became the capital of New
France.
Over the years, Québec City evolved.
It became the seat of political power
and an administrative, religious, and
commercial center. By the end of the
French Regime, its 8,000 inhabitants
lived in the Saint-Roch and SaintJean neighborhoods, as well as the
Quebec after it strengthened its defenses in 1700
seigneuries stretching from Beauport
to Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures.
Picture of Quebec in 1700 which strengthened its defenses after
Québec City was also New France’s
repeated attacks by the British
main port. It was part of a
commercial trading network between France, the Antilles, Acadia, and Newfoundland. Ships
exported furs and wood and imported products from Europe and the Antilles. This shipping trade
was central to Place Royale.