British North America

1607-1754The Chesapeake Colonies

Key Facts About the Chesapeake Colonies

• Virginia• Joint-stock companies• New colonies meant a lot

of $ needed• Investors share profits and

losses in proportion to the amount they invest

• Virginia was founded by a joint-stock company• During its first decade,

Jamestown experienced a very high mortality rate• Virginia’s House of Burgesses was the first representative

legislative assembly in British North America• Maryland• Founded for profit and for religious freedom

Geographic Characteristics• Hot summers, mild winters• Long growing season• Fertile soil• Surrounded by swampy land – disease

Jamestown Fort and Settlement Map

Jamestown Housing

Jamestown Settlement

Jamestown Chapel, 1611

High Mortality Rates• The “Starving Time”• 1607: 104 colonists• By spring, 1608: 38 survived• 1609: 300 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%

Why was 1619 a pivotal year for the Chesapeake settlement?

Virginia House of Burgesses

Growing Political Power• The House of Burgesses• Established in 1619• Functions like the House of Commons• Control over finances, militia, etc.• By end of 17th century, they were able to initiate

legislation• A Council appointed by royal governor• Mainly leading planters• Functions like House of Lords• High death rates ensured rapid turnover of members

Maryland• Founded by Lord Baltimore and

as a refuge for Roman Catholics• Act of Religious Toleration (1649)

– protect Catholics in Maryland from religious persecution by Protestants

John RolfeWhat finally made the colony prosperous??

TOBACCO

The Importance of Tobacco• Made colony economically viable• Created a demand for a large

and inexpensive labor force• Initially used indentured

servants• Indentured servants began to be

replaced with slave labor imported from Africa in the late 1600s

• Most valuable cash crop produced in the Southern colonies until the invention of the cotton gin in 1793

Indentured Servants• 1607-1676: main labor source

in the Chesapeake• Servants were given

opportunity to improve their lives in America

• Headright System• Goal: attract more settlers to

Virginia• Planters received 50 acres for each

person they brought to the colony• Difficult Conditions• Their labor could be bought, willed,

and attached for debt• Women serving as indentured

servants had to remain unmarried until they completed their indenture

Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676• What happened?• Led by Bacon, freemen in Virginia rebelled

against Governor Berkeley• Followers challenged Berkeley’s power and

burned down Jamestown• Bacon’s sudden death (dysentery) enabled

Berkeley to crush the rebels Nathaniel Bacon

Governor William Berkeley

Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676• What caused Bacon’s Rebellion?• Former indentured servants angry about Berkeley

favoring wealthy planters and not protecting them from Indian attacks• Yeoman farmers also frustrated by:• Falling tobacco prices• Rising taxes• Lack of fertile land near navigable rivers to purchase

• Why should you remember Bacon’s Rebellion?• It exposed tensions between poor former indentured

servants and the wealthy• It persuaded planters to replace indentured servants with

African slaves

1620-1754The New England Colonies

Key Facts about the New England Colonies

• Pilgrims• Founded the Plymouth Colony• Separatists: sever all ties with the

Church of England – too corrupt to be fixed• Leader: William Bradford

• Puritans• Founded the Massachusetts Colony• Want to “purify” or fix the Church

of England• Leader: John Winthrop

Geographic Characteristics• Cold winters• Short growing season• Rocky soil• Fine harbors – Boston, Providence

Key Facts About the Pilgrims• The Pilgrims arrived in

America without a royal charter

• Mayflower Compact• Ensure an orderly government• 41 men signed the agreement • Pledged to “combine ourselves

together into a civil body politick”• Decided to make political

decisions based upon the will of the people• Established an important

precedent for self-government in the British colonies

Key Quote – John Winthrop’s “City Upon a Hill” Sermon

• The setting• In 1630, John Winthrop led a fleet of

11 ships and 700 Puritans destined for New England• While on board the flagship Arabella,

Winthrop preached a sermon describing his expectations for the new Puritan colony

Key Quote – John Winthrop’s “City Upon a Hill” Sermon• The quote• “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a

hill, the eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we shall have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.”

• Significance• It expresses Winthrop’s belief that the Puritans had a

special pact with God to build a model Christian society• Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” would serve as a beacon of

righteousness that would inspire reforms in England

Puritan Beliefs and Values• The Puritans were Calvinists

• Believed men and women are by nature sinful• By God’s grace a few people called the “elect” will

be saved• Predestination• Because God is all-knowing, He has known from the beginning of

time the identity of these lucky souls• Directly approach God• No elaborate rituals• No Church hierarchy• Membership limited to “visible saints” – those who were

already saved• Protestant work ethic – “idle hands are the devil’s

workshop”

Key Facts About Puritan Society• Unlike the early Chesapeake settlers, the Puritans migrated

to America in families• They lived in compact villages clustered around a community

meetinghouse where they met to discuss local issues• Patriarchal society – women and children were subordinate• Valued education – needed to be able to read and

understand the Bible• Communities of 50 or more families had to provide a teacher of

reading and writing• Harvard College was founded to train ministers

• Puritans were more devout than the Chesapeake settlers

• Communities were characterized by a close relationship between church and state

Religious Conformity, Dissent, and Toleration• Religious conformity• Convinced that they were undertaking God’s work, the

Puritans emphasized religious conformity• Although the Puritans came to America for religious freedom,

they did not tolerate dissent• Roger Williams• Challenged the religious authority of Puritan

leaders by arguing for the complete separation of church and state• Declared that, “Forced worship stinks in God’s

nostrils”• Called for freedom from coercion (the use of

force, pressure, and threats) in matters of faith• Banished from Massachusetts and founded

Rhode Island based upon freedom of religion

Religious Conformity, Dissent, and Toleration• Anne Hutchinson• Advocated unorthodox (unconventional) religious

views that challenged the authority of Puritan magistrates• Claimed to have had revelations from God• Questioned established religious doctrines• Questioned role of women

• In 1638, Massachusetts authorities banished Hutchinson to Rhode Island• She later moved to Long Island where she was killed by

Indians• Religious toleration• Could not get rid of religious dissent• Ironically, religious intolerance in Massachusetts promoted

religious tolerance in Rhode Island

Relations With the Indians• As many as 100,000 Indians lived in New

England when the Puritans arrived• Coastal Indians taught the Puritans how to

plant corn• Smallpox epidemics soon decimated the

Indian population – by 1675 tribal populations fell from 65,000 to just 10,000

• Many New England Indians were determined to defend their way of life from the relentless growth of white settlement• Led by Chief Metacom (also known as King

Phillip), the Indians attacked and burned settlements across Massachusetts• Although they suffered great losses, the colonists

killed Metacom and defeated his followers

1664-1754The Middle Atlantic Colonies

Key Facts about the Middle Atlantic Colonies• Founded for profit• Toleration – religious and ethnic• Multiple countries represented

Geographic Characteristics• Moderate winters• Fertile soil• Fine harbors• Longer growing

season than the New England colonies

• The Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehanna rivers enabled early settlers to tap into the lucrative interior fur trade

The Dutch and New Netherland• Founded by the Dutch West India Company in 1626 • Goal: trade and profit

• Fur trade• Able to befriend the Indians

• Prize location• Between New England to the north and the other English colonies

further south• New Amsterdam, one of the finest harbors on the eastern coast of

North America• English takeover

• In 1664, King Charles II of England sent a fleet of warships to force New Netherland’s governor, Peter Stuyvesant, to surrender

• Unprepared to fight, he reluctantly surrendered without firing a shot• The town and colony were renamed New York after the king’s brother,

James, Duke of York

William Penn and Pennsylvania• Founded by William Penn as a

refuge for Quakers• “Holy Experiment”• Operated in accordance with Quaker

religious principles• Every person had an inner light

and needed only to live by it to be saved

• Since every person had an inner light, all people were equal

• Advocated religious toleration• Supported a greater role for

women in public worship• Refused to bear arms• Opposed slavery

William Penn and Pennsylvania• Pennsylvania did not have an established church• Quakers worshipped without formal rituals, sacraments,

music or art in their churches• Friendly with the local Indian tribes

• He paid them for lands• Protected them from dishonest people

• Advertising campaign• Encouraged people to move to his colony• Published pamphlets in several languages promising settlers fertile

land, low taxes, religious freedom, and a representative assembly• Success• Attracted a diverse mix of ethnic and religious groups• By 1700, only Virginia and Massachusetts had a larger population

than Pennsylvania• Philadelphia quickly became a prosperous port that rivaled

Boston and New York City

The Southern Colonies

Key Facts about the Southern Colonies• North Carolina

• Settled by Virginians• Founded by a group of proprietors

• South Carolina• Founded by a group of proprietors• Settled by planters from Barbados

• Top 3 cash crops• Tobacco• Rice• Indigo

• Georgia founded by James Oglethorpe• Penal colony• Buffer colony

Geographic Characteristics• Fertile land• Warm climate• Long growing season • Numerous navigable rivers – Norfolk, Charleston,

and Savannah

The Growth of Slavery in the Southern Colonies• Economic factors• Tobacco and other cash crops required a large supply of

inexpensive labor• The spread of tobacco cultivation beyond the Chesapeake

colonies created additional demand for slave labor• Less indentured servants because conditions in England

improve• Indentured servants were unreliable and rebellious• Following Bacon’s Rebellion (1676), indentured servants

are replaced with imported African slaves

The Growth of Slavery in the Southern Colonies• Social factors• By the early 1700s, slavery was legal in all of the colonies• By the mid 1700s, slaves comprised about 40% of the

South’s population• A small but powerful group of wealthy planters dominated

Southern society• Most whites in the South did not own slaves but they did

aspire to become slave owners• Impoverished whites felt superior to black slaves thus

providing further support for the slave system• Few 17th and early 18th century white colonists questioned

human bondage as morally unacceptable