1.3 English Colonies in the "New World"

English Colonies in the “New World”

england's first colonies

  • 1607: jamestown → john smith, john rolfes, pocahontas

  • settlers (men) were just looking for gold - didn't want to farm or do work

  • second + third sons, etc.

  • winter - starving time kills almost half of group (unprepared - no homes, no crops, always waiting for more ships → new supplies, more people)

  • don't eat your dead wife challenge

  • most miserable piece of land on which to start a colony - marshy, wet, humid, disease-ridden

  • relationship with powhatan Indigenous peoples, eg. pocahontas

  • 1620: plymouth → mayflower

  • "separatists"

  • rejected english church, sought separation - went to holland but didn't want kids growing up dutch etc. → came to america (pilgrims)

  • william bradford

  • leader of group

  • found deserted Indigenous village

  • mayflower compact

  • "will of the majority"

  • brutal winter 1/2 of population died

  • Squanto taught them to grow crops, fish, etc. - thanksgiving

great migration - new england colonies

  • puritan: sought to purify anglican church (church of england)

  • viewed as problem by england

  • initially 10,000 - increased to 30,000

  • charters

  • give land

  • guaranteed rights

bible commonwealth

  • "city on the hill" → perfect colony at bible commonwealth

  • model colony

  • prove that you are one of the elect to be saved + sent to heaven, predestination (!!!)

  • very strict lifestyles (puritan)

  • had schools → bible commonwealth → kids must learn to read bible + write

  • modern-day massachusetts

rhode island

  • roger williams - different religious beliefs, believed in separation of church and state
  • religious freedom except for Jews and Catholics
  • anne hutchinson - flees massachusetts (trouble with church leaders)

new england confederation: agreed to stick together if attacked by Indigenous peoples or Dutch settlers

dominion in new england: obeying navigation acts

  • navigation acts intended to ensure that colonies provide resources to mother england

  • put a stop to trade with dutch + spanish

  • one large colony

  • king appoints edmund andros to govern this new colony

  • mass in particular hates it

  • everyone hates him though

  • in power until glorious revolution when william and mary become king and queen of england

  • edmund tries to dress up as a woman and dip, caught

  • scots irish cause problems for pennsylvania (mayhem)

  • fight Indigenous peoples

  • william penn caught between a rock and a hard place

southern colonies

virginia

  • john rolfe

  • economy - tobacco production; first cash crop in colonies

  • 1619

  • first africans brought to virginia (indentured servants)

  • women brought to virginia

  • house of burgesses: first representative assembly

  • headright system: indentured servants (serve 7 years)

  • homeowners got 50 acres, but did not provide to indentured servants after servitude is up (freedom dues)

maryland

  • george calvert (lord baltimore): founder/leader
  • established for catholics
  • toleration act: religious freedom for all christians

the carolinas

  • established after glorious revolution → "glorious colonies" \n

  • given to 8 nobles \n

  • provide food (rice) and Indigenous slaves to british planations in barbados \n

  • slave codes

  • **north \n **

  • poor farmers - can't afford land

  • squatters

  • came from sc and virginia

  • **south \n **

  • most aristocratic culture in the colonies

  • begins normalization of slavery

georgia

  • james oglethorpe

  • brought debtors (previously in jail in england for being in debt)

  • buffer between sc and [spanish] florida

  • missionaries

delaware

  • established by Swedes
  • described by william penn (founder/namesake of pennsylvania) as "low country"

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