Unit One: Founding the Nation

(1500-1692)

Goals of the Unit:• To recognize the reasons for and impact of

European colonialism in America.• To understand the hardships of early English

colonialism and what led to eventual success in the new land.

• To be able to explain the similarities and differences between each colonies origin, politics, culture, economics, religion, etc.

Day One: Introduce Unit

GOAL OF TODAY:

To discover what the reasons for and impact of European colonialism in America.

Native Americans

• Inhabited America since about 20,000-35,000 years ago

• Approx. 100 million Native Americans

• Thousands of different cultures and types of civilizations

• Little to no contact until about 1500

An Age of Expansion

• 1450 – Portugal invents caravel– Less wind resistance, allows for faster sea transportation, easier routes– Set up trading posts along Africa’s western coast

• 1492 – Columbus & Spanish fleet discover the Caribbean• 1494 – Treaty of Tordesillas

– Splits New World between Spain and Portugal – Spanish succeed in New World• 1500s – Spain and Portugal colonize “the New World” (America)

Why Expansion?

• Economic motives!!!– Set up plantations, forced natives into slavery– Gold, silver, natural resources • All extremely profitable

– Transformed Europe’s economy

Why European Dominance?

• Native American isolation leads to no immunities and less technology

• Disease, battles, harsh rule resulted in loss of 90% of native population

Day Two: English Land in America

GOAL OF TODAY:To understand the hardships of early English colonialism and what led to eventual success

in the new land.

Growth of “New Spain” in America• 1500s – Spain sets up American empire

– Conquer natives in West Indies, expands through North and South America

England Challenges Spain• Protestant England vs. Catholic Spain• 1577 – Francis Drake (backed by

Elizabeth I)– Circumnavigates globe, returns with

loads of stolen Spanish loot – trip profit is 4,600%

Spanish Armada (1588)

• 1588 – Spanish Armada decimated in failed invasion of England– Spanish downfall, English dominance

English Expansion Starts

• 1585 – Lost colony of Roanoke fails– led by Sir Walter Raleigh

• Late 1500s – Economic depression, overpopulation pushes for England’s first establishment in North America

• Jamestown• 1606 – Virginia Company of London

– Receives charter from King James I for settlement in New World– Charter gives settlers same rights as Englishmen– Gold a driving force for trip

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown

• May 1607 – 100 settlers leave for North America– only 60 survive the trip

• Small beach settlement• Challenges?

– Disease, malnutrition, starvation, inexperience– Native American attacks

• Settlers dying off fast

• Captain John Smith takes over Jamestown in 1608– Forced settlers into line– Negotiated with Native Americans

• “Starving Winter” of 1609-1610– Population drops from 400 to 60

• Lord De La Warr – infamously brutal– Arrives in Jamestown in 1610 with supplies, military– Begins harsh military regime against the Natives

Day Three: Colonies Develop

GOAL OF TODAY:To be able to explain the similarities and differences between each colonies origin,

politics, culture, economics, etc.

Day Three: Colonies Develop

GOAL OF TODAY:To be able to explain the similarities and differences between each colonies origin,

politics, culture, economics, etc.

• De La Warr immediately declares war with Natives– First Anglo-Powhatan War (1610-1614)

• De La Warr’s troops viciously attack Natives• Peace treaty, marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas

– Rolfe is father of tobacco industry• Anglicization of Natives attempted

• Second Anglo-Powhatan War (1644)– Native’s final effort ends in decimation– Native Powhatan population drops 90%– Disease, disorganization, disposable

English Progress Made• 1619 – self government in Virginia– “House of Burgesses”– King James I didn’t trust H.O.B.• Made Virginia colony of England in 1924

• Tobacco thriving in Virginia• England begins to take over West Indies– Sugar plantations – need for slaves• Imported from Africa (4:1 ratio)• Barbados Slave Code, 1661

Colonies expand between 1607 - 1733

The Plantation Colonies• Maryland, Virginia, N Carolina, S Carolina, Georgia• Devoted to exporting commercial agriculture (tobacco, rice)

– slavery• Plantation style didn’t favor urban growth– Few schools, no printing presses

• Large areas, few rich in power• Church of England dominant faith, mostly tolerant• Tobacco crops destroy soil

The Middle Colonies• The Quakers (Religious Society of

Friends)– Branch of Protestant dissenters in

mid 1600s– Bothersome to authorities, refused

taxes, oaths• William Penn– Wealthy Englishman– 1681 – Granted large amount of land

(Pennsylvania) by King Charles II– Close relationship with James II

(removed Catholic King)

Pennsylvania

• Quakers were simple, devoted, democratic– Against war and violence– Tolerant of natives

• Pennsylvania took in immigrants seeking religious freedom– Excluded Jews and Catholics

• “Blue Laws”– Outlawed ungodly behaviors

• Plays, cards, dice, games, excessive laughter

• By 1700, Pennsylvania became one of the most populated and prosperous colonies

New Jersey and Delaware• New Jersey

– After English take over of NY, granted to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret

– Area in NJ split into two: East NJ and West NJ, both sold to Penn in 1681

– Proprietors of NJ surrender power to royal crown in 1702 – New Jersey combined, colonized

• Delaware– Province of Pennsylvania– Own assembly in 1701– Never “technically” it’s own colony– First state, 1776

The Middle Colonies• NY, NJ, Penn, Delaware– “The Middle Colonies”– Exported lots of grain

• Lumber, fur-trade– More ethnically diverse– More religious tolerance– Economic, social

democracy

The Northern Colonies Develop

• Religious persecution in England– “Separatists” fleeing England arrive at

Plymouth, MA in 1620– Mayflower Compact (1620)

• Bay Colony (1629)– Non-Separatist Puritans fearing more

persecution receive charter to form Massachusetts Bay Company

• Great Migration (1630-42)– 70,000 refugees leave England

• (20,000 to Colonies, 50,000 to West Indies)

• John Winthrop – Governor for 19 years– “city upon a hill”, beacon to humanity, holy

society, religious experiment• Fur trade, fishing, shipbuilding – Mass. Bay Colony

prospers

“Bible Commonwealth”

• Winthrop distrusted democracy– Only Puritan men had voting

rights– “The General Court” annually

elected Winthrop to enforce “God’s law”

– Limited separation of church & state

• John Cotton – devout Puritan preacher

• “Protestant ethic”– Committed to work, spiritually

intense– Fear of hell

“Bible Commonwealth”• Fines, floggings, banishment• Dissention begins– Four Quakers hung– Anne Hutchinson

• Challenges Puritan orthodoxy• Banished from Mass. Bay

– Roger Williams• Young minister, separatist• Extremely opposite views• Banished, begins Rhode Island colony

Rhode Island Colony

• Williams flees to Rhode Island in 1636

• Religious freedom for all– Jews, Catholics, Quakers

• Exiles, refugees flock to R.I.– “Sewer Colony”

• Became fiercely independent

• Official colony in 1644

New England Spreads• Connecticut

– Hartford founded in 1635• Reverend Thomas Hooker and Boston Puritans

populated area• The Fundamental Orders (1639)

– Constitution establishing democracy– New Haven established in 1638

• Merges with other settlements in Conn. Valley– Officially a colony in 1662

• 1677 – Maine purchased by Mass.• New Hampshire absorbed in 1641 by

Mass.– Breaks away in 1679, official colony

Day Four: Colonial New York City

GOAL OF TODAY:To understand the history of colonial New York

City and how it’s past has shaped the city it has become today.

Northern Colonies• Dutch East-India Company and Dutch West-

Indies Company

The 13 Colonies• Virginia – Jamestown, 1607• Massachusetts – Plymouth Plantation, 1620– Mayflower Compact, 1621– Massachusetts Bay, 1630 (Puritans)

• New Hampshire, 1623– Breaks away from Massachusetts

• New York, 1626 (Dutch), Duke of York– New Amsterdam (NY) & Fort Orange (Albany)

• New Jersey, 1626– Originally granted by Lord Carteret & Lord Berkeley– Sold to Quakers in 1674 & 1680– “All men are created equal”

• Maryland, 1634– Formed by Lord Baltimore– Haven for Catholics, Act of Toleration (1649)

• Rhode Island, 1644– Minister Roger Williams exiled from Mass. Bay– Believed in separation of Church & State

• State business bound to corrupt Church• Believed in Native American reparations

• South Carolina (Carolina), 1650– Originally granted to 8 supporters of King Charles I

• Connecticut, 1662– Thomas Hooker breaks from Mass.

• In search of land ownership – property ownership required• Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

• North Carolina splits from SC, 1729– Geographically different from SC– Abandon slave holding aristocracy, institute democracy

• Pennsylvania, 1681– A land grant to the Penn family– William Penn creates Quaker haven– “Holy Experiment” guarantees religious freedom, liberal land

grants and political participation to all• Delaware, 1776

– Originally part of Penn for sea access– Geographically isolated, already had independent legislature

• Georgia, 1733– Established in attempt to alleviate the overcrowding in England

debtor’s prisons– Buffer between Spanish Florida and South Carolina

Day Five: Colonies Develop

GOAL OF TODAY:To understand what life was like in the various

colonies and how they were both similar and different politically, socially, religiously,

economically, etc.

Living in the Colonies• What was life like in the early days

of the colonies?– Harsh conditions– Disease was rampant– Few people survived past 40 or 50

years– 6:1 ratio of men to women

• 1720 – female population rises in Virginia

• Family life starts becoming more established

• Tobacco thriving in Virginia and Maryland– Indentured servants– “Headright system”

• Sponsorship of indentured servants were rewarded with land ownership

Day Six: Colonial Society

GOAL OF TODAY:To understand what life was like in the various

colonies and how they were both similar and different politically, socially, religiously,

economically, etc.

Bacon’s Rebellion• Late 1600s – many poor, single, free men

lacked– Money, land, women, work

• Nathaniel Bacon’s Rebellion – 1676– 29 year old planter in Virginia– Rounded up 2,000 men to protest Governor

William Berkeley’s friendly policy on Indians• Berkeley had successful fur-trading relations with

Indians – he refused to change his policy– The mob stormed and murdered Indian villages

then torched the capitol– Bacon dies of sudden disease and Berkeley

crushes rebellion• What does this result in?

– A search for less troublesome labor for plantations…• Slavery

Slavery in the Colonies

• Africans in Jamestown, 1619– By 1670, population at 2,000

• 1680s English wages rise - leads to…– Less indentured servants leaving for

America– Black slaves started to outnumber

white servants• 1700s – slave trade to colonies

increasing– 1750 – slaves account for half off

Virginian population– South Carolina ratio (2:1)

• The Barbados Slave Code of 1662 still in effect

Slave Life

• Life for slaves tougher in the south– Rice vs. Tobacco– Illegal to teach slaves to read

• Slaves begin to develop hybrid languages

• Music becomes part of culture• Revolts:– 1712 – rebellion in NYC

• 12 whites killed, 21 slaves executed– 1739 – South Carolina slaves revolt

and try to escape to Spanish Florida – stopped by local militia

Social Gap in the South

• A social gap begins to widen in the Southern colonies1. Great Planters: owned large amounts of slaves and land;

ruled the region's economy and monopolized political power.

2. Small Farmers: largest social group; tilled their own modest plots and may have owned one or two slaves.

3. Landless Whites: many were former indentured servants.4. Slaves

New England Society• Migrated as families, not individually– Women married young, large families– Marriage and family life prioritized

• Disease not as much of a factor in NE– Life expectancy: 70 years

• Women usually held more power in the South – why?– Life expectancy much lower in South– Men held much more power in New England

• New England law was very severe and strict • “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

New England Society

• New England well organized– New towns legally chartered– Meetinghouses• Democratic roots

– Education: • <50 family towns had to provide

primary education. • <100 had to provide secondary

education.• Harvard, MA (1636)• William and Mary, VA (1693)

Puritanism’s Hold on Society• “Jeremiad”– Sermons that scold church-goers and

spread fear of hell and • 1662 – “Half-Way Covenant” – New formula for Church membership– Almost all could participate in Church,

even non or half-converted– Church was in need of membership

and money – more membership = more money

• Results:– weakened religious devotion from

early Puritan days– Line between “elect” members and

others disappearing

Salem Witch Trials• 1690s – A group of

adolescent girls claim bewitchment

• Accusations quickly became political, social

• Mass hysteria: witch-hunt leads to executions of 20 people

• Witch-hunt hysteria ends in 1693

Celebration of Learning!(AKA a Test)

• Small test:– 50 points– 20 multiple choice (2 points each)– 1 short answer (10 points)

– Major theme of the test will be comparing and contrasting the colonies, and the development/history of each.