US History Exploration and Colonization Overview

Pequot War First Serious armed conflict between the Native Americans settlers of New England. Numerous previous conflicts over property, damage to Indian fields, hunting and dishonest trade dealings. The Pequot were outgunned, a smallpox epidemic had also weakened the tribe. 1637, the Pequot leader Sassacus is captured, main village destroyed and the Pequot were finished.

The Causes of European Exploration No central government Famine Foreign invaders Black Plague Religious intolerance

Rise of England as an Exploration power Spain was the most powerful nation in the world because of their extensive exploration which led to their wealth. England was the second most powerful country and knew they needed to explore to contend with Spain. Also, free land was offered to any English colonists by the Virginia company. Anyone who paid for the trip to Virginia would receive 50 acres of free land. England was in turmoil, exploration was looked at as a new opportunity to wealth and a better life.

Main differences of the Spanish, French and English Colonies Spanish- colonies located in Mexico and Central America, hostile relationship with Native Americans, stratified social system, and they explored for gold, god, glory English- colonies located on Atlantic Coast, sometimes hostile relationship with Native Americans, and they had religious freedom French-colonies located in Canada and Louisiana, cooperative relationship with the Native Americans, and they explored for fur trade and religious reasons

Main Characteristics of the New England, Middle and Southern Colonies New England: Puritans, no religious freedom, Plymouth colony, Salem Witch Trials, discrimination, Middle: Quakers, more diverse, religious freedom, accepting, Dutch, appealing location, good farmland, very little political order Southern: House of Burgesses in Virginia, most slavery, tobacco for cash crop, business oriented, Roanoke colony, free land, no religious freedom

Bacon’s Rebellion As Virginia's population increased settlers moved into the center of the state. This made Native Americans angry because of the intrusion on their land. Settlers wanted to destroy all natives in that area. The uprising was led by Nathaniel Bacon in a protest against Native American raids. Some historians say that it was also a protest against William Berkley, the governor of Virginia

Headright System The Headright System was first used in Jamestown Virginia to make an attempt to solve shortages of labor in the tobbacco industry. The Headright System was a system of getting people to come to Virginia and help with tobbacco growing by giving them 50 acres of land for their service The wealthier people benefited most from this because they could by the most amounts of land

King Philip’s War In 1675 a large Native American rebellion erupted which the colonialists called King Phillips War Colonialists thought Metacom or King Phillip planned and led a rebellion against them, this turned out to be false. Each native village was led by their own leader and attacked separately. The war erupted and eventually the natives lost to the colonialists due to starvation and lack of ammunition 1000 english colonists were killed 3000 natives were killed

House of Burgesses In 1619, the House of Burgesses was created by planters. It was the first representative body in colonial America. Male land owners over the age of 17 could vote for two Burgesses to represent their settlement. The house had the power to create laws and raise taxes. Later in the 1700’s two types of colonial governments were formed, royal and proprietary.

Joint Stock Company A joint stock company is a type of business entity that is a partnership between two or more legal persons. One of the first joint stock companies was the Virginia Company in the 1600’s Another joint stock company is the Plymouth Company These are the first two of these to be in the Americas

Mercantilism Mercantilism is a policy that holds that a nation or an empire could build wealth and power by developing its industries and exporting manufactured goods in exchange for gold and silver. It worked well for the colonies because it offered different economic strengths to the empire. In the colonies there was more land but fewer people and less money for investment, this favored agriculture As a result more than 90 percent of colonists lived and worked on farms

Navigation Acts The navigation acts were a series of trade laws that Parliament created in the 1600s to get more sailors, ships, and trade These acts stated that only English ships could trade with English colonies Valuable colonial goods could only be shipped to their mother country Colonies had to import all of their European goods to English ports and pay custom duties

Triangular Trade The triangular trade route was a route that connected england, its colonies, and western Africa. First, British ships loaded manufactured goods and traded these in western Africa for slaves Then, they took the enslaved Africans and traded them for valuable raw material, like timber, sugar, and tobbacco After this long process the ships would return to Europe.

Salutary Neglect Salutary neglect was a English policy of avoiding strict enforcement of Parliamentary laws They did this to try and keep American colonies under control of Great Britain This policy lasted from 1607 to 1763 and allowed trade relation laws to be very lenient. Salutary neglect was a large contributor of the things that led to the American Revolutionary War

Great Awakening The great awakening was a religious movement in the mid 1800s that swept through the colonies This is when powerful preachers would travel from town to town giving emotional sermons that deeply touched and scared listeners Thousands of people would come to be inspired by these words of religion

Puritans and Separatists The majority of New England colonists were Puritans which are religious dissidents who disagreed with the established church They believed in leading moral lives, praying devoutly, reading the Bible, and heeding their minister’s sermons. Separists are Puritans who started their own church with their religion in a rebellion to the Anglican Church Puritans challenged church of England. Because of that King Charles began to persecute the Puritans.

Mayflower Compact The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower. The group who wrote the compact was largely separatist that was seeking religious freedom from the English Church The compact was basically a social contract that settlers compacted to follow the rules of the compact for sake of survival.