Colonial America:The Early English Settlements

Click icon to add picture

The Colonies Take Root

Mystery at RoanokeA. Charter- A legal document giving the right

to establish a colony

B. The First Colonies

1. 1585 – Colonists landed in Roanoke, Va. And a year later returned to England

C. Second Attempt

1. 1587: John White – returned setting up farming community on Roanoke Island

2. Eleanor Dare – Mother of the first English born American, Virginia Dare

3. White returned to England for supplies

a. It was 3 years before he could return to America

b. He never saw his family again

4. The fate of Roanoke remains a mystery

Settlement at Jamestown, Virginia

NOTE:

1607: Colony made up of mostly upper-class Englishmen.

Q: What are 2 problems with this?

II. Settlement at Jamestown

A. Virginia Company – Charter from King James I to establish a colony north of Roanoke, Virginia

B. Joint Stock Company – Private trading company that sold shares to investors who wanted to make a profit

C. Capital – (MONEY) $$ wealth used to produce more wealth

** People usually invest capital in something to produce a profit

NOTE: Jamestown was an investment by England in the new world that England had hoped to profit from.

D. John Smith Takes Command~ 1608

1. Determined not to let the colony fail

2. Attempted to trade food with local Powhatan Native Americans

3. Powhatan –Chief that took Smith prisoner and ordered him killed

4.Pocohantas – Powhatan’s daughter that begged for Smith’s life and saved him

5. Life in the colony did improve; Smith returned to England due to gunpowder burn.

*Continued to promote colonization in the Americas until his death in 1631 (51 years)

Time following Smith’s departure was known as the “starving time”.

Only 60 settlers survived

III. A Taste for Tobacco

Slaves cultivating a tobacco field in Virginia

~1613

A. Europeans learned about tobacco from Indians

B. John Rolfe developed the tobacco plant that Europeans liked and started to produce it in Virginia

*1. This was the first product that the Virginia Company made a profit on

C. The Dutch Sold Africans to the Colonists

1. The first Africans were indentured servants and earned their freedom

2. By the late 1600’s slavery was started

IV. Beginnings of Self-Government

A. Burgess – representatives

B. House of Burgesses – first representative assembly that made laws for the Virginia Colony

C. Representative Government – voters elect representatives to make laws for them

A Deeply Rooted Idea

The Magna Carta

What was the purpose of the Magna Carta?

*The purpose of the Magna Carta was to curb the King and make him govern by the old English laws.

*The Magna Carta was a collection of 37 English laws - some copied, some recollected, some old and some new.

*The Magna Carta demonstrated that the power of the king could be limited by a written grant.

The Magna Carta1215- Great charter that King John was forced to

signa. Allowed for the formation of a Parliament

b. King had to obey the laws and could not raise taxes

Click icon to add picture

An Uneasy FriendshipJohn Rolfe and Pocahontas

1614~John Rolfe and Pocahontas got married

1. Hoped that the relationship between the Indians and the colonists would improve

2. Unfortunately, relationship DID NOT improve because of the English attitude toward them

1620~ Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts

Q: Why did the Pilgrims come to America?

A: Reason – came to practice their religion freely

In Search of Religious Freedom

Click icon to add picture

A.Pilgrims – Separatists – wanted to separate from the Church of England

1. They were persecuted for their beliefs

A Long Journey1. Left England to live in the Netherlands

2. Missed the English way of life and feared their children would become Dutch

3. Returned to England and got a charter to set up a colony in Virginia

4. Mayflower was blown off course and landed near Cape Cod, Massacusetts

The Mayflower Compact

Click icon to add picture

1. Signed before came ashore

2. Promised

a. consult each other on laws

b. to work together

c. to remain loyal to England

The Mayflower Compact1. The Mayflower Compact was a written agreement

proposed by a popular vote arriving at Plymouth, Mass in November of 1620.

2. The other settlements had failed because of their lack of government.

3. The main purpose of the Mayflower Compact was to create laws for the new land, free of English rule so that they could govern themselves

4. The principle most closely associated with our government today is that the people are making the laws for the good of all the people: “Of the people, by the people and for the people”.

Disaster and Thanksgiving

Click icon to add picture

A. First Winter was very harsh

1. Believed that it was God’s will for them to remain

2. Half the Pilgrims died the first winter

Native Americans Offer Help

1. Samoset – Pemaquid Indian; first to greet the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony in English!

2. Massasoit – local chief that made treaty of peace with the Pilgrims

3. Squanto – Introduced to Pilgrims by Samoset; taught them to fish, grow corn, farm and survive

*Samoset learned English from an English Fisherman on Monhegan Isle in Maine.

Click icon to add picture

How the Pilgrims wound up in Massachusetts?

A Good Harvest1. The Pilgrims had a great harvest

2. Thanksgiving – August 1621~, the Puritans held a "harvest feast" celebrating the fruits of their farming efforts.

3. The feast honored Squanto and their friends, the Wampanoag Indians.

4. The feast was followed by three days of "thanksgiving" celebrating their good fortune.