1. The Thirteen Colonies and the British Empire 1607-1754
Period 2: | Amsco Chapter 2 Overview

2. Types of British Colonies
There were three basic types
Charter colonies: a charter was granted by the crown to a joint-stock company
Private, merchant-based endeavors that took on the risk at their own expense
Royal colonies: under direct authority of crown
Proprietary colonies: under authority of individuals granted by the crown
Maryland and Pennsylvania
All, being economic endeavors, carried some distinguished traits
Self-sufficiency
Representation amongst the colonies

3. Early English Endeavors
After 1588, England emerged as a major naval power
A booming population and struggling economy made colonies appealing
King James I charted the Virginia Company: Jamestown 1607
The company’s land choice was poor: swampy
Diseases broke out, mostly merchant-based craftsmen with limited survival knowledge
Refused to hunt or farm; many died
John Smith held them together
John Rolfe married Pocahontas and introduced English to tobacco
Cash crop
Despite this, by 1624 the colony was near collapsing
Massive debt
Dwindling population
King James I revoked the charter and made Virginia a royal colony

4. Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay
English Reformation and the Church of England
Calvinism in England and predestination
King James I saw these dissenters as threats and arrested them
The most extreme of these (Separatists) left England for Holland: Became known as Pilgrims (travelers)
Eventually, they sought haven in the colonies of the Virginia Company
1620, the Pilgrims chose a new land at Plymouth (Mass)
The first winter killed half of them
Native Americans assisted: Thanksgiving 1621
Under Charles I (1625), persecution of another group began (Puritans)
Puritans gained charter for Massachusetts Bay Colony 1629
Led by John Winthrop, they founded Boston
The English Civil War drove some 15,000 more settlers to MBC (the Great Migration)

5. Early Political Institutions
Virginia
The VC guaranteed the same rights as colonists had in England
The House of Burgesses was a local, representative assembly
New England
The Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact
A form of self-government and limited constitution
Despite all this, most colonists were excluded from the political process
Females and the landless had almost no rights
Slaves and indentured servants had even less
Only landed males could vote
1632, Charles I awarded Lord Baltimore with a proprietary colony
Maryland: the first Catholic colony
Act of Toleration guaranteed Christianity, but killed non-believers

6. Land and Labor
In both Maryland and Virginia traded or took land from natives
Tobacco was becoming very profitable
To fill labor needs
Indentured servitude: contracted Englishmen to the colonies for work (4-7 years)
They became, essentially, slaves until their contract was fulfilled: then rewarded land
Headright system: land offered if you paid your way to the colony
Slavery: originally, blacks came as indentured servants and were later freed
In 1660s, the House of Burgesses enacted discriminatory laws that created permanent bondage
Economic struggles of the 1660s led to
Tensions between large planters and small farmers
Nathaniel Bacon was a poor farmer who resented the few large planters calling shots
Wanted to expand into native land
Bacon’s rebellion 1676: massacred natives and burned Jamestown
Put down, but divide between rich and poor was clear
As well as a colonial resistance to rule

7. New England
Puritan intolerance of questioning led to a religious split
Rhode Island: Roger Williams left Boston and found Providence in 1636 (more inviting)
Anne Hutchinson was banned from Boston, established Portsmouth, later combined with Providence (tolerant)
Connecticut: founded by those leaving Boston with more democratic principles
New Hampshire: made into a royal colony to boost royal control
New England Confederation 1643
Colonial expansion, wars with natives, and French/Dutch tension
English Civil War ensured that England could not help
King Philip’s War (1675-6)
Thousands killed on both sides as natives fought colonial expansion
The Black Death: European diseases since Plymouth had killed an estimated 95% of natives
Exhaustion meant natives could not resist

8. Day two
The Thirteen Colonies and the British Empire

9. Restoration Colonies
Following the English Civil War, Charles II was “restored” to power: 1660
South Carolina c grew to provide food for West Indies
It utilized African slaves on large plantations (rice, was an early one)
North Carolina, by contrast, had more small tobacco farmers
Charles II wanted to unify the colonies: Dutch in the way
In 1664, England took New Amsterdam: New York
Split into two: New Jersey being the other
Grants issued to pull in settlers
William Penn (Quaker) granted Pennsylvania in 1681
“The Holy Experiment” to be kind to all (even natives)
Attracted many settlers (Dutch resettled from New York, and Swedish from Delaware)

10. The last colony and mercantilism
Georgia was chartered in 1732 with direct assistance from London
To create a buffer between colonies and Spanish Florida
To work as a kind of penal colony to give Brits a “second chance”
By 1752 it was a royal colony and the smallest/poorest of the 13
Mercantilism is government-regulated control based on
Resource extraction from colonies
Manufacturing of goods in mother country
The selling of those goods in the colonies and abroad
Britain was late to implement this due to the English Civil War
A series of Navigation Acts
Only English or colonial ships could be used for trade
All colonial-imported goods must pass through English ports first
Only “enumerated” goods could be exported by colonies and only to England (tobacco at first)

11. Effects of Navigation Acts
Positive
New England ship-building increased
Chesapeake tobacco monopoly in England
British protection of colonies from French/Spanish
Negative
Made crop prices low in Americas and cost of English goods were high
Colonial resentment of regulation led to smuggling in/with West Indies
Enforcement
Britain was often lax
But would enforce when needed (1684 Mass Bay lost its charter for smuggling)

12. The institution of slavery
By 1750, 50% of Virginia and 66% of South Carolina were enslaved
Demand for slaves increased
Reduced migration and increased need for labor
Need for dependable labor, not like Nathaniel Bacon and the lot
Cheap labor due to low yield of crop prices in mercantile system
Laws implemented to keep blacks in permanent bondage
Virginia 1661: black children inherited slave status
Virginia 1664: Baptism did not end slave status
Racism was becoming integral to colonial society
Triangular trade
The “Middle Passage”