Colonial America

Jamestown Case study + Southern ColoniesNorthern ColoniesMiddle Colonies

Jamestown – Achieving the Dream…maybe…

“Our men were destroyed by cruel disease and by wars…for the most part they died of famine.” - George Percy, a settler in Jamestown

Was the “New World” everything that the new settlers had imagined? Were they prepared for their new life?

Aim: How did push and pull factors affect the development of the new world?

Vocab - see handouts for terms/names and leadership/agreements/rebellions/etc.Ex. Governor BerkeleyVirginia House of Burgesses

Essential Question: (1)How did geography affect the social, political, and economic needs and organization of the colonial settlements?

European Claims in the New Worldbased on HW...

• English

• French

• Dutch

• Spanish

Venn-Diagram

Colony Comparison

Economic Opportunity a. Why did England want colonies in America?

England’s motive for attempting to establish a base in the Americas was sparked by envy of the great riches the Spanish had taken from their American empire. The English wanted all the gold and silver that Europeans at the time believed could be found all over the American continent. They also wanted land to cultivate crops like sugar and rice that could not be grown in England. Above all, they wanted to compete with the Spanish for power and prestige. b. Merchants and FarmersMany merchants and farmers came to America in pursuit of a better way of life. The economy in England was in shambles and many could not find work. Also, England was heavily populated and land was limited for farming. Many colonists saw life in America as a chance for social mobility. c. Indentured ServantsIndentured servants got free passage to America but in return they had to work as a servant five to seven years without pay. When indentured servants became free men, they frequently received land and could take part in government.

HW Doc: Excerpt from a letter by John Smith, 1610

“Now all found the loss of Captain Smith ... as for corn, provision and contribution from the Savages, we had nothing but mortal wounds, with clubs and arrows; as for our Hogs, Hens, Goats, Sheep, Horse, or what lived, our commanders, officers and Savages daily consumed them, some small proportions sometimes we tasted, till all was devoured;… and the loss of our ships, of 500 within 6 months after Captain Smiths departure, there remained not past 60 men, women and children, most miserable and poor creatures; and those preserved for the most part, by roots, herbs, acorns, walnuts, berries, and now and then a little fish……Nay, so great was our famine, that a Savage we slew, and buried, the poorer sort took him up again and ate him - boiled and stewed with roots and herbs. And one amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered [salted] her, and had eaten part of her before it was known, for which he was executed, as he well deserved; now whether she was better roasted, boiled or carbonadoed [barbequed], I know not, but of such a dish as powdered wife I never heard of. This was that time, which still to this day we call the starving time; it were too vile to say, and scarce to be believed, what we endured: but the occasion was our own, for want of providence, industry and government, and not the barrenness and defect of the Country, as is generally supposed...”Source: General History of Virginia 1624 based on Karen Ordahl Kupperman’s Captain John Smith: A Select Edition of His Writings.

What challenges were faced in the New World?•Famine•Lack of farming skills•Native American relationships•Colonial government organization•Colonial social structure•Religious freedom/limitations•Harsh weather conditions•Lack of aid from Great Britain

Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England [1623 to] 1636

The office of the Governor for the time being consists in the execution of such laws and ordnances as are or shall be made and established for the good of this Corporation. With the assembly and the Governor the right to use the Assembly to have a voice therein. If the Assistants judge the case too great to be decided by them, and refer it to the General Court, then the Governor to summon a Court, and there also to discuss all causes, and go before the Assistants in the examination of particulars, and to hand down a sentence as shall be determined. Further it shall be lawful for him to arrest and commit toward any offenders with all speed he shall bring the cause to hearing, either of the Assistance or General Court according to the nature of the offence. Also it shall be lawful for the Governor to examine any suspicious persons for evil against the Colony, as also to intercept such as he conceiveth may tend to the overthrow of the Colony. And that this Office continue one whole year and no more without renewing by election.Acts Punishable: Treason or rebellion against the person of the King State or Common wealth either of England or these Colonies.- Willful Murder.- Conversing with the devil by way of witchcraft or the like.- Willful and purposed burning of ships houses.- Sodomy, rapes, buggery.- Adultery to be punished.That no man make sale or sell out of the Colonies any kind of boards planks or Timber that hath been growing in any the swamps that are reserved for publick use without permission, but shall only so do of such as arise out of his own proper grounds.

How were colonial rules an expression of the un-severed ties of the colonists to the mother country?•Loyalty to the crown•Colonial governments set up like Great Britain•Governors and other officials often appointed by Great Britain•Raw materials had to go to Great Britain/could not be traded freely•Religious principles found in law

(1) Why do people settle in the colonies?

PUSH PULL

a) Famine – new crops/farms + decrease of population density

b) High unemploymentc) Overcrowded (population and in prison)d) Increased crime ratese) Competition with Portugal and Spain –

power and prestige f) Opportunity for new resourcesg) Expansion of territory

a) Criminals/lower classb) Escape debtc) Avoid discriminationd) Better life/more opportunitye) Religious freedomf) Possibility of landg) Social mobilityh) Aristocracy – money (through trade)

and/or adventure!i) Investment of new capital ($)

Do you believe their lives would be better in the colonies than in their homeland? EXPLAIN.

• Depending on where a person settled and who they were was the determining factor if he/she received a better life.

• A variety of groups of people left England for a better life in America. Many of these people were considered to be “unwanted” by English government.

• Some of the people who came to America did so as to avoid spending time in prison or face further discrimination.

• The colonists came to America to seek a better life: the Puritans and Quakers came for religious freedom; indentured servants were looking for economic opportunities, etc.

Catalysts to Colonization• New boats/technology• Population growth• Joint Stock Company

Activity: Decide whether each element of life in the colonies is democratic or undemocratic. Be able to explain your designation.

• Freedom of the Press• Freedom of Religion – Roger Williams (founder of Rhode Island) and William

Penn (founder of Pennsylvania) were dedicated to promoting religious freedom.

• Indentured Servitude• Elected legislatures existed in almost all colonies.• Ruled by a King – most colonists considered themselves loyal to the King.• Distance from England – the colonies were 3,000 miles away from royal

oversight. Colonists grew accustomed to making decisions for themselves. • Slavery – starting early in the colonial period, slaves were brought to America

against their will and sold to the colonists.• Town Hall meetings – in New England citizens regularly convened to discuss

the law.• Colonial Existence – colonists were British subjects but they had no vote in the

British Parliament.

Southern Colonies

Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia

Maryland: St. Mary’s settled in 1634 by Lord Baltimore for religious freedom.Virginia: Jamestown founded for Virginia: Jamestown founded for trading purposes in 1607 by John trading purposes in 1607 by John Smith. Smith. North (Albemarle) and South (Charleston) Carolina: Settled in 1653 and 1670, respectively, by groups of businessmen looking for new trading opportunities.

Georgia settled in 1733 as a penal colony. England also wanted to build its empire in order to protect itself from France and Spain. James Oglethorpe established Savannah at this time.

By the late 1600s, tobacco planters found it increasingly difficult to attract English or Irish laborers willing to travel to Virginia or Maryland in exchange for an indenture.   Economic conditions were improving in England, fueled by manufacturing and the growth of cities.  Other newly established colonies such as Pennsylvania and South Carolina drew upon the limited supply of servants willing to risk their lives in America.   European wars disrupted Atlantic crossings and incidents of piracy increased, making the passage more dangerous.  Former indentured servants, as they tried to establish their own plantations in the region, competed for a declining pool of laborers.

(http://www.stmaryscity.org/history/Servants%20&%20Slaves.html)

Historian John Hope Franklin, 1980 (no guilt…)During its first half-century of existence Virginia had many Negro indentured servants; and the records reveal an increasing number of free Negroes. As time went on Virginia steadily fell behind in [meeting] the labor needs of the colony with Indians and indentured servants. It was then that the colonists began to give serious thought to the “perpetual servitude” of Negroes. Virginians began to see what...the Caribbean had already [seen], that is, that Negroes could not easily escape without being identified; that they could be disciplined, even punished, [without regrets] since they were not Christians; and that the supply [seemed to be without end]. Black labor was precisely what Virginia needed in order to speed up the clearing of the forests and the [growing] of larger and better tobacco crops.

Virginia Slave Laws

In case any English servant shall run away in company with any Negroes who are incapable of making satisfaction by addition of time...the English running away in company with them shall serve for the time of the said Negroes. (1660)

Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishman upon a Negro woman shall be slave or free, be it therefore enacted and declared by this present Grand Assembly, that all children born in this country shall be held in bond or free...according to the condition of the mother... (1662)

Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children that are slaves by birth...should by virtue of their baptism be made free, it is enacted and declared...that the conferring of baptism does not alter the condition of the person as to his bondage of freedom... (1667)

Reverend Peter Fontaine, 1757But to live in Virginia without slaves is morally impossible... A common laborer, white or black, if you can be so much favored as to hire one, is a shilling sterling or fifteen pence currency per day; a bungling carpenter two shillings or two shillings and sixpence per day; besides diet and lodging. That is, for a lazy fellow to get wood and water, nineteen pounds current per annum; add to this seven or eight pounds more and you have a slave for life.  …The Negroes are enslaved [in Africa] by the Negroes themselves before they are purchased by the masters of the ships who bring them here. It is, to be sure, at our choice whether we buy them or not… But no governor dare pass a law, having instructions to the contrary from the Board of Trade at home. By this means they are forced upon us, whether we will or will not.

Governor William Berkeley response to a request for a report (Governor of Virginia; cultivator of cotton/flax/rice/silk – sent to King/London).

What economic and social handicaps did Virginia suffer from?Q: What number of planters, servants, and slaves; and how many parishes are there in your plantation? A: We suppose…that there is in Virginia above forty thousand persons, men, women, and children, and of which there are two thousand black slaves, six thousand Christian servants [indentured servants] for a short time. The rest are born in the country or have come in to settle and seat, in bettering their condition in a growing country. Q: What number of English, Scots, or Irish have for these seven years last past come yearly to plant and inhabit within your government; as also what blacks or slaves have been brought in within the said time? A: Yearly, we suppose there comes in, of servants, about fifteen hundred, of which most are English, few Scotch, and fewer Irish, and not above two or three ships of Negroes in seven years. Q: What number of people have yearly died, within your plantation and government, for these seven years last past, both whites and blacks? A: All new plantations are, for an age or two, unhealthy, till they are thoroughly cleared of wood. But unless we had a particular register office for the denoting of all that dies, I cannot give a particular answer to this query. Only this I can say, that there is not often unseasoned hands (as we term them) that die now, whereas heretofore not one of five escaped the first year…

Bacon’s Rebellion

Berkeley was not satisfying the colonists When it came to Indian relations. Colonists attacked natives. Merchants and later military from Great Britain help to keep down the rebels. Berkeley was recalled to England.

Southern Hierarchy

NORTHERN/NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

Aim: How did the Northern colonies develop differently from those in the

South?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it

stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

What do these two American icons have in common?

Motivations for Settling Here:

Where do our religious roots come from?

“The English Puritans made their political emergence in the 1600's. This was during the very same time period in which they began to embark upon their epic migrations to the New World. Here were a vibrant, spiritually energized, and hopeful company of people. Their new status as free men walking personally with God fed their personal and national dreams and visions for a bright future. They were bound and determined to set a new agenda for their English Church. And their heart's desire was to see their beloved English kingdom move forward into the Biblically enlightened flows of the Reformation that were then sweeping western Christendom. These were the true movers and shakers of their time.”

Essential Questions

• How would you characterize Puritan society? • What role does God play in the Puritans’ daily

life? In their government? • How did geography influence Puritan social

structure?

MIDDLE COLONIES

Aim: What characteristics illustrate the differences between the middle colonies and the other colonial regions?

Vocab: Holy ExperimentFirst Frame of GovernmentZenger

Essential Questions: (1) Did the Middle Colonies have democracy?(2) Compare democratic elements of the middle colonies to

that of the other colonial regions.

Travel Guide Rubric(1) For your region – choose highlights of the economic,

political, social, and geographic benefits. You may not have room for all of your sticky selections.

– Include an E for Economic next to all economic points, P, S, G.

– Write the state abbreviation if you are focusing on a particular one (in terms of facts/issues).

– Include SPECIFIC facts that support your claims!– Feel free to turn negatives into positives, spin it!

(2) Bullet point your selling points. Write in prose, make it flowery!

(3) Your work may include art.

The Thesis StatementHoward Zinn

It is not obedience but trust that has lead us to war, genocide, and slavery.

War, genocide, and slavery have occurred as a rusult of the condition of the “un-wealthy,” non-white majority being unable to affect change because of their oppressed circumstances, lack of resources/technology, and fear of consequences from their oppressors.

It is not obedience but the limitations of the oppressed caused by an unequal social structure, inability to overcome military might, uneven distribution of wealth and rights, and the drive of the wealthy, landed minority to retain their status and power in society.

Early Colonial Life

http://uccpbank.k12hsn.org/courses/APUSHistoryI/course%20files/multimedia/lesson04/lessonp_uccp_ap.html