1. Jamestown What was the first permanent English settlement?
Who founded it and why?
Jamestown (in Virginia)
Started by the Virginia Company – to make money

2. Jamestown - Motivations
Why did most men come to Jamestown?
Money and Land!
Laws of Primogeniture: English laws that said only the first born sons could get land from their fathers.
Made “other” sons desperate
Poor economic conditions and land shortages in England

3. Jamestown What problems did Jamestown have?
Wanted to find gold and get rich quick
Not used to hard work
Arguing and fighting
Location = swamp and bad water
Far from home
Mosquitoes and malaria
Powhatan Indians wary and not helpful

4. Jamestown - Government
What was the House of Burgesses
Why was it important?
Representative assembly in Virginia based on Parliament
Attracted people to Virginia = just as free there as in England
Importance = Precedent (example) for all other colonies
Colonies would govern themselves
Have the same rights as people in England

5. Jamestown Success #1 Why did Jamestown succeed?
Leadership of John Smith: a soldier and explorer took control of the settlement.
Installed military discipline = work for food.
Established a relationship with the Powhatan.
Negotiated for corn and helped keep the peace

6. Jamestown Success #2 Why was Jamestown successful?
Tobacco and Environment: very good (soil)
John Rolfe brought in tobacco (cash crop).
Brought in the money that the VA Company needed
More people desperate for money will move there
Importance: Motivation of money and the environment led to - Plantation style farming and slavery in the South

7. Jamestown Success #3 Why was Jamestown successful?
Peace with the natives
John Rolfe married Pocahontas (Indian princess).
Natives began to help the English
Importance = time to grow

8. Success #4 Why was Jamestown successful? Successful Government
House of Burgesses, Representative Government, and the charter
Colonists would govern themselves and expect the same rights as people in England

9. Jamestown Why so important?
Environment led to plantation slavery in the Southern Colonies
Motivation of money became a part of the culture.
Representative Government and rights of Englishmen for colonists would lead to problems with the English government in the future.
Success leads to growth of the Southern Colonies

10. Plymouth What was Plymouth? Who founded it?
2nd permanent English settlement (1620).
Settled by Pilgrims who traveled on the Mayflower.

11. Plymouth Protestants from England.
Wanted to reform the Church of England by making it less Catholic (making it simpler)
Wanted to separate from the Church of England (separatists).
Persecuted (treated unfairly) for their beliefs in England
In 1620 won a charter to start a new settlement in Virginia
Who were the Puritan Pilgrims?

12. Plymouth (and New England)
Why did people come to Plymouth?
On a religious mission = start a colony based on their beliefs.
Wanted religious freedom.

13. Plymouth
Agreement that stated that they would have a government and follow its rules.
Precedent for written limits to government power (like a constitution)
What was the Mayflower Compact?
Why was it important?

14. Plymouth Success The people at Plymouth were hard workers.
Local natives helped the settlers learn how to farm and survive the harsh weather.
Government and religion provided order.
Why was the settlement successful?

15. Importance #1
Religion = motivation of religion and the belief that “we are closest to god” became an important part of American culture.
Religious freedom: Pilgrims allowed it in Plymouth = tradition for the future
Why was Plymouth important?

16. Importance #2 Why was Plymouth important? The first Thanksgiving
We still celebrate the coming together of the settlers and the Indians each November.
It is a religious based feast that has become a national holiday

17. Importance #3 Why was Plymouth important?
The Mayflower Compact: set a precedent for constitutions and written documents about government
Became an American tradition.
Other settlers would follow the example leading to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut = the first Constitution followed the example of the Mayflower Compact

18. Importance #4
Why was Plymouth important?
Led to the growth of 4 New England Colonies that would be based on religion.
Success of Plymouth led more Puritan settlers to come to these places.