Chapter 3: The English Colonies

Section 1: The Southern Colonies

Settlement in Jamestown• In 1605, a company of English Merchants asked

King James I for the right to establish a colony– King James I granted company’s request in 1606 to

settle in a region called Virginia

• Founding a New Colony– Investors in the new settlement formed a joint-stock

company called the London Company• Investors shared the costs and the risks

– 105 colonists sent by the London Company arrived in America in April of 1607

– On May 14, the colonists founded Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America

Settlement in Jamestown• Many settlers died

– No farming experience– No skills (like carpentry) – Colony surrounded by swamps

• Disease carrying mosquitoes– By winter, 2/3 had died

• Powhatan Confederacy– John Smith

• Took control of the colony in 1608 and built a fort

• Forced settlers to work harder, build better housing, and created rewards system

– Colonists also received help from Native Americans

– 1609, more settlers arrived• Winter brought disease and

famine and many died– Jamestown failed to make a

profit until colonist John Rolfe introduced a new type of tobacco

Settlement in Jamestown• War in Virginia

– John Rolfe married Pocahontas• Marriage helped form more peaceful

relations with the Powhatan

– Pocahontas died in England– 1622: colonists killed a Powhatan leader

• In retaliation, the Powhatan attacked the Virginia colonists

– Fighting between colonists and Native Americans would continue for the next 20 years

– The London Company could not protect its colonists and as a result, the English Crown cancelled the company’s charter in 1624

– Virginia became a royal colony under the authority of a governor chosen by the king

Daily Life in Virginia

• In early Virginia, people lived on scattered farms• Plantations, large farms, were established by

tobacco farmers– Tobacco was extremely valuable

• Headright System– Started by the London Company, under this system

colonists who paid their own way to Virginia received 50 acres of land

– An additional 50 acres of land was granted for each additional person brought from England

• Rich colonists brought servants and relatives in order to gain large amount of land

Daily Life in Virginia • Labor in Virginia

– High death rates led to labor shortages• **Recall that we saw this same phenomena occur in Europe during the

Black Death

– The majority of workers were indentured servants• Signed a contract to work for 4-7 years for those who paid for their journey

to America

• Expansion of Slavery– Not all laborers that came to America were Europeans– Africans

• Some were servants, others had been enslaved• Some African servants became successful farmers after their contracts

ended

– After time, the demand for workers became greater than the supply of indentured servants

• Cost of slaves fell• Led to the expansion of slavery

– By the mid 1600’s, most Africans living in Virginia were being kept in life-long slavery

Daily Life in Virginia• Bacon’s Rebellion

– As plantations grew in the Southern Colonies, the English crown began to ask for more taxes

– Poor colonists objected to the raise in taxes because they were not wealthy plantation owners

• They were also upset about the crown’s policies towards Native Americans and felt that the colony was not well protected

– Nathaniel Bacon led a group of former indentured servants in an attack against a group of friendly Native Americans

• Protested the governor’s openness to trade with them and felt that the colonists should be able to take land away from the Native Americans

• When the governor tried to stop him, Nathaniel Bacon led his followers into Jamestown and burned it to the ground

– Bacon’s Rebellion

• At one point, Nathaniel Bacon controlled much of the colony, but after his death the rebellion ended

Other Southern Colonies

• English Catholics began planning their move to America– To escape religious persecution

• Against England’s separation from the Roman Catholic Church

• Not allowed to worship freely by the Church of England

• English leaders feared that English Catholics would ally themselves with France or Spain

Other Southern Colonies

• Maryland– George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, asked King

Charles I in the 1620’s for permission to begin a new colony in America for Catholics

– King Charles I issued a charter to George’s son, Cecilius, who took over planning the colony

• Cecilius became the second Lord Baltimore and named the colony Maryland in honor of England’s queen, Henrietta Maria

– Located north of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay area– Intended to be a refuge for English Catholics and a

proprietary colony• Colonial Owners controlled the government

Other Southern Colonies

• Maryland (continued)– The 200 English Catholics who first came to Maryland

benefited from the lessons of Jamestown• Raised corn, cattle, and hogs• Soon began growing tobacco for profit

– Protestants began moving to Maryland in the 1640’s• This led to religion conflicts• Toleration Act of 1649

– Presented to the colonial assembly in 1649, this bill made it a crime to restrict the religious rights of Christians

– Did not stop all religious conflicts, but showed that the government wanted to offer some religious freedom and protect the rights of minority groups

Other Southern Colonies• The Carolinas and Georgia

– 1663, King Charles II gave much of the land between Virginia and Spanish Florida to 8 of his supporters

• 1712, separated into North and South Carolina– Most North Carolina colonists had moved south from Virginia– Most South Carolina colonists were from Europe

– Those who paid their way received huge grants of land and the slave population increased

• By 1730, 20,000 African slaves were living in the colony, compared to some 10,000 white settlers

– South Carolina was managed poorly and the government was overthrown

– North and South Carolina were then purchased by the crown and made royal colonies

Other Southern Colonies• James Oglethorpe was granted a charter by

King George II in 1732 and Georgia was founded– King George II hoped that Georgia would act as a

“shield” colony from Spanish Florida– James Oglethorpe hoped that debtors (who had been

jailed in England for their monetary debts) could make a new start in Georgia

• James Oglethorpe did not was Georgia to have large plantations owned by only a few wealthy elite– Wanted many small farms– Outlawed slavery and limited the size of land grants

• Farmers grew unhappy with Oglethorpe’s rules and the colony was eventually made a royal colony with new rules

Economies of the Southern Colonies

• The economies of the Southern colonies depended on agriculture

• Exported materials for ship building, such as wood and tar

• Many small farms and some large plantations– Farms did well in the south because of the warm

climate

• Many farms grew a cash crop, such as tobacco, for profit– Required a great deal of work and a huge workforce

• Turn to slavery

Economies of the Southern Colonies

• Slavery– Brutality – Most southern colonies passed slave codes

to control slaves• Fear of slave revolt