The Colonies Flashcards
Jamestown, Virginia
In 1607, the Virgnia Company settled on the Northeast bank of the James River. First SUCCESSFUL English settlement in the ‘New World’ (constant communication & supplies with it) after agreement that England would be permitted to colonize lands of North America that were not already in Spanish conrtol. People went to get rick quick with minerals but found sickness & diseases
Roanoke Island
Queen Elizabeth had instructed her explorers to go out in the new world to find ‘natural resources’, so they in small settlements. In the winter of 1586-1587, communicaion with this colony was lost. When John White, the governor, came back from to the colony in yhe spring of 1590, everyone was gone. The only thing left was the word “Croatoan” carved into a tree
Capitalism
government has little to no power over econonmy. People & consumers make desicions
Free Market System
allows for people in the middle classes to generate as much capital as they wish. (Voyage to costs a lot of money and people who take out loans or are indentured servants are desperate to pay back their loans)
Pull Factors
Economic prosperity, limited government interference, less densely populated areas
Tobacco
America’s first cash crop (captivted by John Rolfe)
Push Factors
Religious persecution, unsafe living conditions in England, limited economic oppurtunities for middle class
Mayflower
102 seperalists (believed the Church of England was not reforming fast enough, or well enough, and wanted to spread the protestant faith in the New World) left Holland to sail to America for religious freedom
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Pilgrims & Purtians. First colonial government. North led by many religious leaders (as opposed to the South which was mostly headed by investors and companies)
Role of Religion
Europe had been englufed in teligious conflict for the past 800 years, and many believed by going to the ‘New World’ it was their religious duty to not only practice but spread their relgious ideas: some Native American and African Americans would convert
Squanto
Taught Pilgrims how to cultivate crops that would get them through the next winter, couldn’t have survived without him
Roger Williams
Founded Rhode Island; Puritan
New England Colonies
Major hub for trading, Imports (Tea, Irons, Metals, Horses, etc.) / Exports (Lumber, Cattle, Fishing, and Textiles), produce no cash crops, big cities (Boston, Bridgeport), industrial revoltion with mindset of dedication
William Penn
Founder of Pennsylvania, big believer of religious freedom, Quaker. King James I owed his father debt so he sponsered William Penn a company to the land that became as Pennsylvania
Middle Colonies
A mix of traders and farmsmen, relied on trade and farming but not as successful in it as New England colonies or Southern colonies, sold wheat, bread and whiskey, cities: Philadelphia and NYC
Early Colonial Governments
Town Meetings, The Religous Society of Friends, Virginia House of Burgesses
Southern Colonies
Relied heavily on cash crops (tobacco, rice, indigo) which were sold extensively throughout the rest of the colonies and Europe, slave labor, cities: Charleston
Mercantalism
A British policy for their colonies, in which the existence of the colonies is to provide the ‘mother country’ (England) with resources. The colonists were extended British rights as they continued to serve in their role as colonies to England
Salutary Neglect
British colonists are extended British rights, and with that, are allowed to create their own governing bodies to oversee their respected colonies
Republic
A government in which elected representatives will make laws and decisions on behalf of the citizens of the colony
Salem Witch Trials
After a smallpox epidemic and numerous Native American attacks, members of teh Massachusetts Bay Colony turned to religion to explain why life had become so difficult. Over 100 people in Salem, Massachusetts were accussed of witchcraft and 19 people were killed (burned at the stake)
Native American Interactions
Conflicts arise as more Europeans began to take Native American lands (ex. giving blankets exposed to smallpox resulting in Native Americans dying from new diseases)
The Middle Passage (Atlantic Slave Trade)
40% of slaves died on the journey from Africa to the Caribbean Islands. Slave ships had no bathrooms –> dying from diseases, horrible conditions (ex. forced feeding)
Slavery in the Colonies
Slaves make up large % of southern population, generate high incomes for southern colonies through labor of cash crops