The Southern Colonies Chapter 4 Section 3

The Southern Colonies Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia

Mason-Dixon Line In 1763, two English mathematicians, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon began to survey the 244-mile boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland. The boundary had been in dispute since 1681. For four years , Mason and Dixon carefully laid stone markers on the border between the two colonies. The sides of the markers facing Pennsylvania were inscribed with the letter P and the sides facing Maryland were inscribed with the letter M. The two men completed the Mason-Dixon line in 1767.

Maryland In 1632, Sir George Calvert convinced King Charles I to grant him land for a colony in the Americas. Calvert had ruined his career in Protestant England by becoming a Roman Catholic. Now he planned a colony, Maryland where Catholics could practice their religion freely.

Maryland was home for many Maryland had very rich and fertile land as well as plenty of fish, oysters, and crabs from the Chesapeake Bay. In 1634, 200 settlers landed across from New England’s first colony, Virginia. The newcomers avoided the swampy land. As proprietor of the colony, Lord Baltimore, appointed a governor and a council of advisers. He gave colonists a role in governing the colony by creating an assembly.

Religious Toleration In 1649, Lord Baltimore asked the assembly to pass the Act of Toleration. The Act of Toleration provided religious freedom for all Christians. However, like many colonies the freedom did not extend to the Jewish.

Virginia Many settlers had gone to Virginia, lured by the promise of profits from tobacco. Wealthy planters quickly took up the best lands near the coast forcing newcomers to push inland, onto Native American lands.

Conflict with Native Americans As in New England, conflict over over land led to fighting between settlers and Native Americans. From time to time, White and Native American leaders met to restore peace but as settlers took over more and more land, Native Americans continued to attack these frontier plantations.

Bacon’s Rebellion After several bloody clashes, settlers called on the governor to take action against Native Americans. The governor refused because he profited from fur trade with Native Americans which made the settlers furious. Finally, in 1676, Nathaniel Bacon, a young ambitious planter, organized angry men and women on the frontier. Then he led his followers to Jamestown and burned the capital. This uprising was known as Bacon’s Rebellion and it lasted a very short time. When Bacon suddenly died, the revolt fell apart. The governor hanged 23 of Bacon’s followers.

The Carolinas South of Virginia and Maryland, English colonists settled in a region called the Carolinas. Settlement took place in two separate areas. To the north, settlers were mostly poor tobacco farmers who had drifted south from Virginia. They tended to have small farms. Farther south, a group of eight English nobles set up a large colony. As proprietors, they received a grant of land from King Charles the II. The largest settlement was named Charles Town and was later shortened to Charleston.

Carolina Rice Around 1685, a few settlers realized that rice grew well in the swampy lowlands along the coast. Before long Carolina rice was a valuable crop traded around the world. The Carolina planters needed large numbers of workers to grow rice. At first, they tried to enslave Native Americans but they soon died from disease and mistreatment.

Slaves from Africa By 1700, most people coming to Charleston were African men and women brought against their will. The northern area of Carolina had fewer slaves. Differences between the two areas led to division of the colony into North Carolina and South Carolina in 1712.

Georgia The last of the Southern Colonies was carved out of the southern part of South Carolina. James Oglethorpe, a respected soldier and energetic reformer, founded Georgia in 1732. Oglethorpe wanted Georgia to be a colony where people jailed for debt in England could make a new start. Under English law, the government could imprisoned debtors until they paid what they owned. When debtors got out they often had no money or a place to live. Oglethorpe offered to pay debtors and other people to travel to Georgia.

Rules of Georgia In 1733, Oglethorpe and 120 colonists built the colony’s first settlement at Savannah River. Oglethorpe set strict rules for the colony. Farms could be no bigger than 50 acres and slavery was forbidden. Oglethorpe eventually changed his rules because Georgia was growing slowly. Once he allowed large plantations and slavery, Georgia grew fast.

Plantation Life The Southern Colonies enjoyed warmer weather and a longer growing season than the colonies to the north. Virginia, Maryland, parts of North Carolina became major tobacco-growing areas. Colonists soon found that it was most profitable to raise tobacco and rice on large plantations. Most slaves worked in the fields but some were carpenters, barrelmakers or blacksmith, cooks, servants, or housekeepers.

Location The southerners built plantations along the coastal plains, in an area of low land stretched along broad rivers and creeks. Because the land was washed away by ocean tides, the region was known as the Tidewater. The tidewater’s gentle slopes and rivers offered rich farmland for plantations.

Planters A small percentage of white southerners owned large plantations Planters set the style of life in the South. Life centered around the Grand house where the planter and his family lived. Planters decided on which fields to plant, what crops to grown, and when to harvest the crops and take them to market. Planters wives kept the household running smoothly, directing slaves and making sure daily tasks were done.

Growth of Slavery By 1700, plantations in the Southern Colonies relied on slave labor. Slaves cleared the land, worked the crops, and tended the livestock. To control the large number of slaves, colonists passed slave codes. Slave codes were laws that set out rules for slaves’ behavior and denied slaves basic rights. Slaves were seen not as humans, but as property.

Racism Colonists believed that the white race was superior to the African race. The belief that one race is superior to another is called racism.

The Slave Trade As demand for slaves grew, European slave traders set up posts along the African coast. They offered guns and other goods to African rulers who brought them slaves. They loaded slaves aboard Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French ships headed to the Americas.

Middle Passage In the 1720’s, between 2000 - 3000 slaves were arriving each year in North American English colonies. The trip from Africa to the Americas was called the Middle Passage. Slaves were crammed into small spaces below deck. Each slave had little room to turn himself and the heat was unbearable. Once or twice a day the crew allowed the slaves on deck to eat and exercise. Some Africans fought for their freedom by jumping overboard or refusing to eat. Approximately 10% of Africans did not survive the Middle Passage.