Case Study: What Was The English Settlement Like At Jamestown

II. What was the English Settlement like at Jamestown?
It survived thanks to John Smith and the production of tobacco A. What cause the struggle English settlers in America?
The first settlement was almost destroyed by disease and starvation. 1. What did the English have to do to make colonization a business?
English were funded by joint-stock companies, which once the people had several investors, they obtained a charter or official permit. King James I granted a charter to the Virginia Company. Most stockholders would receive fourth-fifths of all gold and silver found. And the Virginia Company founded Jamestown 2. Why was the start disastrous?
At first, disease from the James River struck first. Hunger was right after it.
Most colonist’s who weren’t used to the hard life refused to clear fields, plant crops, or even gather shellfish from the river’s edge. Once John Smith, took over the settlement, he forced the colonists to farm and do their work or they would not eat. He persuaded the Powhatan people to provide food as well. Smith got badly burn by an explosion, he had to return to England, and leave the colony to fend for itself. In 1609 600 new colonists arrived with hopes of starting a new life, although the scared Powhatan’s began killing off some of the livestock and farms although in the winter Jamestown had deteriorated to the point of famine. They ate roots, rats, snakes, and even boiled shoe leather. Only 60 colonists survived though. 3. What caused Jamestown to flourish?
They sailed down the James River, where they were met by a second English ship whose passengers convinced the fleeing colonist to turn around. Under the new eyes, the colonists worked harder and expanded down the James River and they began by developing the profitable crop: tobacco 4. What is “Brown Gold”? How long did indentured servants have to work?
“Brown Gold” is tobacco. John Rolfe experimented by cross breeding tobacco from brazil with the weed that Native American’s had grown. Rolfe’s experiment resulted in a high-quality tobacco strain for which the citizens of England soon clamored. By the last 1620s, colonists exported 1.5 million pounds of “brown gold” to England each year. Indentured servants came from England to work as servants in limited amount of time. Under the Head right system anyone who paid for their own way over receives 50 acres of land. Indentured servants usually worked 4-7 years and came from a lower class of England. 5. What did the first African Laborers do?
First group arrive in 1619, aboard a Dutch merchant ship, they treated them as indentured servants at first, although it would be several decades before they became slave labor. One reason for this was economics; most indentured servants could be purchased for 1,000 pounds of tobacco. Servants could eventually become full members of society, but slaves were condemned to a life of harsh labor. B. What caused the clash with Native Americans?
Once the English settlers expanded their settlement, their relationship with the natives worsened, and the natives did not want to give up any more land. 1. What was the English pattern of conquest?
The English viewed the Native’s as “the wild Irish” and at the time, English and Irish could not intermarry nor wear English apparel or weapons. 2. What happened in the battle between the Native Americans and Settlers?
The leaders of Jamestown demanded tributes of corn and labor from the local native peoples. They pressed the demands by setting the villages on fire and kidnapping hostages, especially children. One of the kidnapped children was the Chief’s daughter, Pocahontas who married John Rolfe in 1614. This laid groundwork for half-hearted peace that didn’t last, as colonists moved into more native territory to grow more tobacco. Although by 1622, English settlers had worn out the patience of Chief Opechancanough, Chief Pohatan’s brother and successor. Powhatan’s people had a well-planned attack and raiding parties struck at colonial villages up and down the James River, killing more than 340 colonists. Virginia Company sent in more troops and supplies leaving it bankrupt. James I in 1624 was disgusted by the turmoil in Virginia and revoked the company’s charter and made it a royal colony. By 1644 nearly 10,000 English men and women lived in Virginia. C. What economic differences split Virginia
By the 1670s, many of the former indentured servants had very little money to buy land. Because they did not own land they had no votes and no rights. They lived mostly in the western outskirts of Virginia, where they constantly fight the natives. 1. How did the hostile develop?
Virginia’s poor felt oppressed and frustrated by the policies of the colony’s governor, Sir William Berkeley. Berkeley kept raising the taxes and forced them upon the poor colonists, and pushed them towards the rich people. The poor colonists demanded to know why the money wasn’t going to building them forts to protect them from the Natives. In 1675 a bloody clash b/t Virginia’s colony’s poor and wealthy. In June of 1675, a dispute between the Doeg tribe and a Virginia ofrontier farmer grew into a blood bath. A group of frontier settlers who were pursuing Doeg warriors murdered 14 friendly Susquehannock and then executed five chiefs during a peace conference. Fighting soon started between natives and frontier colonists. The colonists pleaded to the Governor for military support, which was refused. 2. What was Bacon’s Rebellion?
Nathaniel Bacon, a tall, dark-haired, hot-tempered son of a wealthy Englishman, detested Natives with a passion. In 1676, Bacon broke from his old friend Berkeley and raised an army to fight the Natives. Governor declined the army and made it illegal which made Bacon marched on Jamestown in Sept. of 1676 to confront colonial leaders about a number of grievances, including the lack of representation in the House of Burgesses- Virginia’s colonial legislature. The march turned violent, the rebels set fire to the town as Berkley and numerous planters fled by ship. Bacon died a month afterwards from an illness after storming Jamestown. Bacon’s Rebellion drew King Charles attention to Berkeley’s government and Charles’s investigators were highly critical of Berkeley. The old governor was requested to meet the kind but died on the voyage over.
III. What was Puritan New England like?
Was a very holy community, although Anne Dudley who was a Puritan, and left England in hope of creating a holy community in New England. Anne became the first English-speaking poet. A. How did the Puritans create New England
While Jamestown was struggling, the puritans emigrated in order to create a model new society. Nicknamed ‘City upon a Hill.’ By John Winthrop who was their first governor. 1. What were the puritans and Pilgrims like?
Puritans were called puritans because they wanted to purify the Anglican Church by eliminating all traces of Roman Catholicism. The Separatists, known today as Pilgrims, fled from England to escape persecution because they wanted to separate from the Church of England. The small group created the Plymouth Colony, which was the second permanent colony in North America. 2. What was the Massachusetts’s Bay Company?
Other English Puritans in the 1620s who were discouraged about Anglican reform also turned their thoughts towards New England. In 1629, Winthrop and some of his well-connected friends obtained a royal charter for a joint-stock enterprise, the Massachusetts Bay Company. In September 1630, Winthrop and other colonist aboard the Arbella established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 3. What is the “City Upon a Hill”
Massachusetts’s Bay Colony extended the right to vote to not only stockholders but to all adult males who belonged to the Puritan Church, roughly 40% of the males. 4. How did Church and State work?
As the system of self-government evolved, so did the close relationship between government and the Puritan church. Church and State were two peas in a pod. 5. What was the importance of family?
The community stepped in when necessary such as when husbands and wives quarreled too much, they would send them to marriage counseling. If they still bickered, one or both might end up in the stocks or the pillory. B. What was the dissent in the Puritan Community?
Two dissenters challenged the social order upon which the colony was founded, which divided Mass. Bay. 1. What was the founding of Providence?
Roger Williams declared that English settlers had no rightful claim to the land unless they purchased it from Natives. He called the royal charter that granted the lands a “National Sinne” and demanded that it be revised to reflect Native claims. General Court ordered Williams to be arrested and returned to England. But before the order could happen, Williams fled. In January 1636 Williams negotiated with Narragansett tribe for land to start up a new colony. A new colony called Providence. William made Providence separated between Church and State along with religious freedom. 2. Why was Anne Hutchinson banished?
Anne said worshipers did not need ministers to interpret the bible for them. So there for she was banished in 1638. She and her family went to Providence (Rhode Island). After the death of her husband in 1642, her and her children moved to New Netherland (New York). C. Why did the Native Americans resist Colonial expansion?
They thought it would be the end of their life. 1. What were the disputes over land?
Colonial’s needed acres; Natives needed it for hunting, fishing, and agriculture. To the Native’s no one owned the land. Natives saw land treaties with Europeans in which they received gifts, such as blankets, guns, iron tools, or ornaments. In return they shared the land for a limited time. 2. What caused the Pequot war?
It arose in Connecticut in 1637, when the Pequot nation decided to take a stand against the colonists. The colonist allied with the Narragansett. The result of the Pequot War was the near destruction of the Pequot nation. The end came in May 1637, when about 90 English colonist and hundreds of their Native allies surrounded a Pequot for on the Mystic River. They set the fort on fire, and anyone who tried to escape or surrender was shot. 3. When the King Philips war and what was was it about?
It happened in the spring of 1675, and because the Natives were deprived of their land and livelihood and also not allowing hunting or fishing on Sunday, left the Wampanoag chief (King Philip) for one last attempt to wipe out the invaders.
It lasted a year, but food shortages, disease and heavy casualties wore down the Native’s resistance. King Phillip (Metacom) was shot in the head by a native that allied with the English (Afterwards the Puritans displayed Metcom’s head for 20 years at Plymouth). Although one-tenth of the colonial men of military age in New England were killed, a higher proportion of the total population than would be killed in either the American Revolution or Civil War in
1860s.
IV. What were the Middle Colonies like?
William Penn frustrated his father, Admiral Sir William Penn. In 1667, at age 22, William committed himself to the Quakers (Society of Friends—a Protestant sect who religious and social beliefs were fundamental for the time). Since King Charles II owed William’s father money, he gave William American land. In 1681 the Kind gave Will a charter for Penns. Will had big plans, such as: equality, cooperation, and religious toleration. Penn attracted other settlers of different faiths. A. How did the Dutch settle the Netherlands?
In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed up what is now known as the Hudson River.
In 1621, the Dutch government granted the newly formed Dutch West India Company permission to colonize there and expand the thriving fur trade. New Amsterdam (now New York City), founded in 1625, became the capital of the colony. They took over New Sweden in 1655. 1. How was the colony diverse? X Do not study.
The Dutch company profited from fur trade, but not many people came so they let a variety of people in the colony. More Dutch, Germans, French, Scandinavians, and other Europeans settled the area. They also included Africans, free and enslaved. They were friendlier with the Natives, unlike the English. They traded them furs and the Dutch were smart enough not to anger the powerful Iroquois, however the Dutch did have fights with smaller tribes over land and trade rivalries. 2. How did the English takeover?
The English viewed it as separating the Northern and Southern colonies, in 1664, King Charles gave his brother James (Duke of York, later known as King James II) permission to drive out the Dutch. When they arrived in the harbor, the governor Peter Stuyvesant raised a call to arms. Severely outnumbered Peter surrendered. The Duke of York renamed it New York, and later gave land to two of his friends who made it New
Jersey. B. How did the Quakers settle Pennsylvania?
William Penn got the land from King Charles II 1. What was the Penn’s “Holy Experiment”?
They held services without formal ministers, allowing any person to speak as the spirit moved him or her. They dressed plainly and refused to show rank. They were harassed by Anglicans and Puritans though. Any man could 50 acres of land and the right to vote. 2. What were the Native American relations?
Penn believed that people approached in friendship would respond in friendship sooner or later. Before coming to America, Penn sent a peace letter that Lenni Lenapi or Delaware accepted. Penn made trade and mixed the court with colonists and Natives to ensure peace among them all. The Natives respected Penn, and for more than 50 years Pennsylvania had no major conflicts with the Natives. 3. How was it a thriving colony?
After opening the colony to Quakers, he recruited immigrants from Western Europe. He put advertisements up in German, Dutch and French. In time, they came in large numbers. Penn never profited from his success and died in poverty in 1718. 4. What were the Thirteen Colonies?
Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, other British colonies in North America were founded, each for very different reasons. In 1632 Kind Charles I granted a charter for land north of Chesapeake Bay to George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore. Calvert’s son Cecil named the colony Maryland, after Queen Henrietta Maria (Charles Queen). The colony was famous for its religious freedom.