1. Reasons for English Colonization
By: Mr. Daniell

2. Economic Reasons
Mercantilism

3. More Economic Reasons
High unemployment in England caused by landowners who forced tenant farmers off the land
Promise of gold to increase England’s wealth
Indentured servants – young, unskilled workers who exchanged their labor for a period of time, usually three to seven years, for passage, room, and board in America for a better life

4. Jamestown (Example of Economic Reason for Colonization)
founded in Virginia;
first permanent
English settlement
in North America.

5. Jamestown Reason for settlement:
King James I granted a charter to a group of London entrepreneurs, the Virginia Company, to settle Virginia, find gold, and seek a water route to the east

6. Jamestown Early hardships:
Hot climate was not conducive to the growth of the plants they had brought from England (farming)
Swampy location of settlement caused health issues – polluted water, mosquitoes spreading disease (disease caused 80% of colonists to die)
Attacks by the native Algonquian Indians made life almost impossible

7. Jamestown
John Smith – leader of Jamestown established rigid discipline, strengthened defenses, and encouraged farming with this admonishment: "He who does not work, will not eat."; because of his strong leadership, the settlement survived and grew
Captain John Smith

8. Jamestown
Pocahontas - daughter of Powhatan, the powerful chief of the Algonquian Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia near Jamestown who helped the colonists received food from the Indian; vital link between colonists and Native Americans

9. Jamestown
John Rolfe – developed cash crop of tobacco at Jamestown that saved the colony (the ability to grow tobacco made land especially valuable, causing a significant population growth); married Pocahontas

10. Jamestown
House of Burgesses was the first representative assembly in the American colonies.
(Burgesses means elected officials.)

11. Jamestown Bacon’s Rebellion (The Background)
Bacon led a group of frontier settlers in a rebellion against the Governor of Jamestown. They were mad about high taxes and no protection from the Native Americans.
They took control of the House of Burgesses and burned Jamestown to the ground.

12. Jamestown Bacon’s Rebellion (The Result)
Bacon died from illness, his followers were hanged.
BUT, the House of Burgesses passed laws so that a royal governor could not have that much power again.
Showed that colonists WILL fight for rights.

13. Political Reasons for Colonization
Search for the Northwest Passage to India in order to compete with Spain and Portugal
Acquisition of territory to add to empire
Buffer against Spanish colonies in America

14. Social Reasons for Colonization
Freedom from religious persecution
Protection of culture

15. Plymouth Plymouth Colony (example of social reason- religious freedom)
1620 – arrival of the Pilgrims in Plymouth and the signing of the Mayflower Compact

16. Pilgrims: a group of Separatists
Puritans & Pilgrims
Separatists—Protestant group that cut all ties with the Church of England & developed their own churches
Pilgrims: a group of Separatists
Separatists—most extreme sect; formed own churches & cut all ties w/ Church of England
English leaders begin to punish Separatists
Pilgrims—one such group of Separatists that faced harsh treatment

17. 1608: Pilgrims escape to Netherlands to freely practice religion
Puritans & Pilgrims
1608: Pilgrims escape to Netherlands to freely practice religion

18. Puritans & Pilgrims
Immigrants—people who leave their original country to live in another country
Pilgrims unhappy in Netherlands
Formed a joint-stock company & returned to England
Pilgrims did not like fact that children were learning the Dutch language & culture; were afraid they’d forget their English traditions
Returned to England, formed a joint-stock company with some merchants, & applied for permission to settle in Virginia

19. Plymouth
•Reason for settlement: Pilgrims fled religious persecution in England; after a decade in Holland, came to America in order to worship freely

20. Plymouth
Mayflower Compact – Signed by the men on the Mayflower, an agreement that established self-government and gave the leaders the power to enact laws for the good of the colony. 

21. The Founding of Plymouth
Mayflower Compact written because colonists landed too far away from Virginia to be ruled by its government.
After two months at sea, the Pilgrims sight land but realize they are too far north of Virginia; they were outside the boundaries of their charter. They decided to establish basic laws and social rules to govern their colony.
Original Mayflower Compact

22. The Founding of Plymouth
Mayflower Compact—documents creating a new political society signed by the Pilgrims
Mayflower Compact—signed on November 21, 1620; legal contract; 41 male passengers signed contract; agreed to fair laws to protect the general good. First attempt at self-government in the English colonies
Signing the Mayflower Compact

23. The Founding of Plymouth
Plymouth Rock
Nearly ½ died the first winter
Pilgrims land in present-day Massachusetts in late 1620

24. Women had more rights in the Plymouth Colony than they had in England:
The Pilgrim Community
Women had more rights in the Plymouth Colony than they had in England:
Make Contracts
Own property
Bring cases before court

25. Plymouth
Early hardships: During the first winter in the New World, the colonists suffered greatly from disease, lack of shelter and general conditions onboard ship; 45 of the 102 emigrants died the first winter

26. Plymouth
William Bradford - Leader of Pilgrims

27. Pilgrims & American Indians
March 1621: Indian walks into Pilgrim community speaking English
Pilgrims meet Squanto
Indians use Pilgrims in internal tribal struggle for power
European fishing boats had visited area before arrival of Pilgrims—disease introduced by Europeans had killed most of the local Native Americans;
No Indian interaction for a long time—Pilgrims found abandoned villages and empty cornfields that they cultivated themselves
Samoset spoke broken English; had learned it from English fishermen
Samoset walking into Pilgrim community

28. Plymouth
Squanto – created peace between the Native Americans and Pilgrims and taught the Pilgrims how to hunt and farm

29. Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Puritans come to America fleeing religious persecution.
Puritans create a community bound by common interest and law.
They wanted to “purify” the Church of England
Puritans land at Plymouth Rock

30. Puritans Governor of Massachusetts Bay colony was John Winthrop.
Established economy as a “common wealth”, meaning people work together for the good of the whole community.

31. Puritans
Held “town meetings” (a form of self government in which they made laws)
“New England Way” was a term used to describe the beliefs of their society.

32. Puritans
Some Puritans moved to Connecticut and set up a form of representative government called the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.

33. Puritans
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was the first written constitution in the colonies.
It gave voting rights to non church members and limited the power of the governor.

34. Puritans
Puritans were centered around church.
Salem Witch Trials

35. Colonial Self-Government
In the absence of royal authority the colonies became accustomed to self-governance.
The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first elected representative legislature among the colonies.
The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was the first written constitution for a colony.

36. Independent Government

37. French and Indian War
Rivalry between Britain and France over the Ohio River Valley led to a world-wide conflict. The War ended with the Treaty of Paris in France loses all of its North American territory.
British advance on Indians in war.

38. Review Questions What motivated the explorers?
Why were the colonies settled?
How did the colonies develop self government?
What motivated the war between Britain and France?