The Southern Colonies

Key Words

Mason- Dixon Line- Divided the Middle and Southern colonies between Pennsylvania and Maryland

Bacon’s Rebellion- Uprising against the Native Americans and a greedy Virginia governor who forced settlers inland and did not protect them

Slave Codes- Rules and laws for slaves behavior which denied them basic rights

Indigo- A plant used to make valuable blue dye

Maryland

Sir George Calvert got the charter from King Charles I in 1632

His son, Lord Baltimore, settled the area in 1634

About 200 colonists settled there

Lord Baltimore was the proprietor of the colony

He appointed a governor, and set up a council of advisors

He gave colonists some control by creating an elected assembly

Offered lots of land for those who brought over servants

Both Catholics and Protestants were allowed to worship there

He passed the “Act of Toleration” in 1649

Virginia

Many new colonists were flocking to Virginia

Lots of great fertile land for planters to prosper

Wealthy planters had a lock on the best land near the coast

New settlers were forced inland

Started to crowd out the Native Americans

Virginias governor would not protect the settlers

He made money from the fur trade with the Native Americans

Bacon’s rebellion ensued in 1676

The Carolinas

Carolinas granted by King Charles II in 1663

North Carolina was made up mainly of small farms

Poor tobacco planters who had moved south from Virginia settled this region

South Carolina was settled by 8 noblemen from England

Set up larger plantations for cash crops

Rice, tobacco, and indigo we common

Large plantations needed large scale labor

Turned to Native American slaves first

Natives escaped, or died of disease

They then turned to the African slave trade

African slaves outnumbered white settlers in S.C. 2-1 in the early 1700’s

Georgia

James Oglethorpe founded Georgia in 1732

He wanted it to be a place where debtors could get a fresh start

Debtors could be imprisoned in England

Oglethorpe paid for debtors and other poor people to come there

He felt that there was plenty of good land for people to succeed

Savannah was founded in 1733

Founded by Oglethorpe and 120 colonists

No plantations over 500 acres and no slavery early on

Rules were amended later on to allow larger plantations as well as slavery

The colony grew quickly after the amendment to the rules

Two Ways of Life

Tidewater Plantations

Large plantations growing cash crops

Owners had many slaves and servants and lived in large houses, some even had their own docks where merchant ships could dock

Many grew very wealthy and this is what the stereotypical southern life was

Backcountry South

More equality and independence

Subsistence agriculture ruled

Excess goods were sold at market

Hardly any slaves and there was not nearly as much wealth

People worked together for the common good more often