Learning Objective: Students will understand the characteristics of the Southern, Middle and New England colonies.
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Push/Pull Factors for Britain and her Colonies:
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Jamestown: England's First Success StoryTHE BUSINESS OF COLONIZATION:
Unlike Spanish colonies, which were funded by Spanish rulers, English colonies were originally funded and maintained by joint-stock companies. Stock companies allowed several investors to pool their wealth in support of a colony that would, hopefully, yield a profit. In 1606, King James I of England granted a charter to the Virginia Company. The company hoped to found a colony along the eastern shores of North America in territory explored earlier by Sir Walter Raleigh. The Virginia Company had lured financial supporters by asking for a relatively small investment. Stockholders would be entitled to receive four-fifths of all gold and silver found by the colonists. The king would receive the remaining fifth. A DISASTROUS START: John Smith sensed trouble from the beginning. As he wrote later, “There was no talk, no hope, no work, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold.” Smith warned of disaster, but few listened to the arrogant captain, who had made few friends on the voyage over. Disease from contaminated river water struck first. Hunger soon followed. The colonists, many of whom were unaccustomed to a life of labor, had refused to clear fields, plant crops, or even gather shellfish from the river’s edge. One settler later described the terrifying predicament. On a cold winter day in 1607, standing among the 38 colonists who remained alive, John Smith took control of the settlement. “You see that power now rests wholly with me,” he announced. “You must now obey this law, . . . he that will not work shall not eat.” Smith held the colony together by forcing the colonists to farm. He also persuaded the nearby Powhatan people to provide food. Unfortunately, later that winter, a stray spark ignited a gunpowder bag Smith was wearing and set him on fire. Badly burned, Smith headed back to England, leaving Jamestown to fend for itself. gland, leaving Jamestown to fend for itself. In the spring of 1609, about 600 new colonists arrived with hopes of starting a new life in the colony. The Powhatan, by now alarmed at the growing number of settlers, began to kill the colonists’ livestock and destroy their farms. By the following winter, conditions in Jamestown had deteriorated to the point of famine. In what became known as the “starving time,” the colonists ate roots, rats, snakes, and even boiled shoe leather. Of those 600 new colonists, only about 60 survived. The surviving colonists decided to abandon the seemingly doomed settlement. However, as they sailed down the James River, they were met by a second English ship whose passengers convinced the fleeing colonists to turn around. Under the watchful eye of new leaders, who did not hesitate to flog or even hang colonists found neglecting their work, Jamestown stabilized and the colony began to expand farther inland along the James River. However, equally important in the colony’s growth was the development of a highly profitable crop: tobacco. “BROWN GOLD” AND INDENTURED SERVANTS: Europeans had become aware of tobacco soon after Columbus’s first return from the West Indies. In 1612, the Jamestown colonist John Rolfe experimented by cross breeding tobacco from Brazil with a harsh strain of the weed that local Native Americans had grown for years. Rolfe’s experiment resulted in a high-quality tobacco strain for which the citizens of England soon clamored. By the late 1620s, colonists exported more than 1.5 million pounds of “brown gold” to England each year. In order to grow tobacco, the Virginia Company needed a key ingredient that was missing from the colony— field laborers. In an effort to lure settlers to Jamestown, the Virginia Company introduced the headright system in 1618. Under this system, anyone who paid for their own or another’s passage to Virginia received 50 acres of land. Immigration to the colony jumped. The headright system yielded huge land grants for anyone who was wealthy enough to transport large numbers of people to Virginia. The Company used the term “plantation” for the group of people who settled the land grant, but eventually, the term was used to refer to the land itself. To work their plantations, many owners imported indentured servants from England. In exchange for passage to North America, and food and shelter upon arrival, an indentured servant agreed to a limited term of servitude— usually four to seven years. Indentured servants were usually from the lower classes of English society THE FIRST AFRICAN LABORERS: Another group of laborers—Africans— first arrived in Virginia aboard a Dutch merchant ship in 1619. Records suggest that the Jamestown colonists treated the group of about 20 Africans as indentured servants. After a few years, most of the Africans received land and freedom. Meanwhile, other Africans continued to arrive in the colony in small numbers, but it would be several decades before the English colonists in North America began the systematic use of Africans as slave labor |
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America, The Story of Us: Jamestown & Plymouth
Directions: Throughout the school year, students will watch the series America, The Story of Us. For this activity, students will watch the first part of Episode I: Rebels. This episode covers the first two successful American English Colonies: Jamestown and Plymouth. Watch the video (in class), and record the answers to the questions below in a graphic organizer like the one shown here.
Jamestown Questions:
Plymouth Questions:
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Jamestown vs. Plymouth
Traveling aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, 104 men landed in Virginia in 1607 at a place they named Jamestown. This was the first permanent English settlement in the New World.
Thirteen years later, 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts at a place they named Plymouth. With these two colonies, English settlement in North America was born. LOCATION OF THE SETTLEMENTS: Jamestown offered anchorage and a good defensive position. Warm climate and fertile soil allowed large plantations to prosper. Plymouth provided good anchorage and an excellent harbor. Cold climate and thin, rocky soil limited farm size. New Englanders turned to lumbering, shipbuilding, fishing and trade. REASONS FOR THE COLONIES: Economic motives prompted colonization in Virginia. The Virginia Company of London, organized in 1606, sponsored the Virginia Colony. Organizers of the company wanted to expand English trade and obtain a wider market for English manufactured goods. They naturally hoped for financial profit from their investment in shares of company stock. Freedom from religious persecution motivated the Pilgrims to leave England and settle in Holland, where there was more religious freedom. However, after a number of years the Pilgrims felt that their children were being corrupted by the liberal Dutch lifestyle and were losing their English heritage. News of the English Colony in Virginia motivated them to leave Holland and settle in the New World. EARLY SETBACKS: Inexperience, unwillingness to work, and the lack of wilderness survival skills led to bickering, disagreements, and inaction at Jamestown. Poor Indian relations, disease, and the initial absence of the family unit compounded the problems. Cooperation and hard work were part of the Pilgrim's lifestyle. Nevertheless, they too were plagued with hunger, disease, and environmental hazards. RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES: The settlers at Jamestown were members of the Anglican faith, the official Church of England. The Pilgrims were dissenters from the Church of England and established the Puritan or Congregational Church. GOVERNMENT: In 1619, the first representative legislative assembly in the New World met at the Jamestown church. It was here that our American heritage of representative government was born. Since New England was outside the jurisdiction of Virginia's government, the Pilgrims established a self-governing agreement of their own, the "Mayflower Compact." NATIVE AMERICANS: The Virginia colonists settled in the territory of a strong Indian empire or chiefdom. English relations with the Powhatan Indians were unstable from the beginning. Vast differences in culture, philosophies, and the English desire for dominance were obstacles too great to overcome. After the Indian uprising in 1622, the colonists gave up attempts to Christianize and live peacefully with the Powhatans. Prior to the Pilgrims' arrival, an epidemic wiped out the majority of the New England Indians. Several survivors befriended and assisted the colonists. Good relations ended in 1636 when the Massachusetts Bay Puritans declared war on the Pequot Tribe and Plymouth was dragged into the conflict. CONCLUSION: The growth and development of these two English colonies, though geographically separated, contributed much to our present American heritage of law, religion, government, custom and language. As Governor Bradford of Plymouth stated, "Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shown unto many, yea, in some sort, to our whole Nation." The charter of the Virginia Company stated, "Lastly and chiefly the way to prosper and achieve good success is to make yourselves all of one mind for the good of your country and your own, and to serve and fear God the giver of all goodness, for every plantation which our father hath not planted shall be rooted out." |
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Colonial Government
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Colonial Religion
New England
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Middle Colonies
Southern Colonies
Colonial Economics
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French and Indian War and the Great Awakening
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Review
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