The American Colonies
Jamestown, VA
May 13, 1607: Arrival of 104 Male Settlers
WHY?
For what reasons did individuals come to America?
Colonizing America
• Wealth
Colonizing America
• Religious dissent
Types of Colonies
• Royal Colonies
–King
–Ruled by royal governor
Types of Colonies
•Proprietary
–Individuals or groups
–King gifted land
Types of Colonies
• Charter
–Established by charters
–King
–Colonies governed themselves
Regional Divisions
New England Colonies
Massachusetts (1620)
• Pilgrims (Plymouth)
– Separatists
• wanted to separate from the
Anglican Church
– 1st Thanksgiving
– Mayflower Compact
• 41 men drew up the
agreement to outline fair and
equal laws for the colony;
signed on the Mayflower
• 1620
Massachusetts (1630)
• Puritans
• Purify and reform Anglican Church
• Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Strict religious beliefs; radical
• John Winthrop
“for wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty
upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us;
soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our god in
this worke wee have undertaken and soe cause
him to withdrawe his present help from us”
City Upon A Hill, 1630
– New Hampshire (1630)
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John Mason
English and Scots-Irish settlers
Economic freedom
Settled for religious freedom
Escape for those constricted by harsh religious and
economic rules of the Puritans
• Royal Colony
– Rhode Island (1636)
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Roger Williams
Exiled by Puritans in Mass. settled in Providence
Religious freedom
Trade
– Connecticut (1636)
• Thomas Hooker
• Dutch (economic freedom) and English (religious
freedom)
• Asked to leave by Mass.
• Agriculture and trade
Middle Colonies
– New York (1626)
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Peter Minuit
Dutch (Netherlands), taken over by English
Trade and profits
Anglican
Proprietary to royal colony
– New Jersey (1660)
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Lord Berkley
Established by Sweden became English
Agriculture, trade and profits
Proprietary to royal colony
– Delaware (1638)
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Peter Minuit
Dutch, Swedish and English
Farming, trade and profits
Proprietary
Pennsylvania (1682)
– William Penn
– Proprietary
– Home to many European
Immigrants: Swedish,
Dutch, English, Scots-Irish
and German
– Farming
• Quakers
– Equality and all possessed
“Inner Light”
– Pennsylvania
Southern Colonies
Virginia (1607)
• Jamestown
• 1st permanent settlement mostly males
(indentured servants and treasure hunters)
• 60/900 colonists survived
• Ruled by John Smith
• Founded by the Virginia Company
– Joint-stock company: organized to raise money by
selling stocks/shares to investors
– Becomes royal
House of Burgesses (1619)-22 representatives
called burgesses met to outline laws for the
colony
– Maryland (1634)
• George Calvert
• Religious freedom for
Catholics
• Established for trade,
finding precious metals
and to locate a water
passage across the
continent
• Farming
• Proprietary
Maryland Act of Toleration
• 1649
• Granted freedom of worship for all
Catholics
• Symbolic beginning of freedom of religion
– North Carolina (1653)
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Group of proprietors: business venture
Settlers from Virginia
Farming, trade and profit
Anglican
– South Carolina (1670)
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Group of proprietors
Settlers from France, English, Africans and Irish
Food crops
Anglican
Proprietary to royal
– Georgia (1733)
• General James Oglethorpe
• Spanish settlements taken by English
• Debtors and convicts protect colonies from Spanish and
French invasions
• Slow economic growth farmed, harvested lumber and traded
furs
The Charter of Carolina 1663
Ethnic and Religious
Diversity
Discrimination in Massachusetts
• Salem Witch Trials
Discrimination in Massachusetts
• Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams
• Banished from Massachusetts
Discrimination
• African Americans
– Free
– Slaves
• Native Americans
– Pushed off land
by westward settlers
Religious Tolerance
• Roger Williams Providence, RI
• Pennsylvania
– English Quakers
– German Lutherans
– Scotch-Irish Presbyterians
– Swiss Mennonites
• New York linguistic and cultural diversity
– First synagogue
Colonial Economy
Economic Diversity:
-South= Agriculture
-North = Commerce
-Towns and cities
develop along water
Economy
• Mercantilism
– Economic policy
– Europe
– Way to get rich
– Export more than you import
Effect= Britain creates rules for colonial trade
Commerce and Immigrants
(New England)
• Port cities
– Boston
– Immigrant population increases due to
religious freedom and economic opportunities
(German, Scotch-Irish, Dutch)
– More towns in North than Southern colonies
– Use town meetings to govern
New England Colonies
• Shipbuilding
• Fishing
• Smaller farms self-sufficient
Middle Colonies’ Economy
• Diverse in people and business
• Less slaves
– Shops, homes and farms
Middle Colonies’ Economy
• Farming
– Wheat, barley, rye
• Commerce
– Access to water
– Shipping overseas
– New York and
Philadelphia
Southern Economy
• John Rolfe and tobacco
– Virginia, Maryland, NC
• Plantations develop
– Need for labor
– Indentured servants
• Agree to work for landowner
• 4-7 years
– slavery
Southern Plantation Systems
• Exported cash crops to make money
• Creates:
(1) Large farms around rivers
(2) Need for lots of labor
(3) Wealthy class of plantation owners
Slave Trade
• First slaves were captured Native
Americans
• African slave trade flourished by 1700s
• Slaves endured a harsh voyage: Middle
Passage
• Widespread use in Southern colonies
Colonial Society
Ethnic Diversity
-African Americans
-Native Americans
Class Distinctions
– Women
– Wealth = power
Bacon’s Rebellion
• Virginia, 1676
• Cause:
Small farmers treated unfairly; wealthy landowners paid
fewer taxes and received many benefits
• Nathaniel Bacon
• Failed!
• Result:
Need for representation
in government for the
“common man”
Colonial Government
• Britain allows the colonies to govern
themselves
– Salutary neglect
• Colonial legislatures hold the power
1.2 Self-Government and the
Colonies
• Ancient Greece (800-510 BC)
– Greeks practiced democracy
– People vote directly
• Romans created a republic (500 BC)
– Representative democracy
1.2 Self-Government and the
Colonies
• Middle Ages (400-1500 AD)
– Republics fade
– Autocracies develop
• Government ruled by a single sovereign
– Renaissance (1450 AD)
• “Rebirth”
• Reconnection to ancient Greece and Rome
• Classical republicanism
1.2 Self-Government and the
Colonies
• Post Middle Ages
– Limited government
– Government that must obey a set of laws
– Usually a written document
– Magna Carta or “Great Charter” (1215 AD)
• Prevented king from imposing taxes
• Needed approval of a council  British Parliament
– English Bill of Rights (1689 AD)
• Power to Parliament
• King could not interfere with Parliamentary elections or impose taxes
– Common Law
• Originated in Middle Ages
• Law based on tradition or past court decisions instead of written statutes
The English Government
• Magna Carta (The Great
Charter)
– Guaranteed rights and liberties
to the English people that could
not be cancelled by later laws
Common Law-evolved from the
Magna Carta; unwritten laws
based on customs, usage and
precedents
1.2 Self-Government and the
Colonies
• Enlightenment (1600s)
– Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
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All people are born with certain rights
Protect one’s own life  lead to chaos
Strong government is needed
Abuses by government = price of maintaining peace
and order
The Second Treatise of Civil
Government
• 1. What is Locke’s argument?
• 2. What evidence does he give to support
it?
• 3. Do you agree or disagree with his point
about preserving mankind? Why?
1.2 Self-Government and the
Colonies
• John Locke (1632-1704)
– Two Treatises on Government (1690)
• Natural rights: life, liberty, property
• Can’t morally be taken away by government
• Social contract theory
– Implied contract between government and citizens
– People submit themselves to follow the law for the
common good and to cultivate civic virtue
– Government fails= replace government
1.2 Self-Government and the
Colonies
– Montesquieu (1689-1755)
• Separation of powers
• Three branches of government
• Checks and balances
– Voltaire (1694- 1778)
• Free speech, freedom of expression and freedom
of religion
– Jean Jacque Rousseau (1712- 1778)
• equality
1.2 Self-Government and the
Colonies
• American Colonies
– House of Burgesses (1619)
• First elected body in New World
• Citizens should have a voice
• Created laws for the colony of Jamestown
– Mayflower Compact (1620)
• Document drafted by settlers
• Created an elected legislature
• Government received power from the people of the
colony
• Demonstrates desire to be ruled by local government
instead of England
1.2 Self-Government and the
Colonies
– Town meetings
• Representative government
• Local citizens met to discuss and vote on issues
• Belief in democratic ideals
– Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
• Written body of laws for the colony
• Government’s power came only from the “free
consent of the people”
• Set limits on what government could do
1.2 Self-Government and the
Colonies
– First Continental Congress (1774)
• Gathering of colonial leaders
• Respond to laws passed by Parliament
• “not represented in Parliament” and violations of
“natural rights”
– Second Continental Congress (1775)
• Meeting of colonial leaders
• Response to the Kings failure to act throw off
British rule