English Settlement Chapter 1

Background to English Colonization

Population transfer No centralized Empire Experience in Ireland

Gave them model for planting settlements, transplanting their familiar way of life and subjugate the Indians as they had the Irish.

Only, where they settled was sparsely populated.

Jamestown, Virginia:

May 6, 1607 First Permanent English Settlement in North America

Virginia Company (Joint-Stock) 104 men and boys (2 women arrived the next year)

Disastrous Beginning Location = malaria Mostly soldiers, townsmen, “gentlemen”

adventurers, and servantsLittle knowledge of how to exploit the area’s

resourcesKnew nothing about growing crops =

malnutrition

Jamestown’s Problems Captain John Smith helped keep the colony

alive by establishing trade with the Indians (Algonquian-speaking tribes) and by imposing strict discipline. “he that will not work shall not eat” Smith was injured and returned to England in 1609.

The colony fell apart and suffered the “starving time” of the winter of 1609-1610. Only 60 of 500 inhabitants survived the winter of 1609-1610 One man by “dining on his wife”

Finally imposed martial law in 1611.

Reform and aBoom in Tobacco

John Rolfe and Tobacco Married Pocahontas, the daughter of chief Powhatan. Cultivated tobacco, which could be sold to Europe. Virginia adopted the “headright” system for granting

land to individuals. Key Year – 1619

House of Burgesses A representative assembly to make laws for the

colony. 90 Young Women arrived and sold to likely husbands

for the cost of transportation. 20 Black Forced Laborers brought by the Dutch.

Tobacco Boom – 1620s Between 130,000 and 150,000

immigrants came to the Chesapeake over the 17th century. 3/4ths of all immigrants came as indentured servants. An estimated 40 percent of servants did not survive to

the end of their indentured terms. Mortality rate—over 14,000 English arrived since

1607, but the population in 1624 was only 1,132. As more land was cleared for tobacco,

skirmishes with the Indians became more brutal and frequent.

In 1624, James I dissolved the Virginia Company and made it a royal colony.

Maryland (1632) Maryland

was founded by a single aristocratic family, the Calverts (Lord Baltimore). 1st Proprietary

Colony The Calvert

family was Catholic.

The Carolinas (1663)

North- Lacked good harbors and navigable rivers, thus had no way of marketing its produce.

South—Charles Town established in 1670. First exports were furs, Indian slaves, and cattle. Staple crop was found in the 1690s with the introduction

of rice (cash crop). Demand for rice in Europe made South Carolina the

richest colony and South Carolina planters the richest people on the mainland of North America.

South Carolina became a separate royal colony in 1719.

Georgia (1732) James

Oglethorpe Defensive

buffer zone between British North America and Spanish Florida.

Recruited paupers from Europe.

Became a royal colony in 1753.

The Founding of New England

The Puritan Movement James I, shortly after succeeding Elizabeth I in 1603

vowed to purge England of radical Protestant reformers. (Puritans)

The Pilgrims (or Separatists) Always a minority within the Puritan movement. Concluded that the Church of England was too corrupt. Suffered persecution: fines, imprisonment, and in a few

cases, execution. Many fled to Holland because the Dutch government

permitted complete freedom of religion.

PlymouthColony

Founded by Pilgrims Voyage on the Mayflower (1620)

101 men, women, and children Led by William Bradford Mayflower Compact - consensual government

Long winter Had arrived too late to plant crops. By the spring of 1621, half had died.

Samoset and Squanto showed them how to grow maize. Thanksgiving

The Massachusetts Bay Colony

Plymouth was quickly overshadowed by another colony, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which absorbed it in 1691.

The Puritans Non-Separating Congregationalists Hoped the Church of England could be reformed

Founding – 1630 Led by John Winthrop “We shall be as a city on a hill.” 17 ships and more than 1,000 colonists Included merchants, landed gentlemen, and lawyers.

The Founding of New England

Beginning of the Great Migration Some 21,000 came in a cluster between 1630 and

1642. Most arrived in family groups.

Rapid settlement = Stability and Order Common past of persecution and a strong desire to create

an ordered society modeled on Scripture.

Lived to an average age of 70 Twice as long as Virginians. 10 years longer than in England.

By 1700, New England and the Chesapeake both had populations of approximately 100,000.

Puritanism (Puritans)

We have a false image. Puritans, especially those of the upper class, wore

colorful clothing, enjoyed secular music, and drank rum (but did not get drunk).

Moderation in all things except piety was the Puritan guideline

Separation of Church and State? The Puritan was dedicated to seeking not the will of the

people but the will of God. Civil laws obliged everyone to attend worship services

on the Sabbath and to pay taxes to support Congregationalist ministers.

Covenant Theology Man and God have interacted through a

succession of explicit agreements or contracts. The idea of mutual obligation is fundamental. Puritan’s practically do away with the

conception of God as merely promising, and substitute a legal theory of God’s delivering to man a signed and sealed bond.

The contract between God and man, once entered into, is ever afterwards binding—a treaty of mutual obligation.

The covenant theology becomes the foundation for the state and the church in New England.

Mass. Becomes Staging Area for all of New England

Rhode Island (refuge for dissenters) Roger Williams

He believed in complete separation of church and state (to protect the church).

He was banished and founded the town of Providence in 1636 – the first permanent settlement in America to legislate freedom of religion.

Anne Hutchison Believed in direct revelations from the Holy Spirit. Challenged the legitimacy of the ministerial

community. Banished in 1638 and went to Rhode Island. Later

moved to Long Island and killed in an Indian attack.

Mass. Becomes Staging Area for all of New England

Connecticut (1637) Founded by Mass. Puritans seeking better lands and access

to the fur trade farther west. Thomas Hooker organized the self-governing colony. Government similar to Massachusetts except more

democratic – voting was not limited to church members Hooker and Connecticut becomes a blueprint for political

democracy New Hampshire and Maine (1622)

Slowly settled by Puritan immigrants. Consisted of scattered and small settlements. Maine splits off in 1629 but remains sparsely populated.

The Middle Colonies

New York (1664) Originally the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, 1614

(New Amsterdam was capital in 1626). Cultural differences hampered the prospects for a

stable social and political life. Captured by the English in1664 without firing a shot—

King Charles II granted the region to James, the duke of York, later King James II.

New Jersey (1664) Duke of York gave 5 million acres to two of his friends. Became royal colony in 1702.

The League of the Iroquois

Composed of 6 different tribes welded together into a coherent political unit. Actually gained greater strength from its contacts with

whites.

The Indians of northern New York became important suppliers of furs to white traders.

As the favored clients of the English, they became opponents to the French.

The Middle Colonies: Pennsylvania

Quaker beliefs Founded in 1647 by George Fox as the Society of

Friends. Named in ridicule: “tremble at the word of the Lord” No original sin, no predestination, believe in goodness,

equality, and the doctrine of individual spiritual inspiration and interpretation –the “inner light.”

They discarded all formal sacraments and formal ministry, refused deference to persons of rank, and embraced simple living and pacifism.

Their toleration extended to complete religious freedom for all and the equality of the sexes.

The Middle Colonies: Pennsylvania

Successful Settlement (1681) William Penn, a converted Quaker, inherited a

substantial estate and was given the proprietary rights for Pennsylvania by Charles II in 1681.

He recruited religious dissenters from England and the Continent—Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, Baptists

By 1700 its population stood at 21,000. Delaware (1701)

At first was part of Pennsylvania. After 1701 allowed to have own assembly but same

governor as Penn. until American Revolution.

Conclusion

Although the English colonization efforts did not start off as well as the French and Spanish, they eventually became a greater success because the lack of centralized control gave free rein to a variety of human impulses.

The English preferred private investment. Not a single colony was begun by the crown. Poor immigrants were more likely to obtain land in the

English colonies and settlement was more concentrated.