US History (1607 - 1776): Notable Colonies and Cities

1607 - 1624 - Jamestown (All Facts)

• Colony founded by the Virginia Company, the first joint-stock company in America

• It was America’s / England’s first permanent colony and first corporate colony

• The site was low and swampy with brackish water, but it was extremely defendable from both the land and sea, which was an absolute prerequisite for the colonists’ safety, according to the members of its ruling body

• Its settlers were divided into three groups

  • 1) to build a fort and erect cabins within the palisade

  • 2) to clear the ground of trees and brush that surround the fort

    • 3) to explore the river upstream for a possible passage to the Far East

• Its settlers attempted to plant crops like oranges, cotton, potatoes, and melons; all of which were experimental at the time for them

  • Grains such as wheat and barley would have been planted, but they arrived too late in the season to harvest them, thus causing perpetual problems for the colonists in the winter

• Upon its establishment, its settlers greatly suffered

  • The colony’s location in a swampy area along the James River resulted in fatal outbreaks of dysentery and malaria

  • They were gentlemen unaccustomed to constant physical work

  • Some were gold-seeking adventurers who refused to hunt or farm

  • They starved when trade with Native Americans erupted into conflict, and starvation was a persistent issue there

• Within four months of its establishment, its settlers buried 50 people lost due to disease or starvation

  • Settlers lived on sturgeon and sea crabs

• Colony which developed a new variety of tobacco that would become a profitable crop and popular in Europe, thus saving it of its initial sufferings

  • Despite the development of a new variety of tobacco, the colony continued to collapse

  • More than 6,000 had settled there, but by 1624, only 2,000 remained alive

1607 - James Fort (All Facts)

• Built by colonists to defend against Spanish and Native American attacks

1624 - 1776 - Virginia (All Facts)

• Colony founded by King James of England

  • It was established after King James had revoked the charter of the bankrupt Virginia Company that established the predecessor colony of Jamestown

• It was America’s / England’s first royal colony

• In 1632, it was subdivided by King Charles of England, in which he chartered a new colony on either side of Chesapeake Bay and granted control of it to George Calvert / Lord Baltimore as a reward for Calvert’s service to the crown as a Catholic nobleman

• Its economy was primarily based on the production of tobacco, tar, and pitch

• Its most common religious group was Anglicans

1620 - 1691 - Plymouth (All Facts)

• Colony founded by English Separatists who dissented from the official government-supported Anglican Church; the dissenters

  • Charged that the Anglican Church should break more completely with Rome

  • Believed in John Calvin’s doctrine of predestination

  • Escaped threats of arrest and imprisonment by English King James

• Colony founded by the Pilgrims who made the voyage on the Mayflower

  • Fewer than half of them were Separatists

  • Most of them were people who had economic motives for making the voyage

• Colony founded by Separatists in order to escape religious persecution back in England

• In the initial winter, half their number perished

  • However, they were eventually helped to adapt to the land by friendly Native Americans and came to celebrate a good harvest at a Thanksgiving feast

  • The colony grew slowly but remained small

• Its economy consisted of trade in fish, furs, and lumber

1628 - 1691 - Massachusetts Bay (All Facts)

• Colony founded by the namesake joint-stock company

• Colony which was a product of the Great Migration of Puritans, especially those led by John Winthrop

• Colony founded by Puritans to escape religious persecution under English King Charles

  • However, the Puritans there would eventually come from persecution only to maintain persecution as they showed intolerance and banned anyone from the colony who questioned their religious teachings

• Colony in which all freemen (male members of the Puritan Church) had the right to participate in yearly elections of the colony’s governor, his assistants, and a representative assembly

• Its economy was primarily based on logging, shipbuilding, fishing, rum-distilling, and trading

1632 - 1776 - Maryland (All Facts)

• Colony founded by King Charles of England and George Calvert / Lord Baltimore

• It was America’s / England’s first proprietary colony

• Colony founded by Catholics to escape religious persecution back in England

  • When Protestant farmers began to outnumber their Catholic counterparts both in population and in representation in the namesake colony’s assembly, its 2nd proprietor, son of George Calvert, Cecil Calvert, persuaded the assembly to issue the Act of Toleration

• A successful Protestant Revolution had occurred there, leading to the repealing of the Act of Toleration, which meant that Catholics no longer had the right to vote in its assembly

• By the 1700s, it experienced labor shortages due to the high death rate and slow population growth from

  • disease

  • food shortages

  • battles with Native Americans

• By the 1700s, its economy and society mirrored Virginia, except that it had great tolerance of religious diversity amongst different sects of Protestants

• Its economy was primarily based on the production of corn and wheat and on trade

1636 - 1776 - Rhode Island (All Facts)

• Colony founded by Roger Williams

  • Although Puritan, he was banished by fellow Puritan leaders in the colony of Massachusetts Bay for a disagreement about beliefs

  • He left Boston and fled southward to Narragansett Bay, where he and his followers founded the settlement of Providence, which would eventually become known as the namesake when it combined with Anne Hutchinson’s colony of Portsmouth via the charter granted to Williams by parliament

• Colony whose government

  • recognized the rights of Native Americans and paid them for the use of their land

  • allowed Catholics, Quakers, and Jews to worship freely

• Colony which served as a refuge for many because it tolerated diverse beliefs

  • It was one of the most liberal colonies when it came to religious toleration

• Its economy was primarily based on logging, shipbuilding, fishing, rum-distilling, and trading

• One of only two colonies in which the governor was elected by popular vote

1636 - 1776 - Connecticut (All Facts)

• Colony founded by Thomas Hooker and John Davenport after King Charles of England combined the New Haven and Hartford colonies together via royal charter which granted it a limited degree of self-government, including election of the governor

• Its economy was primarily based on logging, shipbuilding, fishing, rum-distilling, and trading

• One of only two colonies in which the governor was elected by popular vote

1664 - 1783 - New York (All Facts)

• Colony founded by King Charles II of England

  • He wished to consolidate the crown’s holdings along the Atlantic Coast and close the gap between the New England and Chesapeake colonies

  • He compelled the Dutch to give up their colony of New Amsterdam centered on Manhattan Island and the Hudson River Valley

  • He granted his brother, the Duke of York , the lands lying between Connecticut and Delaware Bay

• Colony which

  • Treated its original Dutch settlers well by allowing them

    • Freedom to worship as they pleased

    • Freedom to speak their own language

• Colony which initially did not have a representative assembly at the request of the Duke of York, but who eventually yielded and allowed their governor to grant broad civil and political rights to its people, which included a representative assembly

• Its economy was primarily based on the production of corn and wheat and on trade

• Its most common religious groups were

  • The Reformed Church

  • Anglicans

  • Episcopalians

1679 - 1776 - New Hampshire (All Facts)

• Colony founded by King Charles II, who separated it from the colony of Massachusetts Bay and made it a royal colony, hoping to increase royal control over the colonies

• Last colony to be founded in New England

• It was originally part of Massachusetts Bay and consisted of a few settlements north of Boston

• As a royal colony, it was subject to the authority of a governor appointed by the government of England

• Its economy was primarily based on logging, shipbuilding, fishing, rum-distilling, and trading

1681 - 1776 - Pennsylvania (All Facts)

• Colony founded by William Penn

• Colony founded in order to

  • Provide religious refuge for Quakers and other persecuted groups

  • Enact liberal ideas in government

  • Generate income and profits for William Penn

• Colony which was established with a Frame of Government, which guaranteed

  • A representative assembly elected by landowners

  • A written constitution

  • The Charter of Liberties, which guaranteed

    • Freedom of worship for all

    • Unrestricted immigration

• It was one of the most liberal colonies when it came to religious toleration

• Its economy was primarily based on the production of corn and wheat

• Its most common religious groups were

  • Quakers

  • Lutherans

  • Mennonites

1691 - 1780 - Massachusetts (All Facts)

• Colony founded by William and Mary of England

• It was one of the most conservative colonies when it came to religious toleration, having accepted several types of Protestants but excluding Catholics and non-Christians

• Its economy was primarily based on logging, shipbuilding, fishing, rum-distilling, and trading

1702 - 1776 - New Jersey (All Facts)

• Colony initially founded by being split from New York located between the Hudson River and Delaware Bay, and then split again into West and East, each presided over by a proprietor

  • To attract settlers, each proprietor made generous land offers and allowed for religious freedom and a representative assembly

  • Eventually, they sold their proprietorships to various groups of Quakers

  • Land titles continued to change hands repeatedly until the crown decided to combine its proprietary East and West divisions into one single royal colony

• Its economy was primarily based on the production of corn and wheat and on trade

1702 - 1776 - Delaware (All Facts)

• Colony which derived out of the lower three counties of the colony of Pennsylvania, which were granted their own assembly by William Penn

• Its economy was primarily based on the production of corn and wheat and on trade

1712 - 1776 - South Carolina (All Facts)

• Colony founded due to a number of developments including

  • 1663 - King Charles II having granted a huge tract of land between Virginia and Spanish Florida to eight nobles who became the lord proprietors of their respective colonies

  • 1670 - A few colonists from England and some planters from the island of Barbados founded the namesake town, which would eventually become an entire colony

  • 1712 / 1729 - The namesake colony is formed from the original grant

• Colony whose economy was based on trading furs and providing food for the West Indies

• By the 1700s, however, its large rice-growing plantations worked by Africans resembled the economy and culture of the West Indies

• Its economy was primarily based on the production of indigo and rice

1712 - 1776 - North Carolina (All Facts)

• Colony founded due to a number of developments including

  • The development of small, self-sufficient tobacco farms by farmers from Virginia and New England

  • Its lack of good harbors and transportation, leading to fewer large plantations and less reliance on slavey

• Colony which earned a reputation for democratic views and autonomy from British control

• Its economy was primarily based on the production of tobacco, tar, and pitch

1732 - 1776 - Georgia (All Facts)

• Colony founded by James Oglethorpe

  • He initially founded the colony’s first settlement of Savannah

  • He enacted an elaborate plan for making the colony thrive

  • He implemented laws that banned slavery and the drinking of rum

  • However, due to the constant threat of attack from the Spanish in Spanish Florida, his plan failed

• Colony which was taken over by the British government, becoming a royal colony after the failure of Oglethorpe’s plans

  • The restrictions on slavery and the drinking of rum Oglethorpe had implemented were dropped

  • The colony grew slowly by adopting the plantation system of South Carolina

• Colony which was founded and maintained in order to

  • Create a defensive buffer to protect the prosperous colony of South Carolina from the threat of Spanish Florida

  • Create a penal colony, where it would relieve the overcrowded jails of people back in England who were imprisoned for debt to start life over again

• Up to the American Revolution, it was the smallest and poorest of the Thirteen Colonies

• Its economy was primarily based on production of rice and indigo

New England (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the northernmost colonies, which were Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire

• Most immigrants of the 1700s did NOT settle here given that land was limited and its colonies were mostly under Puritan control

• Its climate consisted of rocky soil and long winters, making farming in these colonies limited to levels that provided just enough for the farm family to feed itself

  • Most farms were small, under 100 acres, and most work was done by family members an an occasional hired laborer

• Its colonies’ economies were largely based on shipbuilding, logging, fishing, rum-distilling, and trading

• Its most common religious groups were

  • Puritans

  • Congregationalists

  • Presbyterians

• Its colonies’ educational system consisted of tax-supported schools run by Puritans with an emphasis on learning the Bible

• Its colonists’ established towns and villages where they clustered their small homes around an open space known as a “green”

  • The dominant form of local government within these colonies was the town meeting, in which people of the town would regularly come together, often in a church, to vote directly on public issues

Middle Colonies (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware

• Most immigrants of the 1700s settled in these colonies

• Its climate consisted of rich soil

• Its colonies’ economies were largely based on wheat and corn production

  • These goods were primarily exported to Europe and the West Indies

• Its colonies’ farms were up to 200 acres and were common

• The farm family worked alongside indentured servants and hired laborers

• Its colonies’ industrial economies primarily consisted of iron-making, but were overall quite small

• Its colonies’ trading economy led to the growth of cities within it like Philadelphia and New York

• Its colonies’ educational system consisted of schools that were either church-sponsored or private, there was no public system that was not church-sponsored

  • Moreover, teachers often lived with the families of their students

Southern Colonies (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the colonies of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia as well as the Chesapeake colonies of Virginia and Maryland

• Its climate and geography was diverse, but primarily based on agriculture, which varied greatly

• Its colonists mostly lived on small subsistence family farms with no slaves

• A few colonists lived on large, 2,000+ acre plantations and relied on slave labor

• Its plantations were

  • self-sufficient, having grown their own food and having their own slave craftworkers

  • located on rivers, so they could shop exports directly to Europe

• Its colonies’ economic base varied

  • Based on Tobacco in Virginia and North Carolina

  • Based on timber, tar, and pitch in North and South Carolina

  • Based on rice and indigo in South Carolina and Georgia

• Its colonies’ educational system was the most limited, consisting of parents giving their children whatever education they could

  • On plantations, tutors provided instruction for the owners’ children

• Within these colonies, towns were much less common, with farms and plantations being widely separated

  • Thus, local government was carried out by a law-enforcing sheriff and other officials who served a country or large territorial unit

Chesapeake Colonies (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the colonies located around the namesake bay, which were Virginia and Maryland

• They are usually classified as part of the “Southern Colonies”