Unit Two (1607-1754)

Question 1

Captain John Smith

Answer 1

One of colonies first leaders that governed autocratically, enforcing people to work and be friendly with local Natives in order to survive.
-returned to England in 1609, and afterward behavior was not kept in line and conflict began in 1610,
-Promised land and economic independence for emigrants
-Was seized and threatened execution by Powhatan, only to be saved by Pocahontas, told as a love story in many cases, but probably a full set up to demonstrate the power of the Powhatan.

Question 2

Proprietary colonies

Answer 2

land and government authority granted to a single man. Maryland was established by Cecilius Calvert, who was granted a charter to establish it with “full, free, and absolute power”. Wanted to make it a feudal domain in which there was no people’s involvement in government, an issue because colonists were granted this.

Question 3

Powhatan Confederacy

Answer 3

The group of Indian tribes living in the Jamestown area, all ruled by the ruler Powhatan:
-Leader over the area in which the colonist had settled called Wahunsonacock.
-Seized and threatened John Smith with execution to show his power

Question 4

Virginia Company of London

Answer 4

-A private business organization whose shareholders included merchants, aristocrats, and members of Parliament, favored by the late queen.
-Interested in gold and other natural resources, not establishing a colony.
-Promised that colonists would enjoy “all liberties” as in “our realm of England”
-Surrendered it charter to the royals after the Uprising of 1622

Question 5

Joint stock company

Answer 5

Invented by the Dutch as a way of pooling financial resources and sharing the risk of maritime voyages. Later central to the development of modern-day capitalism.

Question 6

Jamestown

Answer 6

-The capital of the colony of Virginia, established on the James River by the English, and the first permanent English settlement in America.
-Original settlers expected and were prepared for riches like the Spanish’s, but when said riches were not found, they refused to do productive things like farm instead. This, combined with a local swamp and garbage dump containing diseases like typhoid and malaria, created terrible conditions.
Lack of food and disease killed off half the population, and after rising again, the winter of 1610, known as “starving time,” dwindled the numbers once more. Remaining colonists attempted to sail back to England, but were intercepted and brought back by a new crew of colonizers. 80% of first settlers died.

Question 7

Indentured servant

Answer 7

People who payed for their tickets to American (government officals, clergymen, merchants, artisans, landowning farmers, lesser nobility) arrived free citizens, but those who could not pay became indentured servants and exchanged their time for a ticket. After a period of time (which would be lengthened if one became pregnant) of enslavery in which servants were controlled by their owners and worked harshly in the cases of many, they received “freedom dues” and granted freedom. Often unsuccessful in building prosperous life.
Central to populating and building early america, especially before the arrival of slaves

Question 8

Headright System

Answer 8

Made in 1618, a policy of the Virginia Company that awarded 50 acres of land to any colonist who payed for theirs or anothers ticket

Question 9

John Rolfe

Answer 9

Husband of Pocahontas who took her to England to be shown as a symbol of Indian harmony and missionary success.

Question 10

Tobacco

Answer 10

-Became very popular in the 1600’s, planters and colonial government officials(through land), and the crown(through taxes) were all making money off of the demand for the product.
-Fostered a dispersed society with little social unity, in which people scrambled to obtain land and labor. Until the social and political elite were established along the rivers.
-The increased demand for labor was met by the indentured servants who were still attracted to America by the promise of land despite harsh working conditions and cruel treatment.
*direct correlation between demand for tobacco and need for slave labor

Question 11

Virginia House of Burgesses

Answer 11

“a charter of grants and liberties”, the first elected assembly in colonial America that all other colonies would follow.
-Rules: only freemen could vote, appointed governor, any decision of the people could be nullified.
-laid the foundation for a slave owner and plantation dominant society
-In 1667, decreed that religious conversion did not free slaves, thus a christian could own a christian.

Question 12

Separatists (Pilgrims)

Answer 12

originally fled from England to the Netherlands in 1609 from corruption, but then fled to America on the Mayflower in September of 1620, landing on Cape Cod.
-Arrived in an area where the Native population had been decimated by smallpox and left the site ready for inhabitants. The Winter was deadly and the Pilgrims only survived with the help of the Natives, especially Squanto who served as an interpreter, and taught them how to fish and plant corn.
First Thanksgiving in the autumn of 1621 to celebrate harvest
Wanted to establish society based on early saints, government was the principle of consent, land held common until 1627 when it was divided among settlers. Survived independently until 1691.

Question 13

Mayflower Compact (1620)

Answer 13

A document signed by 41 men agreeing to obey “just and equal laws” ashore first written frame of government in America.

Question 14

Plymouth colony

Question 15

Puritans

Question 16

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Question 17

Halfway covenant

Question 18

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)

Question 19

Religious toleration

Question 20

Roger Williams

Question 21

Anne Hutchinson