Big Ideas

Geography and History The headright system provided English settlers with new ways to acquire more land.

Content Vocabulary

• joint-stock company

• privateer

• headright

• proprietary colony

• heretic

Academic Vocabulary

• migration • grant

People and Events to Identify

• Jamestown

• Powhatan Confederacy

• John Winthrop

• Roger Williams

• Anne Hutchinson

• Henry Hudson

A. A

B. B

Do you believe that the benefits of sailing to a new country for religious freedom outweigh the risks?

A. Yes

B. No

A B

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England’s First Colonies

While Spain was establishing an overseas empire in the 1500s, England was distracted by problems at home.

• When John Cabot first sailed to America, most of western Europe was Roman Catholic.

• Martin Luther accused the Church of corruption and launched the Protestant Reformation.

• The Anglican Church and the Puritan faith also emerged during this time.

England’s First Colonies (cont.)

• Reasons some of the English sailed to America:

– religious persecution of Puritans and non-Anglican people

– economic changes in England—wool market, joint-stock companies

– rivalry with Spain

England’s First Colonies (cont.)

• The Protestant English wanted to find a water route to Asia through North America, but had to contend with the Catholic Spanish.

• Queen Elizabeth allowed English privateers to attack Spanish ships.

• She also set up outposts in the Americas to help attack the ships.

England’s First Colonies (cont.)

• In the spring of 1607, 104 men founded the settlement of Jamestown.

• Captain John Smith began bartering goods for food with the Powhatan Confederacy.

• Only 60 settlers out of about 400 survived the winter of 1609–1610.

• The colony did survive and made money by selling tobacco.

England’s First Colonies (cont.)

• 1618—the Virginia Company granted the colonists the right to elect a lawmaking body. They also introduced the system of headrights.

• 1619—the first Africans were brought to Virginia.

England’s First Colonies (cont.)

• 1622—more than 4,500 settlers arrived in Virginia; Jamestown was attacked by the Native Americans and the colony was devastated.

– Virginia became a royal colony, run by a governor appointed by the king.

England’s First Colonies (cont.)

• George Calvert—or Lord Baltimore—founded a colony in Maryland for Catholics who were persecuted in England.

– He owned this land and made it a proprietary colony.

– However, most of its settlers were Protestant and in 1649 the Toleration Act was passed to reduce social conflict.

England’s First Colonies (cont.)

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D A B C D

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Why did Powhatan end trade with the colonists of Jamestown in 1609?

A. The number of colonists overwhelmed him.

B. He was not producing enough food for his own people.

C. The colonists stole food from the Native Americans.

D. The colonists were marrying the Native American women.

joint-stock company 

form of business organization in which many investors pool funds to raise large amounts of money for large projects

privateer 

privately owned ship licensed by the government to attack ships of other countries

headright 

system in which settlers were granted land in exchange for settling in Virginia

proprietary colony 

a colony owned by an individual

grant 

to give or bestow upon, especially by a formal act