3-1 Notes: Early Colonies Have Mixed Success

1. 3-1 Notes: Early Colonies Have Mixed Success

3. The English Plan Colonies • Richard Hakluyt – English American colonies would provide a market for English businesses and serve as a source of raw materials (“mercantilism”) • Mercantilism – Increase money in a country’s treasury by creating a favorable balance of trade • Provide a way to plant Protestantism in the Americas • People came to the Americas for 2 main reason: economic opportunity and religious freedom

4. Mercantilism

5. Two Early Colonies Fail • Sir Walter Raleigh – received permission from Queen Elizabeth I to sponsor a colony at Roanoke • Named the colony “Virginia” after the queen who had never been married • Colony financed and established by Raleigh in 1585 ACE • Colonists relied upon trading with Native Americans for food • Natives eventually refused to trade food • Survivors returned to England in 1586 ACE • In 1587 ACE artist John White convinced Raleigh to try again • To this day no one knows how or why this colony failed – Some believe they intermixed with Native Americans, other believed they were killed by Native Americans in the Chesapeake Bay • 1607 ACE – the Plymouth Company sponsored the Sagadahoc colony at the mouth of the Kennebec River in modern-day Maine • Arguments, a harsh winter, fights with the Native Americans, and food shortages forced most of the colonists to return to England

6. Financing a Colony • English learned that one person could not finance a colony • Joint-stock company – companies backed by investors who invest their money into a project to earn a profit • Each investor received pieces of ownership (“shares of stock”) • Investors can then split the profits and divide losses • Merchants organized the Virginia Company of London and the Virginia Company of Plymouth • King James I granted charters to both companies • Charters were written contracts, issued by a government, that gives the holder the right to establish a colony

7. Jamestown Is Founded in 1607 • 1607 ACE – the Virginia Company of London financed an expedition to the Chesapeake Bay including over 100 colonists • Sailed up the James River and founded a colony which they named Jamestown • Early hardships included swampy conditions, malaria-carrying mosquitoes, a hot and humid climate with a cold winter, and dirty drinking water • Colonists were incorrectly told that the colony had gold, so colonists spent their time and storage space trying to find gold and storing chemical tests to check for gold instead of planting and storing crops • January 1608 ACE – Only 38 colonists still alive

8. Jamestown Grows • 1608 ACE – John Smith enforces new rule: “He that will not work shall not eat.” • Ordered an existing wall around Jamestown to be extended • Persuaded the Powhatan tribe to trade their corn to the colonists • 1609 ACE– Smith injured in a gunpowder explosion, returned to England; later that year 800 more colonists showed up • Powhatan eventually stopped trading with Jamestown and attacked the colony, penning the colonists into the town • “Starving time” of 1609 – Only 60 colonists survived by eating rats, mice, and snakes

9. Tobacco Helps Jamestown Flourish • 1612 ACE– John Rolfe arrives in Jamestown with Orinoco tobacco, a high-grade tobacco he smuggled from Spanish-controlled Venezuela • Tobacco became popular in England, which helped bring capital to Jamestown • The Virginia Company eventually allowed settlers to own their own land (50 acres for anyone who could pay their own passage to the colonies) • 1619 ACE – the first Africans were brought to Jamestown as laborers • Many poor people paid their passage by signing up to be indentured servants, who sold their labor to the person who paid for their voyage – After normally around 7 years, an indentured servant could farm on their own or take up their own trade • 1619-21 – Population increases from 600 to 2,000 colonists

10. Representation, Conflict, and Bacon’s Rebellion • Colonists, annoyed with the strict rule of a governor of Virginia living in London, persuaded the Virginia Company to allow burgesses, elected representatives, to meet once in a year to vote on matters • 1619 ACE – House of Burgesses becomes the first representative assembly in the American colonies • In an effort to improve relations wit the Powhatan, John Rolfe married Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan’s daughter • Powhatan taught colonists how to grow corn, etc. but in 1622 ACE they massacred Jamestown colonists in response to a land grab • Many colonists resented richer landowners who controlled the fertile tidewater growing areas • Nathaniel Bacon and a group of landless frontier settlers urged Governor Berkeley to start a war against Native Americans to acquire more land • Berkeley refused and Bacon burned Jamestown to the ground after taking control of the House of Burgesses • Bacon suddenly fell ill and died and Berkeley hanged his remaining followers • King Charles II recalled Berkeley to England in retaliation and the House of Burgesses passed laws to prevent a royal governor from taking absolute power ever again