Lesson 7: The Southern Colonies

Question 1

Act of Toleration Definition

Answer 1

A 1649 Maryland law that provided religious freedom for all Christians

Question 2

Backcountry Definition

Answer 2

Frontier region located along the eastern slope of Appalachian Mountains

Question 3

Debtor Definition

Answer 3

A person who cannot pay money owed

Question 4

Indigo Definition

Answer 4

A plant used to make a valuable blue dye

Question 5

James Oglethorpe Definition

Answer 5

Founded Georgia colony where debtors could be protected

Question 6

Plantation Definition

Answer 6

Large estate farmed by many workers

Question 7

Racism Definition

Answer 7

The belief that one race is superior to another

Question 8

Slave Codes Definition

Answer 8

Laws that controlled the lives of enslaved Africans and African Americans and denied them basic rights

Question 9

Tidewater Definition

Answer 9

Region affected by rise and fall of tides from the coastal waters

Question 10

What did Sir George Calvert do in 1632?

Answer 10

In 1632, Sir George Calvert persuaded King Charles I to grant him land for a colony in the Americas. Calvert had ruined his career in Protestant England by becoming a Roman Catholic. Now, he planned to build a colony where Catholics could practice their religion freely.

Question 11

Who was the colony of Maryland named after, by Sir George Calvert?

Answer 11

He named the colony Maryland in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, the king’s wife.

Question 12

Who continued Sir George Calvert’s work after he died?

Answer 12

His son, Cecil, also known as Lord Baltimore

Question 13

How did people arrive in Maryland in the spring of 1634?

Answer 13

In the spring of 1634, about 200 colonists landed along the upper Chesapeake Bay, across the Potomac River from England’s first southern colony, Virginia.

Question 14

What was England’s first southern colony?

Answer 14

Virginia

Question 15

What was the colonists first impression of Virginia?

Answer 15

Maryland was truly a land of plenty. Chesapeake Bay was full of fish, oysters, and crabs. Across the bay, Virginians were already growing tobacco for profit.

Question 16

What did Lord Baltimore do as proprietor of Maryland?

Answer 16

As proprietor of the colony, Lord Baltimore owned Maryland. It was his responsibility, not that of a company, to start the colony. He used private funds to do it. He appointed a governor and a council of advisers. He gave colonists a role in government by creating an elected assembly. At first, settlers had to pay rent to Lord Baltimore. Few settlers came to Maryland, because most wanted to own their land. Eager to attract settlers, Lord Baltimore decided to make generous land grants to anyone who brought over servants, women, and children. Later he offered smaller farms, as well as great estates, to attract more settlers.

Question 17

How many women took advantage of Lord Baltimore’s land offer?

Answer 17

A few women took advantage of Lord Baltimore’s offer of land. Two sisters, Margaret and Mary Brent, arrived in Maryland in 1638 with nine male servants. In time, they set up two plantations of about 1,000 acres each.

Question 18

What did Margaret Brent later do for the colony of Maryland, after settling?

Answer 18

Later, Margaret Brent helped prevent a rebellion among the governor’s soldiers. The Maryland assembly praised her efforts, saying that “the colony’s safety at any time [was better] in her hands than in any man’s.”

Question 19

Why was the Act of Toleration formed? What did it provide?

Answer 19

To make sure Maryland continued to grow, Lord Baltimore welcomed Protestants as well as Catholics to the colony. Later, Lord Baltimore came to fear that Protestants might try to deprive Catholics of their right to worship freely. In 1649, he asked the assembly to pass an Act of Toleration. The law provided religious freedom for all Christians. As in many colonies, this freedom did not extend to Jews.

Question 20

How were the Carolinas colonized?

Answer 20

In 1663, a group of eight English nobles received a grant of land from King Charles II. Settlement took place in two separate areas, one in the north and the other in the south.

Question 21

How was life like in North Carolina?

Answer 21

In the northern part of the Carolinas, settlers were mostly poor tobacco farmers who had spread south from Virginia. They tended to have small farms. Eventually, in 1712, the colony became known as North Carolina. Farther south, the group of eight English nobles set up a larger colony.

Question 22

What was the largest settlement in South Carolina?

Answer 22

The largest settlement, Charles Town, sprang up where the Ashley and Cooper rivers met the Atlantic Ocean. Later, Charles Town’s name was shortened to Charleston. This colony became known as South Carolina in 1719.

Question 23

Who later immigrated to Charleston?

Answer 23

Most early settlers in Charleston were English people who had been living in Barbados, a British colony in the Caribbean. Later, other immigrants arrived, including Germans, Swiss, French Protestants, and Spanish Jews.

Question 24

In the Carolinas, what crops grew well inland and on the coast?

Answer 24

Around 1685, a few planters discovered that rice grew well in the swampy lowlands along the coast. However, they were unable to grow rich crops until Africans from rice-growing areas of Africa were brought against their will to the colony. Before long, Carolina rice was a profitable crop traded around the world. Settlers farther inland in South Carolina later learned to raise indigo, a plant used to make a valuable blue dye.

Question 25

What was England’s last Southern colony?

Answer 25

Georgia, carved from the southern part of South Carolina

Question 26

What did James Oglethorpe do for Georgia? What did he want for it?

Answer 26

James Oglethorpe, a respected English soldier and energetic social reformer, helped to found Georgia in 1732. He and the other trustees started and funded the colony privately. They hoped it would solve an English social problem as well as defend the English colonies to the north from Spanish Florida to the south. Oglethorpe wanted the new colony to be a place where debtors, or people who owed money they could not pay back, could make a fresh start.

Question 27

How were Oglethorpe’s and Penn’s reasons for colonizing similar?

Answer 27

Penn had established Pennsylvania as a refuge for people of different religions. Similarly, Oglethorpe established Georgia mainly for social reasons, as a refuge for debtors.

Question 28

How were debtors treated in England? What did Oglethorpe say America would provide?

Answer 28

Under English law, the government could imprison debtors until they paid what they owed. If they ever got out of jail, debtors often had no money and no place to live. Oglethorpe offered to pay for debtors and other poor people to travel to Georgia. “In America,” he said, “there are enough fertile lands to feed all the poor of England.”

Question 29

What was Oglethorpe’s view on slavery when he created the city of Savanah? What happened when his view changed?

Answer 29

In 1733, Oglethorpe and 120 colonists built the colony’s first settlement at Savannah, along the Savannah River. Oglethorpe set strict rules for the colony. Farms could be no bigger than 500 acres, and slavery was forbidden. At first, Georgia grew slowly. Later, however, Oglethorpe changed the rules to allow large plantations and slave labor. After that, the colony grew more quickly.

Question 30

How did the plantation system begin?

Answer 30

The plantation system developed in the Southern Colonies because of the headright. The headright was a grant of land for each settler who came to a colony, or for the person who paid to bring a settler. Wealthy settlers saw a chance to gain even more wealth by paying for farm workers and thus gaining ownership of large amounts of fertile, coastal farmland.

Question 31

Where was the plantation system first developed? How did the system influence slavery?

Answer 31

Although the plantation system developed first in Virginia, South Carolina planters turned to it as well. They wanted large numbers of workers for rice plantations. Few white settlers were willing to work in rice paddies. As in Virginia, planters turned to Africa for slave labor.

Question 32

What had happened in the South by 1700?

Answer 32

By 1700, most people coming to Charleston were African men and women brought against their will. Each time a planter bought an enslaved African, the planter gained more land. This system led to the expansion of slavery across the South.

Question 33

How did Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina benefit from the Southern coast?

Answer 33

Parts of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina near the coast all became major tobacco-growing areas.

Question 34

What did settlers in lowland South Carolina and Georgia plant?

Answer 34

Settlers in lowland South Carolina and Georgia raised rice, indigo, and cotton. In these regions, physical features, such as flat landscapes and fertile soils, resulted in a relatively dense population during the 1600s and 1700s.

Question 35

True or False: It is more profitable to farm rice or tobacco on plantations

Answer 35

True

Question 36

Where did the earliest planters settle? How did the Tidewater gets its name?

Answer 36

The earliest planters settled along rivers and creeks of the coastal plain. Because these rivers and creeks rose and fell with ocean tides, the region was known as the Tidewater. The Tidewater’s gentle slopes and rivers offered rich farmland for plantations.

Question 37

Where did people settle next to when moving further inland?

Answer 37

Farther inland, planters settled along rivers. Rivers provided an easy way to move goods to market. Planters loaded crops onto ships bound for the West Indies and Europe. On the return trip, the ships carried English manufactured goods and other luxuries for planters and their families.

Question 38

Why did few large seaports develop in the Southern Colonies?

Answer 38

Most Tidewater plantations had their own docks along the river, and merchant ships picked up crops and delivered goods directly to them. For this reason, few large seaport cities developed in the Southern Colonies.

Question 39

What did Large Tidewater Plantations consist of?

Answer 39

Large Tidewater plantations often consisted of brick or framed mansions with nearby storehouses and quarters for enslaved workers. The mansions overlooked fields or paddies, and often, the nearest river. On these southern plantations, anywhere from 20 to 100 enslaved Africans and African Americans did most of the work. Most of these enslaved workers worked in the fields. Others were skilled workers, such as carpenters, barrel makers, or blacksmiths. Still other enslaved Africans and African Americans worked in the main house as cooks, servants, or housekeepers.

Question 40

How many white southerners had large plantations? What did life on a plantation center around?

Answer 40

Only a small percentage of white southerners owned large plantations. Yet, planters set the style of southern living. Life centered around the planter’s house, or the Great House. There, the planter’s family lived in elegant quarters, including a parlor for visitors, a dining room, and guest bedrooms.

Question 41

What did planters and their wives do on plantations?

Answer 41

During the growing season, planters decided which fields to plant, what crops to grow, and when to harvest the crops. Planters’ wives kept the household running smoothly. They directed enslaved cooks, maids, and butlers in the house and made sure daily tasks were done, such as milking cows.

Question 42

How did the life of slaves compare to the life of planters?

Answer 42

In contrast to the lives of the planters, enslaved workers faced daily hardship. They were impoverished and denied basic rights. Their diets were often inadequate for the work they did. Their dwellings were rough and open to the weather. They faced diseases and other dangers.

Question 43

How did Enslaved Africans benefit the English in the south?

Answer 43

Enslaved Africans played a crucial role on plantations. They used farming skills they had brought from West Africa. With their help, English settlers learned how to grow rice. Africans also knew how to use wild plants unfamiliar to the English. They made water buckets out of gourds, and they used palmetto leaves to make fans, brooms, and baskets.

Question 44

Where was the Backcountry and how was it different from the Tidewater? What motivated people to go there?

Answer 44

West of the Tidewater, life, and the local economy, was very different. Here, at the base of the Appalachians, rolling hills and thick forests covered the land. These physical features would in turn influence where people lived and how they made a living in the region during the 1600s and 1700s. As in the Middle Colonies, this inland area was called the backcountry. Attracted by rich soil, settlers followed the Great Wagon Road into the backcountry of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas.

Question 45

Which groups moved to the Backcountry of the Southern colonies?

Answer 45

Among the settlers who moved into the backcountry were Scotch-Irish and Germans, including German Moravians. The Scotch-Irish tended to be Presbyterian farmers and craftspeople. Many were escaping famine and harsh treatment under English rule in Northern Ireland, or were the children of such immigrants.

Question 46

What did the Scotch-Irish do in the Backcountry?

Answer 46

They built churches and started schools in their backcountry settlements. These immigrant groups transformed the environment by clearing the forests and creating fields where they grew crops such as wheat and fields and pens where they raised cattle and pigs.

Question 47

What did the Germans and the German Moravians do in the Backcountry?

Answer 47

The German immigrants to the backcountry, mostly Lutherans, sought good land at low cost. They often settled together in the same areas, speaking German and retaining German culture. The German Moravians were members of a Protestant group that sought to convert Indians to Christianity. They allowed women to preach and were pacifists. The Moravians kept careful records of backcountry life—including everything from the weather to fashions—that historians still use today.

Question 48

How did democracy compare between people in the Tidewater and people in the Backcountry?

Answer 48

The backcountry was more democratic than the Tidewater. Settlers there were more likely to treat one another as equals. Men tended smaller fields of tobacco or garden crops such as beans, corn, or peas. They also hunted game.

Question 49

What type of economy did the settlers of the Backcountry establish? What was their way of life? Why did it differ so much from the Tidewater?

Answer 49

The distance of the backcountry from the coastline made trade difficult and prevented the development of a plantation economy. Instead, backcountry farmers had to be mostly self-sufficient. Surplus goods were sold at local markets. Women cooked meals and fashioned simple, rugged clothing out of wool or deerskins.

Question 50

How did slavery differ between the Backcountry and the Tidewater?

Answer 50

Another major difference between the backcountry and the Tidewater was slavery. Farms were smaller in the backcountry in part because of the hills and thick forests. Fewer enslaved Africans worked on these smaller farms, and most people were of European descent.

Question 51

What did the hardships of the backcountry do for the families of the region?

Answer 51

The hardships of backcountry life brought settlers closer together. Families gathered to husk corn or help one another build barns. Clustered in fertile valleys along the edge of the Appalachians, these hardy settlers felled trees and grew crops. By changing the environment for the better, they in turn encouraged further economic development in the region.

Question 52

When did the first enslaved Africans arrive and what rights did they have?

Answer 52

The first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619. For the next 50 years, since the African population was small, the status of Africans in the colony was not clearly established. Some enslaved Africans purchased their freedom. Several Africans during the 1600s, such as Anthony Johnson, became successful property owners. In South Carolina, some enslaved Africans worked without supervision as cowboys, herding cattle to market.

Question 53

What impact did the spread of plantation in 1700 have on slavry?

Answer 53

By 1700, plantations in the Southern Colonies had come to rely heavily on slave labor. Eventually, enslaved Africans made up the majority of the population in South Carolina and Georgia. They cleared the land, worked the crops, and tended the livestock. In order to maintain the supply of enslaved Africans, southern planters relied on a system of slave trading that stretched halfway across the globe.

Question 54

What happened as the transatlantic slave trade grew?

Answer 54

Over a period of about 300 years, as the transatlantic slave trade grew, millions of Africans were enslaved. Slave traders from European nations set up posts along the West African coast. They offered guns and other goods in exchange for enslaved Africans.

Question 55

What did Africans do as the demand of cheap labor increased?

Answer 55

As the demand for cheap labor increased, Africans who lived along the coast made raids into the interior, seeking captives to sell to the Europeans. They marched their captives to the coast. There, the Africans were loaded aboard European ships headed for forced immigration to the Americas.

Question 56

What was life like for African slaves on ships to America?

Answer 56

In the 1700s, English sailors began referring to the passage of slave-trading ships west across the Atlantic Ocean as the Middle Passage. Below the decks of these ships, enslaved Africans were often crammed tightly together on shelves. One observer noted that they were “chained to each other hand and foot, and stowed so close, that they were not allowed above a foot and a half for each in breadth.” The captives were allowed above deck to eat and exercise in the fresh air only once or twice a day.

Question 57

How did African slaves try to resist captivity?

Answer 57

Many enslaved Africans resisted, but only a few escaped. Some fought for their freedom during the trip. They would stage a mutiny or revolt. The slave traders lived in fear of this and were heavily armed. Other slaves resisted by refusing to eat or by committing suicide by jumping overboard to avoid a life of enslavement.

Question 58

What was the death toll of the 300 year slave trade?

Answer 58

Records of slave-trading ships show that about 10 percent of Africans loaded aboard a ship for passage to the Americas died during the voyage. Many died of illnesses that spread rapidly in the filthy, crowded conditions inside a ship’s hold. Others died of mistreatment. This slave trade lasted about 300 years. During that time, it may have caused the deaths of as many as 2 to 3 million Africans.

Question 59

What happened as the importance of slavery increased in the 1600s, especially after Bacon’s Rebellion?

Answer 59

As the importance of slavery increased during the 1600s, and particularly after Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia, greater limits were placed on the rights of enslaved Africans and African Americans. Colonists passed laws that set out rules for slaves’ behavior and denied enslaved people basic human rights. These slave codes treated enslaved Africans and African Americans not as human beings but as property.

Question 60

What were the colonists reaction to slavery?

Answer 60

Most English colonists did not question the justice of owning enslaved Africans. They believed that black Africans, as a racial group, were inferior to white Europeans. The belief that one race is superior to another is called racism. Some colonists believed that they were helping enslaved Africans by teaching them Christianity.

Question 61

What groups of colonists spoke out against slavery?

Answer 61

A handful of colonists spoke out against the evils of slavery. In 1688, Quakers in Germantown, Pennsylvania, became the first group of colonists to call for an end to slavery.