PowerPoint Presentation

An English Colony on Chesapeake Bay1601-1700

SecotanOriginal drawing, 1585, village on the North Carolina coast1. How would you describe a Secotan village after viewing this painting?(Answer: Organized; buildings are neatly lined up, pathways are clear, farmland is separate from living space. It appears that the ceremony at the bottom of the painting is religious. The village appears to be peaceful.)2. According to the painting, how did the Secotan procure and eat their food?(Answer: Both hunting and agriculture. The top of the painting shows deer hunting. Carefully organized fire could be used for cooking. There are crops in different parts of the image, most notably the corn on the right. People are shown eating in an organized line down the middle of the central path.)2

PopulationJamestown in 1607: 105Jamestown in 1624:1,200An English Colony on Chesapeake BayA. The Fragile Jamestown Settlement1. Virginia Company2. Jamestown3. Powhatan and the Algonquian Indians

B. Cooperation and Conflict between Natives and Newcomers1. Mutual distrust 2. Trade relationship between English and Indians3. Difficulties for Powhatans chiefdomI. An English Colony on Chesapeake BayA. The Fragile Jamestown Settlement1. Virginia CompanyKing James of England wanted to colonize New World land that Spain could not defend; he issued a land grant to the Virginia Company, a joint stock company; the London investors of the Virginia Company hoped to strengthen England overseas and at home, as colonists could both consume and produce goods. 2. JamestownFirst settlement, named after King James; 144 colonists arrived at Chesapeake Bay on April 26, 1607.3. Powhatan and the Algonquian IndiansAlgonquian Indians attacked the colonists their first night there, which demonstrated to the colonists the need to protect themselves from Indians and the Spanish; also faced threats of disease and starvation; fifty colonists died by September; Algonquian chief Powhatan rescued the colonists by bringing corn to the colony for barter; starving colonists overcame their prejudice against corn; still, most settlers in Virginia went to an early grave.B. Cooperation and Conflict between Natives and Newcomers1. Mutual DistrustEnglish settlers did not trust the Indians; few settlers other than John Smith even learned their language; Powhatan was suspicious of the English, as they did not hesitate to use violence to enforce English notions of proper Indian behavior; Indians did not organize an all-out assault against the English because they needed allies.2. Trade Relationship between English and IndiansThe English traded European goods for corn; Indians preferred English iron and steel knives, axes, and pots; the English had difficulty feeding themselves, as very few farmers came to the New World; most settlers were gentlemen and their servants.3. Difficulties for Powhatans ChiefdomConflict with Europeans spread deadly diseases; settlers appetite for corn required Indians to spend more time growing crops; women did agricultural work, so their burden increased; Indians understood the English were not going away.4. OpechancanoughPowhatans brother; he succeeded Powhatan as supreme chief in 1618; launched an all-out assault against the English in 1622; killed 347 colonists; the attack did not dislodge the English, but it did increase English violence toward Indians; most colonists from that point on considered the Indians their perpetual enemies.7Pocahontas, Mrs. John RolfeJohn SmithPocaHontas in England

King James I

The King revoked the charter of the Virginia Company and made it a royal colony

From Virginia Company to Virginia ColonyThe demise of the Virginia Company marked the end of the first phase of colonization of the Chesapeake region

The King now appointed the governorThe legislative body, the House of Burgesses, remained intact

The ChesapeakeCoastal area along the edges of the Chesapeake Bay

12A Tobacco SocietyTobacco Agriculture turned Virginia into a colony of plantersMen could earn two to three times as much growing tobacco as working in EnglandNew settlers who paid their own way were given a headrightfifty acres of free landII. A Tobacco SocietyA. Tobacco Agriculture1. TobaccoJohn Rolfe planted West Indian tobacco seeds in 1612, and the colonists grew enough to send back to England by 1917; tobacco transformed Virginia from a colony of aimless adventurers into a society of planters; tobacco was a demanding crop that required close attention and year-round labor; the colonists had only primitive tools, making the labor particularly taxing.2. Abundance in VirginiaEnglish settlers grew as much tobacco as possible to make as much money as possible; men could earn two to three times more in Virginia tobacco fields than in England; abundant land made it extremely cheap as well; new settlers who paid their own way also received a headrightfifty acres of free land.B. A Servant Labor System1. Indentured ServitudeAllowed poor immigrants to come to the New World; 80 percent of immigrants came as indentured servants; very few slaves arrived during the first half century after settlement; poor immigrants agreed to a contract called an indenture, which was a form of credit; an immigrant borrowed the cost of transportation from a merchant or sea captain, and, to repay the loan, the indentured person promised to work as a servant in America for four to seven years, after which time the servant would be free; the merchant or ship captain sold the right to an immigrants labor to a tobacco farmer; planters reaped immediate benefits, as it typically took only one year for a servant to grow enough tobacco to match the cost of his indenture; labor during the remaining three to six years of the indenture promised a handsome profit for the planter.2. Gender ImbalanceAbout three out of four servants were unskilled men between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five; women were rare, which created a gender imbalance; planters believed men were better at field work, which perpetuated the imbalance.13

1. Describe the process of harvesting the tobacco.(Answer: Workers cut the plant from the ground. The leaves were then loaded onto horse-drawn wagons and taken to the barn. There, they were hung for drying. In this print it also appears that the leaves are hung outdoors in other parts of the plantation.)2. What does the image reveal about working on a tobacco plantation?(Answer: A tobacco plantation took a lot of work and required a great deal of manpower. The image shows different workers cutting the crop, hauling bushes, pulling carts, driving wagons, drying leaves, and probably supervising. The plantation is also very large, which suggests that growing tobacco required a lot of land.)14Indentured Servants80 % of those who came in the first half of the century, came as indentured servants 75% of indentured servants were menThe labor contract was called the indentureThe immigrant borrowed the cost of passage from a sea captain, and in return agreed to work as a servant for four to seven yearsThe sea captain sold the indenture to a tobacco growerPunishment for petty crimes extended the servitudePlanters made a lot of money, regaining their original investment within one yearRestrictionsFemale servants could not marry while indenturedWomen who became pregnant had to serve two extra yearsInterracial sex was outlawedServants of all races co-mingled and were of the same classTobacco growing