English Exploration

Henry VIII Wants to find

“Northwest Passage” to Asia

Fails But: claims land in

North America

King James VI: grants land to settlers: early 1600s

Henry VIII

English Colonization in North America Slow colonization but

sped up in 1600s Roanoke: failed colony Jamestown: first

permanent settlement The 13 colonies develop

Jamestown: A Joint-Stock Company Settlement Joint-stock company lets investors

share risk, profits of business Buy stock Get charter from King to establish colony

help fund colonies in America: Jamestown

•

Late 1606 VA Co. sends out 3 ships

Spring 1607 land at mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

Attacked by Indians and move on.

May 24, 1607 about 100 colonists [all men] land at Jamestown, along banks of James River

Easily defended position, but swarming with disease-causing mosquitoes.

England Plants the Jamestown “Seedling”

England Plants the Jamestown “Seedling”

Jamestown Settlement, 1609

Jamestown Settlement, 1609

Chesapeake BayChesapeake Bay

Geographic/environmental problems??

Jamestown Fort & Settlement Map

Jamestown Fort & Settlement Map

Jamestown HousingJamestown Housing

Jamestown SettlementJamestown Settlement

Jamestown Chapel, 1611

Jamestown Chapel, 1611

Settlers died by the dozens!

“Gentlemen” colonists would not work themselves.

Game in forests & fish in river uncaught.

Settlers wasted time looking for gold instead of hunting or farming.

Conflict with Native Americans: Powhatan tribe

The Jamestown Nightmare

The Jamestown Nightmare

PocahontasPocahontas

Captain John Smith

Pocahontas “saves” Captain John Smith

High Mortality RatesHigh Mortality RatesThe “Starving Time”:

1607: 104 colonists

By spring, 1608: 38 survived

1609: 500 more immigrants

By spring, 1610: 60 survived

1610 – 1624: 10,000 immigrants

1624 population: 1,200

Adult life expectancy: 40 years

Death of children before age 5: 80%

What saves the Jamestown settlement?

Tobacco PlantTobacco Plant

Virginia’s gold and silver. -- John Rolfe, 1612

Need more workers!

Indentured ServitudeIndentured Servitude

Headright System: Each Virginian got 50 acres for

each person whose passage they paid.

Indenture Contract: 5-7 years.

Promised “freedom dues” [land, money]

Forbidden to marry.

1610-1614: only 1 in 10 outlived their indentured contracts!

Early Colonial TobaccoEarly Colonial Tobacco1618 — 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’s effect on Virginia’s economy:

Vital role in putting VA on a firm economic footing.

Ruinous to soil when continuously planted.

Chained VA’s economy to a single crop.

Tobacco promoted the use of the plantation system.

Need for cheap, abundant labor: SLAVES!!!.

Virginia: “Child of Tobacco”Virginia: “Child of Tobacco”

17c Populationin the Chesapeake

17c Populationin the Chesapeake

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

1607 1630 1650 1670 1690

White

Black

WHY this large increase in black popul.??

New England Colonies, 1650

New England Colonies, 1650

1620 102 people

Land at Plymouth, MA

Pilgrims: separate from Church of England

Looking for freedom of religion

Early struggles similar to Jamestown

Pilgrims and The Mayflower

Pilgrims and The Mayflower

The Mayflower Compact

November 11, 1620

The Mayflower Compact

November 11, 1620

The Mayflower Compact

November 11, 1620

The Mayflower Compact

November 11, 1620Written and signed before the Pilgrims disembarked from the ship.

Not a constitution, but an agreement to form a crude govt. and submit to majority rule.

Signed by 41 adult males.

Led to adult male settlers meeting in assemblies to make laws in town meetings.

The MA Bay ColonyThe MA Bay Colony1629 Puritans: non-Separatists got a royal charter to form the MA Bay Co.

Wanted to escape attacks by conservatives in the Church of England.

They didn’t want to leave the Church, just its “impurities.”

Many families, farmed mostly.

Established Boston

Colonists only willing to come to MD if they received land.

Colonists who did come received modest farms dispersed around the Chesapeake area.

Maryland: A Colony for Catholics

Maryland: A Colony for Catholics

Colonization of Maryland

Colonization of Maryland

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The QuakersThe QuakersCalled Quakers because they “quaked” during intense religious practices.

Key Leader: William Penn

They offended religious & secular leaders in England.

Refused to pay taxes to support the Church of England.

They met without paid clergy

Believed all were children of God EQUALITY!

1760

Urban Population Growth

1650 - 1775

Urban Population Growth

1650 - 1775