First English Colonies

The First English Colonies

I. The Lost Colony of Roanoke
A. In 1587 John White set up a colony of 117 people on Roanoke Island (North Carolina).
- Established in 1587, almost 100 years after the Spanish.
- Founded by John White, who brought 117 people to settle on Roanoke Island (off the coast of North Carolina).
- Roanoke Island is protected by the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
B. Virginia Dare:
- John White's granddaughter.
- Daughter of White's daughter and son-in-law, who accompanied him to the colony.
- Virginia Dare was the first child of English-speaking parents born in North America.
C. The Great Mystery: The Lost Colony of Roanoke
- John White left the colony after a month, promising to return in a year.
- He returned three years later to find the colony vanished.
- The delay was due to the war between England and Spain (Spanish Armada) in 1588, which required all English ships for defense.
- Clues:
- The word "Croatoan" carved on one tree and "Croat" on another.
- No signs of war.
- No evidence in Spanish records of an attack.
- Theories:
- Merged with Native American tribe: Some tribes in the Carolinas had a fairer complexion, suggesting intermarriage.
- Attempted return to England: Colonists built their own ship, which may have sunk in a storm.
- Alien abduction: Mentioned humorously but not given much credence.
- Significance: Roanoke was the first English attempt to establish a colony, but it failed.
II. Jamestown, Virginia
A. Virginia Company/joint-stock company:
- Financed by the Virginia Company, a joint-stock company.
- Joint-stock companies raised investment money for trading ventures by selling stock certificates to investors.
- These companies spread the risk, unlike Roanoke, where one person invested all the capital.
- The king/queen granted land charters to these companies, receiving taxes in return without investing government money.
- Virginia Company's Grant:
- The land charter granted to the Virginia Company by the Queen of England was vast.
- The English did not know the size of North America at the time.
B. In 1607, the first permanent English colony in the New World is established at Virginia (Jamestown).
- Origin of the Name Virginia:
- Named after Queen Elizabeth I, known as the "Virgin Queen" (though this was considered ironic).
- Founding of Jamestown:
- In 1607, 104 colonists arrived and established Jamestown, the first permanent English colony.
- Their survival was almost compromised due to their own mistakes.
C. Captain John Smith:
- For the first nine months, the colony was run like a business; colonists were employees focused on finding gold, silver, and a passage to Asia.
- Very few colonists were farmers (only one out of 104).
- Colonists neglected building homes and planting crops, focusing solely on gold.
- The Native Americans did not provide them with food, and supply ships did not arrive.
- By the end of the first winter (1607-1608), only 38 of the original 104 colonists survived.
- Captain John Smith, a soldier of fortune, took over and imposed strict rules to help the colony survive.
- His rule: "You don't work, you don't eat."
- Convinced Native Americans to provide food and teach them what crops to plant.
- The Pocahontas Story:
- Legend says Smith was about to be executed by Native Americans when Pocahontas saved his life.
- Historians doubt the accuracy of Smith's version, as it changed over time.
- Smith kept the colony going until 1609, when he was injured and had to return to Europe.
- The colony reverted to its foolish ways.
- The winter of 1609-1610 was another "starving time"; some colonists resorted to cannibalism.
- Draconian laws were enacted, with the death penalty for murder, rape, adultery, slander, and stealing food.
- One man who stole three pints of oatmeal had a large needle thrust through his tongue, then was chained to a tree until he starved to death.
D. Four reasons the colony survives:
1. Tobacco:
- Tobacco became the product that made money for investors.
- Native Americans had tobacco first.
- In 1611, John Rolfe created a smoother tasting hybrid tobacco.
- This tobacco became popular in Europe.
- King James wrote a pamphlet against tobacco called "the vile weed."
- Tobacco became the "gold" of Virginia, replacing the expected precious metals.
- John Rolfe and Pocahontas
- 1611: Rolfe created his hybrid tobacco.
- 1614: Rolfe married Pocahontas.
- 1616: Rolfe and Pocahontas went to England, where she was treated like a freak show.
- She took the name Lady Rebecca.
- She died of smallpox in London in 1617 at age 22.
- Pocahontas had children with Rolfe, and one of the First Ladies, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, was descended from her.
2. “Headright” policy:
- The company realized that giving people land would make them more invested in the colony.
- Started in 1618.
- If you bought a share in the company or paid your way to Virginia, you received 50 acres of land.
- An additional 50 acres were given for each extra person whose way to the colony you paid for.
- Most of these people were indentured servants.
- Indentured servants had a term of service (usually seven years) after which they were free.
- People agreed to this for economic opportunities and the chance to own land.
3. Representative government:
- The Virginia Company gave people a say in running the colony.
- On July 30, 1619, the general assembly of the colony met for the first time.
- This was the first democratically elected legislature in North America.
- The governor of the colony could veto any law, and there was no override veto allowed.
4. Women:
- For the first twelve years, Virginia was an all male colony.
- In 1619, 90 young maidens arrived on a ship.
- These women agreed to marry someone they had not ever met.
- The price to get a wife was providing the Virginia company an extra 125 pounds of tobacco.
E. Slavery:
- In 1619, a Dutch ship arrived bringing the first 20 Africans to Virginia.
- Many of these Africans became the first slaves in the future United States.
- There is some debate about how many of the 20 Africans that came on the Dutch ship were actually made slaves. There are indications that a few were indentured servants.
- This event planted the seed that would lead to the American Civil War 250 years later.
III. Plymouth, Massachusetts
A. The Pilgrims:
- The Pilgrims give us Thanksgiving.
- Who Were the Pilgrims?
- They were a group of English Protestants who felt that the Church of England (Anglican Church) was corrupt because it was acting too much like the Catholic Church.
- They were separatists who wanted to separate from the Anglican Church and have their own church.
- They often faced jail or discrimination.
- In 1607, many pilgrims moved to Holland, the most religiously tolerant nation in Europe.
- They became unhappy in Holland because their children were starting to speak Dutch and adopt Dutch culture.
- They wanted their kids to grow up English, not Dutch.
- They got a grant of land from the Virginia Company in return for a promise to, give the company things like fish and furs and lumber.
- 35 pilgrims went back to Plymouth, England, and were joined by 67 others.
- They sailed to the New World on the Mayflower.
- They were blown off course and landed in Massachusetts, naming it Plymouth Rock.
- This landing spot was outside their grant, but the Virginia Company did not protest.
B. In 1620, the Pilgrims arrive on the Mayflower.
- Survival in the New World:
- The pilgrims were clueless about surviving in the wilderness.
- They faced starvation.
- Three pilgrims contacted local Native Americans for help.
- Squanto, a Native American who spoke English, became their mediator.
- Squanto had been captured by an English sea captain, sold into slavery in Spain, escaped with the help of a Spanish priest, and lived in England before returning to the New World.
- Squanto's tribe had been wiped out, so he joined the Wampanoag Indians.
C. The Wampanoag and Thanksgiving:
- The Wampanoags taught the pilgrims how to plant corn and survive.
- In 1621, the Wampanoags and pilgrims celebrated the harvest together, which became the basis for Thanksgiving.
- George Washington gave a thanksgiving proclamation in 1789.
- Abraham Lincoln made it a federal holiday.
IV. The Massachusetts Bay Colony/Rhode Island
A. The Puritans:
- Arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Area ten years after the pilgrims.
- Differences between Puritans and Pilgrims:
- Puritans believed the Anglican Church could be saved and purified of Catholic practices.
- They were also persecuted by the English government and wanted religious freedom.
- King Charles I granted them a charter in Massachusetts Bay in 1630; 700 Puritans arrived.
- 12,000 Puritans immigrated to the New World during the 1630s.
- The Puritan colony grew much faster than the French colony of New France.
- The size and population difference would affect future conflicts.
B. Governor John Winthrop:
- John Winthrop was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
C. The “Model” Society:
- He wrote a famous pamphlet called "A Model of Christian Charity."
- Famous quote: "…we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us."
- The phrase "city upon a hill" signifies that their colony would be a beacon for others.
- This is considered the beginning of American exceptionalism; i.e. The rhetoric of American exceptionalism is in our history from the Puritans all the way up to modern times.
D. Theocracy:
- The Puritans created a theocracy, where religious leaders are also government leaders, and the government enforces religious laws.
- Example: Iran is a theocracy ruled by Islamic Ayatollahs that enforces Sharia law.
- In the Puritan colony, the government passed religious laws.
- Punishments included being locked in the stocks for swearing in public or working on a Sunday.
- Premarital sex was punished by public whipping.
- The Puritans became what they had hated in England, that same type of government where the government was interfering in religious issues and using their power to enforce their religious views.
E. Roger Williams and Rhode Island:
- Roger Williams was a Puritan minister who felt that the colony's leaders were going too far.
- He protested against the government being so involved in forcing religion upon people.
- In 1652, Roger Williams protesting in a written statement said that: it be against the testimony of Christ Jesus for the civil state to impose upon the souls of the people a religion, a worship, a ministry, a tithe, etcetera. The civil sword cannot rightfully act either in restraining the souls of people from worship or constraining them to worship.
- Most historians credit Roger Williams with being the first person to articulate the concept of separation of church and state in America.
- He was banished from Massachusetts and established Rhode Island, which became known for its religious toleration.
F. English Civil War:
- From 1642 to 1648, between the royalists (supporters of King Charles I) and the parliamentary forces (led by Puritans).
- The Puritans won, and King Charles I was beheaded in 1649.
- The Puritans ruled England until 1660.
- In 1660, the monarchy was restored, and Charles II became king.