Chapter 2 Notes: The Planting of English America (1500–1733)

Global Context and New World Outposts at the Turn of the Seventeenth Century

By the dawn of the seventeenth century, approximately one hundred years following Christopher Columbus's landfall in 1492, European contact had transformed vast areas of the Americas. European crops and livestock introduced an ecological revolution across the landscape. From Tierra del Fuego in the far south to Hudson Bay in the north, native populations suffered severe disruption and mortality due to epidemic disease and armed conquest. Concurrently, hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were forced to work on sugar plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean. Imperial Spain exerted firm control over South America, Central America, Mexico, Florida, and the American Southwest.

North of Mexico, however, North America remained largely unexplored and unclaimed by European powers in 1600. Within a three-year span at the turn of the century, three European empires established initial footholds on the continent:

• Santa Fé (1610): Established by Spanish forces in the Southwest.
• Québec (1608): Founded by France along the St. Lawrence River.
• Jamestown, Virginia (1607): Planted by the English, marking the origin of what would become the United States.

Sir Walter Raleigh expressed the ambitious goal for English expansion in 1602: "…For I shall yet live to see it [Virginia] an Inglishe nation."

England's Early Imperial Stirrings and Religious Conflict

During the 1500s, England made minimal progress toward building an overseas empire, remaining far behind the sprawling Spanish Empire. Throughout the first half of the sixteenth century, England was aligned as Spain's ally and showed little interest in foreign colonization.

Domestic religious turmoil in mid-century further delayed English colonial efforts. In the 1530s, King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church, inaugurating the English Protestant Reformation. Decades of religious volatility followed as Catholic and Protestant monarchs vied for dominance. The succession of Tudor rulers shaped this era:

• Henry VII (reigned 1485–1509): Backed the initial transatlantic voyages of John Cabot in 1497 and 1498.
• Henry VIII (reigned 1509–1547): Initiated the English Protestant Reformation by severing ties with Rome.
• Edward VI (reigned 1547–1553): Promoted strong Protestant tendencies.
• "Bloody" Mary (reigned 1553–1558): Executed a Catholic reaction, attempting to restore papal authority.
• Elizabeth I (reigned 1558–1603): Finalized the break with the Roman Catholic Church, solidified Protestant dominance, empowered privateers like Sir Francis Drake, and oversaw the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

When Elizabeth I took the throne in 1558, Protestantism became the dominant state religion, sharpening national and religious rivalry with Catholic Spain.

Subjugation of Ireland as a Precedent for Colonization

Ireland, nominally under English sovereignty since the twelfth century, became a focal point of Anglo-Spanish conflict. Catholic Irish rebels sought military assistance from Catholic Spain to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I's Protestant rule. Spanish support remained limited, and during the 1570s and 1580s, English forces brutally suppressed the Irish uprisings.

The English crown confiscated Catholic Irish lands and repopulated them with Protestant landlords imported from Scotland and England. This policy of "plantation" created deep-seated religious and political conflicts in Ireland that endured for centuries. Furthermore, English soldiers fighting in Ireland developed a sneering contempt for the native Irish population as "savages," a cultural mindset and social attitude they subsequently transferred to Indigenous peoples in the Americas.

Elizabeth I, the English Sea Dogs, and Early Colonial Failures

Encouraged by Queen Elizabeth I, English privateers known as "sea dogs" took to the high seas to advance Protestantism and plunder Spanish commerce. Despite England and Spain being officially at peace, sea dogs routinely intercepted Spanish treasure fleets and raided settlements.

Sir Francis Drake was the most prominent sea dog. He sailed around the world looting Spanish shipping and returned in 1580 with a cargo heavy with Spanish treasure. The voyage yielded a profit of approximately $4,600\%$ for his financial backers, who secretly included Queen Elizabeth I. Ignoring formal Spanish protests, the Queen knighted Drake on the deck of his ship.

Early English attempts at settlement were plagued by failure:

• Newfoundland: The first English effort at colonization occurred on the bleak coast of Newfoundland under Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The venture collapsed when Gilbert died at sea in 1583.
• Roanoke Island (1585): Inspired by his half-brother Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh (ca. 1552–1618) organized an expedition to warmer climates, landing on North Carolina's Roanoke Island, off the coast of Virginia (named in honor of Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen"). Raleigh was a dashing courtier who wore the queen's colors of black and white along with a pearl in his left ear. After secretly marrying one of the Queen's maids of honor, Raleigh lost royal favor, though he pursued colonial ambitions to challenge Spanish dominance until he was ultimately beheaded for treason. After several false starts, the Roanoke settlement vanished without a trace into the wilderness.

Defeat of the Spanish Armada and the Flowering of English Nationalism

King Philip II of Spain, a staunch opponent of the Protestant Reformation, used the vast wealth generated by Peruvian and Mexican silver mines to construct an "Invincible Armada" for the invasion of England. In 1588, the Spanish fleet of 130 ships entered the English Channel.

English sea dogs fought back using ships that were faster, more maneuverable, and better manned. They inflicted heavy damage on the heavy Spanish vessels before a severe storm—dubbed the "Protestant wind"—scattered and destroyed the remaining Spanish fleet.

The defeat of the Armada had profound geopolitical and cultural consequences:

• Marked the decline of Spanish imperial dominance, leading to the independence of the Spanish Netherlands (Holland) and Spanish loss of control over parts of the Caribbean over subsequent decades.
• Secured English naval dominance across the North Atlantic Ocean.
• Instilled a surge of national pride, vibrant patriotism, and optimism across England.
• Fostered an era of literary growth, exemplified by William Shakespeare, who included poetic allusions to England's American ventures.
• Led to a formal peace treaty between England and Spain in 1604, clearing the way for systematic English colonization.

Old World Motives and Social Factors on the Eve of Empire

At the turn of the seventeenth century, England experienced major demographic, economic, and social changes:

• Population Growth: England's population grew rapidly from roughly 3 million in 1550 to nearly 4 million by 1600.
• Enclosure Movement: Landlords enclosed rural croplands for sheep pasture, forcing small farmers off their land or into precarious tenancy.
• Economic Depression: A downturn in the woolen trade during the late 1500s left thousands of displaced farmers mobile and unemployed. Unemployed laborers migrated along roadways, overcrowding cities such as London and Bristol as beggars and paupers.
• Puritan Migration: The woolen districts of eastern and western England, where Protestant Puritanism had firm roots, produced a large portion of early emigrants.
• Primogeniture: Legal codes dictated that only eldest sons inherited landed estates. Younger sons, including Humphrey Gilbert, Walter Raleigh, and Francis Drake, had to seek fortune through alternative avenues.
• Perception of "Surplus Population": Observers concluded that England suffered from excess population, generating a drive to export idle labor.
• Development of Joint-Stock Companies: Perfected in the early 1600s, the joint-stock company allowed multiple investors ("adventurers") to pool financial resources, providing the capital necessary to fund costly transatlantic ventures.

Contending perspectives illustrated the contrast between promotional expectations and colonial reality:

• Richard Hakluyt (1552?–1616): An English writer who never visited the Americas, Hakluyt urged his countrymen to abandon "sluggish security" and colonize Virginia. He promoted Virginia as possessing a sweet climate, rich silver mines outstripping Mexico, potential to enrich the English crown, and an opportunity to convert Indigenous populations to Christianity.
• George Percy (1580–1631): An original 1606–1607 settler who served as deputy governor (1609–1610) and authored A Discourse of the Plantation of Virginia (1612), Percy documented catastrophic reality: men dying from burning fevers, swellings, war, and severe famine, enduring unprecedented misery.

The Joint-Stock Company and the Charter of the Virginia Company

In 1606, two years after negotiating peace with Spain, King James I granted a charter to the Virginia Company of London, a joint-stock enterprise. The primary objectives were locating gold and finding a navigable passage through North America to the Indies.

The Virginia Company was designed as a short-term investment intended to be liquidated for profit after a few years, putting severe pressure on colonists to discover quick wealth under threat of abandonment.

The Charter of the Virginia Company contained a foundational legal provision guaranteeing overseas colonists the same rights of Englishmen that they would have enjoyed if residing in England. This guarantee was extended to later English colonies, reinforcing English legal identity abroad. However, 150 years later, the insistence on these traditional "rights of Englishmen" became a catalyst for colonial resistance against British authority and spurred the movement for American independence.

The Founding and Severe Trials of Jamestown

In late 1606, the Virginia Company sent three ships to North America. Upon arriving near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, the settlers were attacked by Native Americans. They proceeded up the bay and selected a heavily wooded site along the James River (named after King James I), founding Jamestown on May 24, 1607.

The initial settlement faced monumental challenges:

• Location: Although defensible against naval attack, the site was mosquito-infested, malarial, and unhealthful.
• Demographics: The initial group consisted of roughly 100 men, many of whom were self-styled "gentlemen" unaccustomed to physical labor, who searched for nonexistent gold rather than planting crops or securing food.
• Early Losses: 40 colonists died during the 1606–1607 voyage; a 1609 supply expedition suffered shipwreck off Bermuda.
• Leadership of Captain John Smith: In 1608, Captain John Smith took control of Jamestown and imposed strict order with the rule: "He who shall not work shall not eat."
• Powhatan and Pocahontas: In December 1607, Smith was captured and subjected to a mock execution ritual by chief Powhatan. Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas (ca. 1595–1617), intervened by placing her head between Smith's and the war clubs. This ritual was intended to demonstrate Powhatan's authority and express a desire for peaceful relations. Pocahontas served as a key diplomatic intermediary, helping supply food and maintain fragile peace. She later married Thomas Rolfe, was baptized as Rebecca, visited England in 1616 where she was received as a princess, and died before her planned return to Virginia.
• The "Starving Time" (1609–1610): Food shortages forced colonists to eat dogs, cats, rats, and mice, as well as exhume corpses. One settler was executed after killing, salting, and consuming his wife. Out of 400 settlers who reached Virginia by 1609, only 60 survived the winter of 1609–1610.
• Lord De La Warr's Arrival (1610): In spring 1610, surviving settlers abandoned Jamestown and boarded ships to return to England. At the mouth of the James River, they encountered a relief fleet commanded by a new governor, Lord De La Warr. He ordered them back to Jamestown, established a strict military regime, and initiated aggressive military actions against Native Americans.
• Harsh Disciplinary System: Colonial authorities enforced brutal punishments. One settler who publicly criticized the governor was disarmed, had his arms broken and his tongue bored through with an awl, was forced to pass through a guard of 40 men while being struck with musket butts, and was kicked out of the fort.
• Overall Mortality Rate: By 1625, out of nearly 8,000 settlers who had traveled to Virginia, only about 1,200 survived.

Early Maryland and Virginia Geography and Settlement Patterns

Settlement in the Chesapeake region during the seventeenth century unfolded across distinct geographical subregions defined by rivers and fall lines:

• Geographical Zones:

  • Tidewater: The coastal plain intersected by major rivers, allowing direct sea access.
  • Fall Line: The geographic boundary where navigation inland was blocked by waterfalls and rapids.
  • Piedmont: The rolling plateau region between the Fall Line and the mountains.
  • Shenandoah Valley: The inland valley west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

• Key Settlements and Founding Dates:

  • Jamestown (1607): Founded along the James River; served as the capital of Virginia until 1699.
  • Henrico (1611): Early Virginia settlement established upstream on the James River.
  • Williamsburg (1633): Established inland; eventually replaced Jamestown as Virginia's capital in 1699.
  • St. Mary's (1634): Founded along the Potomac River near Chesapeake Bay; served as the capital of Maryland until 1694.
  • Annapolis (1648): Maryland settlement that later became the colonial capital in 1694.
  • Fort Henry / Petersburg (1645): Strategic outpost built near the Fall Line on the Appomattox/James River drainage.
  • Norfolk (1682): Port town established near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
  • Yorktown (1691): Port founded on the York River.
  • Hampton (1691): Coastal settlement at the mouth of the James River.

• Major Waterways and Bodies of Water:

  • James River
  • Rappahannock River
  • Susquehanna River
  • Delaware River
  • Delaware Bay
  • Chesapeake Bay
  • Atlantic Ocean