The Southern Colonies

Here Comes Maryland · In 1632, a man named George Calvert got a charter from the king to come to the new world. Before he could get going, he died. His son, Lord Baltimore, took over the project. ·He named to colony Maryland after the King’s wife. ·Lord Baltimore gave huge land grants and even had an elected assembly in order to bring people to Maryland. ·Lord Baltimore was worried that Catholic people in Maryland were going to have their rights taken away by the protestants. He asked the elected assembly to pass the Act of Toleration. This gave every Christian the right to worship in any way they chose. Jews did not have the same rights. This place is almost as exciting as Delaware!

Trouble with the Indians (Surprise Surprise) Meanwhile, in Virginia, more and more people were arriving. Since most of the land on the coast was already taken, these new settlers had to move inland. That meant that they were taking over even more Native American land. Of course, these people were attacked over and over again. Settlers asked the Governor to take action against the Indians, but he refused. Settlers took matters into their own hands. A man named Nathaniel Bacon led a revolt against the Indians. He and a group of angry settlers attacked Native villages against the orders of the Governor. They then were so angry that they went and burned down Virginia’s capital of Jamestown. Bacon suddenly died, and the mob broke up. 23 of Bacon’s followers were hanged. This is known as Bacon’s Rebellion We’re going to get those Indians, or my last name’s not a delicious pork product. Mmmm, bacon.

North and South Carolina A group of eight English nobles received a land grant from the king, and they started the Colonies of North and South Carolina. The farmers in South Carolina found that rice grew well there. They also discovered that Indigo grew well there. Indigo is a flower that made a very valuable blue dye. These two crops required many people to farm it. These were the first two big plantation crops in the New World. This is when we see African slaves really start coming by the thousands.

Georgia on my Mind ·James Oglethorpe is credited for creating the last of the thirteen colonies, Georgia. Oglethorpe set up the colony for Debtors (people who could not pay what they owed others). He limited farm sizes and did not allow slavery. The colony grew slowly. Oglethorpe later changed the rules to Allow Plantations and slavery. The colony grew quickly.

Easy Plantation Life It was quickly found that Plantations made you the most amount of money. Early rice, indigo, and tobacco plantations had between 20 and 100 slaves. It made many Englishmen very wealthy.