The American Colonies Emerge

Chapter 2

Diverse groups from all regions of the U.S

Nomadic v nonmigratory/farming

Trade brought tribes in contact with one another

Transcontinental trading networks enabled groups to trade with one another without direct contact

Native American Life

Sailing technology increased to help sailors stay on course Compass and astrolabe

Innovations in design allowed ships to sail against the wind

Portugese were the top country for exploration Around the tip of Africa, India, East Asia Increased profit by finding new trade routes

Europe Enters a New Age of Exploration

English colonies not funded by kings but rather ‘joint-stock companies’Investors pool wealth to support a colony that

would hopefully be profitable

1606 King James 1 of England granted a charter to the Virginia CompanyLured supporters by asking for small investments

in return for any gold/silver found by colonists

3 ships and 150 passengers reached Virginia in April 1607 and named their settlement Jamestown

English Settlers Struggle in N. America

Many colonists were not used to a life of hard labor and refused to work

Diseases from contaminated river water & starvation

By winter 1607 only 38 colonists survived

In spring 1609, 600 new colonists arrived but Powhatan Indians were concerned with growing number of colonists and began killing livestock and destroying farms

Following winter famine took hold again and only 60 survived

Why was Jamestown a Struggle?

Jamestown

An aerial view of how Jamestown might have looked in the year 1614.

1612 Jamestown colonists created a high-quality tobacco strain that became very popular By 1620’s importing more that 1.5 million lbs a year

To grow tobacco you needed laborers so Virginia Company created the headright system Anyone who paid for their own or another’s passage

to Virginia received 50 acres land

People with $ began coming over and creating plantations- used indentures servants4-7 yrs of servitude in exchange for passage to N.

America, food and shelter

“Brown Gold and Indentured Servants”

Seal of the Virginia Company

Poster to Attract Settlers to Virginia

Africans first arrived in 1619 aboard a Dutch ship

Continued to arrive in colony in small numbers as indentured servants

Africans not used as slaves because too expensive and indentured servant cheaper

BUT by late 1600’s a decline in indentured servants and an increase in wealth lead colonist to begin importing slaves in huge amounts

First African Laborers

By 1622 settlers and natives were battling one another-kidnapping, attacking, killing, raiding

Many attacks forced the Virginia Company to go bankrupt b/c they spent $ on troops and supplies

1624: James 1 was upset with the chaos in Virginia and made it a royal colonyUnder direct control of the king

Settlers Battle Native Americans

Virginia’s poor settlers felt oppressed by high taxes that went directly to the wealthy in government Wanted to know why $ was not being used to

build forts against the natives

In June 1675 a dispute between Doeg tribe and poor frontier settlers quickly turned into a full fight Settlers pleaded with governor for military

support but he refused to finance war that would benefit poor settlers

Economic Differences Split Virginia

Bacon’s RebellionPlanter Nathaniel

Bacon raises an army to fight Native Americans on Virginia’s frontier

Governor declared army illegal so Bacon headed to Jamestown to confront leaders about:Lack of representation

in VA gov’t Lack of support for

frontier poor

• Eventually turned violent and Bacon’s army set fire to Jamestown

Successes of the rebellion: Drew King Charles’ attention to Virginia’s gov’t

and policies

Showed the growing power of colony’s poor

Bacon’s Rebellion

Roger Williams was an extreme Separatist and had two radical ideas:English settlers had no right to land unless

they bought it from the Native Americans Gov’t officials had no business punishing

settlers for their religious beliefs

England was very upset and ordered Williams arrested and returned to England He fled to present- day Providence, RI and

negotiated with the local tribe for land to set up a new colony: Providence

Dissent in the Puritan Community

Dissent in the Puritan CommunityPuritans leaders soon had

another problem with dissenter Anne Hutchinson Taught bible readings in

her home- stated that worshippers don’t need church to interpret Bible

Puritan leaders banished Hutchinson in 1638 and she left with her family and followers to Rhode Island

First major conflict between colonists and natives was the Pequot War May 1637

90 English colonists and hundreds of their Native America allies surrounded a Pequot tribe fort and massacred men, women and children

King Phillip’s War Wampanoag chief Metacom aka King Phillip (English name)

Natives used hit-and-run tactics to attack and burn English settlements throughout NE

After a year war ended when disease and heavy causalities wore down the natives

Natives lost power in NE but English lost one-tenth of colonial men

Native Americans Resist Colonial Expansion

Henry Hudson sails up the Hudson River

1621 Dutch gov’t grants the Dutch West India Company permission to colonize New Netherland 1625 New Amsterdam (now NYC) became capital of the colony

Profited from fur trade

Slow to attract Dutch colonists so opened doors to variety of people German, French, Scandinavians & Africans (free and slave)

Enjoyed friendlier relations with Natives More focused on trading fur than land but some fights did

occur

The Dutch Found New Netherland

English saw New Netherland as a “wedge” between its northern and southern colonies

1664 King Charles II allowed his brother James (Duke of York) to drive out the Dutch Arrived in New Amsterdam’s harbor with fleet of

shipsDutch governor Peter Stuyvesant asked for people

to take arms against English but outnumbered they surrendered without any violence

Renamed New York and portion of land given to his friend and named New Jersey

The Dutch Found New Netherland

Quakers believed God’s “inner light” burned inside everyone No formal ministers at services- anyone could speak Dressed plainly and opposed war – refused to serve in military

William Penn realized that England was no place for Quakers Harassed for their views by Anglicans and Puritans

Wanted to start “holy experiment” Place without upper class Every man got 50 acres of land & right to vote Freedom of religion and representative gov’t

Wanted capital to be called “City of Brotherly Love”- Philadelphia

Quakers Settle Pennsylvania

Quakers Settle Pennsylvania Penn believed that people

approached in friendship would respond in friendship

Penn arranged to have a letter read to the Lenni Lenape tribe Treated Natives fairly Provided a court with both

colonists and Native Americans to settle differences

More than 50 years Pennsylvania colony had no conflicts with Natives

Penn needed to attract settlers so put out advertisements across Europe Settlers started coming including thousands of

Germans who brought craft and farming skills to help colony survive

By Penn’s death in 1718 is vision of society began to fadeQuakers became a minority Slavery introduced- against Quaker ideals

But ideas of equality, cooperation and religious tolerance remained and would become values of new American nation

Quakers Settle Pennsylvania