Bell Ringer

• What were the two major colonies first founded in the USA by the English?

• What were the goals of each respective colony?

Chapter 4: Colonial Roots

The Original ColoniesMassachusetts: Plymouth • Founded 1620• Started with 102 people

(Mayflower)• Founded by English

Protestants (people who faced religious persecution)

• Used the Mayflower Compact to keep order

• Important Figure: William Bradford

Virginia: Jamestown• Founded 1607• Started with 500 colonists • Founded by a private

trading company.• Founded on the concept

that the colony would turn a profit.

• Important Figure: Captain John Smith

Early Colonies• Indians are crucial for early survival.– Introduce colonist to new plants (potatoes, corn,

tomatoes) • Indians are hurt by new diseases.• Indians will lose the majority of their land to

new settlers, which strips them of their way of life.– A few leaders DO actually pay for land and treat

natives fairly.

Slaves?• Before slaves there were Indentured Servants.– Indentured Servant: Individuals who agreed to work

for a person in turn for shelter, food, clothing, repayment of debts, and passage to the new world.

• The first “slaves” (only 20) were brought to the US in 1619 by the Dutch.

• Blacks were originally treated as indentured servants, but over time slavery as we know it came to exist and was strongly rooted in racism.

Colonial Government• Englishmen (& women) were fond of their Rights.

• This idea originally comes from the Magna Carta (MC), which entitled English citizens to certain rights.

• The idea of Due process of law was one of these rights (meaning there needs to be laws to be enforced)

• The MC also prevented unfair taxation, and the law making body known as the legislature.

American Ideals from Englishmen• Legislatures: group of people CHOSEN to

make laws• House of Burgessess (1619): Virginia’s legislature. The 1st

of the colonies, made of all white male landowners

• Early colonies didn’t trust one another (wanted to protect their rights)– This leads to Ben Frankiln suggest a confederation

(alliance) of the colonies in a document called the Albany Plan of Union (1754). This idea was rejected as English Parliament thought it stole some of their power.

American Ideals from Englishmen• The original Mayflower boat was filled by those

wishing to escape religious persecution. – Puritans, Catholics, Anglicans, Quakers (didn’t get

along)

• Maryland tried to stop religious persecution by passing the Act of Religious Tolerance (1649).– This stated that Christians would not be troubled

by Puritans for their beliefs.• (This didn’t really carry over to other religions

originally)

American Ideals from Englishmen• John Peter Zenger: in 1730s Colonial printer

who was arrested for, “printing rebellious statements.”

• Zenger’s attorney argued that people should have the right to speak out against injustices.

• This case helped to promote the idea of freedom of Press & Speech.

American Ideals from Englishmen• 1730s were a time of religious revival in the

colonies called the “Great Awakening.”• The awakening encouraged people to find God in

their own terms, by each person, not told to them by a preacher in a sermon.

• Jonathan Edwards spoke of the hell fires that one could be saved from only by finding God.

• Though it was religiously based it cause people to ask questions and think about their lives & the questioning of religious matters would lead to the questioning of political matters.