Transcript Building the Jamestown Colony

Building the
Jamestown Colony
Chapter Three
Section Four
The First English Colony
 During this time Spain was the riches of
the countries, and England envied them.
 Several wealth Englishmen proposed
that the English should establish
settlements in the Americas as well.
 Sir Walter Raleigh raised money to start
a colony in North America with the
permission of Queen Elizabeth.
The First English Colony
 In 1585, 100 men set sail across the
Atlantic to the new land.
 These sailors landed in Roanoke an
island off of North Carolina.
 Within a year they ran out of food and
were fighting with Indians.
 An English ship came and many of the
settlers left back to England.
The First English Colony
 In 1587 Raleigh sent John White, back to
Roanoke with new settlers including women
and children.
 Supplies again ran low and White returned to
England leaving 117 colonist behind.
 He had originally planned to return in a few
months but when he arrived in England the
country was at war with Spain.
The First English Colony
 It took 3 years before he could return with
supplies.
 When he arrived back to Roanoke he saw that
he colony was empty.
 There was one word carved into a tree,
“CROATOAN” the name of a nearby island.
 White was going to investigate but a storm was
coming and the crew refused to go to the
island.
 No one knows what happened to the colony
Challenge and Survival in
Jamestown
 It took 20 years before England attempted to
make another colony in the Americas.
 In 1606, the Virginia Company of London
received a charter from King James I.
 What is a charter?
 This charter gave the company the right to
settle lands between the lands of North
Carolina and the Potomac River.
 It guaranteed what?
Challenge and Survival in
Jamestown
 In 1607, a group of 105 colonists arrived in
Virginia.
 They sailed into ______ and began building
homes along the James River.
 Their outpost was called______ after who___?
 What was wrong with the outpost?
 There was a council of 13 men that were
chosen by the Virginia Company to rule the
outpost. The council fought all the time and did
little for the outpost.
Challenge and Survival in
Jamestown
 The colonist only wanted to dig for gold as
opposed to planting crops.
 This caused the colony to begin to starve.
 Captain John Smith saved the colony by
setting up rules that forced the colonists to
work if they wanted to eat.
 He also visited nearby Indian villages to make
amends.
Challenge and Survival in
Jamestown
 Powhatan was what and agreed to what?
 Were the relations between the colonists and
the Indians always peaceful?
 What did the colonists do to the Indians?
 What did Smith do to Powhatan’s brother?
 Peace resumed briefly when colonist John
Rolfe married Pocahontas the daughter of
Powhatan.
Challenge and Survival in
Jamestown
Challenge and Survival in
Jamestown
 The colony faced terrible times. The often had
to cook their dogs, cats, snakes, toadstools to
survive. To keep warm they broke down homes
and burned the wood.
 It wasn’t until 1612 that the colony began to
improve when the colonist began to grow
what?
 King James called the pip smoking ____?
 By 1620, England was importing more than
30,000 pounds of tobacco a year.
Representative
Government
 The colony for a long time was run like a
military post. Every morning a drumbeat
summoned settlers to work at their
assigned tasks.
 Harsh laws imposed the death penalty for
small offenses like stealing corn.
 Not many wanted to move to the colony
to live under those conditions.
Representative
Government
 To attract more settlers the Virginia Company
allowed male settlers to elect burgesses or
representative to their government.
 Where did the burgesses assemble?
 Together with the council the burgesses made
laws for the colony. Their first meeting was in
July and August of 1619 in a church.
 This marked the beginning of what?
Representative
Government
 Define Representative Government.
 Were does the idea of political rights
come from?
 What did the document say?
 Eventually the rights won by the nobles
were extended to other people. Later the
Great Council grew into ______.
Representative
Government
 How is Parliament divided?
 Who were the few that had the right to
vote?
 The English had established the principle
that even monarchs had to obey the
laws.
Representative
Government
 At first Virginia’s had more rights than those in
the mother land, England.
 They did not have to own property to vote.
 In 1670, the colony restricted the right to vote
to free, white males who owned property.
 Even though many were excluded from voting
the idea that colonist had a say in the affairs of
the colony became very important.
 Colonist came to refer to the Virginia
Company’s 1619 frame of government as their
own “Great Charter.”
New Arrivals
 During the beginning few women and workers
came to the colony.
 The first women to arrive came in 1608
“Mistress Forrest” and her maid Anne Burras.
 In 1619, the Virginia Company sent out about
100 women to help “make the men more
settled.”
 Many married and the company profited from
the marriages, because it charged each man
who found a wife 150 pounds of tobacco.
New Arrivals
 Women survived the hardships of the colony
better than the men.
 Men were twice as likely to die than women.
 Women had to make everything from scratchfood, clothing, even medicines.
 Many died young from hard work or from
childbirth.
 In 1624, there were fewer than 300 women in
Jamestown compared to over a thousand men.
New Arrivals
 Africans also came to Virginia. Research
shows that 15 men and 17 women were
living in Jamestown by 1619.
 In 1619, the Dutch shipped 20 more
Africans. They sold them to the Virginias
who needed laborers to grow tobacco.
 The colonist valued the agricultural skills
the Africans brought.
New Arrivals
 In 1644, there were about 300 Africans living in
Virginia.
 Some were slaves for life. Other were servants
and given one day to work their own fields.
Some became free planters.
 Anthony Johnson a colonist, owned 250 acres
of land and employed five servants to help him
work it.
 For a time, the free Africans in Virginia could
vote.
New Arrivals
 In the late 1600’s, Virginia set up a
system of laws that allowed white
colonist to enslave Africans for life.
Slavery expanded and the Africans lost
their rights.
 By the 1700’s, the free African property
owners could not vote.