Colonial America- The Southern Colonies

• Colonial America- The Southern Colonies 9/15/14
  • Jamestown April 26, 1607
    • Location of the Fort:
      • Brilliant defensively and strategically because it was on a penninsula
      • On super swampy ground which bred mosquitos. Yellow Fever and Malaria
    • Tobacco
      • Tobacco takes up a lot of nutrients in the soil
      • When the Virginians ruined the soil, they just kept moving west
      • It caused Virginia to be too dependent on one crop. A cash crop, or a Staple crop
      • Caused a need for cheap abundant labor. The profit margin is negligable
        • First they tried to enslave the Indians, but that didn't work. That caused indentured servitude. Most of the people were white and in debt
          • Headright System: each virginian got 50 acres for each person whose passage they paid
          • Indenture Contract: 5-7 years, promised "freedom dues", (land and money), forbidden to marry, 1610-1614 only 1 in 10 outlived their indentured contracts!
    • The Indians and English didn't trust each other from the beginning
    • Had brief periods of peace, but things kinda just fell apart 1622- The Great Indian Massacre. John Rolfe was killed here.
  • 1619 Was a red letter year in US history: these 3 things come together to make people think that they are separate and that Virginia is home
    • The House of Burgesses met for the first time.
      • began to assume the role of the House of Commons in England
      • By the end of the 1600s, The HOB was passing legislation
      • A council appointed by royal governer
    • Africans slaves came to Jamestown: they may have actually been indentured servants and not slaves. Slavery were not that important until the end of the 1600s
    • About 20 women came from England (remember to check their teeth)
  • Virginia becomes a Royal Colony
    • James I grew hostile to Virginia
      • he hated tobacco
      • distrusted the HOB
  • Slave trade/Trade with Africa
    • The slave route across the Atlantic was called the middle passage
    • Africans sold other africans into slavery, only 20-25% of slaves survived the middle passage.
    • by the mid 1680s, black slaves outnumbered white slaves.
    • 1662, "slave codes" were terrible
  • Bacon's Rebellion
    • late 1600s large numbers of young, poor, discontented men in the Chesapeake area
    • 1670 The Virginia assembly disenfranchised people most landless men. Had to own 18+ acres of land
    • Nathaniel Bacon: led 1,000 Virginians in a rebellion against Governor Berkeley
    • Causes
      • Rebels resented Berkeley's close relations with Indians
      • Berkeley monopolized the fur trade with the Indians in the area
      • Berkeley refused to retaliate for Indian attacks on frontier settlements
      • Frontiersmen paid high taxes, huge debts, low tobacco prices- generally resented the Tidewater Arisocrats
    • What they did
      • Rebels attacked the Indians, whether they were friendly of not
      • Berkeley is run off
      • burned the capital (Jamestown)
      • Bacon suddenly dies of fever
      • Berkeley brutally crushed the rebellion and hanged 20 rebels
    • Results of Bacon's Rebellion
      • Upper class planters searched for laborers less likely to rebel... reinforced the idea of african slaves
      • exposed the resentment between inland people and landless former servants against gentry on coastal plantations: socio-economic class differeces
  • The Settlement of Maryland
    • A royal charter was granted to Cecelius Calvert, Lord Baltimore on 1632
    • A proprietary colony in 1634. Granted by Charles I (had catholic leanings)
    • A healthier location than Jamestown, tobacco also the staple crop/cash crops
    • His plan was to govern as an absentee proprietor in a feudal relationship
    • St. Mary's city, the first establishment in Maryland
    • A haven for Catholics
      • Baltimore allowed a high degree of freedom of worship in order to prevent repeat of persecution of Catholics by Protestants
      • Maryland Toleration Act in 1649
        • supported by the Catholics in MD
        • Guaranteed toleration to all CHRISTIANS.
  • The Carolinas
    • "Southern" Carolina- a Restoration Colony
      • 1670 a group of English farmers 2nd sons (primogeniture)
        • they were nicknamed "Transplanted Barbadians"
        • Brought black slaves with them and a model of the Barbados slave code
        • Stono Rebellion or Cato's Conspiracy- 1739
      • Named for King Charles II
      • The King granted Carolina to 8 supporters (Lord Proprietors)
        • They wanted to use Carolina to send things to Barbados (food) and export wine, silk, and olive oil to Europe.
      • Surprisingly religiously tolerant
      • Close ties with the West Indies
        • West Indie people
        • Many Huguenots and Jews
      • Spanish encroachment were a problem
      • 1715-1717 was the Yamasee War Indians decided to migrate to PA
      • Crops
        • crops were primary export
        • grew rice
        • used african slaves to grow the rice because of their immunity to malaria
        • by 1710 blacks were the majority of the population
        • also did indigo
          • a purple die
          • today its used in jeans
    • "Northern" Carolina
      • losers from Virginia came to North Carolina
      • religious dissenters, and poor farmers with little need for slaves
      • Distinctive Traists
        • irreligious and hospitable to pirates
        • Strong spirit of resistance to authority
    • 1712 NC officially separated form SC
    • Georgia
      • Mostly established to protect the Colonies from the Spanish
      • founded in 1733
      • last of the 13 colonies
      • Named in honor of King George II
      • Founded by James Oglethorpe
        • No booze
        • no plantations
        • no slavery
      • Slavery was established around 1750
      • John Wesley- Methodist