DE US History study guide

This guide covers key events, figures, and concepts from early exploration to contemporary issues in American history.

  • Early Settlement: The Chesapeake


  • Settled later compared to Canada & South America

  • British have a rough start

  • British colonies funded by joint-stock companies

  • Jamestown is an economic venture

  • Most initial settlers are young disinherited aristocratic men (primogeniture) 

  • Jamestown almost fails

Economics in the Chesapeake

  • Original settlers are bad farmers

  • John Rolfe introduces tobacco

  • Beginnings of a cash crop on N. Am. continent 

    • Requires plantations & labor force

    • Labor shortage = use of indentured servants

    • What replaces this?

Development of Slavery

  • Why did colonies turn towards slavery in British N. America?

  • Only 6% of enslaved persons were taken to British N. America

  • Plantation system develops around cash crops

  • Indentured servitude becomes a harder sell

  • First Africans arrived after forced migration in 1619

Development of Slavery

  • Slavery always existed, but looked different in America

  • Plantations were dangerous, high death rates, slaves had no rights of Englishmen

  • Children inherited slave status from mother

  • As plantation agriculture grew, demand for labor grew

  • Grew slowly in British N. America, but by late 1600s laws codify permanent lower status of slaves

  • Laws begin to mention skin color in late 1600s

Government in Virginia

  • Land meant wealth & power. No land, no power

  • House of Burgesses est. 1619

  • First representative gov in new world, becomes a model for others. 

  • Raises taxes & creates laws

  • English governor appointed by Crown can 

veto. 

  • Conflict in Virginia


  • Native Americans

    • English were not like Spanish, not conquerors not as much slavery

    • Originally got a lot of land through treaty or purchase

    • 17th century conflict ramps up

  • Bacon’s Rebellion 

    • Shows power or lack thereof of former indentured servants

    • Illustrates issues with natives

    • Whites & Blacks were together, beginning of color line & white supremacy

    • The Beginnings of New England

    • Puritans were calvinists reacting to changes from the Reformation

    • Puritans want to “purify” Anglican church of

    • Catholicism

    • Strict in beliefs, often intolerant, focused on a vengeful god

    • See success or failure as a sign of salvation (they will be very hardworking, protestant work ethic)

    • Early New England

    • Plymouth colony, 1620

    • Major settlement at Mass. Bay in 1628

    • John Winthrop, “City on a Hill” Sermon

      • Sees Puritan settlements as a worldly example of God’s blessings

      • Good example of how the Puritans view themselves and the world

    • Much more diverse than original Chesapeake settlers, much more initial success 

    • New England Society

    • Theocracy, religion dictates politics and society

    • Covenant Communities

    • Mayflower Compact

    • Direct democracy & town hall meetings

    • Settlers live close togetherEarly New England

    • Plymouth colony, 1620

    • Major settlement at Mass. Bay in 1628

    • John Winthrop, “City on a Hill” Sermon

      • Sees Puritan settlements as a worldly example of God’s blessings

      • Good example of how the Puritans view themselves and the world

    • Much more diverse than original Chesapeake settlers, much more initial success 

    • New England Society

    • Theocracy, religion dictates politics and society

    • Covenant Communities

    • Mayflower Compact

    • Direct democracy & town hall meetings

    • Settlers live close together

    • Economics

    • Geography won’t support cash crops

    • More fishing, whaling, cloth & textiles, lumber

    • No plantations means indentured servants and slaves less common (still existed though)

    • Northern colonies make money off of slavery through the Triangle trade (ex: production of molasses from sugar in Boston, production of rum in Rhode Island). 

    • Merchant elite forms

    • More even social distribution than Chesapeake but still not great

    • Internal Conflict in New England

    • Roger Williams

    • Rejects strict puritanism

    • Believes people can follow whatever their heart tells them

    • Rejects puritain elites

    • Banished! Founds Rhode Island = religious freedom

    • Anne Hutchinson

    • Held her own religious meetings

    • Criticized idea that morality was a sign of salvation

    • Said God spoke to her (but she’s  woman!)

    • Banished! 

    • Both Hutchinson & Williams are evidence of the intolerance within the Puritan community

    • Relations with Natives

    • Poor with periods of intense violence

    • Believed uncultivated land could be taken

    • Exploited tensions within NE tribes

    • Pequot War 1637 = destruction of Pequot people

    • King Philip's War 1675 = Offensive from Natives, ultimately ends Native resistance in NE

    • Middle Colonies

    • Pennsylvania founded by William Penn, Quakers

    • Religiously tolerant, believed all people had “god’s inner light.”

    • Positive relationship with Natives

    • Didn’t believe in slavery (way ahead of their time

    • Middle Colonies

    • New York founded by the Dutch

    • New Jersey has Swedes

    • Pennsylvania has large German population

    • Very diverse area

    • Mix of agriculture (breadbasket colonies) and commercial businesses