Why Do We Celebrate Puritan Massachusetts But Not Jamestown?

I. Context: The 100 Year Delay and England’s Exploration

A. England’s Military Power: The Defeat of the Spanish Armada

B. England’s Excess Population: Enclosure & Primogeniture

C. England’s Economic Resources: Private Funding and the Joint Stock Company

II. May 14th 1607: No School for Jamestown Day?

A. The Argument for Jamestown Day 1. Jamestown was the First! (Kind Of)

2. A First Step Toward Democracy: The House of Burgesses

3. Tobacco & an Eventual Economic Boom

B. The Argument Against Jamestown Day: 1. Jamestown’s Goal: Gold Trumps God

2. Jamestown’s Early Years: Men, Malaria, and the Starving Time

3. Jamestown & Native Americans: From Pocahontas to the Anglo-Powhatan Wars

4. Jamestown & the Shift from Indentured Servants to Slaves

III. Comparing and Contrasting Southern Colonies

A. The Colonies’ Contrasting Origins Maryland (1634) – A Haven for Catholics Carolina (1670) – A Link to the West Indies North Carolina (1712) – A Refuge for Poor Whites Georgia (1733) – A Buffer against Spanish Florida

The Colonies’ Common Characteristics: 1. Economic: Rural Plantations, Wealthy Landowners & African Slaves

2. Religious: The Church of England & Religious Toleration