Southern Colonies
Virginia, South Carolina,
North Carolina, Georgia
and Maryland
Virginia
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The Southern Colony of Virginia, later known as Jamestown (After King James I) was founded by a man named
John Smith and his crew in 1607, even though Virginia didn’t become a state until June 25, 1788.
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At the dawn of the seventeenth century; all of North America (Which soon after become the thirteen original
colonies) was known as Virginia.
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The largest of the boats that took people to Virginia was called the Susan Constant. This journey to the new world
was long, dreary and cold.
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When the American’s arrived at the shore of Virginia they were greeted by nothing but singing songbirds and
flowing rivers. Unfortunately building a colony there was more difficult than anticipated because among the crew
was made up of laborers, blacksmiths, barbers and over fifty “gentleman.”
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The colony would have no doubt perished were it not for the bravery of John Smith, who made them work to eat.
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Unfortunately, once the natives were warned of the American’s presence, John Smith was captured by them and
would have been killed if not for the chief’s daughter Pocahontas coming to John’s aid.
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Even though gold didn’t necessarily come from Virginia, their major industry was the agricultural Industry of
tobacco, wheat and corn.
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In order to find this new world, people had to invest a lot of money into financing the voyage; even though a great
portion of the population was worried they were going to be risking their fortunes. Many doubts were put to rest
when news of success came from companies that had multiplied in the past fifty years finding gold and trading in
distant countries. It was then that people agreed to help fund the voyage.
South Carolina
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Native Americans first founded South Carolina in the late 1500’s.
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Many attempted at establishing colony’s in that area later on (Lucas
Vasquez and Francisco Gordillo) but due to disease the colony failed.
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It wasn’t until 1670 that the first permanent European settlement was
established, and in 1680 the colony was moved to Oyster Point,
South Carolina, now known as Charleston.
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In order to gain Charleston; many battles were fought during the
1700’s. Colonists from England came together in hopes they would
defeat Spanish and French troops as well as Indian’s and pirates.
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Other big issues were race and religion. Several religious groups had
been free to practice their faith. This included French Huguenots,
Anglicans, and Catholicism.
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South Carolina has an abundance of plantations that have livestock,
grow corn, cotton, fur, rice, and tobacco.
North Carolina
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The first permanent English settlers in North Carolina were immigrants from the tidewater
area of southeastern Virginia.
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The first of these "overflow" settlers moved into the Albemarle area of northeast North
Carolina around 1650.
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In 1663, Charles II granted a charter to eight English gentlemen who had helped him
regain the throne of England. The territory was called Carolina in honor of Charles the
First ("Carolus" is the Latin form of "Charles").
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In 1665, a second charter was granted to clarify territorial questions not answered in the
first charter. Between 1663 and 1729, North Carolina was under the control of the Lords
Proprietors and their descendants, who commissioned colonial officials and authorized
the governor and his council to grant lands in the name of the Lords Proprietors.
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For a twenty-year period, 1692-1712, the colonies of North and South Carolina existed as
one unit of government.
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Although North Carolina still had her own assembly and council, the governor of Carolina
resided in Charleston.
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Colonial government in North Carolina was essentially the same during both the
proprietary and royal periods.
Georgia
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Georgia was founded in the year of 1732.
Georgia was the last of the thirteen original colonies to be settled, and was the weakest of them
all. It was named in honor of the king (King George II).
The motivations for its founding was for two main purposes: to serve as a place where debtors in
prison could go to start a new and it served as a barrier against Spanish expansion from Florida.
James Oglethorpe, who was a British general, and was the founder of the colony of Georgia.
King George II gave Oglethorpe a grant of land in America to which the imprisoned debtors could
be sent. Oglethorpe was chosen as governor. He traveled to America with thirty-five families,
arriving in the spring of 1733.
The land was inhabited by Native Americans, primarily the Creek and Cherokee. Georgia was
still mostly wilderness. Most of the people, were small farmers.
They prohibited slavery and the import of alcohol. Government was entirely ruled by the trustees.
The colonists were not happy with the restrictions placed on the colony. After 12 years as
governor, Oglethorpe returned to England bearing their demands; they wanted to be able to have
alcohol and slaves, to participate in their own government, and demanded land reform.
They were successful. Alcohol was allowed into the colony because it was thought that the
importation of alcohol would improve trade. In 1749 Georgia became a slave colony. It had
grown quickly after the release of restrictions.
Georgia became a royal colony in 1752. The trustees were unable to establish self-government
and gave up before the 21 year charter had expired. Freemen were given the right to vote
(unless they were Roman Catholics). The English church was the state church after Georgia
became a royal colony, but religious freedom was granted to all protestants.
At first, colonists believed that silk would be an important product of Georgia, however, no one
was able to succeed at the business. The chief products were rice, indigo, lumber, and Fur Trade
with the Native Americans.
Maryland
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Maryland was officially named a province on June 20, 1632. Maryland; as a province, had a
Republican government
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A representative system of government was introduced to Maryland in 1969. This system of
government was common in all the other thirteen colonies.
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The reason Maryland was founded was because as a devout Catholic himself, George Calvert,
wanted to create a haven for Catholics in the new world, thus founding Maryland.
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Maryland was one of the colonies that revolted against the British rule during the American
Revolution.
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The charter of Rights for making Maryland an official province was given to second Baltimore
Cecillius Calvert, the eldest son of First Baltimore George Calvert who initially applied to King
Charles I to make Maryland a province before he passed away.
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On February 2, 1781, Maryland became the thirteenth state to approve the Ratification of the
Articles of Confederation which declared the United States to become a united and sovereign
nation that it is today.
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Maryland’s biggest business’ during the 1600’s included, corn, wheat, rice, indigo, tobacco, and
the manufacturing of shipbuilding and iron works.
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Some of the significant leaders of Maryland included second Baltimore Cecillius Calvert, Lord
Leonard Calvert, King Charles the first and King George the second. Major industries running in