2.3 The Regions of British Colonies

corporate colonies, joint-stock company, Jamestown, royal colonies, Virginia, proprietary colonies, Virginia company, Captain John Smith, John Rolfe, Pocahontas, Plymouth colony, Massachusetts Bay colony, separatists, pilgrims, Mayflower, Puritans, John Winthrop, Great Migration, Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, Act of Toleration, Rhode Island, Roger Williams, Providence, Anne Hutchinson, antinomianism, Connecticut, Thomas Hooker, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, John Davenport, New Hampshire, half way covenant, the Carolinas, rice growing plantations, tobacco farms, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, William Penn, Quaker, Frame of Government, Charter of Liberties, Delaware, Georgia, James Ogelthorpe, House of Burgesses, Mayflower Compact

charter

granted to a colony by a monarch, gave the colony the authority to operate

types of charters/colonies

• corporate colonies - operated by joint-stock companies (ex. Jamestown)

• royal colonies - under direct authority and rule of the king’s government (ex. Virginia)

• proprietary colonies - under authority of individuals granted charters of ownership by the king (ex. Maryland, Pennsylvania)

Jamestown

• Virginia Company - joint-stock company chartered by King James I that founded Jamestown

• early problems with dysentery and malaria, settlers being unaccustomed to physical labor, and food shortages

• Captain John Smith - led Jamestown to survive its first 5 years

• John Rolfe and Pocahontas - helped Jamestown develop the tobacco crop

• headright - Virginia provided 50 acres of land to anyone who paid for passage to the colony, used to recruit more white settlers

• Jamestown → Virginia - James I revokes the Virginia Company’s charter and operates under direct control of teh crown, becoming a royal colony

Plymouth colony and Massachusetts Bay colony (region known as New England)

• settled by English Protestants

• Plymouth Colony

  • separatists - radical dissenters who wanted to organize a completely separate church independent from royal control

  • pilgrims - what separatists became known as as a result of their travels in search of religious freedom

  • Mayflower - the ship pilgrims traveled on to establish a new colony at Plymouth

• Massachusetts Bay colony

  • Puritans - more moderate dissenters who believed that the church of England could be purified

  • John Winthrop - led thousands of Puritans to found Boston

  • Great Migration - mass migration of Puritans to the Massachusetts Bay colony due to religious and political conflicts in England

Maryland

• Cecil Calvert - second Lord Baltimore, aimed to provide a safe haven for fellow Catholics in the proprietary colony

• Act of Toleration

  • first colonial statute granting religious freedom to all Christians

  • called for death of anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus

  • adopted by Maryland assembly after Cecil Calvert’s persuasion

  • repealed after the Protestant Revolt, Catholics lost the right to vote

Rhode Island

• Roger Williams - banished by Puritans for believing that the individual’s conscience was beyond control of any authority, fled and founded Providence, allowing Catholics, Quakers, and Jews to worship freely

• Anne Hutchinson - banished by Puritans for her belief in antinomianism, founded Portsmouth

  • antinomianism - the idea that since individuals receive salvation through faith alone, they were not required to follow traditional moral laws

Connecticut

• Reverend Thomas Hooker - led Boston puritans to found Hartford

  • Fundamental Orders of Connecticut - established representative government in Connecticut, first written constitution in American history

• John Davenport - founded New Haven

New Hampshire

royal colony, subjected to the authority of an appointed governor

halfway covenant

offered by clergy to maintain Puritans’ influence and membership, allowing partial membership even if people did not feel a conversion

the Carolinas

• South Carolina - large rice growing plantations

• North Carolina - few good harbors, poor transportation, tobacco farms

New York

closing the gap between New England and Chesapeake colonies (Virginia and Maryland)

New Jersey

split from part of New York

Pennsylvania

• “Holy Experiment”

• William Penn - Quaker, owned Pennsylvania

• Quakers - religious radicals who believed that religious authority was found within people and not any outside source

  • supported equality among all men and women, rejected violence, resisted military service

• Frame of Government - guaranteed representative assembly elected by landowners

• Charter of Liberties - written constitution guaranteeing freedom of worship for all and unrestricted immigration

Delaware

lower three counties of Pennsylvania

Georgia

• reasons for Britain to start a southern colony

  • defensive buffer to protect South Carolina rice-growing plantations from Spanish Florida

  • a place to send debtors

• James Ogelthorpe - led a group of philanthropists to found Savannah, colony did not prosper because of constant threat of Spanish attack

• became a royal colony

early political institutions

• House of Burgesses - Virginia’s representative assembly (first in America), dominated by elite planters

• Mayflower Compact - pilgrims aboard the Mayflower signed a document pledging to make decisions by will of the majority