1. The American Colonies
Chapter 1 Section 1

2. Focus Questions #1: What is the importance of the Mayflower Compact?
#2: What role did religion play in the settlement of the American colonies?

3. Jamestown England enters the colonial race
Jamestown 1607: first successful English settlement
Joint-stock company: investors that share profits and losses
Business investment
Charter: certificate of permission from the king
House of Burgess: elected legislature that governed the colony
Captain John Smith

4. Southern Colonies Large plantations which required a lot of labor
Indentured servant system: servants worked for a master for a specific period of time (7 yrs) under contract (indenture) in return for paid passage to the colonies
Indentured servitude failed
Relied on slave labor
Cash crops: crops grown for profit
Tobacco, rice, and later cotton

5. New England Colonies
Puritans/Pilgrims: fled in family units from religious persecution
Mayflower Compact: framework for self-government which later influenced the founding of the United States
Plymouth Colony 1620: colony founded by Pilgrims in the north
Did not practice religious tolerance
Supplemented farming with ship building
Boston: major shipping port in northern colonies
Big emphasis on literacy
Signing of the
Mayflower Compact