Download UNIT 2: COLONIAL SETTLEMENT

UNIT 2: COLONIAL SETTLEMENT
CHAPTER 3: COLONIAL AMERICA
EARLY ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS
--Jamestown, Virginia 1607: first permanent English settlement in North America. Named after
King James of England. Hardships in the colony: humid climate and swamps for diseasecarrying mosquitoes, lack of good farmland, surrounded by Native American settlements, and
the lust for gold and silver.
--the colony of Jamestown was almost a disaster. The crop tobacco saves the colony. Sold to
Europe. The colony began to prosper.
--by 1619, slaves from Africa were being brought to Virginia as laborers.
NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
--in England, there were many demands for religious freedom. Many people began to grow
upset with the way their particular religion was being practiced. Many people who wanted
change were persecuted, or treated harshly.
--the Protestants who wanted to reform the Anglican Church were called Puritans. Those who
wanted to leave and found their own churches were known as Separatists.
--Some Separatists wanted to go to North America to have religious freedom. These were
known as the Pilgrims. They landed in an area north of Virginia called Plymouth .
--Massachusetts Bay was founded in 1630 by a group of Puritans who were being persecuted in
England. This colony was north of Plymouth. The Puritans had little toleration for other
people’s religious beliefs.
--King Philip’s War: the English who were settling in Massachusetts Bay Colony wanted to
expand, and the nearby Native American tribes did not let them. It took several years of fighting,
raids, and ambushes to defeat the Native Americans that were there, the Wampanoag. The
English defeated them with the help of other Native Americans known as the Mohawks. With
their defeat, the English now moved further west for more land. This entire conflict is known as
King Philip’s War.
--Rhode Island became a safe place for all religions. All people could practice their religion
there.
--the New England Colonies: Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, Rhode Island
MIDDLE COLONIES
--the English had control of New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island) and also
Maryland & Virginia. In between, the Dutch controlled the land. The Dutch had control of the
colony of New Netherlands, with its main settlement in New Amsterdam located on Manhattan
Island (settled in 1624). New Amsterdam had an excellent location for a harbor with very good
trade.
--the English wanted to acquire the valuable Dutch colony, so in 1664 the English sent a fleet to
attack New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam was unprepared for battle so they surrendered. King
Charles II of England gave the colony to his brother, the Duke of York, who renamed it the
colony New York. The Duke of York promised the diverse colonists freedom of religion and
allowed them to keep their property.
--New York was already diverse as early as 1664. Most were Dutch, but many Germans,
Swedes, Finnish, Native Americans, and Puritans from New England lived there. There were
also some enslaved Africans as well.
--the Duke of York sold the southern part of New York Colony to 2 men who renamed it New
Jersey. New Jersey attracted settlers because some parts of the land were given away to them.
New Jersey promised freedom of religion, trial by jury, and a representative assembly. It was
also a place of ethnic and religious diversity.
--William Penn was the founder of Pennsylvania Colony. Pennsylvania became a haven for
Quakers, a religious group that was being persecuted. Many Quakers in America and England
moved to Pennsylvania so they could worship their religion freely.
--Quakers believed that everybody was equal in God’s eyes and that you don’t need any church
services to find salvation. They were firm in their beliefs. However, Quakers were very tolerant
of the views of other people. They accepted other people’s beliefs.
--Delaware was founded by Swedes in the 1630s.
--To summarize, the Middle Colonies were made up of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
and Delaware.
SOUTHERN COLONIES
--Many men, women, and children came to the colonies as indentured servants. In return for
the payment of their passage to America, they agreed to work without pay for a certain period of
time.
--Maryland was founded in the 1630s. It was intended to be a safe haven for Catholics, who
were being persecuted in England. The settlers there began to grow tobacco, corn, wheat, fruit,
vegetables, and also raised livestock. Baltimore became the colony’s largest settlement.
--As other colonies were being founded, Virginia continued to grow. The settlers of the colony
begin to push further west onto Native American lands. To avoid conflicts the governor of
Virginia, Sir Berkeley, had told the settlers they were not allowed to push further west.
--Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy young planter, didn’t like this idea because he felt that he and
other settlers living more towards the west had the right to move wherever they wanted to. Many
of his followers began to move on Native American territory and then blamed the government
for not protecting them when Native Americans attacked. In 1676 Bacon led the angry
westerners in attacks on Native American villages. Governor Berkeley declared Bacon a rebel.
Bacon’s army marched into Jamestown and set fire to the capital. Bacon suddenly got ill and
died, so the rebellion eventually diminished. British troops were sent to Jamestown to restore
order and end the rebellion. This was known as Bacon’s Rebellion.
--In the 1660s another colony had been founded by the British: Carolina, which was south of
Virginia. Almost immediately, the Northern and Southern parts of Carolina became separate
entities. The Northern part was settled mostly by farmers from Virginia. They grew tobacco and
sold forest products such as timber and tar. The Southern part was more prosperous because of
more fertile farmland and a good harbor at Charles Town (Charleston). The trade in corn,
lumber, and cattle flourished. Rice became the colony’s leading crop. Indigo was also an
important crop too.
--Many of the people living in Carolina were slaves. Many worked on the rice plantations.
Growing rice required much labor, so the demand for slaves increased. By 1700 more than half
the people who arrived in Charles Town were enslaved Africans.
--In 1729 Carolina was formally divided into two colonies: North Carolina and South Carolina
because of the tensions between the two regions.
--Georgia was founded in 1733. It was originally founded for English debtors and poor people
so they could make a fresh start. Also, the British wanted a colony in that location as protection
from the Spanish who were in Florida. Located between Spanish Florida and South Carolina,
Georgia served as a military barrier.
--To summarize, the Southern colonies were made up of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Georgia.
CHAPTER 4: THE COLONIES GROW
LIFE IN THE COLONIES:
--the colonies begin to rapidly grow between 1607 and 1790 because of immigration. Also,
many families had a lot of children. It was not unusual for a woman to have seven or more
children. this all led to a big population growth.
--in the New England Colonies, many people were farmers. However, most farms in this region
were not enormous farms. Farmers in New England practiced subsistence farming, which means
that they generally produced just enough to meet the needs of their families, with little left over
to sell or exchange.
--People in New England also had small businesses where they would sell certain products like
cloth, garments, candles, or soap. Many people also became blacksmiths, shoemakers, furniture
makers, gunsmiths, metalsmiths, and printers. Shipbuilding and fishing were also important
local industries and major economic activities.
--An important route for trade between New England, Britain, and West Africa was known as the
Triangular Trade. The Triangular Trade involved food, supplies, raw ingredients, and slaves.
The part of the triangle (route) that involved the West Africans being brought to the Americas
was known as the Middle Passage. It was an inhumane, horrible way to transport slaves into
America. Conditions were very poor and the Africans received very little food and medical care.
Many died along the way because of unsanitary conditions.
--In the Middle Colonies, there was more fertile soil and a slightly milder climate than that found
in New England. Farmers in this region cultivated larger tracts of land and produced bigger
harvests than did New Englanders. In New York and Pennsylvania, farmers grew large
quantities of wheat and other cash crops, crops that could be sold easily in markets in the
colonies and overseas.
--Many people in the Middle colonies, such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania were carpenters,
flour makers, lumberjacks, miners, and small scale manufacturers.
--Most of the German immigrants who came in America settled in the Middle Colonies,
especially Pennsylvania. They used agricultural methods that they developed in Europe and
became successful farmers.
--the Southern Colonies were well suited for farming because of their rich soil and warm climate.
Farmers here could cultivate large areas of land and produce harvests. Because of this, the south
did not establish commerce or industry (they had very little of this). Their sole way of life was
farming.
--Tobacco was the principal cash crop of Maryland and Virginia. Most of it was sold in Europe,
where the demand for tobacco was strong. Many southerners grew rich out of this. Southern
planters used slaves for the cultivation of these farms.
--The main cash crop in South Carolina and Georgia was rice. In low-lying coastal areas,
planters built dams to create rice fields called paddies. Rice harvesting required lots of heavy
work, so planters used slave labor.
--Slavery: most enslaved Africans in North America lived on plantations. Many slaves were
subject to cruelty. Many plantation owners hired overseers, or bosses, to keep the slaves
working hard. All southern colonies had slave codes, which were strict rules to keep the slaves
oppressed. Many southerners thought that slavery was ok, while many Northerners thought
slavery to be wrong. Many northerners refused to have a slave because they thought that owning
a human being was wrong.
GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, AND CULTURE
--English colonial rule: England viewed its North American colonies as an economic resource.
The colonies provided England with raw materials. English manufacturers used these materials
to produce finished goods, which they sold to the colonists. To make certain that only England
benefited from trade with the colonies, Parliament passed a series of laws in the 1650s called the
Navigation Acts. These laws directed the flow of goods between England and the colonies.
Colonial merchants who had goods to send to England could NOT use foreign ships—even if
those ships offered lower shipping rates. The Navigation Acts also prohibited the colonists from
sending certain products, such as sugar or tobacco, outside England’s empire.
--Religion in the Colonies: In the 1730s and 1740s, a religious revival called the Great
Awakening swept through the colonies. In New England and the Middle Colonies, ministers
called for “a new birth”, a return to the strong faith of earlier days. The Great Awakening led to
the formation of many new churches, especially in the Southern backcountry. The most famous
preacher of the awakening was Jonathan Edwards, whose sermons were powerful and
convincing.
--An emerging culture: A colonial farm was both home and workplace. Women usually worked
inside the home, while men worked in the fields and built barns, houses, and fences. Mothers
and fathers taught their children farming tasks. In some parts of the colonies women worked in
the fields next to their husbands. Men were the formal heads of the households. Most women
did not work, unless they were young and single or widows. Married women were considered
subject to their husbands’ authority and had few rights.
--Education: Most colonists placed a high value on education. Children were often taught to read
and write at home by their parents, but the daily chores of colonial life left adults little time for
giving lessons. This is when public education laws began to pass in some colonies. By the late
1600s, more than half of adults in the colonies could read and write, which was a big
improvement from 200 years earlier. Many single women and widows established schools in
their home where they became teachers.
FRANCE AND BRITAIN CLASH IN AMERICA
--British-French Rivalry: the colonists in the British colonies on the east coast begin to move
westward to seek more land and resources. However, to the west, the Native Americans and the
French have already claimed that land as theirs, in their trading relationship. This area is known
as the Ohio River Valley, west of Pennsylvania. The French drove out the English colonists and
began to build forts for protection against the English colonists. The French and British had
already been rivals for many centuries, and this fighting for land will eventually lead to war.
--Native Americans take sides: The French had many Native American allies. Unlike the British,
the French were interested mainly in trading for furs—not in taking over Native American land.
--In 1754, the governor of Virginia appointed George Washington, a lieutenant colonel, and
sent him to the Ohio country with a militia to build a fort in present-day Pittsburgh. When
Washington and his troops arrived, they found the French already building Fort Duquesne on
that spot. Washington established a small post called Fort Necessity nearby. Washington’s
forces attacked a nearby French scouting party, but the French forced the colonists to surrender.
--A plan: While Washington struggled with the French, representatives from the colonies met in
Albany, New York to discuss the threat of war. They wanted to find a way for the colonies to
work together to defend themselves from the French. Benjamin Franklin suggested a plan called
the Albany Plan of Union. The plan called for one general government. A single elected
legislature would govern all the colonies and would have the power to collect taxes, raise troops,
and regulate trade.
--Not a single colonial assembly approved the plan. None of the colonies were willing to give up
any of its power. The Albany meeting failed to unite the colonists to fight the French.
Washington’s defeat at Fort Necessity marked the beginning of a series of clashes and full-scale
war. The British colonists called it the French and Indian War because they were fighting two
enemies—the French and their Native American allies.
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
--The French and Indian War was fought by the British colonists against the French and Native
Americans. During the early stages of the war, the British colonists fought the French and
Native Americans with little help from Britain. In 1754, the government in London decided to
help the colonists drive the French out of the “their” land. General Edward Braddock was
appointed commander in chief of the British forces in America to help George Washington. (the
entire point of this war was for control of land in North America.)
--Braddock marches to Duquesne: In June 1755, Braddock and his army were marching to Fort
Duquesne, to attack the French. Their bright red uniform made it easy for Native American and
French forces to attack. Braddock’s army never even made it to the fort. Braddock was killed
and the battle ended in a bitter defeat for the British.
--Britain declares war on France: When news of Braddock’s defeat reached London, Britain
declared war on France, officially starting the war. The first years of the war were disastrous for
the British and their American colonies. Native Americans killed settlers, burned farmhouses
and crops, and drove many families back towards the east.
--Pitt takes charge: Great Britain’s fortunes improved after William Pitt came to power as
secretary of state and then prime minister. Pitt was an outstanding military planner, and knew
how to pick skilled commanders. He also decided that Great Britain would pay for supplies
needed in the war—no matter the cost.
--The fall of New France (Canada): Perched high atop a cliff overlooking the St. Lawrence
River, Quebec, the capital of New France, was thought to be impossible to attack. In September
1759, British general James Wolfe found a way. One of Wolfe’s scouts spotted a poorly
guarded path up the back of the cliff; Wolfe’s soldiers overwhelmed the guards posted on the
path. There they surprised and defeated the French army. This was the Battle of Quebec.
--Treaty of Paris: The fall of Quebec and later Montreal brought the fighting in North America
to an end. In the Treaty of Paris of 1763, France was forced to give up Canada and its lands
east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain. Great Britain gained Florida from Spain, which
was France’s ally. In return, Spain received French lands west of the Mississippi River—the
Louisiana Territory—as well as the port of New Orleans. The Treaty of Paris marked the end of
France as a power in North America.
--Trouble on the frontier: The British victory over the French dealt a blow to the Native
Americans of the Ohio River Valley. They had lost their French allies and trading partners.
Although the Native Americans traded with the British, they regarded them as enemies.
To prevent future fighting, the British government called a halt to the settlers’ westward
expansion. In the Proclamation of 1763, King George III declared that the Appalachian
Mountains were the temporary western boundary for all the colonies. Although the French and
Indian War brought peace for the first time in many years, the Proclamation of 1763 created
friction between Britain and the colonies. More conflicts would soon arise between the
government in Britain and the colonists in North America.