COMPARING THE COLONIES Chapter 7

English Colonial Expansion Great Britain was an unstable place in the 16 th century ( ). Great Britain included people from Scotland and Wales. Farmers in England realized they could make more money selling wool than food, and so they converted their fields into pastures for sheep. This led to there not being enough food in England. In addition, there were no longer enough jobs for farm workers. Many people were looking for opportunities elsewhere.

English Colonial Expansion The 16 th century was also a time when European nations believed the best way to become rich and powerful was to establish as many colonies as possible. The English colonies in North America were primarily a way for England to make money. King James put two companies in charge of establishing colonies in North America. The Plymouth Company was in charge of the northern half and the Virginia Company was in charge of the southern half. He granted these companies charters to establish colonies and make money for the King.

Virginia The Virginia Colony was founded in 1607 by John Smith and other colonists including John Rolfe at Jamestown. The colony struggled (lack of food, disease, conflict with Native Americans) until they discovered how to grow tobacco. Virginia had a representative government called the House of Burgesses.

Maryland In 1632, the English crown granted about 12 million acres of land at the top of the Chesapeake Bay to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore. This colony, named Maryland after the queen, was similar to Virginia in many ways. Its landowners grew tobacco on large plantations that depended on the labor of indentured servants and later African slaves. Lord Baltimore was a Catholic, and he hoped that his colony would be a safe place for other Catholics. Maryland became known for its policy of religious toleration for all.

Massachusetts Ten years after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, a wealthy group of investors known as the Massachusetts Bay Company sent a much larger (and more liberal) group of Puritans to establish another Massachusetts settlement. With the help of local natives, the colonists soon got the hang of farming, fishing and hunting, and Massachusetts became very successful.

Connecticut As the Massachusetts settlements expanded, they generated new colonies in New England. Puritans who thought that Massachusetts was not religious enough formed the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven (the two combined in 1665).

Rhode Island Puritans who thought that Massachusetts was too religious formed the colony of Rhode Island, where everyone- including Jews- enjoyed complete “liberty in religious concernments.”

New Hampshire To the north of the Massachusetts colony, a handful of adventurous settlers formed the colony of New Hampshire.

New York In the early 1600’s, the territory between New England and Virginia was occupied by Dutch traders and landowners called patroons. In 1664, King Charles gave the land to his brother James, the Duke of York. The English soon absorbed Dutch New Netherland and renamed it New York. But most of the Dutch people stayed put.

Pennsylvania In 1680, the king granted 45,000 square miles of land west of the Delaware River to William Penn, a Quaker who owned land in Ireland. The land in North America became known as Penn’s Woods” or Pennsylvania. People came to Pennsylvania because of its fertile soil and religious freedom, especially for Quakers.

Carolinas The Carolina colony stretched south from Virginia to Florida and west to the Pacific Ocean. In its northern half, farmers struggled to make a living. In its southern half, planters had large plantations that produced corn, lumber, beef and pork, and – starting in the 1690’s – rice. The Carolinas had close ties to the English planter colony on the Caribbean island of Barbados, which relied heavily on African slave labor, and many were involved in the slave trade themselves. As a result, slavery played an important role in the development of the Carolina colony. (It split into North Carolina and South Carolina in 1729.)

Georgia In 1732, inspired by the need to build a buffer between South Carolina and the Spanish settlements in Florida, the Englishman James Oglethorpe established the Georgia colony. Georgia also became a place for people who owed money in England to work off their debts as indentured servants (instead of going to prison).

Puritans v. Pilgrims: colonies/videos/puritans-vs- pilgrims?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=fals e colonies/videos/puritans-vs- pilgrims?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=fals e The Value of Tobacco: