Unit Two: Colonization of

America
The British Colonies Part I

British Colonization
After the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588,
the British were free to explore and colonize the
Eastern seaboard of America.
Different reasons led to the colonization of
America by the British.
1.) The first was overpopulation caused by the
Enclosure Movement in England to close off
farmland for pasture land for sheep due to the
profitability of wool.
The displaced tenant farmers moved into the
cities (mostly London) causing overpopulation
in the urban centers. Making the Americas a
perfect place to send the overpopulation.

British Colonization
2.) The second was a change in business
practices known as the joint-stock company (a
collection of investors who pool their money for
large business ventures).
Most of these companies financed the different
colonization ventures of the British in America.
3.) The third was a change in national economics
with the creation of Mercantilism (that a nation
becomes powerful and wealthy by having large
stores of Specie [hard money such as gold and
silver] and gains this by the creation of colonies
controlled by a parent nation to trade with so the
wealth stays in the nation).

British Colonization
4.) The fourth was a sense of national
Patriotism (love and devotion to ones nation)
and intrigue (curiosity) in the colonization of
America.
In Richard Hakluyts book Voyages he
described America as the New Eden or
perfect utopia to get people to want to go
there.
In Hakluyts book Discourse Concerning
Western Discoveries, he stated that England
should be at the forefront of the exploration
and colonization of America because of
national pride.

British Colonization
5.) The final reason was after the Protestant
Reformation and different events within
England many people were looking for a
place as a safe haven to worship their religion
freely.

The two main reasons the British

colonized America were for Gold and God.
Either to become wealthy through the
creation of cash crop colonies, or to
escape religious persecution.

First Colonization
The British wanted to plant the first colonies in
America as military outposts to attack Spanish
shipping along the Spanish Maine.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert was granted a charter
(permission to colonize an area) in 1578 to
colonize America, but his attempts failed in
Canada and in New Found land.
Gilberts brother Sir Walter Raleigh received
his bothers charter, and explored the east
coast discovering what is today North
Carolina.

Virginia Charter
Raleigh named the new land he claimed for
England Virginia in honor of Queen Elizabeth I
receiving the Virginia Charter to colonize the area.
In 1585 Raleigh established a small colony on the
island of Roanoke off
the
coast of North Carolina.
After several attempts to make
the colony prosper, it finally
failed
in 1587.
The colony was found with no people on it,
supposable after a run in with the
local Croatian Indians earning it the
name of the Lost Colony.

Virginia Charter
In 1606 the Virginia Company of London
was granted a charter by James I to
colonize the area of Virginia.
The Susan Constant, Godspeed, and
Discovery sailed up an inlet of the
Chesapeake Bay they named James
River and settled on James Island
founding the settlement of Jamestown with
a defensive fort called James Fort.
The early Jamestown colony had many
problems that almost led to its failure.

Jamestown Colony
During the colonys first winter a member of the
ruling council Captain John Smith was able to
make an alliance with the local Powhattan
Confederacy leader Opechancanel.
Opechancanels daughter Metoaka
(Pocahontas) aided the settlers by providing
them with food to make it through the winter.
During the winter of 1609 and 1610 the alliance
with the Indians soured and John Smith left, this
caused the settlers to go through what was
called the starving time.

Jamestown Colony
In the summer of 1610 the new governor of
Jamestown, Thomas West (Lord De La Warr)
arrived on the Providence to resupply the colony.
De La War established harsh laws and forced
the settlers to farm to make the colony selfsustaining (able to care for itself) and give the
investors some profit.
The colony did not become a profitable venture
until John Rolfe in 1613 started a tobacco
plantation of Orinoco Tobacco (Caribbean style)
making it all the craze in England and Europe.

Jamestown Colony
The success of Tobacco cultivation and
advertisement of the colony in England,
Jamestown became the first permanent
English settlement in the New World.
Due to the success of the colony and
people spreading onto mainland Virginia,
the head of the Virginia company Edwin
Sandys allowed the settlers to form their
own colonial legislative body called the
House of Burgesses (representatives).

Jamestown Colony

Click above picture to

visit Jamestown

Settling of Virginia
To entice new settlers to come to Virginia the
head of the company developed the
headright system.
The headright system allowed a land owner
50 acres of land extra for every person
brought to America.
This led to indentured servitude where a
person sold themselves into servitude for five
to seven years for passage to the new world.
The person who the servant sold
themselves to was known as a patron.

Types of English Colonies

Three types of English colonies developed
in America: Charter, Proprietary, and
Royal.
A Charter colony was a grant to a private
company (joint-stock) to establish and run a
colony.
A Proprietary colony was a grant to an
individual or group to establish and run a
colony, usually friends of the king.
A Royal colony was a colony that the king
established or had total control over.

English Migration to America

The success of Jamestown and other British
colonies led to four great migrations (to move to
a new area) to America by the British.
1.) Puritans (1630s to1660s) religious group
that moved into the New England area.
2.) Cavaliers (1640s to 1680s) wealthy
Englishmen who moved into the Coastal area
of Virginia known as the Tidewater.
3.) Quakers (1660s) religious group that
moved into Pennsylvania
4.) Scotts-Irish (1710s -1775) were people
from the Ulster Plantation of Ireland that
moved into mountainous regions and South.

Three Colonial Regions

Along the Eastern coastline three distinct
colonial regions developed; New England,
Middle, and Southern.
1.) New England was made up of Maine, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, and Plymouth.
2.) Middle was made up of New York,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
3.) Southern was made up Maryland, Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Puritans
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the
Puritans were a reform sect of the
Anglican Church (Church of England) to
purify it from Popery (Catholic like
actions or teachings).
The Puritans divided into two groups of
Congregationalists (believe each church
should be independent and autonomous),
conformists (stay in England and fix it) and
separatists (move away and form own
communities).

Pilgrims
The Pilgrims were a group of separatist
Puritans also known as Brownists
(followers of Robert Browne) who isolated
themselves on the Scooby Manor
Plantation in England.
The Pilgrims then moved to Amsterdam,
but wanted to leave due to the evil
influences of the Dutch.
In 1620 the Pilgrims led by William
Bradford got a charter to found the
Plymouth Colony in the northern Virginia
Colony.

Plymouth Colony
The Pilgrims traveled over the Atlantic Ocean on
the Mayflower (another ship the Speedwell was
ditched because it had a leak) with 121 people
(most strangers) following John Smiths Map of
New England landing in Cape Cod Bay.
The Pilgrims first made the Mayflower Compact
(first document of equal government founded by
the people and God, not a king) to govern over
the new colony.
The Pilgrims then settled in an area called Patuxet
which was an old Indian village that was killed off
by disease found by Myles Standish (military
leader). [Aka mythical Plymouth Rock.]

Plymouth Colony
The first winter was terrible killing off most
of the settlers due to scurvy (vitamin C
deficiency) and other problems.
The first Native the Pilgrims came into
contact with was Samoset who said
Welcome Englishmen in English.
Samoset informed them of the local Indian
tribe, the Wampanoag led by their
Sachem (chief) Massasoit and a Patuxet
survivor living with the Wampanoag
named Squanto.

Plymouth Colony
Squanto helped the Pilgrims make a peace treaty
with the Wampanoag and taught the Pilgrims how
to plant, cultivate, and harvest corn.
In 1621 the pilgrims held a three day celebration
with the Indians known as a Harvest Festival which
became known later as the First Thanksgiving.
The actual first thanksgiving day was a day of
prayer and fasting in 1623 to thank God for the
arrival of new settlers.
Thanksgiving did not become a holiday until
George Washington made it one in October 3,
1789.

Plymouth Colony

Mayflower Compact
At Sea
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
November, 1620
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the
Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of
God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&.
Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the
Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the
first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly
and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and
combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering
and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue
hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances,
Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most
meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we
promise all due submission and obedience.
In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape
Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King
James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the
fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."