1. A look at some early colonists and their motivation
Early America
A look at some early colonists and their motivation

2. Why go to the new world? Religious Freedom Economic interests
Pilgrims – sought a more pure practice of their religion free from persecution
Colonists sought freedom to practice their religion as they saw fit
Economic interests
Expansion at home made land and resources scarce, creating massive poverty
The search for wealth by acquiring more resources, such as cotton and tobacco, to send to the factories at home

3. Why go to the New World Political Turmoil Forced out
Protestant v. Catholic
King v. Parliament
Class v. class
English Civil War
Forced out
Religious and Political Exiles
Move to survive

4. The Pilgrims
Religious purists from the outskirts of London who set sail for Virginia in 1620
The Church of England kept too many Catholic Rituals
The Pilgrims preferred to leave than conform
Set sail aboard the Mayflower
A navigation error had them land in Plymouth, Massachusetts, instead of Virginia
No charter for that area
Relied on the natives for survival

5. The Mayflower Compact
Harsh conditions caused civil unrest in the group
Mutinies
Disorder
Wrote and agreement that bound the Pilgrims together in a “civil body politick”
Kept the groups and colony from falling apart
One of the earliest examples of a Constitution in the New World

6. The European Colonies in America

7. Two of the earliest British Colonies in the Americas, founded by the Plymouth Company and the London Company. Note the overlapping area that was to be shared by the two companies, but not settled. He location of Jamestown is circled.

8. The London Company Charter – permission and consent from the King
Charter granted to found a settlement in Virginia
144 men and boys formed the company that would construct and operate the settlement
Cash crops – tobacco, cotton
Exploration and expansion

9. Captain John Smith
Earliest and strongest governors of the London Company
Improved relations with the natives
The native had made life miserable for the colonists early on
The native ambushed the colony and stole provisions

10. Smith’s Captivity
Smith was taken captive by the native Algonquin tribe after a battle
He was delivered to the Algonquin Chief Powhatan
Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas Befriended Smith and pled for his life
Powhatan, impressed by Smith’s courage and trinkets, let Smith return to his colony
Smith’s friendship with Powhatan and Pocahontas helped the colony prosper
Painting of Pocahontas protecting the injured Captain Smith and saving his life

11. William Penn Founder of the Colony of Pennsylvania (Penn’s Woods)
Land given to him by the King
Quaker religion proved troublesome for some in his new area
Southeastern colonies broke off to for the colony of Delaware
One of the first advocates of colonial unification
The colonies act as one
Called for a United States of Europe that would become one economic and military interest
Forerunner of the United States of America

12. William Penn Early American philosophical thought
Promised Pennsylvanians “liberty of conscience, due process, and no taxation without representation…”
Made sure that rich and poor alike had a voice in the political process
Died in 1718, broken and penniless
Owed investors for the colony
Bad business deals
Debtors prison

13. John Winthrop Devout Puritan
Believed that God was going to curse England
Wanted to leave and practice his faith in its truest form
Sought a Charter for the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Farming community
Strict, severe religious obligations

14. John Winthrop
Formed tightly-knit towns instead of loosely organized counties
Every activity, political or otherwise, was undertaken in the service of God

15. Roger Williams and Anne Hutchison
Puritans came to the New World to exercise freedom of religion
Freedom for their religion
Little tolerance for the other religious practices
Roger Williams and Anne Hutchison represented two of the most serious challenges to Winthrop’s ultra-religious Massachusetts Bay Colony

16. Religious Dissent Williams Hutchison
Colony had no authority to punish people for different religious practices. That is God’s job.
Questioned the colony’s charter, since the land was never purchased from the natives
Exiled from the colony after repeated criticisms of colonial practice
Hutchison
Questioned the purity of the colonists
Fomented religious anarchy in the colony
Exiled to Rhode Island for her beliefs

17. Puritan Ne’er–Do-Wells
Anne Hutchinson
Roger Williams