The Colonies
What do we know?
► What
problems did the new settlers face in
the new world?
► What colonist saved the colonists from
starvation?
► What crop saved the Virginia Company?
Who introduced it?
► What were the big farms called? Who
worked on the farms?
► 1st legislative body in English colonies?
Southern Colonies
► Virginia,
Maryland,
Carolina’s, Georgia
► Reason=economic
opportunity
► Maintained an
allegiance to the
Church of England and
closer social ties to
England then other
colonies.
Maryland
► Proprietary
Colony:
Private land grant
► Founded: Lord
Baltimore
Maryland
► Purpose:
Safe place
for Catholics
(haven)
► Significance:
Toleration Act
 Protected religious
freedom for all
Christians
A Haven for Catholics
Maryland Toleration Act of 1649
 Supported by the Catholics in MD.
 Guaranteed toleration to all CHRISTIANS.
 Decreed death to those who denied the
divinity of Jesus [like Jews, atheists, etc.].
 In one way, it was less tolerant than before
the law was passed!!
Virginia
► Some
of Virginia’s early settlers are called
Cavaliers- English nobility who received
large land grants from the king.
► Poor English immigrants came seeking
better lives as small farmers or artisans in
the Shenandoah Valley.
Carolinas
► Royal
Colony: King
Controlled
► Purpose: Grow food
for the West Indies
► Major City: Charleston
(Charles Town)
 South Carolina grows
rich through trade
 North Carolina lacks a
good port
► Outer
Banks: Sink Ships
Georgia
► Last
of the original
colonies
► Founded: James
Oglethorpe
► Purpose:
 Buffer Colony: Protect
S.C. from Spanish
Florida
 Debtor Colony: Place to
start over
Life in the South
► Political:
► Government
run by
the rich plantation
owner (representative
colonial legislatures)
 White males who
owned land allowed to
vote
► Virginia’s
House of
Burgesses
Life in the South
► Economic:
Plantation
(cash-crops) economy
 Tobacco, Rice, Indigo
► Few
towns
► Charleston: Major city
Indentured Servitude
Headright System:
 Each Virginian got 50 acres for
each person whose passage they
paid.
Indenture Contract:
 5-7 years.
 Promised “freedom dues” [land, £]
 Forbidden to marry.
 1610-1614: only 1 in 10 outlived their
indentured contracts!
English Tobacco Label
First Africans arrived in Jamestown in
1619.
 Their status was not clear  perhaps
slaves, perhaps indentured servants.
 Slavery not that important until the end of
the 17c.
Slavery
► Slaves
replace
indentured servants
► Middle Passage:
Journey from Africa to
America
 Part of the
Triangular Trade
► Slave Codes: Harsh
laws against slaves
► Slave Response:
 Suicide, vandalism,
revolts
Middle Colonies
►Pennsylvania,
New York, New
Jersey, Delaware
►Colonial
Breadbasket
► Rich
Economy:
Farming & Industry
(shipbuilding)
Middle Colonies
► Settled
mainly by English, Dutch, and
German speaking immigrants seeking
religious freedom and economic
opportunity.
► Cities like New York & Philadelphia began to
grow as seaports and commercial centers.
Middle Colonies
► Pennsylvania:
Proprietary
Colony
► Founded By: William
Penn
► Purpose: Home for
Quakers
 Pacifist religious group
► Philadelphia: “City of
Brotherly Love”
Middle Colonies = religious
toleration?
► The
middle colonies were home to multiple
religious groups- Quakers in Pennsylvania,
Huguenots & Jews in NY, Presbyterians in
NJ that generally believed in more religious
tolerance.
► Middle Colonies had a more flexible social
structure and began to develop a middle
class of skilled artisans, entrepreneurs, and
small farmers.
New England
► Northern
area of English colonies.
► Made up of people seeking religious
freedom (sort of!!!)
► Plymouth Bay Colony (PBC), Massachusetts
Bay Colony (MBC), Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Created for
religious
purposes
Two groups of
settlers:
Pilgrims
Puritans
Puritanism
Calvinism  Institutes of the Christian Religion
 Predestination.
• Good works could not save those predestined
for hell.
• No one could be certain of their spiritual
status.
• Gnawing doubts led to constantly seeking
signs of “conversion.”
Puritans:
 Want to totally reform [purify] the Church
of England.
 Grew impatient with the slow process of
Protestant Reformation back in England.
Pilgrims
1620: Arrive @
Plymouth
William
Bradford:
Pilgrim leader
Separatists:
Believed Church of
England was
corrupt. Never to
return to England.
Separatists
Separatist Beliefs:
 Puritans who believed only “visible
saints” [those who could demonstrate in
front of their fellow Puritans their
elect status] should be admitted to
church membership.
 Because the Church of England enrolled
all the king’s subjects, Separatists felt
they had to share churches with the
“damned.”
 Therefore, they believed in a total
break from the Church of England.
Pilgrims
Mayflower
Compact: Legal
document that
established
democracy in
Plymouth Bay Colony
Governor William
Bradford
The Mayflower Compact
November 11, 1620
Written and signed before the
Pilgrims disembarked from the ship.
Not a constitution, but an agreement
to form a crude govt. and submit to
majority rule.
 Signed by 41 adult males.
Led to adult male settlers meeting in
assemblies to make laws in town
meetings.
Puritans
Established the
Massachusetts
Bay Colony
Non-Separatist:
Goal is to be an
example for all
to follow and
reform the
church
Puritans
John Winthrop:
Puritan leader
Goal: create a
“City on the
hill”
Covenant
Community- Based
on the Mayflower
Compact and Puritan
religious beliefs.
Covenant Theology
“Covenant of Grace”:
 between Puritan communities and
God.
“Social Covenant”:
 Between members of Puritan
communities with each other.
 Required mutual watchfulness.
 No toleration of deviance or
disorder.
 No privacy.
Religious Freedom
Puritans did not allow other faiths in
Massachusetts
Dissenters: People who
opposed Puritan control
Dissenters
Roger Williams:
Founder of Rhode
Island.
Kicked out of
Massachusetts for
preaching “liberty of
conscience”
Liberty of conscience =
separation of:
Church
State
Rhode Island
1636  Roger Williams fled there.
 Remarkable political freedom in Providence, RI
• Universal manhood suffrage  later restricted
by a property qualification.
•
Opposed to special privilege of any kind 
freedom of opportunity for all.
RI becomes known as the “Sewer” because
it is seen by the Puritans as a dumping
ground for unbelievers and religious
dissenters  More liberal than any other
colony!
Anne Hutchinson
Kicked out of MBC
for disagreeing
with ministers
Moved to Rhode
Island
Connecticut
Founded by
Puritans seeking
greater
freedoms and
land
Fundamental Orders: 1st written
Constitution in colonies
Life in the North
New England: “Cod and God”
Rocky soil and long
winters: Bad for
farming
Practiced “Direct
Democracy” at town
meetings (remember
Athens, Greece)
New England Economy
Shipbuilding:
Fishing: Cod
Lumbering:
Subsistence Farming: you farm to sustain
your life
Life in the North
Religion dominated
all aspects of life
All people must
learn how to read
the Bible.
Life in the North
Education:
Elementary schools
required to be built
in all towns > 50
families
Harvard College
(1636): 1st college in
America
Life in the North
As MBC grows
religious faith begins
to decline.
Salem Witch Trials
(1692): An attempt
to scare people back
to church by claiming
Satan was corrupting
society.
Life in the North
Great Awakening: A
revival in the church
Brings passion and
energy to church
services.
Led by two men: Jonathan Edwards
and George Whitefield
Fire and Brimstone sermons
Life in the North
► Effects
of the Great Awakening:
 More people go to church
 New churches created
►Baptist
►Methodist
 New Colleges created
 People question authority
Enlightenment
► Challenges
the authority of the church in
science and philosophy while elevating the
power of human reasoning.
► Locke- natural rights (life, liberty, and
property)
► Montesquieu- 3 branches of government
► Enlightened thinkers greatly influence our
Founding Fathers on the road to revolution.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
► What
was the 1st English group to arrive in
New England?
► John Winthrop was the leader of this
group of people? What kind of city did he
hope to create?
► What is the difference between a
separatist & a non-separatist?
► How did the geography of New England
affect the lives of the people there?