Transcript The American Colonies

The
American
Colonies
Do Now
9/17/2013
1. Mark off a new chapter – label
“Colonial America 1500-1763”
2. What made people want to
explore and leave their
homeland?
Motives for Exploration
• Main explorations: Gold, God, Glory
– Riches & Money for European
countries
– God – converting people to
Christianity
– Glory – to be famous
• Others came for political or religious
freedom
Jamestown
• 1607 - 1st colony in the Americas (VA)
• People who settled in Jamestown were
concerned with becoming rich, not
farming
• disease and hunger spread
• John Smith used his charisma to hold
people together
• Almost all starved in winter, but they
were saved by tobacco.
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Tobacco
was used as currency early on
also meant laborers were needed to
work the fields
indentured servants came to new
world, did 4-7 years of
service, then earned
freedom (precursors
to slaves)
Early Signs of Democracy
• House of Burgesses – VA’s elected body
that helped run the colony
• Magna Carta – first document to put
power limits on the king (1215)
• Mayflower Compact – document signed by
the Pilgrims to establish
colonial rules (1620)
The Puritans
• Who they were – very religious (taxes went
to the church & laws that required
attendance at church), family oriented
(but male dominated), very strict (no
swearing, drinking, theft, idleness)
• Why they came –
religious freedom (first
major group to settle
“New England”)
Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Set up by John Winthrop
• Puritans were intolerant of those who did not
share their beliefs
• Roger Williams – said settlers had no right to
take land from Native Americans & not to
punish due to religion – banished – set up
Rhode Island
• Anne Hutchinson – said people should be able
to interpret Bible themselves – banished as
well (went to Rhode Island)
The Native American Issue
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In the beginning, Native Americans
helped settlers
As settlers took more land, conflicts
arose
main disagreements were over
“owning land” and religious beliefs
This would continue to be an issue
for more than 100 years
Middle Colonies – New Netherland
• Dutch West India Co. settled area (NY)
• they opened the colony to all and
encouraged settlement – they were
more friendly w/ Native Americans
• 1644 – Duke of York took them over and
renamed the colonies New York & New
Jersey
Pennsylvania
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settled by the Quakers
land was given to William Penn
by King Charles II.
Quakers – dressed plain, had no
ministers, opposed war, no serving in
military.
set up a representative government
and freedom of religion
Southern Colonies
• Life in the South very different
• Plantations – growing a single crop to
make a profit ($$)
• plantation owners controlled economy
• women – no vote, preach, own property.
• Slavery – as the numbers of indentured
servants went down, # of slaves went
up.
England vs. Colonies
• Mercantilism- exploiting colonies to
benefit England – raw materials were
sent from the colonies to England
• Navigation Acts –tightened noose on
colonies
• In colonial governments the governor
had most power
• The colonial assembly collected taxes,
initiated & passed laws.
Bringing Slaves to America
• Triangular Trade – raw materials,
tobacco & sugar to England, finished
goods and rum to Africa, slaves to
Americas
• Middle Passage – name for trip from
Africa to Americas
• Terrible conditions – overcrowded, no
food & water, disease rampant
Triangular Trade
Slaves in the Americas
• most worked in fields, some in homes
• life based on cultural heritage –
African culture disrupted because of
millions taken as slaves
• resented being subservient
Industry in the North
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Cities attracted trade and immigrants
North more industrial than the south
Native Americans fled away from cities
Farming - farms produced several
products
• Slavery existed, but they had more
legal freedoms
The Salem Witch Trials
• Many women were accused of practicing
witchcraft
• They were tried & hanged for being
witches
• Exposed social tensions - many accused
were wealthier women who were though
to be “too independent”