Period 2
1607-1754
Section 2
The Chesapeake
Colonies
Virginia and Maryland
Government in
the Chesapeake
• In 1619, the House of Burgesses was formed in
Virginia.
o The House of Burgesses was the first representative assembly (Congress) in
North America
• Through representatives, the colonists of Virginia had a voice in the
legislative (law-making) process.
• Politics were dominated by the wealthy land
owners in eastern Virginia
o Requirements to vote:
1.
Male
2.
White
3.
Landowner
• Therefore, the law overwhelmingly favored the
wealthy land owners
Economics of
the Chesapeake
Economics in the
Chesapeake
• The Chesapeake economy was built on land
ownership and tobacco cultivation, which required
labor.
• To populate the Chesapeake, the colonial leaders
advertised to, and provided incentives to the lower
classes England.
• Why did they need to populate Virginia?
Larger population = more labor, more labor = more profit
The Headright System
• An incentive system to drive population (field labor)
to Virginia.
• How it worked:
1.
2.
3.
Wealthy Virginia would pay for the New World passage of poor English
farmers.
The English farmers would sign an indenture (contract) to be a field
hand for the land owner for a period of 5-7 years.
When the term of service was completed, the land owner would have
the option to buy 50-100 additional acres of land, and the indentured
servant would go free.
• The effects of the Headright System
1.
2.
3.
The already wealthy land owners of the Chesapeake became more
wealthy and claimed ownership of more land.
The indentured servants went free, but had no money or prospect of
owning land unless they moved onto the Western Frontier (which they
did).
A clear class system developed between the wealthy land owners of
the Chesapeake and the small farmers of the western frontier.
African Slavery
• 1619 - the first African slaves arrived in Virginia (Sold
to the English by the Dutch)
o Some of the early African slaves were treated more as indentured
servants, but the system of chattel slavery (slaves as personal property)
quickly developed.
Life in the
Chesapeake
• Life expectancy was about 40 years
o Laboring in the humid tobacco fields took a toll on the body
o Malaria and dysentery killed many
o Frequent violent conflicts with Native Americans over land disputes killed
settlers
• Male : Female = 6:1
o Natural reproduction did not populate the colony quickly
• Religion was not extremely important to Virginians,
but most considered themselves Anglicans (Church
of England)
Social Structure
of the
Chesapeake
Pushing West
• As the lower class of people began to settle
western frontier, they clashed violently with Native
American over land claims.
• The frontier settlers pleaded with the Virginia
Governor (William Berkeley) for protection, but to
no avail.
o The Virginia laws and government clearly favored the large land owners
of the East
The Seeds of Rebellion
• Not only did William Berkeley not protect the small
farmers from Native American attack, he alienated
them by designating much of Virginia’s Western
frontier as Indian land.
1697 Bacon’s Rebellion
• Nathanial Bacon
o An impoverished Virginia planter, led poor western farmers in a violent
uprising against Native Americans settlements along the western frontier.
o The rebellion spread eastward and soon overwhelmed William Berkeley’s
army, and burned the capital of Virginia (Jamestown)
o The rebellion collapsed after Nathaniel Bacon died of dysentery.
• The lasting impact of Bacon’s Rebellion
1.
2.
It highlighted the sharp class differences between the wealthy planters
and the small farmers
It displayed a resistance to colonial control that would last long into the
18th century.
The New
England
Colonies
Government of
New England
• Before disembarking at Plymouth, the Mayflower
Compact was written and signed by the Separatists
o A civil agreement between the Pilgrims to govern the new colony by the
will of the majority (democracy).
Congregationalism
• The early New England Colonies were
Congregationalists
o They ruled by the will of the majority, but you had to be a male Church
member (one of the Elect) in order to vote.
• Essentially, the Puritans established a theocracy, or
a government run by the church.
o The congregation members dominated social and political life in New
England.
• Because the Puritans were Calvinists, their primary
doctrine was based on the idea of predestination
o the belief that God was all-knowing, therefore He knew at birth who was
saved and who was damned.
o To be a church member, you had to be one of the elect (chosen ones)
The Elect
• How did one become a church member?
o Puritans needed to have “conversion experience” in which God
confirmed to them that they were one of the elect.
o To prove they were one of the elect, Puritans were constantly doing good
deeds
Puritan Society
• Life expectancy was over 70 years
o The cooler climate killed many of the diseases that afflicted the
Chesapeake colonies.
• Male : Female Ratio was 1:1
o Natural reproduction quickly populated New England
• Puritan women averaged between 8-12 children
o Close knit families were an important part of Puritan society.
The Importance of
Education
• Education was extremely important because of
New England's emphasis on religion:
1.
2.
Every house had a Bible that was read daily
1636 – Harvard became the first college in the colonies, founded with
the intention of training Puritan ministers.
The Elect Dominated
Society
• Puritan leaders dominated society in New England,
and showed little tolerance to anyone who would
question their authority.
o Dissenters were often banish from Massachusetts Bay Colony
How did Religious dissenters
in the Massachusetts lead to
the growth of New England?
• Roger Williams (a well-respected Puritan minister)
o Put on trial in Massachusetts Bay because:
1.
he preached that individual conscience and decisions made by
free will determine salvation
2. He undermined the established theocracy by preaching that
Church and state should be completely separate
o To avoid punishment, Williams fled south of Massachusetts and created his
own colony, which he named Providence (Rhode Island)
• He declared that Providence would have no official religion
o He welcomed Protestants, Catholics, Quakers and Jews to
worship, free from persecution.
o The first colony to offer total freedom of religion.
• Anne Hutchinson was also banished from
Massachusetts Bay Colony for challenging the
orthodoxy and gender roles of Puritan society
o She believed in antinomianism, or that faith alone led to Heaven, NOT
deeds and church membership
• No one, let alone a women, could challenge the established clergy in
Massachusetts.
o Anne Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts
Connecticut
• 1636 - Thomas Hooker, a Puritan minister broke
ranks with the established clergy of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, and led a large group
of colonists into Connecticut and established the
colony of Hartford
o They established the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the first
Constitutional government in the New World.
New England
Economics
The Puritan Work Ethic
• New England’s economy was built on shipbuilding,
fishing, trade, and fur trapping.
• Puritans believed that economic success was an
outward expression of God’s favor on their life, so
the Puritans worked extremely hard.
o If someone ran into a tough financial situation, the Puritans believed that it
was an outward sign that they had fallen out of the favor of God.
The Other
Colonies
Maryland
• 1632 –George Calvert (Lord Baltimore) was granted
a large plot of land by the King of England as a
repayment of a debt.
• The Calvert family had two goals for their new
colony:
1.
2.
Establish a safe haven for Catholics in the New World
Make a profit (economy was based on agriculture)
New York
• Originally explored by Henry Hudson (an English
explorer) who sailed on behalf of the Dutch
• founded as New Amsterdam, and controlled by the
Dutch East India Company as a trading post.
o Eventually, through war, the English took control of the colony and
renamed it New York.
Pennsylvania
• William Penn - granted a large piece of land as
settlement of a debt that the King of England owed
to Penn’s father.
• Penn’s goals for the colony:
1.
2.
3.
Create a safe haven for Quakers
•
(a religious sect that was heavily persecuted in England)
Experiment with liberal governmental practices
•
Outlawed slavery and the death penalty
Turn a profit
Carolina
• Settled by the English in 1670
o The economy was built on rice agriculture
o Many of the settlers to South Carolina came from the West Indian Island of
Barbados, where slavery was widespread and brutal.
• South Carolina became the first English colony to import large
numbers of African slaves
o The system of chattel slavery began to spread across the English
colonies from Carolina
Georgia
• Founded by James
Oglethorpe in 1732
o Founded as a colony where
debtors could work off their
debts instead of sitting in prison.
o Served as a military buffer
between the Spanish colonies
in the South and the valuable
rice colony of Carolina.