Reasons for Colonization



Reasons for Colonization - 1

Document 1: Richard Hakluyt Calls for an Empire (1582)

Introduction:

Richard Hakluyt, a remarkable clergyman-scholar-geographer who lies buried in Westminster Abby, deserves high rank among the indirect founding fathers of the United States. His published collections of documents relating to early English explorations are regarded among the “great books” of American history for their stimulation of interest in New World colonization. (Hakluyt even gambled some of his own small fortune in the company that tried to colonize Virginia.) Passionately concerned about England’s “sluggish security”, he wrote the following in a letter published in 1582.

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“I marvel not a little…that since the first discovery of America (which is now full four score and ten years), which came after the great conquests and plantings of the Spaniards and Portuguese, that we of England could have the grace to set fast footing in such fertile and temperate places as are left as yet unpossessesd. …I conceive great hope that the time approacheth that we of England share in and [divide the prize] with them.

…And surely if there were in us the desire to advance the honor of our country which ought to be in every good man, we would not all this while have [neglected] the possessing of those lands which of equity and right belong unto us, as by the discourses that follow shall appear most plainly…

…And what of the many who fill the eye of pity, as they fill our prisons or pester the streets. Possession of this land would hasten the uplift of many superfluous people to colonies in those temperate and fertile parts of America, a new life of vigor can be found.

…If my desire might be executed, we might not only for the present time take possession of that good land, but also, in short space, by God’s grace find out that short and easy passage by the Northwest which we have hitherto so long desired…

Questions:

1. Who was Richard Hakluyt?

2. What were Hakluyt’s arguments for settling the in the New World?

3. What is the “easy passage to the Northwest” Hakluyt refers to in the reading, and why would that passage be important to England at this time?

Reasons for Colonization - 2

Document 2: John Winthrop, Reasons for Emigrating to New England (1629)

Introduction:

John Winthrop was born in Suffolk, England, in 1587. An only child, Winthrop expected to inherit his father’s estate, Groton Manner. But his conversion to Puritanism profoundly altered the course of Winthrop’s life.

Often misunderstood today, the Puritans were Protestants who opposed the corruption of the Church of England (Anglicanism) and the increasing materialism (desire for material wealth) and individualism taking over their nation. They hoped to purify their church in order to make their society more pleasing to God. Through hard work, moderation, and faith, they aspired to build a moral and charitable community. In 1628, several Puritan merchants received a charter to establish a colony in New England. Organized as the Massachusetts Bay Company, the colonists elected John Winthrop Governor.

In the following passage, Winthrop explains why devoted Christians should follow the Puritans to New England. (Spelling has been modernized)

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Reasons to be considered for justifying the undertakers of the intended planting of New England, and for encouraging such whose hearts God shall move to join them in it.

1. It will be a service to the Church of great consequence to carry the Gospel into those parts of the world…and to raise a Bulwark (Barrier) against the kingdom of the Anti-Christ which the (French and Spanish) Jesuits (Catholic Priests) intend to rear up in those parts.

2. God hath provided this place to be a refuge for many whom he means to save out of the general calamity, and seeing the Church hath no place left to fly into but the wilderness, what better work can there be, than to go and provide tabernacles and food for God’s Church there.

3. The whole earth is the Lord’s garden and he hath given it to the Sons of men with a general Commission: Gen 1:28: increase and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it,…why then should we stand striving here for places of habitation …and in the meantime suffer a whole Continent as fruitful and convenient for the use of man to lie waste without any improvement?

4. [In England]. Arts and Trades are carried out in deceitful and unrighteous course, as it is almost impossible for a good and upright man, to maintain his charge and live comfortably. [In America] we can set limits on greed and corruption by our law.

5. The fountains of Learning and Religion are so corrupted [in England], as most children are perverted, corrupted and utterly overthrown by the multitude of evil examples….whereas [in America], it will be a pure and uncorrupted opportunity for faith and learning.

6. What can be a better work, and more honorable and worthy a Christian duty, than to raise up a Church from its infancy.

Questions:

1. Who was John Winthrop?

2. List in your own words the reasons Winthrop gives settlers for colonizing in

New England.

Reasons for Colonization – 3

Document 3 - The London Company of Virginia Instructs the Governor of Virginia [on Women] (1622)

Introduction:

In 1606, James I granted charters to two commercial trading companies, one based in London and the other Plymouth. Charged with colonizing the eastern seaboard of North America, the companies received overlapping land grants extending from contemporary Main to Cape Fear. The company to succeed first would receive the disputed territory. Colonists worked for the companies and were subject to stockholders.

While the Plymouth colony failed quickly, the London Company sustained a struggling settlement in Jamestown. Harsh living conditions and clashes with the Powhatan Confederacy held back the colony’s growth. But after John Rolfe perfected the mild variety of tobacco, Virginians gained a valuable export. By 1619, the London Company was dispatching resources and people to the colony regularly. The same year also marked the establishment of the first representative government in America, the House of Burgesses.

To attract investors and settlers to the Virginia, London Company awarded fifty-acre plots of land, called “headrights” to anyone who paid passage for themselves or a worker (indentured-servant). This was a way for Virginians to acquire large tracts of land. With desperate economic conditions in England, thousands of young people were willing to sell their labor in order to reach the New World.

Also, a 4 to 1 ratio of men to women in the colony put women in great demand as laborers and potential wives. Therefore, the London Company made efforts to populate its Virginia settlement with both men and women.

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We send you in this ship on widow and eleven maids for wives for the people in Virginia: there hath been especial care had in the choice of them; for there hath not any one of them been received but upon good recommendations. We pray you all therefore in general to take them into your care; and more especially we recommend that at their first landing, they may be housed, lodged, and provided for the diet till they be married; for such was the haste of sending them away, we had no means to put provisions abroad. And in case they cannot be presently married we desire they may be put to several households that have wives till they can be provided of husbands. Their marriages are to be free according to the laws of nature, but only to such free men or tenants as have means to maintain them. They are not to marry against their wills, or to be servants save in case of extremity.

Questions:

1. What is the purpose of London Company?

2. What were colonists given if they paid their own or their servant’s passage to Virginia?

3. It is obvious from the reading, why women were in much demand in Virginia, but in your opinion, why would a woman want to go to Virginia as a servant or to be married?

Reasons for Colonization – 4

Document 4: The Experiences of and Indentured Servant in Virginia (1623)

Introduction:

Throughout the eighteenth century, thousands of white arrived in North America as indentured servants. Depending on his or her age, a servant was obliged to serve from four to seven years. The prices of indentured servants varied according to skill. In exchange for their labor, servants received paid passage from Europe, as well as food, clothing, and shelter once they arrived in the colonies. When the contract expired, a servant was supposed to receive provisions and occasionally land In order to begin life as a freeman.

During the indenture, servants were subject to their master. A master could sell or rent his servants. Servants were prohibited from marrying and having children. They could receive severe punishments for misbehavior. In many instances, servants lived and worked in conditions virtually identical to those of slaves. Sickness, hunger, and exhaustion killed many servants before they completed their terms.

In this passage, Richard Frethorne describes the hardships many indentured servants endured. Although historians know very little about Frethorne’s life, his story provides insight into the lives of unfree laborers in the colonies. (Some spelling has been modernized)

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My most humble duty remembered to you hoping in God of your good health, as I my self am at the making hereof, this is to let you understand that your Child am in a most heavy Case by reason of the nature of the Country [which] is such that it causeth much sickness, [such as] scurvy and “the bloody flux” and diverse other diseases, which maketh the body very poor and weak. And when we are sick there is nothing to comfort us; for since I came out of the ship, I never ate anything but peas, and loblollie (water gruel). As for deer and venison I never saw any since I came into this land. There is indeed some foul, but we are not allowed to go, and get it, but must work hard both early and late for a mess of water gruel, and the mouthful of bread, and beef. A mouthful of bread for a penny loaf must serve for four men which is most pitiful.

…People cry out day and night--Oh that they were in England ---and would not care if to lose any limb to be in England again. …For we live in fear of the enemy (Native-Americans) every hour, yet we have had combat with them…

…And I have nothing to comfort me…not a shirt to my back but two rags, nor no clothes but one poor suit, nor but one pair of shoes, but one pair of stockings; but one cap, and but two bands (collars)...

Questions:

1. What is an indentured servant? Explain the terms and conditions of indentured servitude?

2. Describe some of the conditions of Frethorne’s servitude.

3. The reading explains many of the problem’s experienced in servitude, so in your opinion, why would so many decide to take on this challenge?

Reasons for Colonization – 5

Document 5 – “Pennsylvania, The Poor Man’s Paradise” (1698)

Introduction

In 1681, in order to pay a large debt owed to William Penn’s father, Charles II appointed Penn the sole proprietor of a large tract of American land. A Quaker, Penn founded a colony based on religious freedom and economic opportunity. Penn publicized his venture throughout Western Europe and drew scores of Quakers and other religious groups to Pennsylvania. Fertile lands and lengthy growing seasons attracted many others. With a reputation for tolerance and organization, Pennsylvania flourished.

This excerpt, Gabriel Thomas, a Quaker who lived in Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1697, describes conditions in the new settlement. (Some spelling has been modernized.)

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…I must needs say, even the Present Encouragements are very great and inviting, for Poor People (both Men and Women) of all kinds, can here get three time the Wages for their Labor they can in England and Whales…

…As first, their Land costs them little or nothing in comparison, of which the Farmers commonly will get twice the increase of Corn for every Bushel they sow, that the Farmers in England can from the richest Land they have.

…in the Second place, they have constantly good price for their Corn, by reason of the great and quick vent into Barbados and other Islands; through which means Silver is become more plentiful than here in England…

….Thirdly, They pay no Tithes, and their Taxes are [not] considerable; the Place is free of all Persuasions, in a Sober and Civil way…they live friendly and well together…there is no persecution of Religion, nor ever like to be…

…What I have here written, is not a Fiction, Flam, Whim, or any sinister Design…

Question:

1. How was Pennsylvania founded?

2. Identify and explain at least 3 factors that made Pennsylvania so appealing to settlers?

3. Why do you think the Quakers upheld religious freedom when they established Pennsylvania?

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