The Southern Colonies

The Southern Colonies

Chapter 4, Section 3

•For four year Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed the 244 miles boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland ▫They laid stone markers between the two

colonies creating the Mason Dixon Line ▫Divided the middle Colonies from the

Southern Colonies

Lord Baltimore’s Maryland

•Sir George Calvert planned to build a colony in Maryland where Catholics could practice their religion freely

•When Calvert died, his son Cecil, Lord Baltimore finished the project

Settling the Colony

•200 colonists found land that was rich and beautiful

•Chesapeake Bay was full of fish oyster and crabs

•Hoped to grow tobacco for profit like Virginia as already doing

Women set up plantations

•Margaret and Mary Brent arrived in Maryland with nine servants and set up two plantations

Religious toleration

•To ensure growth Lord Baltimore welcomed Protestants as well as Catholics

•Act of Toleration: provide religious freedom for all Christians

•This freedom did not extend to Jews

The Virginia Frontier

•Many settlers had gone to Virginia, lured by the promise of profit from tobacco

•Wealthy planters took the best land by the coast

•Conflict over land led to fighting between settlers and Indians

•After several bloody clashes, settlers called on the governor to take action▫Governor refused▫Unwilling because he profited from his

own fur trade with the Indians Settlers were furious

Bacon’s Rebellion

•Nathan bacon organized men and women to raid Native American villages▫Then led followers to Jamestown and

burned the capital▫Bacon died suddenly and the revolt fell

apart▫Governor hanged 23 of bacon’s

followers

The Carolinas; The settlers

•To the north settlers were poor tobacco farmers who had drifted south of Virginia

•Farther south eight English nobles set up a larger colony

•Received a land grant from King Charles II

•Largest settlement was Charles Town later shortened to Charleston

Carolina rice

•Few planters discovered that rice grew well in the lowlands along the coast ▫Carolina rice became a valuable crop

traded around the world▫Planters need large numbers of workers

to grow rice•Tried to enslave local Indians•Many died of disease or took off into the

forest•Planters then turned to African slaves

Carolina rice•Northern area of the Carolinas had fewer

slaves•The difference led to the division of the

colony into North and South Carolina

Georgia: A Haven for Debtors

•The last of England’s 13 colonies was carved out of the southern part of South Carolina

•James Oglethorpe founded Georgia▫Wanted Georgia to a place where people

jailed for debt in England could make a new start

Early years

•Oglethorpe and 120 colonists built the colony’s first settlement in Savannah

•Set strict rules▫Farms no bigger than 50 acres▫Slaves were forbidden

Colony grew slowly▫Oglethorpe changes rules allowing large

plantations and slaves Colony grew more quickly

Spain and Indian neighbors

•Spain and England both claimed land between South Carolina and Florida▫Spain aided by Creek Indians tried to force

the English out•Mary Musgrove, daughter of a Creek

mother and an English father, spoke both Creek and English▫Helped to keep peace between the creeks

and settlers of Georgia

Plantation Life

•Enjoyed warmers weather and a longer growing season than the colonies to the north▫Virginia, Maryland, and parts of North

Carolina grew tobacco▫South Carolina and Georgia grew rice

Plantation Life•Colonist found that it was most profitable

to raise tobacco and rice on large plantations▫20 to 100 slaves did most if the work

Location

•Tidewater: area of low land among rivers and creek washed by ocean tides offered rich farmland for plantations

Planters set the style

•Only a small percentage of white southerners owned plantations

•Life centered around the Great House, where the planter and his family lived

The Backcountry

•At the base of the Appalachian Mountains thick forests covered the land▫Settlers took the Great Wagon Road▫Backcountry was more democratic

Treated one another as equals Men worked in tobacco or corn field Women cooked meals and made simple

clothing Life was not easy Families helped one another

Growth of Slavery

•By 1700 plantations on the Southern Colonies relied ion slave labor

•Colonist passed slave codes: set out rules for slaves behaviors and denied slaves basic rights▫Slaves were seen not as human but

property

Attitudes toward slaves

•Racism: the belief that one race is superior to another

•Some colonist claimed they were helping slaves by introducing them to Christianity

•Quakers in Germantown, Pennsylvania were the first group of colonist to call for end to slavery

The Slave Trade

•European slave traders set up post along the African coast ▫Offered guns and other goods to African

rulers who brought them slaves▫Loaded captives aboard Spanish,

Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French ships headed to the Americas

The Slave Trade•Middle Passage: trip from Africa to the

Americas▫Crammed into small spaces below deck▫Once or twice a day the crew allowed

captives up on deck for exercise▫Some Africans fought for their freedom▫Some refused to eat▫Some committed suicide; jumping over

board▫10% of all African shipped to North

America did not survive the Middle Passage