Colonial+Foundations

Colonial Foundations =ENGLAND=
 * Newfoundland:**
 * Sir Humphrey Gilbert
 * failed when Gilbert was lost at sea in 1583


 * Roanoke Island, NC:**
 * Sir Walter Raleigh
 * "The Lost Colony"- attempts to colonize failed


 * Jamestown:**
 * Virginia Company received charter from King James I in 1606
 * main attraction = gold and passage through America to Indies
 * charter of VA Company- guaranteed to the overseas settlers same rights of Englishmen that they would have had at home
 * rough early years- many died from disease, malnutrition, starvation
 * John Smith saved colony from perishing and Pocahontas became intermediary between colonists and Indians
 * Lord De La Warr imposes military regime on the colony
 * clashes with Powhatan
 * John Rolfe- tobacco, economic savior


 * Maryland:**
 * Catholic haven-->Protestant England persecuted Roman Catholics
 * founded in 1634 by Lord Baltimore
 * prospered in tobacco production
 * Act of Toleration- 1649; granted toleration to all Christians in MD


 * Carolina:**
 * Restoration period-after Cromwell was beheaded and Charles II restored to throne; named for Charles II
 * prospered through trade with West Indies; many settlers emigrated from there
 * vigorous slave trade
 * rice = principal export crop; used African slaves to cultivate rice
 * Charles Town- busiest seaport in the south; diverse, religious toleration
 * conflict with Spanish Florida


 * North Carolina:**
 * outcasts and religious dissenters, many from Virginia
 * reputation for being irregulous and hospitable to pirates
 * 1712- separated from SC and both became royal colonies
 * along with Rhode Island was most democratic, most independent-minded, and least aristocratic
 * clashed with Tuscarora Indians, who they sold into slavery, and the Yamasee Indians


 * Georgia:**
 * buffer colony- would protect more valuable Carolinas from Florida and against French in LA
 * launched by philanthropists- haven for people imprisoned for debt
 * James Oglethorpe
 * savannah = melting pot community


 * similarities of the plantation colonies (MD, VA, NC, SC, GA):**
 * all in some degree devoted to exporting commercial agricultural products
 * slavery
 * strong aristocratic atmoshpere (except NC)
 * growth of cities slowed by wide scattering of plantations and farms
 * all permitted some religious toleration
 * in some degree expansionary


 * Plymouth:**
 * established by religious separists from the Church of England-->Pilgrims
 * receive charter from VA colony
 * Mayflower Compact- not a constitution; simple agreement to form a crude gov't and submit to the will of the majority
 * became part of Mass.


 * Massachussetts Bay Colony:**
 * started as commercial adventure, but became home to many non-separatist Puritans, who left England because of the persecution from English Crown and Anglican Church
 * John Winthrop = first governor
 * became a theocracy in which church was paramount in all decisions


 * Rhode Island:**
 * Roger Williams- built probably first Baptish church in America; endorsed religious tolerance- made no requirements for religion and even sheltered Quakers
 * simple manhood suffrage from the start
 * sheltered outcasts
 * strongly individualistic and independent
 * charter from Parliament in 1644


 * Connecticut:**
 * colonists first to write a constitution- the Fundamental Orders
 * led by Reverend Thomas Hooker
 * New Haven, Hartford


 * Maine and New Hampshire:**
 * fishermen and fur trappers
 * formed when 2 englishmen who were given a gov't grant to areas north of Mass. decided to split the land
 * both eventually absorbed by Mass. Bay Colony


 * New York:**
 * became English colony through conquest- England and Holland engaged in commecial wars involving the fur trade
 * Duke of York provided a fleet by his brother, Charles II, to capture New Netherland, which he did in 1664
 * colony then named after Duke of York


 * New Jersey:**
 * started in 1664 when 2 noble proprietors received the area from= the Duke of York
 * West New Jersey set up by Quakers
 * many flocked here b/c they'd exhausted their soil


 * Delaware:**
 * named after Lord De La Warr
 * had some Quakers and closely associated with PA


 * Pennsylvania:**
 * William Penn
 * home to Germans, Quakers, and settlers who wanted good farmland and a democratic colony
 * Penn treated Indians fairly, kindly
 * Philadelphia- city of brotherly love
 * unusually liberal and representative assembly elected by landowners
 * rich mix of ethnic groups--> no immigration restrictions and naturalization made easy

= = =SPAIN=
 * Similarities of the Middle Colonies:**
 * soil fertile and expanse of land broad
 * rivers played vital role
 * industry
 * midway between New England and southern plantation colonies
 * more ethnically mixed
 * unusual degree of religious toleration
 * desirable land more easily acquired
 * economic and social democracy
 * Columbus- 1492
 * Spanish journeyed to Americas in search of precious metals, but began colonizing when other Europeans took an interest in the Americas
 * Catholic missionaries- saw western world as fertile ground for spreading Catholicism
 * goal of Spanish monarchy = to establish and defend a mercantilist olicy that would reserve to Spain all the rewards of the New World; by 1640s economic benefits for Spain from New World declined because of pressure from other nations, domestic problems in Spain, declining profits, and huge expenses.

=The Dutch=
 * explored Hudson river area- established New Netherland- later captured by the English
 * New Amsterdam- established on Manhattan island and did not receive support from Dutch gov't, so it enticed settlers with patroonships
 * sought to exploit the fur trade

=**The French:**=
 * Quebec and Nova Scotia made up New France- most settlers returned home to France
 * 1608- began acquiring lucrative North American resources like beaver pelts
 * 1682- French claim Lousiana and name it after their king

= =