Chapter 2 Trey Nilles, Brandon Schwartz, Riley Manley, Paul Krol, Nathan Packer, and Paul Hatcher

Social Many of the poorer farmers in England were put onto the streets because of the competition for land. Most of them ended up as beggars in London and Bristol. Upon arriving in Virginia, the colonists had an immediate clash with the Native American tribes who already occupied the land. “Gentlemen” would not work themselves, had to have servants. Not a lot of interaction due to the fact that most people worked on plantations and they were very widespread. Very high mortality rates Some women were very rich due to inheritance left by deceased husbands.

Political Virginia: In late 1606, England gave the Virginia Company a charter which they used to send englishmen to Virginia for economic and social reasons. The English sent over Captain John Smith to reform what was happening in the colonies about searching for gold rather than assisting in the colonies. He established the idea of no work leads to no meal. In 1614, the daughter of Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas, married Englishman John Rolfe. In 1622, the Virginia Company called for a perpetual war against the Native Americans. In 1619, the House of Burgesses was established. It was the first form of government by the colonists in the New World. The House of Burgesses was given initiate legislation by the end of the 17th century. Council members were appointed by the Royal Governor. James I began to dislike Virginia and revoked the charter of the Virginia Company, who became bankrupt. This lead to Virginia becoming a royal colony. In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon lead 1,000 colonists against Governor Berkeley. Berkeley fled Jamestown, but came back and ended the rebellion that had burned down the capital. Maryland: In 1632, George Calvert aka Lord Baltimore was given a Royal Charter for the area of Maryland. In 1634, the colony was created as a proprietary one. Lord Baltimore’s plan was to be an absentee proprietor governor. The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 was signed which gave religious freedom to Catholics in Maryland.

Religion Henry VIII broke from the Catholic church in 1530 creating the Protestant reformation. Lord Baltimore creates Maryland as a Catholic refuge in 1634 In 1649 Maryland issued the Act of Toleration which granted religious toleration to all Christians. Puritans sought refuge in their new colony of Massachusetts as Puritanism was not supported in Britain. Overall the colonies were a place of religious freedom that did not exist in Europe.

Intellect In 1676 Nathaniel Bacon lead a rebellion against Governor Berkley. Nathaniel’s rebels mainly consisted of educated, white, indentured servants. After Bacon’s Rebellion was finally put down the big plantation owners decided to use black slaves more often than white indentured servants. They did this because the indentured servants were educated and could easily plot another rebellion against the plantation owners. While on the other hand most of the slaves had come straight from Africa and had no formal education in reading, etc to communicate to each other easily and cause trouble for the plantation owners. This simple fact that the slaves were not educated enough to start another uprising gave the plantation owners some relief. Due to the 1662 Slave codes, it was illegal in some colonies to educate the black slaves.

Economy Colonists looked for gold, instead of getting supplies Women had a lot of wealth after their husbands died during the Starving Times Colonists raided Indian villages for food and supplies. This results in the Anglo-Powhatan Wars Large plantations formed. Many colonists profit from growing tobacco Amount of tobacco grown increase at a fast rate Tobacco was cheap to grow and increased the economy in the colonies, but ruined the soil. Slaves start to arrive in the colonies and the Atlantic Slave Trade forms, trading between the colonies and Africa for slaves. Bacon’s Rebellion- former indentured servants have no land and are angry at the Governor for monopolizing the fur trade. Planters now only use Black Slaves on their plantations Tobacco is the main cash crop of the colonies.