A.P. U.S. History
Chapter 2
The Planting of English America
• Spanish colonized most of
S. America during the 16th
century; N. America
remained largely
untouched.
• Religious and political
turmoil at home delayed
French and English
colonization
• By the early 17th Century,
Britain, France and Spain began
to focus on North America.
• 1607- The English found
Jamestown, Virginia
• 1608- The French found Quebec
• 1609- The Spanish found Santa Fe,
New Mexico
• England flip-flopped between
Catholicism and Protestantism
in 16th century; Protestantism
wins under Queen Elizabeth.
• The English brutally put down
Catholic rebellions in Ireland;
English troops develop tradition
of violent, unjust treatment of
the “Irish natives.”
• English pirates made a fortune
off of Spanish ships and
settlements in the 1500s (so
why establish any colonies
when the pirating is so
profitable?)
• Sir Francis Drake was one of the
most successful English pirates and
was even knighted for his efforts by
Queen Elizabeth on his ship.
• The first attempt at a
profitable English Colony
was the Roanoke colony
(island off of present N.C.)
in the 1580s (founded by
Sir Walter Raleigh)
• Upon returning after an
extended period of time
they found the colony
mysteriously abandoned
without evidence of death
The Spanish Armada
• Spain sent a fleet of 130 ships to
invade England in 1588.
• But the English fought back with more
maneuverable ships and very good
captains and crews (remember they’d
been pirating the Spanish for some
time now).
• A storm finished off what was left of
the Spanish fleet and they have never
really recovered militarily to this day.
• The defeat of the Spanish Armada was
a turning point for England. They held
naval supremacy over the world for
over the next 300 years.
• Spain gradually declined and
England was on its way up,
after some unsteady years, it
now had a unified state, under
a powerful, popular monarch
(Queen Elizabeth), united as a
Protestant nation, able and
confidant after defeating the
Irish and Spanish. England had
a strong sense of nationalism.
• England’s population increased
from 3 million in 1550 to 4
million in 1600.
• Primogeniture- system of
inheritance wherein only the
eldest son receives the estate.
• It’s amazing how many European
explorers, conquistadores,
adventurers, priests were not
eldest sons.
Joint Stock Companies
• It was risky for the monarchy to
invest too much into
colonization so instead they
granted rights to Joint stock
companies
• The forerunners of modern
corporations, wherein several
or many investors could pool
their money into enterprises
and share in the profits
• Look at England in the early
1600s:
• Peace was established with Spain
(no military threat),
• A booming economy with surplus
labor provided by a rising
population,
• Lots of land waiting to be claimed
and colonized in North America,
• A strong sense of arrogance,
confidence and nationalism.
• The stage was set for a new era of
colonization.
• King James I granted the Virginia
Company a charter in 1606 for a
settlement in the New World
• The investors mainly wanted to find
gold and an all water route to Asia.
• The charter guaranteed that the
settlers would retain all rights as
Englishmen.
• This set a tradition for other colonies
to come.
• Unemployment in England, thirst for
adventure, desire for markets and
wealth, and pursuing religious
freedom were all, motivations for
early English colonists
Jamestown VA
• Along the James River in the
Chesapeake Bay.
• Established May 24, 1607 (after
being attacked by Indians lower
in the Bay)
• About 100 men came ashore to
a more easily defended
location.
• 40 men died on the ship on the
way over
• Most of the rest of the settlers
died in the next few years, due
to starvation, disease, and
Indian raids
Jamestown VA
• Most did not know how to
live off the land (which was
rich in game and easy to
grow crops in), and most
spent their time looking for
gold which didn’t exist in
that location.
• 400 settlers had arrived by
1609 and only 60 survived
to see 1610.
Jamestown Housing
Jamestown
• John Smith- able leader who
emerged in the colony in 1608.
• “Saved” by Pocahontas, daughter
of the local Powhatan chief, who
served as intermediary and
helped to foster good relations
between the settlers and Native
Americans.
• Smith saved Jamestown by
assuming leadership, saving the
colony from disaster. Smith lived
by the rule “He that does not
work, does not eat.”
Jamestown Fort 1609
Jamestown Settlement
(Computer Generated)
Jamestown
• By 1625 only 1,200 settlers lived out of
8,000 who tried to make it there.
• Lord de la Warr- took over as governor of
Jamestown in1610 and imposed a harsh
military rule over the town and colony.
• A veteran of the “Irish Wars” he used
brutal tactics against the Indians (raiding
villages, burning houses, stealing
provisions, torching fields, etc)
• These were called the First AngloPowhatan War and ended in 1614 when
colonist John Rolfe married Pocahontas
(the first known interracial union in VA)
• Another major Powhatan uprising
occurred in 1622.
Powhatan
Indian Village
• Warfare continued for the next
several decades until the Native
population was pushed Westward
or killed by disease or warfare.
• The English were unsuccessful in
keeping natives as labor and so
their re-location would not affect
the colonies
• By 1685 the English considered
the Powhatan people (Native
Americans of the Chesapeake Bay
region) extinct.
• The Indians, like almost all in what
would become the U.S. fell victim to
the 3 D’s: Disease, disorganization,
and disposability.
• Disease: no immunity to European
diseases like smallpox and measles.
• Disorganization: the did not unite
together and would continue to help
white settlers (both English and later
American) kill off competing tribes.
• Disposability: unlike the Spanish, the
Indians were not used as slaves and
did not fit into the economic picture
of the Americas so were not seen as a
valuable “commodity.”
The Indians’ New World
• The arrival of Europeans to the New
World changed life dramatically for
Native peoples.
• Spanish horses allowed many tribes to
make a successful life hunting on the
Great Plains (like the Lakota)
• Disease wiped out most, however.
• Indian vs. Indian competition and
violence caused by the introduction of
firearms, mobility, and the desire for
prime hunting location to get more
furs, to trade to the Europeans, to get
more firearms.
• Virginia got a second chance
when the tobacco crops began to
be successful.
• John Rolfe (husband of
Pocahontas) perfected methods
of raising and curing tobacco by
1612 setting off a never-before
seen thirst amongst Europeans
for the new product.
• Jamestown couldn’t grow enough
to keep up with demand.
Early Colonial Tobacco
1618 — Virginia produces 20,000 pounds of
tobacco.
1622 — Despite losing nearly one-third of
its colonists in an Indian attack,
Virginia produces 60,000 pounds of
tobacco.
1627 — Virginia produces 500,000 pounds
of tobacco.
1629 — Virginia produces 1,500,000 pounds
of tobacco.
Tobacco Prices: 1618-1710
• The first African slaves
were sold in Virginia in
1619 by a Dutch ship
• Additional slave purchases
in the following years were
few because slave labor
was costly (money invested
up front).
17c Population
in the Chesapeake
100000
80000
60000
White
40000
Black
20000
0
1607
1630
1650
1670
1690
• 1619- The London Company
authorized Virginia settlers to
summon an assembly called the
House of Burgesses (birth of
American democracy).
• This is very significant because
this is the first mini- parliament
in the Americas
• Maryland- the 2nd plantation
colony (but 4th overall) was
founded in 1634 by the Catholic
Lord Baltimore.
• Founded as a refuge for Catholics
and to make money (which it did in
tobacco)
Chesapeake Bay Colonies
• The plantation system
depended heavily on
indentured servants for labor
until replaced by African
Slaves toward the end of the
17th century.
• Act of Toleration – passed in
Maryland in 1649
guaranteeing the religious
freedom of all Christians.
• prescribed death penalty for
atheists and Jews who denied the
divinity of Jesus
• However a law supporting
multiple Christian faiths was a
new concept and a seed to
Americanism
Tobacco vs. Sugar
• Tobacco was grown almost exclusively
around the Chesapeake Bay region in
the 17th and 18th centuries.
• It was easily grown and cured and even
small farmers with little land could
make money off of it. (poor mans crop)
• Sugar was grown by the English
colonists in the West Indies.
• It took a lot of land to grow it, intensive
labor provided by hundreds of
thousands of African slaves, mills to
process it, years to get viable canes to
produce etc.
• (rich mans crop)
• African slaves outnumbered English
colonists in the West Indies 4 to 1 by
1700.
Tobacco vs. Sugar
• Only wealthy plantation owners
could make a living raising sugar
in the West Indies and many
poorer settlers left for the
American colonies which
offered a better opportunity.
• They brought with them the
ideas of the plantation system
and slave system including
slave codes (like the Barbados
slave code) which would take
root in the Southern colonies.
Carolina
• 1670- King Charles II granted
charter for colony
• Intended to provide food for the
West Indies plantations and to
export wine, silk, and olive oil.
• The slave trade boomed in Carolina
which maintained close ties with
Barbados.
• Rice ended up being the chief
export out of Carolina.
• North and South Carolina were split
and established in 1712.
• North Carolinians were less
aristocratic than Virginians or South
Carolinians; poorer, smaller farms,
more independent, tolerant, etc.
Coastal Indian tribes in the
southern colonies
• Virtually wiped out by
1720
• decimated by disease
• outnumbered and outgunned in battle
Georgia
• Founded 1733
• last of the 13 colonies
• Established by James Oglethorpe
as debtor colony
• English government wanted
buffer against Spanish in Florida
and French in Louisiana.
• All Christians except Catholics
enjoyed toleration
Shared characteristics of the
Plantation Colonies
• All in the South: Maryland, Virginia,
N.C., S.C., & Georgia.
• Devoted to exporting commercial
crops to some degree (mainly tobacco
and rice)
• A few people owned most of land
creating an air of aristocracy
• Huge plantations scattered along
rivers, discouraging development of
cities or towns
• All permitted some religious tolerance
• Plantation agriculture (which is hard
on soil) encouraged expansion
westward