Chapter 3
I. The Southern Colonies
A) Virginia Colony
1) Roanoke Island
--a second group of settlers came in 1587 led by John
White
(the first group in 1584 had failed and returned to
England)
--White's granddaughter, Virginia Dare, was the first
English child born in America
--White went back to England for more supplies in 1587
--when he returned in 1590, everyone was gone
--it is known as the lost colony
2) The Virginia Company of London
--it was a joint stock company
--in 1607, 105 settlers went to Virginia
--sailed up the James River and named the settlement
Jamestown
a) Problems
--poor location --search for gold --lack of laborers b) John Smith
--"no work, no food" was his policy
--he saved the colony
--had to return to England after being burned
3) The Powhatan Confederacy
--an alliance of Algonquian Indians that brought food
and aid to the colonists
--in 1609-1610 many of the colonists died during the
winter
--this is called the Starving Time
(only 60 out of 700 people were still alive)
--in 1612 John Rolfe grew tobacco
--this was a cash crop and made the colony profitable
--large plantations were created
4) War in Virginia
--John Rolfe married Pocahontas
--in 1617 Pocahontas died
--colonists began taking more Indian land and killed a
Powhatan leader
--the Native Americans attacked the colony in 1622
--fighting lasted over 20 years
--the London Company’s charter was canceled and
Virginia became a royal colony
5) Daily Life in Virginia
--Large plantations grew in VA made possible by the
headright system
(50 acres of land per person)
6) Labor in Virginia
--the colony prospered and more settlers came as
indentured servants
--by 1670 there was little good farm land left to give
indentured servants
--Nathaniel Bacon had a farm near the frontier --his farm was attacked by Indians
--Bacon led frontier farmers and landless men
against the Indians
--they then seized the government at Jamestown
--the uprising made Virginia planters replace
indentured servants with slaves
B) Other Southern Colonies
1) Maryland
--George Calvert was granted land near the Potomac
River
(he was the first Lord Baltimore)
--he wanted to start a colony where Catholics would
have religious freedom
--the charter was granted to his son Ceciluis Calvert,
Second Lord Baltimore
--named the colony Maryland in honor of the queen
--Toleration Act of 1649 granted religious freedom to
those who believed in Jesus Christ
2) The Carolinas
--King Charles II gave 8 English nobles a huge area
of Southern VA
--in 1670 they founded Charles Town
--North Carolina built ships and grew tobacco
--rice became the leading cash crop in the South
Carolina
--indigo was introduced later – used for blue dye
--in 1729 North & South Carolina became separate
royal colonies
3) Georgia
--in 1732 George II gave the land between the
Savannah River & Spanish Florida to James
Oglethorpe
--Georgia became a colony for debtors
(strict rules and no slavery)
--it was also a buffer state --by 1752 the restrictions in Georgia were lifted and it
became a royal colony
--slave labor becomes entrenched in the south (slave
codes)