American History Unit 1, Lecture 4

The American Colonies

Jamestown

• 1st Permanent English Settlement (1607)

• Settled with Headright System – 50 acres for every paid passage

• Survive starving times with help of John Smith

• John Rolfe as first tobacco magnate

• Bacon’s Rebellion

• Indentured Servants eventually replaced with African Slaves

Graves at Jamestown

New England Colonies

Plymouth Colony• Founded by group of

Puritans – People who wanted to “Purify” the Church of England

• 1620 – Pilgrims land at Plymouth

• Mayflower Compact – establishes democracy in colony

Massachusetts Bay Colony

• Founded by Puritans in 1630 (eventually absorbs Plymouth)

• William Bradford as leader

• “A City on a Hill”• No freedom of religion

or separation of church and state

Other New England Colonies

Rhode Island

Established by Puritan dissenter, Roger Williams

Separation of Church and State, religious Freedom

Anne Hutchinson challenges Puritan authority – flees to Rhode Island

Connecticut

Established by Thomas Hooker

More Religious Freedom

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut – seen by many as first written constitution in American

1

Native Resistance in New England

• Pequot War – 1637 – Connecticut conflict where most members of Pequot nation are wiped out

• King Philip’s War – 1675- Vicious war between Wampanoag Indians and Plymouth Colony – ended Indian resistance in New England

*Disputes over land mark the key conflict between Native Americans and Whites throughout American History!

Middle Colonies Pennsylvania• Founded by William

Penn, a Quaker• Tolerant of all people• Good Indian Relations• Early opposition to

slavery

New York/New Jersey• Taken by English from

the Dutch• NY becomes thriving,

diverse port city

• Founded as a Catholic haven by George Calvert, Lord Baltimore

• Toleration Act assured religious freedom

Maryland

Southern Colonies

Carolina • 1663 after Restoration of

Charles II• Charleston as key port city –

founded in 1680• North and South Carolina

split in 1712• Slaves as key source of labor• Rice production, tobacco,

indigo

Georgia• Buffer to Spanish Florida• James Oglethorpe – 1733• Originally founded as a

military colony with convicts

Other Colonies

• New Hampshire, Delaware.

Map of 13 Colonies

2

1. From http://www.ebay.com2. From http://www.mrnussbaum.com