Download Jamestown and the first economic settlers

Jamestown and the First
Economic Settlers (pg 22)
Economic Reasons why English
came to America (Opportunity)
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At the same time the Protestant Reformation
was changing the English Church, a revolution
in trade and agriculture was changing English
society.
Other than religious freedom English settlers
wanted to establish new trade markets and
harvest natural resources to make money in
the new world.
Enclosure Movement
(Opportunity)
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English land owners removed tenant farmers
(who rented land) from their land.
Enclosure Movement: “Closed” their land to
tenants for sheep farming to sell wool.
This displaced thousands of unemployed
people and America became appealing for a
chance at a better life.
Joint-Stock Companies (Travel)
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Surplus wool was produced for England so the
sheep farmers needed new markets to sell
wool.
Join-stock companies were formed to find new
markets to sell goods.
Joint-stock companies pooled the money of
many investors. These companies then had a
large amount of money to explore, trade and
colonize new areas without the help of the
government.
Roanoke
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Sir Walter Raleigh colonizes Roanoke and names
Virginia after the “virgin queen” Queen Elizabeth I.
Roanoke became known as the “lost colony”.
100 settlers are sent to live in the colony. They live
through a harsh winter. Some go back to England for
supplies. When they return the colony was gone.
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No bodies
Only empty houses
Letters “CRO” carved on a post possibly referring to Coratoan
Indians.
Jamestown
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Virginia Company sent 105 settlers to set up trade
between New World and England.
Settlers led by John Smith
Problems:
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The fort was built on a swamp which contained
mosquitoes carrying a deadly malaria virus.
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Powhatan Indians lived near and traded with the
settlers. (Pocahontas tribe)
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Settlers did not work, grow food, and they were not
good hunters.
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Many English died from disease and starvation.
A joint-stock company: based in
Virginia in 1607: founded to find
gold and a water way to the Indies:
confirmed all Englishmen that they
would have the same life in the
New World. as they had in
England, with the same rights: 3 of
their ships transported the people
that would found Jamestown in
1607.
Jamestown
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The 1609-1610 winter was the “starving time”.
In order to survive the settlers ate:
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Shoe leather
Rats and snakes
Dead bodies and dead horses
Growing tobacco and selling it in Europe saved
the colony by helping to make money. Tobacco
is a natural resource and was the most lucrative
cash crop in the colonies.
Other natural resource from America are cotton,
timber and fish.
Jamestown
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The first government in Jamestown was
the House of Burgesses which allowed
settlers to elect its own representatives
and propose its own laws.
To entice new settlers headrights were
given which was 50 acres of land in
exchange for an investment in the jointstock company.
Maryland
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Maryland was a colony created for the refuge of
Catholics from England.
Started by Lord Baltimore.
Maryland was a Proprietary Colony where the
owner could run the colony in anyway they
chose.
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Impose taxes
Appoint officials
Coin money
Create courts
Grant lands
English Settlement of the American
Colonies
•
English settlers created colonies in
America for 2 main reasons:
1. Religious freedom
2. New opportunities to make money