3.1 The Southern Colonies –
The Big Ideas!
• The settlement in Jamestown was the first
permanent English settlement in America
• Daily life in Virginia was challenging for the
colonists…understatement!
• Religious freedom and economic opportunities
were motives for founding other Southern
Colonies, including Maryland, the Carolinas, and
Georgia
• Farming and Slavery were important to the
economies of the Southern Colonies
• Despite a difficult beginning, the Southern
Colonies soon flourished
Settlement in Jamestown – The
First US Venture Capital
• The 1605 – a group of
investors ask King James I for
the right to establish a
settlement in New World
• King grants land in a region
called Virginia
• Investors form a joint-stock
company called the London
Company to share expenses
and risk
• April 26, 1607 – 105 lucky
colonists sent by the London
Company arrive in America
• May 14, 1607 – approx 40
miles up James River they
founded Jamestown
• 1st permanent English
settlement in America
Settlement in Jamestown –
What a Hot Mess!
- Lack of preparation
– Adventures w/no
farming experience
– No real useful skills
– Surrounded by
marshes full of
disease carrying
mosquitoes
– Two-thirds died by
their first winter
…Nicely Done Settlers
Relations with Native Americans
• John Smith
– Leader of Jamestown takes
control in1608 – puts them to
work and instills discipline
• Helped by the powerful
Powhatan Confederacy of
Indians after he made
agreements w them – they bring
food and taught settlers how to
grow corn
• By 1609–400 settlers = success!
• By 1610–60 left = not so much!
(diseases, Terrible Winter of 1609,
famine, aka “The Starving
Time”…sounds like a blast)
Relations with Native Americans
• John Rolfe arrives w/a new
crop of tobacco that sold
well in England and a new
strategy
- married Pocahontas in 1614
•
– helped form peaceful relations with
the Powhatan
– Said to have saved life of John Smith
by throwing herself in front of him
– She dies 3 years later in England –
oops! We’ll get to that later…
Conflict started between colonists and the
Powhatan in 1622 and lasted for 20 years
• The Crown cancels the London
Company’s charters – Virginia
is a royal colony under a
Governor chosen by King
Foundations of Democracy –
SIDE NOTE
• America’s First elected
Assembly, “The House of
Burgesses” met in
Jamestown on July 30,
1619
• Many famous members
of this group over the
years were Patrick Henry,
George Washington, and
Thomas Jefferson
Daily Life in Virginia - Land
Headright System
• Main cash crop was tobacco
• Tobacco Farmers establish
large farms, called plantations
• Plantation system really takes
off b/c of Headright System
where as Colonists who paid
their way received 50 acres of
land and also 50 acres for
each person they brought –
servants, relatives, etc.
Daily Life in Virginia - Labor
• High death rates=low labor force
• Most workers were indentured
servants: people who came to
America for free - by agreeing to
work without pay for a set amount of
time
• 1619 - The first Africans were
brought as slaves and servants lifelong opportunity
• Increased workload and the falling
cost of slaves led colonists to use
more slave labor as time went on
Daily Life in Virginia
Bacon’s Rebellion
• Colonial officials see the
settlers having economical
success and began to tax
colonists more
• “poor” colonists protest
• They also didn’t like the
Crown’s weak Nat.
American policies and lack
of protection
Daily Life in Virginia
Bacon’s Rebellion
• 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon
led a rebellion of former
indentured servants by
attacking a group of
friendly Nat. Amer.
• He opposed Governor’s
policies of trade w/the Nat.
Americans and…
• He also thought we should
be able to take their land
Other Southern Colonies or,“That
looks easy – we should do it, too!”
• English Catholics were
-
Against England’s separation from Roman Catholic
Church
-
Not allowed to practice freely in England
-
Trying to escape religious persecution
• Maryland was founded as a refuge for
Catholics
• The first Lord Baltimore, George
Calvert asked King Charles for a
charter
• Given to his son Cecilius, who named
it Maryland after Queen Henrietta
Maria
Other Southern Colonies or,“That
looks easy – we should do it, too!”
• Proprietary Government = owners
controlled the govt.
• Protestants start showing up in 1640’s
and religious conflicts arose
• Lord Baltimore proposes first Bill to
assembly
• Toleration Act of 1649
– support religious tolerance
– A crime to restrict the religious rights of
Christians…first stirrings of Bill of Rights
Other Southern Colonies – The Carolinas
• Carolina was founded south of
Virginia in 1663 – King Charles
gives land b/t Virginia and Spanish
Florida to 8 of his buddies
• Divided into North and South
Carolina in 1712
• 1729 – they become royal colonies
after proprietors mismanaged
things
• North Carolina
– Farmers from Virginia “Urban
Sprawl”
• South Carolina
– Large plantations with many
slaves – 20,000 slaves vs
10,000 settlers
Other Southern Colonies -Georgia
• 1732 James Oglethorpe gets
charter from King George II
• King wanted a place to shield
Britain’s other colonies from
Spanish Florida
– refuge for debtors/criminals for
a new start in 1733
– Didn’t want large plantations so
outlawed slavery and limited
land grants to small farms
• Settlers grew unhappy with Ogle’s
strict rules
• Georgia became a royal colony w/
large rice plantations worked by
many slaves
Economies of the Southern Colonies
• Depended on agriculture
– Cash crops were tobacco, rice,
and indigo (plant used to make
blue dye…Blue Coats)
• Farms did well due to a long
growing season but
– More labor was needed
– Difficult work = need for large
strong workforce
– By 1700’s Slavery has taken
hold as main source
• Slave codes
– laws to control slaves, were
passed
Economies of the Southern Colonies
• “Tortures, murder, and every other
imaginable barbarity…are
practiced upon the poor slaves
with impunity [no punishment]. I
hope the slave trade will…soon be
abolished.”
Olaudah Equiano, from The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus
Vassa, the African
(1745-1797) - Prominent African in
London; Freed Slave
3.2 The New England Colonies
• The Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to
avoid religious persecution.
• Religion and government were closely linked in
the New England colonies.
• The New England economy was based on trade
and farming.
• Education was important in the New England
colonies.
Pilgrims and Puritans
• Puritans
– wanted to purify, or
reform, the Anglican
Church.
• Pilgrims
– wanted to separate from
Anglican Church.
• Immigrants
– people who leave the
country of their birth to
live in another country.
The Pilgrims
• Left Netherlands in 1620
on Mayflower.
• Mayflower Compact:
legal contract agreeing to
have fair laws.
• Arrived at Plymouth Rock
in present-day
Massachusetts in late
1620.
The Pilgrims
• Squanto
– taught Pilgrims to
fertilize soil.
• Pilgrims celebrate first
Thanksgiving with the
Wampanoag Indians.
The Pilgrims
• Most were farmers.
• Family members
worked together.
• Women:
– Cooked, sewed clothing,
wove wool.
– Had more legal rights
than in England.
The Puritans
• Dissenters
– Disagreed with official opinions
and church actions in England.
• Thousands left England in
Great Migration from 1629 to
1640.
• John Winthrop
– seeking religious freedom.
– Established Massachusetts
Bay Colony
Religion and Government in New England
• Established a General
Court that turned into a
type of self-government.
• Government leaders
were also church
members.
• Dissenters were forced
out of the colony.
Religious Conflict
• Thomas Hooker
– Connecticut
– Made government more
democratic.
• Roger Williams
– founded Providence
– separation of church and state.
• Anne Hutchinson
– questioned teachings of
religious leaders
– forced out of Colony
1690s: Salem Witchcraft Trials
Nineteen people put to death
New England Economy
• Farming
– Harsh climate and rocky
soil
– Only for Personal use
– Little need for slaves
• Trade
– locally, with other
colonies, and overseas
– Fishing
– Shipbuilding
Education in the Colonies
Public Education
• Communities established
town schools.
• Students used New England
Primer, which had stories
from the Bible.
• Availability of schooling
varied.
• Most stopped after
elementary grades.
Education in the Colonies
Higher Education
• Important to colonists
• Harvard College founded
in 1636.
• College of William and
Mary founded in Virginia
in 1693.