I



THE BRITISH SETTLE NORTH AMERICA

I. Act One: Jamestown

A. The English Struggle to Start in North America

1. A charter was granted in 1606.

a. What is a charter?

• an official permit

b. Who granted it?

• The King of England

c. What company received the charter?

• The Virginia Company

d. What was it for?

• To establish a colony on the east coast of North America

2. The English settlers reached the shores of Virginia in North America in April of 1607.

a. Who saw himself as the leader of this expedition?

• John Smith

b. How many Englishmen arrived as part of this expedition?

• About 150

c. Where did they set up their colony?

• Virginia

d. What did they name their settlement?

• Jamestown (after King James)

3. Jamestown experiences a disastrous start!

a. What were the English settlers preoccupied with finding at first?

• They wanted GOLD. They didn’t worry about food or shelter.

b. What was the bad result of this preoccupation?

• People died from disease and hunger

c. By winter of 1607, how many English colonists remain alive at Jamestown?

• Only 38 of the 150 people who came in April

d. Who took charge of the colony to keep it from collapsing?

• John Smith

e. What was his new famous rule for survival in Jamestown?

• If you do not work, you DON’T eat!

4. 1609: More trouble continues!

a. What’s happened to John Smith at this point?

• His gun powder sets on fire and he has to go back to England for treatment

b. How many new colonists have come to Jamestown?

• 600 new colonists came to Jamestown for a better life

• What are the Powhatan doing? Destroying the colonists livestock and crops

c. What was this time period called by the colonists?

• Starving time

d. How many of the new colonists survive this hardship?

• Only 60

B. Jamestown Makes a Comeback

1. The English Settlers find a miracle solution!

a. What was the highly profitable crop that saved the colony of Jamestown from complete disaster?

• Tobacco

b. Who was the colonist who perfected the way of growing this new crop?

• John Rolfe

c. What nicknames did the new crop have?

• Brown gold (brown because tobacco is brown and gold because it’s worth a lot of money)

2. With the colony’s new economic success, many more English people came to Jamestown.

a. What was the headright system and how did it bring more people to Virginia?

• When English people paid their own way to North America, the Virginia Company give that person 50 acres of land (1 acre is equal to a football field)

b. Who was brought to be the farm workers on the plantations?

• Indentured Servants were brought over to North America. They were low class English. They get free voyage to North America, food, and shelter, but they have serve at the plantation owner for 4-7 years. Similar to a slave, except there is a time limit.

• Native Americans were also brought to work the plantations. They DO NOT have a choice and their servitude is for life.

c. Explain their status in society.

• Lower Class (poor)

d. What was the status of the first African laborers brought into the English colonies?

• The 1st Africans were treated as indentured servants

C. Other Conflicts Continue

1. Expansion of the English settlements strained relations with the Indians.

a. How were the English different from the Spanish in their approach to the Indians?

• The Spanish were more open and accepting to the Native Americans. They married Native Americans and had children, which was fully accepted. (Mestizos)

• The English thought that they were better than the Native Americans. They even forbid marriages between English and Native Americans.

b. What previous experience did the English copy to deal with the Indians? Explain how.

• They compared to when they conquered the Irish in the 1500s.

c. Who got married in 1614 and why did it temporarily ease relations between the English and the Powhatan?

• Pocahontas and John Rolfe

• Pocahontas’ dad was the Chief of the Powhatan Indians

• John Rolfe was a leader of Jamestown

• English and Powhatan people are tolerating each other now, but still harbor bad feelings toward each other.

d. In 1622, a very violent war between the Powhatan and the settlers broke out. What was the reaction from the English rulers?

• King James, gets made at the Virginia Company for not doing a good job of running Jamestown.

• King James basically fires the Virginia Company

• Makes Jamestown a royal colony

o (Royal Colony: a colony under direct control of the King)

e. By 1644, how many English settlers lived in Virginia?

• 10,000 people

2. By the 1670s, there was not only tension between the English and the Indians, but also between different members of English society.

a. Explain why the poorer Englishmen on the western frontier of Virginia were unhappy with the wealthy “Grandees” of the coastal plantations.

• The poor people were the indentured servants (they had no money, because they working off their debts).

• Cannot vote because they do not own land

• Poor were being taxed. The money from the taxes is being used for the plantations ($ went to the rich)

• ALSO… the poor people on the western frontier are fighting with the Indians LAND!

o Poor frontier men want to know why the taxes are not being used to protect them from the Indians

• A war breaks out between the frontier and Indians. The frontier people need help. They ask Governor Berkley for help (army). Berkley says NOOO!!!

b. What did Nathaniel Bacon do in 1676?

• Bacon was working with Berkeley, but leaves him and begins an army to fight against the Indians

c. What was the reaction from the governor of Virginia?

• Right away he says that the Bacon’s army, which is made up of frontier men/poor guys and the people who owed money)is illegal

d. What did Bacon’s men end up doing to the colonial capital?

• Bacon’s men set fire to Jamestown.

• Berkley and the plantation owners ran away

e. What became of Bacon’s rebellion?

• Bacon dies

• Berkley comes back to Jamestown and since there was no leader, he was able to end the rebellion

f. Why do some historians think that this episode was important for race relations in the English colonies?

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