Despite a difficult beginning, the southern colonies soon flourished. Big Idea Despite a difficult beginning, the southern colonies soon flourished.

Building Background Several European nations took part in the race to claim lands in the Americas. Their next step was to establish colonies in the lands they claimed. The first English colonies were started in the late 1500s but they failed. Even in successful colonies, colonists faced hardships and challenges.

Lost Colony of Roanoke

SETTLEMENT IN JAMESTOWN 1605: A company of English merchants asked King James I for the right to found, or establish, a settlement. 1606: King James granted the request of the company to settle in a region called Virginia.

King James I

Founding a New Colony The investors in the new settlement formed a joint-stock company, in which the group could share the costs and risks of establishing the colony. April 26, 1607: First 105 colonies sent by the London Company arrived in America. May 14, 1607: the colonists founded Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement. Lack of preparation cost a lot of the colonists their lives due to the marsh-filled geography of the region. By the winter of 1607, nearly two-thirds of the original colonists had died.

Jamestown Colony

Powhatan Confederacy War in Virginia 1608: Under the rule of John Smith, Jamestown fared better. He forced the settlers to work and created a system in which the hardest workers received food. The settlers also received help from the Native American group the Powhatans. The Native American group taught the settlers how to grow corn. 1609-1610: Some 400 settlers arrived but during the winter, called starving time, some sixty percent of the colonists were alive. Jamestown failed to make a profit until colonist John Rolfe introduced a new type of tobacco that sold well in England.

John Smith

Map of the Powhatan Confederacy

John Rolfe and Pocahontas

Tobacco

1614: John Rolfe married Pocahontas 1614: John Rolfe married Pocahontas. The marriage provided stable relations between the settlers and the Powhatan. 1622: Wars begin between the settlers and the Native Americans. These wars would last for some twenty years. 1624: Due to the inability to protect themselves, the English government canceled the company’s charter. Virginia would become a royal colony that existed under the authority of a governor chosen by a king.

House of Burgesses Royal Colony-First Attempt at Representative Government

Primary Source A Note From Virginia As teaching the quality of this country, three things there be, which in five years may bring this colony to perfection; the English plow, vineyards and cattle…All our riches for the present do consist in tobacco, wherein one man by his own labor has raised to himself to the value of 200 pounds sterling and another by the means of six servants has cleared at one crop a thousand pound English. These be true, yet indeed rare examples, yet possible to be done by others. How does this letter indicate the importance of tobacco in Virginia?

Reading Check Finding Main Ideas What problems did the Jamestown colonists face?

DAILY LIFE IN VIRGINIA In Virginia, people lived in scattered towns rather than in towns. Settlers lived on large farms called plantations. On these plantations, tobacco was the largest cash crop. Tobacco was so valuable that it was used as money.

Characteristics of Daily Life Headright System: Started by the London Company, this system allowed for people who paid their way to Virginia the ability to receive 50 acres of land. For every person they brought to Virginia, they would receive another 50 acres. Labor System: The backbone was indentured servants-these people signed a contract to work for someone in Virginia and in return their employers would pay their way to the colony.

Headright System

Indentured Servants

Characteristics of Daily Life Expansion of Slavery: Slavery begins in 1619, as the Dutch brought the first Africans into Virginia. Some arrived as indentured servants and became successful once their contract ended. The demand for new workers soon overtook the supply of people who were willing to work as indentured servants. This led to the price of slaves to fall and colonists turned to slave labor. By the middle of the 1600s, many Africans were forced into slavery.

Bacon’s Rebellion Causes: (1) Expansion of the Jamestown economy (2) The demand to collect more taxes and (3) Lack of protection afforded to them in case of Native American attack. 1676: Nathaniel Bacon led an attack on the Virginia government due to the fact the governor promoted trade between settlers and the Native Americans. By the end of the rebellion, Bacon controlled a large portion of Virginia but died of a fever. The rebellion would end shortly after.

Nathaniel Bacon

Reading Check Analyzing What factors led to the increased use of slave labor in Virginia?

OTHER SOUTHERN COLONIES Many new groups of English settlers were planning to arrive in North America as Jamestown developed. First group were English colonists who wished to move when England left the Roman Catholic Church. Many Catholics were not allowed to worship freely in England. Many English leaders felt that the Catholics needed to leave as they would fear an alliance between them and France and Spain.

Maryland Started by George Calvert (Lord Baltimore) as he asked King Charles I for a charter to establish a new colony for Catholics. 1632: Calvert’s son Cecilius establishes Maryland, named for the Queen of England, Henrietta Maria. Colony would be established as a refuge for English Catholics. Colony would be a proprietary colony, in which the major decisions would be made by the owners of the colony.

Maryland

1634: First group of Catholics, following the methods used in Jamestown, came to Maryland. Soon after, English Protestants arrived leading Lord Baltimore to pass the Toleration Act of 1649. The act made it a crime to restrict the rights of Catholics and was the first law to promote religious tolerance for all settlers.

Toleration Act of 1649

The Carolinas and Georgia The Carolinas were established by eight supporters of King Charles II. At first, the Carolinas were one colony but due to large distances between the colony, it became hard to govern and divided into two (1712). Former Virginians moved into North Carolina while European settlers moved into South Carolina. 20,000 or more slaves from Africa moved into the Carolinas, twice as many as the Europeans who settled. By 1729, the people who owned the Carolinas could not govern, so the King made North and South Carolina royal colonies.

The Carolinas

Georgia was given to James Oglethorpe by King George II in 1732. The colony was started for two purposes: (1) for protection against the Spanish and Native American groups of Florida and (2) it was a place for people to be jailed for debt. Oglethorpe was against plantations and slavery but his settlers rebelled against the idea. By 1752, the British government made Georgia a royal colony, as they had done with all the southern colonies.

Colonial Georgia Established by James Oglethorpe

Reading Check Finding Main Ideas What were some of the reasons colonists came to the southern colonies?

ECONOMIES OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES Primarily based on agriculture. Some colonies were trading materials needed to build ships such as wood and tar. Others traded with Native Americans. Agriculture and farming were divided into two groups-small farms and large plantations. Farming was successful because of the warm climate and long growing season. Cash crops were the main source of income. The cash crops of the south included tobacco, rice and indigo.

Tobacco Economy

Cash crops were labor intensive, that means, many workers were needed to grow and harvest the crops. By 1750, the cash crop workforce switched from indentured servants (contract workers) to enslaved Africans. Slavery was a brutal system as slave codes prevented Africans from gaining any freedom or rights whatsoever.

Growth of Slavery in the South

Reading Check Summarizing What role did slavery play in the southern plantation economy and how was it regulated?

Assessment How did John Smith improve conditions in Jamestown? What events led to a conflict between the settlers of Jamestown and the Powhatan Confederacy?

Assessment Why were indentured servants needed in Virginia? What do you think was the most serious problem faced by settlers in Virginia? Why?

Assessment Which colony was the first to promote religious tolerance? Why did more enslaved Africans live in South Carolina than did white settlers? How might the colony of Georgia have been different if James Oglethorpe’s plan had succeeded?

Assessment What was the purpose of slave codes? Why were slaves in high demand in the southern colonies?

Summary and Preview In this section you read about life in the southern colonies. In the next section, you will learn about the New England colonies.