The 13 Colonies and the British Empire: Comprehensive Notes

The 13 Colonies and the British Empire, 1607-1754

Colonial Development: Massachusetts vs. Virginia

• Compare and contrast the colonial development of Massachusetts and Virginia.

England's Context

• Defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
• Population increases.
• Joint-stock companies developed.
• Religious conflicts divide the nation.

English Colonies

• Charters
  • Corporate Colony
    • Granted a charter to stockholders
    • Example: Jamestown
  • Proprietary Colony
    • Granted a charter to an individual or group
    • Example: Maryland, Pennsylvania
  • Royal Colony
    • Under direct control of the monarch
    • Example: New Hampshire
    • Eventually, 8 of the 13 colonies became royal colonies, whether by origin or conversion.

Jamestown

• Virginia Company of London:
  • Established in 1607 on the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.
• John Smith:
  • "He that will not work shall not eat."
• "Starving Time" (1609-1610).
• Powhatan.
• John Rolfe:
  • Brought tobacco seeds to plantations, leading to its cultivation.
• Became Virginia by 1624 and now a royal colony.

John Rolfe and Tobacco

• Tobacco was the most important reason for the survival of Virginia.
• The Wedding of Pocahontas and John Rolfe occurred on April 1, 1614.

Thirteen Colonies

• New England Colonies.
• Middle Colonies
• Chesapeake Colonies.
• Southern Colonies
• Proclamation line of 1763

Chesapeake Colonies (VA & MD)

• Maryland (1634)
  • Act of Toleration (1649).
• Virginia (1607-Jamestown)
• Labor shortages, especially in Virginia.
  • Indentured Servants.
  • Slavery.
• North Carolina is included in this Benchmark—same characteristics as Maryland & Virginia.

Virginia

• House of Burgesses in 1619
  • First legislative assembly in the colonies.
• Becomes a royal colony in 1624.
• Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
  • Inequities between large landowners and western farmers.
  • Nathaniel Bacon vs. William Berkeley.
  • Significant event in the future.
  • Governor William Berkeley's response to Nathaniel Bacon’s threat for demands: "Here shoot me before God, fair mark shoot.”

Church of England

1. King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church in 1534. Leader of the Church of England (Anglican Church).
2. Puritans: sought to reform the church.
3. Separatists (later, Pilgrims) sought to leave the Anglican Church permanently.
4. King James I was threatened by the Separatist challenge and persecuted them.

Pilgrims

• Separatists to the Netherlands then head for Virginia.
• Mayflower takes Separatists and others to Jamestown, but weather complicates matters.
• Settlers decide to remain and establish Plymouth (1620).

New England

• Massachusetts Bay Colony and Puritans (1630)
  • John Winthrop
  • “City upon a hill.”
• Rhode Island
  • Providence (1636)
    • Roger Williams
  • Portsmouth (1638)
    • Anne Hutchinson
• Connecticut
  • Hartford (1637)
    • Thomas Hooker
  • New Haven (1638)
• New Hampshire (1679)

New England and Religion

• Puritanical lifestyle in Massachusetts
• Religious toleration and dissent Rhode Island
  • Roger Williams and “wall of separation.”
  • Anne Hutchinson and Antinomianism.
• The Trial of Anne Hutchinson
  • “You have stepped out of your place, you have rather been a husband than a wife, and a preacher than a hearer. You have been a naughty woman.”
• In Puritan Massachusetts, religious nonconformists suffered this fate—and much worse.

New England Problems

• Relations with Natives
  • New England Confederation (1643-1684)
    • Defense alliance among Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Haven
    • Served as protection against Dutch, French, and Native Americans
  • King Philip’s (Metacom) War (1675-1676)
    • New England Confederation defeats Wampanoag alliance

Middle Colonies

• Development
  • New York
    • New Amsterdam transferred to Duke of York in 1664
  • New Jersey (1702)
  • Pennsylvania settled by Quakers
  • Delaware (1702).

Pennsylvania

• William Penn (1681)
• Religious Society of Friends aka Quakers
• Holy Experiment
  • Religious refuge
  • Liberal political ideals
  • Economic success
  • Frame of Government and Charter of Liberties
• Penn established good relations with Indians.

Southern Colonies (VA & MD are Chesapeake)

• Carolinas (1663)
  • North Carolina (1729)
    • (benchmark groups it with Chesapeake)
    • Tobacco
  • South Carolina (1729)
    • Rice and indigo
• Georgia (1732)
  • Adopts plantation style of South Carolina

Colonial Economics

• Mercantilism
  • Colonies for the “Mother Country.”
• Acts of Navigation
  • Trade on English ships.
  • Imports pass English ports.
  • Exports to England ONLY.
  • Not really enforced.
• Triangular Trade
  • Middle Passage

Colonial Slavery

• Indentured servitude
• Why Slaves?
  • Increased wages in England.
  • Labor shortages lead to importing slaves.
  • Cheap labor.
  • Dependable work force
• Slave Rebellions and Reactions
  • Stono Rebellion (1739): most important slave revolt
  • Slave laws/codes

Slave Demographics

• New York : $19.062$
• New Hampshire: $654$
• Massachusetts: $4.754$
• Rhode Island: $3.761$
• Connecticut: $5.698$
• Pennsylvania: $5.561$
• New Jersey: $8.220$
• Delaware: $1.836$
• Virginia: $187.600$
• Maryland: $63.818$
• Georgia: $15.000$
• North Carolina: $69.600$
• South Carolina: $75.178$

Colony Purposes, Dates, Founders, and Major Exports

• VIRGINIA
  • Commercial
  • 1607
  • Virginia Company, John Smith
  • Tobacco
• PLYMOUTH/ MASSACHUSETTS
  • Religious refuge/ commercial
  • 1620/ 1628
  • William Bradford/ Massachusetts Bay Company, John Winthrop
  • Grain, timber
• NEW YORK
  • Commercial
  • 1613 (1664)
  • Peter Stuveysant (Duke of York)
  • Furs, grain
• NEW HAMPSHIRE
  • Commercial
  • 1623
  • John Mason
  • Timber, naval stores
• RHODE ISLAND
  • Religious refuge
  • 1636
  • Roger Williams
  • Grain
• CONNECTICUT
  • Expansion
  • 1635
  • Thomas Hooker
  • Grain
• PENNSYLVANIA
  • Religious refuge
  • 1681
  • William Penn - Quakers
  • Grain
• DELAWARE
  • Commercial
  • 1638 (1681)
  • Peter Minuit/ William Penn
  • Grain
• MARYLAND
  • Religious refuge
  • 1634
  • Lord Baltimore - Catholics
  • Tobacco
• NORTH CAROLINA
  • Commercial
  • 1663
  • Anthony Cooper
  • Tobacco, timber, naval stores
• SOUTH CAROLINA
  • Commercial
  • 1663
  • Anthony Cooper
  • Rice, indigo, naval stores
• GEORGIA
  • Buffer, experiment
  • 1733
  • James Oglethorpe
  • Rice, timber, naval stores
  • () - Becomes an English colony