Colonial America

The early North American colonies and their influence on values and

beliefs we share today.

Early English Settlements

Many settlers journeyed to America with the hope of making it

Roanoke-The lost colony

• Sir Walter Raleigh was given permission from Queen Elizabeth to start a colony in the new world.

• Raleigh’s scouts claimed Roanoke Island off the coast of present day N Carolina.

• In 1585, Raleigh sent 100 men to the colony whom returned to England after a difficult winter

John White

• Raleigh tried again in 1587 by sending John White to leal the group.

• This trip included 91 men, 17 women, and 9 children.

• White’s daughter gave birth to the 1st child(English) in the new world---Virginia Dare

White returns to England

• For supplies and to recruit more settlers.

• War with Spain delayed his return back to Roanoke.

Croatoan

• When White finally returned, 2 years later, to Roanoke, he found it deseted.

• The only clue to the fate of the settlers was the word Croatoan carved in a tree.

• White thought the settlers must have moved to the Croatoan Island---they were not there.

• The settlers were never seen again.

Jamestown

• In 1605, The Virginia Company ( a joint stock co.) received a charter from the king to create a habitation.

• In 1607 the co. sent 144 settlers to the new colony in an attempt to find gold and establish trade with the Native Americans.

Jamestown

• The settlers chose a spot on the James River so they could defend themselves from attack.

• What they didn’t consider was its poor living and farming conditions.

• Mosquitoes swarmed the swampy land carrying disease.

Jamestown

• Settlers were too busy looking for riches they didn’t bother too build their colony up and to farm it properly.

• By the end of 1607 only 38 colonists remained.

John Smith• Smith took over as leader of

Jamestown in the winter of 1608.

• He forced colonists to work or not be fed.

• He also started good relations with the Indians

• In 1609 400 settlers arrived and Smith returned to England.

• Without his leadership, the colony suffered and fighting broke out with the Indians.

• By 1610, only 60 colonists were alive

John Rolfe

• The colonists never found gold however Rolfe learned how to grow Tobacco in 1612 and would eventually sell it to England.

• Native American relations improved once Rolf married Pocahontus

Representative Government

• In 1619, colonists wanted to make their own laws. Each town sent 2 representatives to an assembly-House of Burgesses (the 1st form of gov’t) was formed

More arrivals

• Most of the population consisted of men. In 1619 ninety women were sent so families could be created.

• Colonists who wanted to marry would have to pay with 120 lbs of tobacco.

Conflicts with Native Americans

• Native Americans grew more upset as colonists took over Indian lands without even payment.

• Attacks became more frequent.

• Native Americans formed allies to fight the colonists. King Phillips (1623) war left the Indian nations totally destroyed.

• This gave the colonists even more room to expand.

African Americans

• The 1st Africans were brought over as servants in 1618. They were not considered slaves but more as indentured servants.

Religious Freedom

• Separatists-Protestants that wanted to leave England to form their own church and avoid being persecuted for their own beliefs

• The separatists fled to the Netherlands and then to America in 1620. Pilgrams

• Only 38 of 108 were pilgrams

• They were suppose to land in Virginia - Mass.

The Mayflower Compact

• Was a pledge that they would be loyal to England and obey the laws passed.

• First Form of Government

The Rock

• The pilgrims arrived in December of 1620

• The 1st winter Half died of malnutrition, disease, and cold.

• Squanto and Somerset befriended the Pilgrims in the Spring.

The Great Migration

• 1630s - 15,000 Puritans came to Massachusetts looking to escape Religious persecution.

• The colony had very little toleration for other religious views and would themselves persecute others.

Thomas Hooker

• He did not like the way the Puritans ran the Gov’t in Mass.

• He took his congregation through the wilderness to start a new colony.

• He formed Connecticut in 1635

Roger Williams• Banished from the Mass.

colony for his beliefs.• He believed that people

should not be persecuted. Felt that the Indians should be paid for their property.

• He purchased land from the Indians and started Providence, Rhode Island.

• Rhode Is., in 1635, was the 1st place in America where people of all faiths could worship freely.

Anne Hutchinson

• Questioned religious authority and was put on trial for speaking false ideas in 1637.

• She claimed that God spoke to her. Her accusers found her ideas inappropriate to Puritan beliefs and banished her.

• Moved to Rhode Island