Virginia
-In 1607 England sent 104 English settlers to the New World. King James I, created a joint-stock company called the Virginia Company. A join-stock company is a business in which there are several investors that put forth enough money to create a business whose purpose is to make money. How is that different than any other business? Since there are multiple people investing in the business, if it fails, no one single person will lose the entire amount of money lost, instead, they share in the loss so that it is not as bad. Also, in a joint-stock company, the investors share the profits.
The investors of the Virginia Company had dreams of making money from gold and silver found in the New World (they will be disappointed). Three English ships with 104 men set sail for the New World. They landed in modern day Virginia and decided to settle about forty miles inland from the coast along a river they named the James River. They called their new settlement, Jamestown. Jamestown was located in a low lying area along the James River near Chesapeake Bay. Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in the New World, but it would not be easy.
Jamestown after 1610
|
Jamestown before 1610
|
The settlers of Jamestown were not prepared for the long work they would have to do in order to make the settlement survive. Upon meeting the local Native American population, a large loosely joined system of similar Indian groups called the Powhatan Confederacy (a confederacy is a loose alliance between two or more groups), by the time settlers arrived in Jamestown, there were 14,000 Indians in the Powhatan Confederacy. Led by Chief Powhatan, the Native Americans were weary of the settlers because many of them tried to steal food from local camps. Powhatan killed 17 settlers that tried to steal corn from him. In retaliation, a settler, turned leader, John Smith began to form a small defense force to guard against Indian attacks. Organized the settlers and got them working in the colony, if you didn't work, you didn't eat.
The settlers managed to carve out a meager existence, but in the winter of 1609, a terrible winter hit the colony that became known as the "starving time." Settlers ate everything, horses, dogs, cats, leather, even resorted to cannibalism.
Many of the settlers were indentured servants who were contracted to work for whomever paid their passage for certain amount of years and then would be free. They could own land and marry as long as they had permission.
Many of the settlers were indentured servants who were contracted to work for whomever paid their passage for certain amount of years and then would be free. They could own land and marry as long as they had permission.
John Rolfe and Pocahontas getting married.
|
Disney John Rolfe
|
John Rolfe brought tobacco seeds to Jamestown under penalty of death if caught by the Spanish for smuggling the seeds out of the Caribean. Tobacco turned out to be the cash crop the settlers needed to make the money it took to prosper. Rolfe later married Pocahontas in 1616 and they moved to England. Another thing that saved the colonists was the union between John Rolfe and Pocahontas, the daughter of Chief Powhatan. It helped bring the settlers and the Native Americans together.
Pilgrims
|
Back in England, there were problems over the Church of England and how it treated anyone with different views than the church. Many believed they were being persecuted, or treated harshly, for religious reasons.
-Some protestants wanted to change or reform their religion (protestants are those that are not Catholic). Those that wanted to reform or fix were called, Puritans. -Those that wanted to leave their religion were called separatists, or later, pilgrims. The Pilgrims traveled to the New World to escape religious persecution in 1620. They started a colony in present day Massachusetts. They traveled on the ship, the Mayflower. One interesting thing they did before they left the ship for land, was create a written agreement among the passengers over what was expected and an outline of basic government, this was called the Mayflower Compact, it was one of the most important documents of the time because it was the first written plan of government for the New World. |
The Mayflower
|
Mayflower Compact
|
|
-Puritans had little toleration, or criticized or persecuted people who held other religious views. Toleration means that you can get along with others that have different viewpoints than you.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was formed after Plymouth Colony and became a larger colony. It was primarily led by John Winthrop. Winthrop led the people of Massachusetts Bay for nearly twenty years. During that time, he would preside (judge) over one of the most famous cases of that time period. Anne Hutchinson was a widower with several children that believed that salvation did not depend on religious law of the church, but of what actually came out of the Bible. This was against Puritan beliefs who believed that if you wanted to go to heaven, you followed the church rules. Hutchinson began to have Bible study at her home, she was arrested and banished (removed) from the colony.
Quakers
In the late 1600s, another group of people that split from the Church of England were the Quakers. The Quakers believed in nonviolence, opposition to slavery, anti-alcohol, and did not swear oaths to anyone but God. They were persecuted by the king of England and left there to go to the New World where they settled in present day Pennsylvania under the leadership of William Penn. Quakers believed in toleration of all religions, Native Americans, and free blacks. Anyone was welcome in Pennsylvania.
William Penn
|
Quaker Oatmeal William Penn
|
The Salem Witch Trials
|
Sometimes the excited nature and energy of the Puritan religion boiled over. In 1692-1693, a witchcraft hysteria erupted at Salem Village, a town fifteen miles north of Boston. Belief in witchcraft was fairly widespread in the seventeenth century (1600s). During the hysteria, nearly 300 citizens, mostly middle aged women, were accused of practicing witchcraft, and more than 30 were hanged for it. What made Salem unique was that so many were accused and executed in a town of such a small area.
|
|
It started when a slave from Barbados was accused of controlling three young Puritan girls who acted oddly during a Puritan church service (Puritan church services often lasted hours). The slave was beaten into giving up names of other women she supposedly knew who practiced witchcraft. Soon all three women were hanged, but not before even more women were accused of witchcraft.
Giles Cory
Accused witches
|
Not all of the accused were women, Giles Cory, a local farmer, was accused of witchcraft and lowered into an empty grave. Once inside, a board was placed over him and rocks were piled onto him in order to force a confession. After three days of this, Cory refused to admit that he was a witch (which would have prob saved his life) and died. Another reason that he chose not admit guilt was because if he didn't, his sons could still inherent his land, but if he admitted it and they executed him anyway, his property would go to the government.
A little over a year later, with fourteen women and five men (including one minister) hanged, the hysteria stopped. The amount of accusations began make people question how authentic most accusations were. It seemed that some of them were ways neighbors could get back at other neighbors. The governor of colony's wife was accused, the governor order the trials closed and the matter closed as well. |
The New England Colonies
The New England Colonies: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island
Middle Colonies
The Middle Colonies: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland
|
|
The Southern Colonies
The Southern Colonies: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and sometimes Maryland (depends who you ask).
|
One interesting aspect of the Southern Colonies was Georgia. Georgia was organized by James Oglethorpe as social experiment. Oglethorpe did not want Georgia to become like North and South Carolina who were dominated by rich plantation owners that owned slaves. He wanted a colony where poorer people could actually have a chance to farm and make their lives better. Slavery was not allowed in his colony.
Georgia also became a place where debtors who were in prison in England could get out of jail if they would move to Georgia and begin farming.
|