English Colonialism and Settlement in North America

Flashcards covering the history of English, Dutch, and Quaker colonization in North America, including governance, economy, conflicts, and religious movements.

Who established the Roanoke Colony in 1587, and what message was found at the deserted site?

Sir Walter Raleigh established the colony on Roanoke Island in 1587; when rescuers returned, the settlement was deserted with the word "Croatoan" carved at the site.

What crucial guarantee was provided to settlers in the Charter of the Virginia Company?

It guaranteed colonists the same rights of Englishmen as if they had remained in England.

When and where was the Jamestown settlement established, and what geographic drawback did the site have?

On May 24, 1607, about 100 male settlers landed at Jamestown along the James River. The location was easily defended, but swarmed with disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Why did Jamestown settlers experience severe starvation and mortality during the early years?

Many settlers were "gentlemen" who refused manual labor, wasting time searching for gold instead of farming or catching abundant fish and game in the area.

What were the adult life expectancy and child mortality statistics in early colonial Virginia?

Adult life expectancy was 40 years, and 80% of children died before reaching age 5.

How did Chief Powhatan initially view the arrival of English settlers in the James River area?

He viewed the English as potential allies in his struggles to control other Native American tribes in the region.

What caused the First Anglo-Powhatan War (1610–1614), and what tactics did Lord De La Warr use?

Rising tensions from English raids on Indian food supplies led to war. Lord De La Warr carried out orders to wage war by burning villages, destroying cornfields, and seizing supplies.

What were the major terms of the Peace Treaty of 1646 following the Second Anglo-Powhatan War?

It removed the Powhatans from their ancestral lands and formally created separate settlement boundaries for Native Americans and English colonists.

Who introduced cultivated tobacco to Virginia in 1612, and how did it shape the colony?

John Rolfe introduced tobacco; it placed Virginia on firm economic footing, but depleted the soil, tied the economy to a single crop, and spurred the development of the plantation system.

How did the headright system work in colonial Virginia?

Virginia granted 50 acres of land to any colonist for each indentured servant or passenger whose passage to the colony they financed.

What were the conditions and survival rates for indentured servants in Virginia between 1610 and 1614?

Contracts required 5 to 7 years of labor without marriage rights in exchange for "freedom dues" (land and money); only 1 in 10 servants outlived their contracts during this period.

Why was the year 1619 significant in the history of the Chesapeake settlement?

It marked the establishment of the House of Burgesses and the arrival of the first African slaves to work the tobacco crops.

Why did King James I revoke the Virginia Company's charter in 1624?

He detested tobacco, distrusted the House of Burgesses as a "seminary of sedition," and the Virginia Company had fallen into bankruptcy, making Virginia a royal colony under the king's direct control.

How did colonial slavery evolve legally and demographically in Virginia by the late 17th century?

By the mid-1680s, Black slaves outnumbered white indentured servants, transforming slavery from an economic condition into a hereditary racial institution.

What restrictions were established by Virginia's 1662 Slave Codes?

They defined Black people and their children as lifelong chattel (property) of white masters, prohibited teaching slaves to read or write in some colonies, and established that Christian conversion did not grant freedom.

What grievances prompted Nathaniel Bacon to launch Bacon's Rebellion in 1676?

Landless, disenfranchised freemen resented Governor William Berkeley's monopoly on the Indian fur trade and his refusal to retaliate against Native American attacks on frontier settlements.

What actions did Nathaniel Bacon's rebels take, and how did Governor Berkeley suppress the revolt?

Rebels attacked Native Americans, chased Berkeley from Jamestown, and burned the capital. After Bacon died of fever, Berkeley brutally crushed the uprising and hanged 20 rebels.

What long-term social and economic shift resulted from Bacon's Rebellion?

It exposed class conflicts between poor frontiersmen and coastal gentry, causing wealthy planters to seek a less rebellious labor force by shifting from indentured servants to enslaved Africans.

Who established the Maryland colony, and what was its original purpose?

George Calvert (Lord Baltimore) received a charter in 1632, and the proprietary colony was established in 1634 to serve as a haven for persecuted Catholics and a feudal estate for his family.

What did the Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 mandate, and what were its limitations?

Supported by Catholics, it guaranteed religious freedom to all Christians, but decreed the death penalty for non-Christians who denied the divinity of Jesus, such as Jews and atheists.

How did Separatists differ in their religious views from standard Puritans?

Standard Puritans wanted to reform the Church of England from within, whereas Separatists believed only "visible saints" should be church members and insisted on a complete break from the Anglican Church.

What was the Mayflower Compact of 1620, and why was it created?

Signed before landing at Plymouth, it was an agreement among Mayflower passengers to form a simple government and submit to majority rule, as they were settling outside the Virginia Company's legal jurisdiction.

Who served as governor of Plymouth Colony 30 times, and what was his primary concern?

William Bradford served as governor for 30 yearly terms, constantly worrying that neighboring non-Puritan settlements would corrupt Plymouth's religious community.

Who led the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and what vision did he articulate for it?

Governor John Winthrop led the colony and declared "We shall be as a city on a hill," establishing a model Puritan society based on covenant theology.

What were the main demographic characteristics of 17th-century New England settlements?

New England enjoyed low mortality rates, an average life expectancy of 70 years, strong extended families averaging 6 children, and an average marriage age of 22 for women and 27 for men.

Why was Roger Williams banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635?

He advocated a total break with the Anglican Church, condemned the colony's charter for taking Native American land without fair payment, and denied civil government authority over religious practices.

How did Rhode Island's government and society compare to the rest of Puritan New England?

Founded by Roger Williams in 1636, Rhode Island offered universal manhood suffrage (later property-restricted) and complete religious freedom, earning it the label "Sewer" from Puritans.

What were the core tenets of Anne Hutchinson's heresy of Antinomianism?

She argued that a holy life was no guarantee of salvation and that those who were truly saved did not need to obey the laws of God or man.

What statement during her 1638 trial caused Anne Hutchinson to be banished from Massachusetts?

She asserted that she received her religious revelations directly from God.

What caused King Philip's War (1675–1676), and what was its ultimate outcome?

Metacom (King Philip) united New England tribes to attack English settlements. The colonists defeated the alliance, beheaded Metacom, sold his family into slavery, and permanently ended the Native American threat in New England.

How did England gain control of New Netherland in 1664?

Charles II granted Dutch land to his brother, the Duke of York; English forces arrived and forced Governor Peter Stuyvesant to surrender without firing a shot, renaming the colony New York.

What religious beliefs made Quakers unpopular in England?

They refused to pay taxes for the Church of England, met without paid clergy, rejected social titles and deference, refused to take oaths, and practiced strict pacifism.

What key policies were instituted in Pennsylvania by William Penn?

Penn purchased land fairly from Native Americans, guaranteed freedom of worship, established an elected assembly, prohibited slavery, passed strict "Blue Laws," and limited capital punishment to treason and murder.

What agricultural exports and labor sources defined early South Carolina?

English planters from Barbados brought the Barbados slave code and cultivated rice and indigo using enslaved West Africans who had genetic immunity to malaria, making Black slaves the majority population by 1710.

Why did North Carolina officially separate from South Carolina in 1712?

North Carolina was settled by Virginia dissenters and poor farmers who developed an irreligious, independent culture resistant to authority.

What were the primary reasons for establishing Georgia in 1733?

Founded by James Oglethorpe, Georgia was created as a subsidized buffer colony to protect the Carolinas from Spanish Florida and French Louisiana, as well as a haven for imprisoned debtors.