“The
English
Establish 13
Colonies
1585- 1732”
Early Colonies Have Mixed Success

THINK….
What do you think England did after
it defeated the powerful Spanish
Armada?
ANSWER: They focused on establishing colonies
in the Americas.
Colony- is a territory under the immediate political
control of a state (country).
Question: Why did England want
colonies in the new world?
Reasons England Wanted
Colonies
1.
2.
Mercantilism- (Remember this word??)England wanted to buy raw materials from the
colonies cheaply and force the colonists to buy
manufactured goods at a higher price. They
wanted to control all trade to and from the
colonies!!
Religion- England wanted to spread the
Protestant faith in the Americas.
Why did Colonists come to the
Americas?
1. Lack of economic
opportunity in
England
2. Stories of gold
3. Escape religious
persecution
Roanoke


This was the 1st attempt by England to colonize.
Key People:


Hardships:


It was established in Virginia, and it was financed and
sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh.
1585- The colonists relied on Native Americans for food.
But when the Native Americans realized the settlers
wanted their land, they cut off the colonist’s food supply.
Those who did survive returned to England.
Any other important facts:

1587-Raleigh tried once more to establish the Roanoke
colony, with disastrous results. No one knows for sure
what happened to this colony.
Sir Walter Raleigh and what we
believe Roanoke once looked like
Raleigh financed the colony at Roanoke,
when the colony failed, he lost his
investment.
RESULT: The English realized that one person
could not finance a colony.
Joint-Stock


•
•
companies were formed to finance colonies. The
companies were backed by investors, which are people
who put money into a project to earn profits.
Each investor owned pieces of the company called
stocks.
They split profits and divided loses.
Example
If you invest in Microsoft, you buy shares of
stock in the company. You now own a piece
of Microsoft. If Microsoft makes money,
you make money. If Microsoft looses
money, then you loose money.
Joint stock companies paid for colonists to go
to the Americas. If the colonies were
successful, the investors made money. If the
colonies were unsuccessful, the investors
lost money.
2 Joint Stock companies were
formed:
1. The Virginia Company of London
2. The Virginia Company of Plymouth
* King James I of England granted a
charter to both companies. A charter is
a written contract, issued by the
government. It gives the holder the
right to establish a colony.
The Seal of the Virginia Company
and King James I of England
Jamestown
 1st
permanent
English settlement
 Named in honor of
King James
 Established in 1607
 Financed by the
Virginia Company
of London
Colonists land in Jamestown
Why do you think colonists settled
near the coast?
Enduring hard times in Jamestown
Hardships:

1.
2.
3.
4.
mosquitoes
bad water
Spent their days looking for gold did not build
homes or farm.
bad climate
*In 1608- only 38 colonists remained alive
“There was never English-men left in a foreign country in such misery
as we were in this newly discovered Virginia.” Jamestown colonist
Jamestown Grows!
Solution:
John Smith took control (adventurer and soldier)
 He believed everyone must do their part. His motto:
“He that will not work shall not eat”
 He built a wall around Jamestown to provide
protection
 He persuaded a Powhatan tribe to trade their corn
with the colonists.

-
1609- After an injury, Smith returns to England.
That year 800 English settlers arrive in
Jamestown!!
John Smith and historic Jamestown
The Starving Time
Describe it:
The Powhatan stopped
trading food and
attacked the settlers.
Result:
The settlers were scarred to
leave their fort. They ate rats
and snakes among other
things.
Only 60 colonists were alive
when 2 English ships arrived
in 1610.
Things get better…
*Solution:


The new governor, Lord
De La Warr, ruled the in
the name of the king.
imposed discipline, and
the “starving time”
ended.
* In 1612, John Rolfe
developed a high-grade
tobacco that the
colonists learned to
grow.
Who invented When did he
a way of
invent this
growing
farming
high-grade
technique?
tobacco in
Virginia?
John Rolfe
1612
Why were
colonists
upset when
tobacco
production
increased?
Where was
tobacco
extremely
popular?
What were
the results of
tobacco
production in
Virginia?
Population
Wanted a
grows,
share of the
slavery is
profits
Everywher introduced
because
e! It was so so that
they
profitable!
more
weren’t
tobacco
making any
can be
money.
farmed.
Tobacco becomes very popular in England
The Result:
1. The Virginia company thought of colonists as
employees, but the colonists wanted a share of the
profits. They did not want to work hard for little
profit!
• The company responded by letting colonists own land
(If you own the land, you work harder). They gave 50
acres of land to anyone who could pay their own way
to the colony.
2. The 1st African Americans arrived in Jamestown to
work the land and increase the production of tobacco.
(The population of Virginia grows!)
Harvesting Tobacco in Jamestown
More laborers (workers) were needed!
•
1.
Indentured servants
could not afford passage to
America
2.
sold their labor for passage
to the colony.
3.
Worked for 6-12 years, then
free.
The Life of Indentured Servants
Indentured Servants
A contract for an indentured
servant circa 1692

The Virginia Company was one of the
largest “recruiters” of indentured
servants
The Colonists grow annoyed with the
governor’s strict policies:
 The governor represented the best interests
of the Virginia company.
 House
 1st
 Why
 To
of Burgessess:
representative assembly in the colonies
was it formed:
provide more control
The House of Burgesses
The Church in Jamestown
In 1765, Patrick Henry introduced
7 resolutions against the Stamp
where meetings took place
Act at the VA House of
Burgesses.
The House of Burgesses, which met at
first only once a year, could make laws, which
could be vetoed by the governor or the directors
of the Virginia Company.
More Conflicts:
John Rolfe married Chief Powhatan’s daughter,
Pocahontas in an effort to improve relations
between the English colonists and the
Powhatan Indians.
 The Powhatan taught the colonists how to
hunt, grow corn, and fish.
 Effect:

 However,
the tobacco plantations grew and took
over a great deal of Powhatan land. Powhatan
killed hundreds of Jamestown’s residents.
John Rolfe Marries Pocahontas
1622- The Powhatan Attack Jamestown
When the day appointed for the massacre
had arrived, a number of the savages visited
many of our people in their dwellings, and
while partaking with them of their meal the
savages, at a given signal, drew their weapons
and fell upon us murdering and killing
everybody they could reach sparing neither
women nor children, as well inside as outside
the dwellings. In this attack 347 of the
English of both sexes and all ages were killed.
Simply killing our people did not satisfy their
inhuman nature, they dragged the dead
bodies all over the country, tearing them limb
from limb, and carrying the pieces in triumph
around. “
The Second Anglo Powhatan War The
Massacre as Reported to England
Contemporaneously and in 1622

Bacon’s Rebellion: The Causes
 1670s-
¼ of free white men in Virginia
were former indentured servants.
 They did not own land and resented
wealthy landowners.
 They lived on the Virginia western frontier
and fought Native Americans for land.
 Governor refused to approve war against
the Native Americans.
Bacon’s Rebellion
Bacon took control
of the House of
Burgesses and
burnt Jamestown to
the ground.
Effects of Bacon’s Rebellion
King Charles II recalled the governor
back to England
2. The House of Burgesses passed laws to
prevent a Governor from assuming
such power again.
* This was an important step against
tyranny, a type of government has vast,
if not absolute power!
1.