1. Chapter 2
New World Experiments

2. Reasons for English Exploration
Driving factors for English exploration in the New World:
Rapid population growth in Europe
England had over 8 million people (Today London alone has close to 10 million)
Desire to own land
Unless you were born into nobility, you had no chance of owning land
People were either living in poverty, or feared falling into poverty
Religious disagreements
Puritans, Separatists, Catholic, Church of England

3. Old Ways in the New World
The early English explorers were quick to establish their old beliefs and customs to the new settlements in America
Financing exploration in the New World
New World exploration was about making money
The English financed these business ventures through Joint Stock Companies
Numerous investors would pool their money and split whatever was made amongst them (similar to a modern day corporation)
This allowed investors to buy into the New World without risking their entire fortunes to bankruptcy.

4. The Virginia Company (aka London Company)
A joint stock venture that wanted to find New World gold and discover the “western passage”
Settled in Virginia along the banks of the James River
The sight was chosen primarily in an attempt to avoid surprise attacks at the hands of the Natives
The Virginia Company called their settlement Jamestown (1607)
The first permanent English settlement in the New World

5. Early Jamestown Hardships
Most of the explorers that came to Jamestown were businessmen, and inexperienced in the surviving in the wild.
The early focus of explorers was on finding gold, and no time was spent growing and cultivating food, or learning to hunt and fish.
The “Starving Time”
Because the explorers wasted their time looking for non-existent gold, and not growing food, hunting and fishing, when the winter came, many of the colonists starved.
Of 500 settlers in Jamestown, only 60 survived the winter of
The people who lived survived on dogs, cats, rats, and one guy even ate his pregnant wife (he was put to death).

6. Saving Jamestown
During the “starving time” Jamestown looked as if it was going to fail.
Captain John Smith
Rises up as the leader of Jamestown, and whips the colony of Jamestown into shape
Establishes a “work to eat” policy
Basically, if you aren’t contributing to colony by growing food or hunting, you aren’t going to eat.
No more looking for gold that doesn’t exist.

7. Economic Success at Jamestown
John Rolfe
young English settler who arrived at Jamestown at the end of the starving period
brought tobacco seeds with him
A crime punishable by death (the Spanish had a monopoly on New World tobacco and wanted to keep it that way)
Planted tobacco in Jamestown, and the first harvest was worth over a million dollars in today’s money.
Tobacco quickly became the cash crop of the Jamestown colony.
Tobacco thrived in the humid climate of the Chesapeake
It was tobacco, not gold, that made Jamestown a financial success.

8. Growing Virginia
Because of the extraordinary success of tobacco, Jamestown continued to grow.
Land grants were used as the vehicle to attract more workers to Virginia.
The Headright System is established.
A landowner in Virginia would pay for an English farmer (indentured servant) to come to the New World, the worker would be indebted to the land owner for seven years, and would work in the tobacco fields. At the end of the servitude, the worker would go free to try and make his own way, and the land owner would be given an additional acres of land for each indentured servant that they sponsored.

9. The Effects of the Headright System
Indentured servants
Usually single, lower-class males, in their late teens or early 20s
would work off their debt of passage to the New World in hopes of one day owning land.
Landowners
Sponsored indentured servants passage to the New World
Would gain more land for every indentured servant brought here
The landowners got wealthier, and most indentured servants had no real chance of ever owning land in the New World.

10. Life in the Chesapeake Life expectancy was about 40 years
Disease – malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, dysentery
Climate – hot and humid summers took its toll on the body
Male to female ratio was about 6:1
Unless you were a wealthy land owner, your chances of getting married and starting a family were slim to none
Women’s rights
Women could be land owners and could inherit land from their husbands
Religion
Played a very small role in the Chesapeake

11. Changes in Virginia The Virginia House of Burgesses (1618)
The first representative assembly in the New World (an early Congress)
Virginians elected their representation
Virginia became a Royal Colony
The King of England took over control of Virginia and appointed a Royal Governor

12. Maryland 1632 Maryland was founded by George Calvert (Lord Baltimore)
The Capital became St. Mary’s City
It was founded as a haven for Catholics in the New World
It was originally set up as a feudal society, but that eventually went away
Also began to grow tobacco
Maryland and Virginia became known as the Chesapeake Bay Colonies.

13. Carolina The emergence of Carolina
Most of the settlers came from Barbados (an island in the Caribbean)
Rice became the main cash crop for Carolina
The majority of African slaves brought to N. America in 1600s came to Carolina because they were already skilled at rice agriculture.

14. Puritans and Separatists
In early 17th Century England, there was a lot of religious dissention from various groups:
Separatists vs. Puritans
All Separatists are Puritans, but not all Puritans are Separatists
Puritans – a religious sect in England that wanted to “purify” the corrupt practices of the Church of England
Separatists – advocated a complete break from the Church of England

15. The Influence of John Calvin
The religious doctrine of John Calvin influenced the decision of Puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries.
John Calvin of Geneva
Elaborated the ideas of Martin Luther
Calvinism becomes the theological credo for the Puritans (New Englanders
Predestination
God predestined people for heaven or hell before birth (the elect)
No belief or good work could save those predestined for hell.

16. The Separatists Leave Separatists
Left England in 1608 and headed for Holland to escape the religious persecution of the King
After 12 years in Holland, they decided to leave so they could raise their family with English customs
The kids were getting “Dutchified”
1620
The Separatists (aka The Pilgrims) set sail on the Mayflower
They settled at Plymouth (Massachusetts)

17. Establishing Government
Before the Pilgrims stepped off the boat at Plymouth, they set up a system for politically governing the new colony.
The Mayflower Compact
Signed by the men on the Mayflower
Agreed to govern by the consent of the people (democracy)
Not a constitution, but a huge step in the right direction as far as self- determination of government is concerned.
William Bradford became the first governor and was elected annually for 30 years.

18. Puritans in New England
Puritans (Not Separatists)
Individuals committed to significant institutional change
Thought the best way to facilitate change in the Church of England was to remain connected and try to change the Church from the inside
Based their culture around the family
Congregationalism
Only the “elect” or predestined could be part of the church
You had to be a church member to vote
Women had very little say in the church or government

19. Massachusetts Bay Colony
MBC - Where the Puritans settled
Economy based on:
Furs
Ship building
Fishing
John Winthrop was first governor
Called Massachusetts “a city upon a hill” because he believed that their colony was ordained by God.

20. Religious dissenters Anne Hutchinson
Challenged gender roles in Massachusetts
Became an outspoken proponent of antinomianism
Predestination didn’t exist
Faith in Jesus Christ (not Church membership) was the only way to salvation
Obeying moral or religious laws does not guarantee salvation
Belief in personal revelation
Put on trial and banished from MBC

21. Religious Dissenters Continued…
Roger Williams
Claimed Massachusetts was an illegitimate colony based on it’s lack of Royal Charter
Claimed that the land belonged to the Indians and the Puritans stole it.
Demanded that separation of church and state be implemented in Massachusetts
Put on trial, but fled south and formed his own colony – Rhode Island

22. Rhode Island Rhode Island Founded by Roger Williams
Guaranteed complete and total religious freedom (first colony to do so)
Became known as “the sewer” because of its willingness to accept society’s outcasts
Gained a reputation among the colonies of being independent and individualistic

23. Life In New England Life Expectancy was into the 70’s
The cold climate limited the germs
Access to cleaner water
Less physical labor
Male to female ratio was about 1:1
Society centered around the family – “New England invented grandparents”
Education was paramount
Religion played a huge role in society.

24. New Netherland New Netherland
Discovered by an English explorer sailing on behalf of the Dutch – Henry Hudson
Founded by the Dutch as a commerce center for the Dutch East India Company
Manhattan was purchased from the Natives for 24 dollars
Capital of the province was New Amsterdam
Taken by the English in 1664
New Netherlands was renamed New York after the king’s brother – The Duke of York
The capital was changed from New Amsterdam to New York

25. William Penn William Penn was a Quaker Quakers:
Pacifist - Did not believe in war
Refused military service
Did not believe in retaliation
Highly democratic
Believed everyone was a child of God
Had excellent relationships with the Natives

26. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania
The province was a gift from the King of England to William Penn as repayment of a debt that the King owed to Penn’s father.
Reason for Penn’s founding of Pennsylvania
Founded as a haven for Quakers
They had been the victims of extreme persecution in Europe
Experiment with more loose governmental practices
Turn a profit

27. Connecticut Hartford, Connecticut Founded by Dutch and English (1635)
Puritans (Led by Thomas Hooker) swarmed into Hartford
Three years after the establishment of Hartford:
A document called the Fundamental Orders was drafted
The first modern constitution
Highly democratic (Run by the people)
Used as a benchmark for later state constitutions

28. Georgia Georgia (1732) The last of the original 13 colonies
Founded and funded by James Oglethorpe
Georgia became a place where debtors could work off their debt instead of being thrown into a debtor’s prison
Wine became a major export for GA