Detailed Lecture Notes on Early Colonial History

Early Colonial Failures and Occupational Mismatches

  • Initial Voyages to Jamestown ($1606$–$1607$):

    • The initial expedition to Jamestown and the subsequent reinforcement voyage provided detailed records of occupations, though personal names were largely unrecorded.
    • Absence of Women: Not a single woman accompanied the colony on the initial trips, creating an immediate demographic problem for long-term self-sustainability.
    • Occupational Disconnect: The occupational makeup was ill-suited for establishing a wilderness colony:
      • Tailors: 77 clothing makers were sent across the first two voyages.
      • Goldsmiths and Jewelers: Sent specifically to process gold and precious gems under the false expectation that Virginia possessed abundant wealth similar to Spanish territories.
      • Craftsmen and Laborers: Included only 11 brickmaker and 44 carpenters to construct the settlement infrastructure.
      • Morale and Luxury Roles: Included 11 drummer (for military pace/morale), 11 wig maker, and 11 perfumer.
      • Barbers and Clergy: Included barbers and 11 priest.
      • Absence of Farmers: Zero farmers were included on the initial manifest, leaving the colony without agricultural expertise to cultivate crops like barley or corn.

  • Lack of Systematic Planning:

    • Early settlement attempts lacked central planning or structured skill selection (in contrast to a theoretical modern mission, such as sending a 55 -person team to Mars consisting of a scientist, engineer, botanist, doctor, and pilot).
    • Settlement policy was driven by trial-and-error, following a pattern of failed attempts such as Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s colony and the Roanoke settlement.

Corporate Colonialism and Mercantilism

  • Transition to Joint-Stock Companies:

    • Early English ventures funded by individual wealthy nobles (e.g., Gilbert, Walter Raleigh) were replaced under King James I by joint-stock companies.
    • Stock Ownership Definition: A stock represents equity ownership in a corporation. Purchasing one share makes the investor a fractional owner entitled to company earnings and net worth.
    • Funding Mechanism:
      • Companies raised capital by selling stock shares (e.g., 55 dollars per share) to English investors.
      • Capital was used to purchase ships, hire soldiers, purchase supplies, and pay colonists.
      • Extracted wealth (such as gold or cash crops) was transported back to England as corporate property, driving up stock value and allowing investors to sell shares at a profit (e.g., 1010 dollars per share).
    • Prominent Joint-Stock Entities:
      • Virginia Company of London
      • Virginia Company of Plymouth
      • Hudson's Bay Company (Northern Canada)
      • British East India Company
      • Dutch East India Company and Dutch West India Company

  • Mercantilism:

    • Etymology: Derived from the root word merchant.
    • Core Economic Theory: Colonies exist solely to serve and enrich the home country (mother country) by supplying raw materials (gold, rice, tobacco, timber, pelts) and absorbing manufactured goods.
    • Implementation: Wealth extraction from colonial periphery to imperial center to increase national treasury holdings.

The Jamestown Settlement ($1607$)

  • Establishment and Geography:

    • Founded in 16071607 by the Virginia Company of London following an initial landfall at Virginia Beach, Virginia.
    • Settlers sailed up the James River to construct James Fort and Jamestown, named in honor of King James I.
    • Location Selection: Built on a peninsula on the edge of a swamp.
      • Defensive Advantage: Protected against direct military invasions from inland native groups across the marsh.
      • Disadvantages: Structural instability (sinking ground), presence of native predators, and stagnant water breeding disease-bearing mosquitoes.

  • Mortality and Extreme Starvation:

    • Out of the initial 110110 settlers, only 4646 survived the first 6 months6\text{ months} due to severe dysentery, malaria, and complete lack of agricultural yield.
    • Survivors resorted to extreme cannibalism. Forensic archaeological excavations confirmed human tooth marks on butchered human remains.

  • John Smith and Chief Powhatan:

    • John Smith: Hired soldier with a criminal background. Accused of mutiny on the voyage from England and sentenced to execution by hanging, but spared when colonial leaders dispatched him into the wilderness to make contact with local indigenous populations.
    • Pocahontas: Daughter of Chief Powhatan, leader of the Powhatan Confederacy. She was approximately 10 years10\text{ years} old when she met the approximately 40-year-old40\text{-year-old} Smith; no romantic relationship existed between them.
    • The Rescue Event: Smith misinterpreted an indigenous adoption ritual as an intended execution. Being pinned to the ground and saved by Pocahontas jumping over him was an formal ceremony establishing a bond of tribal adoption and symbolic rebirth.
    • Pocahontas's Later Life: Married an Englishman (John Rolfe) as her second husband, converted, traveled to England, and died there from European infectious diseases.

  • The Headright System and Growth:

    • To overcome bad publicity and recruit new settlers, the Virginia Company implemented the Headright System.
    • Land Incentive: Any man who paid his own passage to Virginia was granted 50 acres50\text{ acres} of land (equivalent in area to roughly 5050 basketball courts).
    • Socio-Political Incentive: In England, land was entirely owned by the Crown and rented out via nobility, barring commoners from land ownership and voting. In Virginia, land ownership granted direct voting rights.
    • Demographic Shift:
      • 16071607 Population: 4646 survivors.
      • 16201620 Population: 4,0004,000 colonists.
    • Virginia House of Burgesses ($1620$): Formed as the first representative legislative assembly in English North America. Eligible voters were limited to landowning males. (Continues today as the Virginia State Legislature).

Failed Voyages and the Pilgrims at Plymouth ($1620$)

  • Popham Colony ($1607$):

    • Established in Maine by the Virginia Company of Plymouth.
    • Failed completely; notable primarily as the location where settlers constructed the first British ship built from scratch in North America, which they used to abandon the site and sail back to England.
    • The Virginia Company of Plymouth dissolved in 16201620.

  • The Separatists (Pilgrims):

    • Definition: Pilgrim refers generally to one undertaking a religious journey; this specific group referred to themselves as Separatists.
    • Theological Identity: Orthodox Calvinists adhering to the doctrine of predestination.
    • Goal: Complete separation from the state-controlled Church of England (Anglican Church).
    • Migration Route:
      • Fled England for Holland (The Netherlands) and resided there for 10 years10\text{ years}.
      • Expelled by Dutch authorities due to non-assimilation (refusal to adopt the Dutch language, diet, or religious practices).
      • Returned to England, chartered the Plymouth Company, and purchased passage to Virginia.

  • The Mayflower Voyage ($1620$):

    • Carried approximately 100100 passengers, of whom only 3535 were Separatists.
    • Supply Crisis: Ship supplies of beer were exhausted. Water stored in wooden barrels for months became contaminated with bacteria and organisms, causing severe illness. Beer was safe due to the boiling required during fermentation.
    • Mutiny and Landfall: Passengers mutinied when the captain ordered them to drink contaminated water near land. They landed off the coast of modern-day Massachusetts.
    • Native Intermediaries:
      • Samoset: An indigenous leader who approached the settlers speaking basic English, acquired from prior contact with coastal English traders, and requested beer.
      • Tisquantum (Squanto): An indigenous man who had been captured years earlier, lived in England, crossed the Atlantic Ocean 44 times, and spoke fluent English.
    • Settlement Site: Settlers occupied an abandoned Patuxet indigenous village whose population had been wiped out by European epidemics.
    • Agriculture and Harvest: Tisquantum and Samoset taught the settlers the native