Lecture 2: The
English Empire
Identifiers
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Elizabeth 1
Richard Hakluyt
Roanoke
Algonquin
Iroquois
John White
Spanish Armada
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John Smith
King James I
Puritans
Indentured
Servants
• Pilgrims
• Mayflower
Compact
The English Empire
• Spain was establishing themselves in
the Americas
• France was dominating the fur trade.
• At first the English Crown made little
effort to establish any settlements in
North America.
• During the reign of Elizabeth the 1st in
the late 16th century there was one
man who wanted to develop a
settlement along the Atlantic coast.
• Richard Hakluyt (Hak-loot) advocated
for the establishment of English
colonies on the Atlantic coast.
• He argued that colonies would provide
bases to attack Spanish fleets, offer
new markets for English goods, and
provide a destination for “loiterers and
vagabonds.”
• During the 1570s and 1580s a
succession of voyages of
exploration were sent to discover
the best prospects for a
settlement.
Early English Colonies
• There were two models:
• Virginia: was a commercial venture
intended to make profit for English
investors.
• Massachusetts: was created as a refuge
for religious dissenters who wished to
escape the control of the English
church.
• These two types of colonies laid the
foundation for the American colonial
experience.
Roanoke: The Lost Colony
• The English courtier Walter Raleigh
dreamed of creating an English empire
on Roanoke Island to rival that of
Spain.
• In 1585 a group of settlers traveled
there to mine gold (using natives as
slaves), trade furs, or establish farms.
• At first the natives cooperated and
shared precious food and supplies, but
this would soon turn to violence and
mistrust.
Virginia
• Established in 1607 by John Smith who
worked for the Virginia Company
• These merchants hoped to find gold and
silver.
• In doing so, Jamestown was founded in
honor of King James I of England.
• Jamestown was situated in a swampy
area infested with disease bearing
mosquitoes.
• Powhatan (leader of the Algonquin)
welcomed the arrival of the English.
• He hoped by providing the English with
food and supplies her would profit
through trade.
• He also hoped that alliances would be
made against competing Algonquin
groups.
• However, after the departure of John
Smith relations began to deteriorate
and tension began to rise.
• The English soon began to steal food as
they lacked the supplies and had
difficulty coping with the harsh winters.
• Powhatan cut off further assistance and
the colonists starved.
• The Virginia Company responded by
sending more colonists and weapons to
fight against Powhatan.
• Relations were temporarily alleviated by
the marriage of Pocahontas and John
Rolfe.
• With the arrival of more colonists there
became a demand for land, increasing
tensions once more.
• Warfare and the introduction of new
diseases devastated the Algonquin
peoples.
• Facts:
• 1607- Chesapeake Bay 20,000
Algonquins
• Fewer than 100 English colonists
• 1670- more than 40,000 colonists and
barely 2,000 Algonquins
• Virginia colony became fixated on
Tobacco farming
• Effects:
• Poor soil (more land needed)
• Less food
• Tensions with Algonquins
• Labour intensive
Massachusetts
• During the mid-16th cent England
underwent a Protestant Reformation.
• Because of this many people thought
that the church was slipping and they
wanted to take their values to a new
place. These people were called
Puritans.
• They wished to purify the English
church, many of these people sought
out the new world as a refuge where
they could create their own religious
communities.
The Mayflower
• Sept 16, 1620 the first group of Puritan
colonists, known as Pilgrims, sailed for
America from Plymouth, England.
• The ship was called the Mayflower
• The voyage was led by William Bradford
and sponsored by the Virginia
Company.
• Dec 1620, the colonists reached
Massachusetts Bay
• The colony survived only with the aid of
the Algonquin peoples, the
• 1629 they established the
Massachusetts Bay Company which
began to organize a large-scale
emigration from England.
• This was called the Great Migration led
by the lawyer John Winthrop who
founded Boston in 1630.
• As governor, Winthrop declared that all
male heads of households (freemen)
who were church members could vote
to select delegates to the General
Court, which drew up laws for the
colony.
The Mayflower Compact
• While on board the Mayflower, the male
members of the expedition composed
the MC, which they hoped would
preserve their freedom in the new
colony.
• However, when the ship veered off
course from the original destination in
Virginia, the legal patent was longer
valid in Plymouth.
• The pilgrims acknowledged that a
government should be formed by and
for its citizens for whom it governed.
• Thomas Jefferson would champion this
principle in the next century.
• The compact emphasized both
preserving order in an untamed,
faraway colony and the philosophy of
justice and equality in law.
• The Pilgrims also understood that
in order to preserve the common
good of the community, they had
to create a compact where citizens
would submit themselves to a
government: “from time to time,
as shall be thought most meet and
convenient for the general good of
the colony, unto which we promise
all due submission and
obedience…”
• The Mayflower Compact is often
referred to as the first constitution in
American history.
• Historical Significance:
• Is the idea that government is a
contract between those who govern and
the governed, and that legitimacy of a
government must be based on the
consent of the citizens.
• During the American Revolution
the Compact served as vital
political propaganda.
• Some historians say the this
compact was the first steps in
creating the Declaration of
Independence (1776) and the
creation of the United States.
Check Your Understanding
• 1. Why did Powhatan cooperate with
the first English settlers?
2.What factors hurt the early
development of the Virginia Colony?
3. Why did Puritans move to
Massachusetts?
4. Given the purposes of Virginia and
Mass, what two values were established
in the colonies from the beginning?