English Colonies in America
Southern Colonies
• 1.) Maryland
–Lord Baltimore was the 1st proprietor of
the colony
• 2.) Virginia
• 3.) North Carolina
• 4.) South Carolina
• 5.) Georgia
–Founder: James Oglethrope
Virginia
• Virginia Company
–Headright System: principal mean of
attracting new settlers was through a system
of land grants
• Jamestown
–England’s first permanent settlement in
North America
–Captain John Smith:
• Leader in Jamestown that would keep the
colony together through tough times
Problems in Jamestown
• 1.) Jamestown’s population was made up of
townspeople that were unfamiliar with living in
the country
–Unfamiliar with raising livestock and growing
crops
• Many upper-class “gentlemen” refused to do
manual labor
• Unstable political system
• Sickness, food shortages and lawlessness
Problems in Jamestown
• “Tobacco saves the colony”
–Tobacco would be the crop they would
use to trade to England for money
• House of Burgesses
–1st representative government in North
America, but the Virginia Company had
to approve any law it passed
North Carolina
• Home to many farmers
• Tobacco would become a major
crop grown in N.C. and would
become a major export
South Carolina
• Viewed as being more valuable than
N.C. because of its soil and location
closer to the water (ports)
–Ex: Charles Town (Charlestown)
• Many of the earliest cities in colonial
North America were located along
bodies of water
Georgia Experiment
• Initially to help those that were poor
start over
• It was also used as a buffer between
the English Carolinas and Spanish
owned Florida
–St. Augustine was the first permanent
European settlement in North
America (1565) set up by the Spanish
Europeans Migrate to the Colonies
• Migration from England
–Immigrants were indentured servants
• Poor immigrants who paid for passage
to the colonies by agreeing to work
for 4 to 7 years
• Prior to 1660 many English left their
homeland because of religious and
political turmoil, high unemployment and
low wages
Southern Economy
• Commercial Agriculture (Big Farms)
–Cash Crops
–Tobacco became the main cash crop
in the south
–Rice and Indigo became the major
cash crop in S.C.
–Plantations
• Large commercial estates where many
laborers lived on the land and cultivated
the crops for the landowner
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
• Bacon’s Rebellion
– Desire for land by the Backcountry Farmers
• 1.) Number of colonists was increasing on a
regular basis so the land was becoming very
rare
–Available land controlled by Native
Americans
• 2.) The Gentry were not interested in causing
problems with the Native Americans
• 3.) Nathaniel Bacon would organize his own
militia and attack the Native Americans
Slavery: The Demand for Africans
• The first Europeans to explore Africa
were the Portuguese during the 1400s
–Initially interested in trading gold but
colonization of the Americas changed
their goals
• Mid 1600s, most colonies began to
pass laws that supported permanent
enslavement of Africans
Slavery: European Advantages of Using Africans
• 1.) Africans had been exposed to European
diseases and built up some immunity
• 2.) Africans had experience in farming and
could be taught plantation work
• 3.) Africans were less likely to escape
because they did not know their way
around the land
• 4.) Skin color made it easier to catch them if
they escaped and tried to live among
others
Slavery in the Southern Colonies
• The Middle Passage
– The difficult journey slaves endured crossing
the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas
• 1.) Chained and crammed into ships for
more than a month
• 2.) Prisoners could hardly sit or stand and
were given very little food or drink
• 3.) Africans who became sick were thrown
overboard
• 4.) Those who refused to eat were whipped
Slavery in the Southern Colonies
• Slave Codes
–A set of laws that formally regulated
slavery and defined the relationship
between enslaved Africans and free
people
• VIRGINIA SLAVE CODE
“All servants imported and brought into the country…who
were not Christians in their native country…shall be
accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian
slaves within this dominion…shall be held to be real estate.
If any slave resist his master…correcting such slave, and shall
happen to be killed in such correction…the master shall be
free of all punishment…as if such accident never happened.”
Exit Slip
• Why do you think the slave
trade flourished so long?
What impact did the slave
trade have on Africa and the
Americas?
Remainder of Class:
1.) http://purposegames.com/
Click on Games
Game: 13 Original Colonies
•Take out notebook
for notes
Middle Colonies
• 1.) New York (Albany)
• 2.) Pennsylvania
• 3.) New Jersey
• 4.) Delaware
Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania
–William Penn, Jr.
•Wanted to find a place where
Quakers could practice their
religion without persecution
•Capital: Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
• Quakers Beliefs:
– Believed that everyone had their own “inner
light” from God
– There was no need for church or ministers
– Even the Bible had less authority than a person’s
inner light
– Objected to all political and religious authority,
including forcing people to pay taxes or serve in
the military
– Believed in Pacifism
• Opposition to war or violence as a means to
settle disputes
Economy of Middle Colonies
•Cash Crop: Wheat
•Colonial Review
New England
• 1.) Connecticut
–Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
• Document giving structure and power to the
government in a small New England colony
• 2.) Massachusetts
–Founded by the Puritans
–Wanted to purify the Anglican church of
Catholic elements
• 3.) New Hampshire
• 4.)Rhode Island
New England
• Plymouth, Massachusetts
–Was made up of Pilgrims searching for
religious freedom and to avoid
persecution
• Pilgrims
–Mayflower Compact
• First governing document of the
Plymouth Colony
Massachusetts
• John Winthrop
–“A City Upon A Hill”
•It was important for Puritans to
be successful in Massachusetts
while many other were expecting
them to fail
Massachusetts
• Government in Massachusetts
– Church and State
• Government should help the church
• Everyone REQUIRED to attend church
• Government collected taxes to support the church and
regulate behavior
• People that challenged Puritan beliefs were considered a
threat to the community
– Ex: Roger Williams
» Expelled from the Massachusetts Bay colony
because he supported a separation of church and
state
» Founded the Colony of Rhode Island
New England
• Economy
–1.) Small farms
• Agriculture was less important than in the
Southern and Middle Colonies
• Practiced subsistence farming
–2.) Fishing Industry
• Fishing and whaling were major industries
–3.) Shipbuilding and lumbering
–4.) Sawmills
New England Society
• Puritan Society
– Puritans lived close to the church or meetinghouse and
were expected to attend Sunday worship, sermons and
religious lectures
– Sermons reinforce the Puritan way of life which included
living according to strict rules regulating their daily lives
• No card games, dice, dancing or stage plays
• Holy Watching
• Puritans also felt a moral responsibility for their
neighbors
• Watch over their neighbor’s behavior was elevated to
a religious duty
Traditions of English Government
• Magna Carta-English nobles created this document that
limited the power of the king’s ability to tax them and
guaranteed due process or the right to a trial
• English Parliament
– Bicameral (House of Lords and House of Commons)
– Only men with property could vote
A Measure of Self Rule
• Colonial gov’ts varied
–N.E. est. republic
–Elsewhere: Crown appointed
governor (share power w/ colonists)
Glorious Revolution Results in Bill of Rights
• Glorious Revolution-overthrow of King James II
replaced with King William and Queen Mary
• English Bill of Rights
– Guaranteed freedoms and restated rights of the Magna
Carta
• Habeas corpus
• No standing army
• Glorious Revolution encouraged England to adopt
salutary neglect
– England allowed it’s colonies local self rule but expected
colonial cooperation with its economic policies and
assistance in the empire’s wars against France and Spain
England’s Economic Relationship
• Relationship was driven by financial concerns
–Mercantilism: Nations or empires could
build wealth and power by developing it’s
industries and exporting manufactured
goods in exchange for gold and silver
Great Awakening
• Religious revival that promised the grace
of God to all who could experience a
desire for it
–George Whitefield
• aka George Whitfield
–Jonathan Edwards