Describe how Jamestown was settled, why the colony struggled, and how it survived. Explain the relationship of Indians and settlers in the Southern Colonies. Discuss the settlement of Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia.

England’s First American Colonies Jamestown Overcomes Hardships The Effects of Expansion in Virginia Other Southern Colonies

Take 15 min. to read section 2.3 and be thinking about why Roanoke Colony failed and what did Jamestown do differently that made a difference. Give three things that Jamestown failed at.

The first promoters of the English colonies were wealthy gentlemen. Including: Sir Walter Raleigh, English Patriots, and devout protestants. They promised the colonies would decrease the poverty rate. They would do this by sending the poor people across the Atlantic to work on building a new colony to generate wealth for England.

Sir Walter Raleigh obtained a charter from the king, and the promoters formed a joint-stock company. This was a business venture founded and run by a group of investors who were to share in the company’s profits and losses. In the 1580’s Raleigh tried two times to settle Roanoke and failed both times. The first group went back to Europe and the second group mysteriously disappeared.

England tried to send colonists again to this new land under new leadership. The Virginia Company; a corporation of great merchants based in London. In 1607 the new group of colonists landed in the Chesapeake Bay, which turned out to be a superior location to Roanoke.

Not long after arrival the colonists met a powerful group of Indians called the Algonquians. (Powhatan was their chief) The Algonquians numbered 24,000 among 30 different tribes. The colonists wanted the Indians land, despite the fact the lands had great meaning and use to the Indians. The Indians did not initial want to fight the colonist because they wanted to use them to help defeat the Indians further inland.

The colonist founded a colony amid the Virginia Swamps called Jamestown in honor of King James I. The swamps defended the town from intruders; however, it brought disease and malaria via the mosquitoes. By 1622 only about 20 percent of the colonist were still living.

In 1609, war broke out between the Indians and the starving colonists. In 1613 the English captured Powhatan’s daughter. (Pocahontas) Pocahontas became a Christian and married a colonist name John Rolfe. Powhatan was weary with war and reluctantly made peace with the English until he died in 1618.

After Powhatan died the power passed to his brother Opechancannough, who Had and immense hate for the English Invaders. This will become a large issue for the English as they try to continue their existence with the Indians.

John Rolfe taught the colonists how to cultivate tobacco beginning in The west Indian tobacco had become very popular in Europe. The King tried to undermine the tobacco as loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs. He did this until he realized his profit opportunity and the production of tobacco went from 200,000 per year to 1.5 million pounds over a 15 year span. These Profits attracted more immigrants to Virginia.

Beginning in 1619 the Virginia Company offered free land. The stipulation was that they had to pay there way or pay the way for someone to receive 50 acres of land. This allowed the wealthy colonists aquire large plantations.

In 1619 the Virginia Company allowed the planters to create the House of Burgesses. (the first representative body in the colonies) Male land owners over the age of 17 voted for two Burgesses to represent their settlement. It had the power to make laws and raise taxes. In 1624 the Crown took over and make the royal colonies and the proprietary colonies. (royal: owned by the crown, Proprietary: business)

The colonists expanded their tobacco plantations which took more land from the Indians. This caused three different occasions of war between the Algonquin and the colonists. Ultimately reducing the size of the Algonquin to only 2,000 from its original 24,000. They had to resided in small areas around the settlements. This is when they realized the English were here to stay.

The new governor Berkley increased taxes heavily on the farmers and spoke out against public education and freedom of the press. In 1673 war broke out between the Indians and the settlers and Berkley balked. Nathanial Bacon undermined his authority and recklessly attacked and killed all the Indians he could find. Then he marched on Jamestown and rebelled against Berkley and burnt down Jamestown.

Bacon died abruptly of disease and the rebellion lost its momentum and Jamestown was reclaimed by Berkley but now discredited. The king appointed a new governor and Berkley returned to Europe. This showed the House of Burgesses that the poor people would not tolerate a government that only catered to the wealthy.

In 1632, at the Northern head of the Chesapeake Bay the English King established the second English Colony, Maryland. The Carolinas were established in 1670, in honor of King Charles II. This was officially owned by a group of English Aristocrats. In 1732 Georgia began as a proprietary colony intended to protect South Carolina against the Spanish Florida.