Colonial AmericaUnit 2

I. The English Colonies A. The Search for Individual Profit -Jamestown, VA

1. 1st colony, 16072. joint-stock company3. Nearly failed due to poor leadership,

lack of supplies, poor work ethic of colonists and conflicts with native peoples

B. The Search for Religious Freedom –Plymouth, MA1. Established by Pilgrims (Separatists) in

16202. Created The Mayflower Compact -1st

written plan of government in the colonies a. established common goals

necessary for survivalb. demonstrated loyalty to English monarchy

The Mayflower Compact • In the Name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal

Subjects of our dread Sovereign lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; and by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. In WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James of England, France, and Ireland, the Eighteenth and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620.

3. Other colonies –CT, RI and PN will be established for supporting some type of religious freedom

C.Expanding the British Empire1. Types of colonies

a. Royal colonies owned & ruled by the monarch

b. Proprietary colonies -proprietor (owner) owned land &

controlled gov’t

2.Mercantilism –economic philosophy in which a nation’s power is determined by exporting more than it imports

a. European nations needed colonies for raw materials

b. Spanish colonies found gold & silver; English colonies produced food

stuffs & materials for manufacturing

D. People of the Colonies1. Religious dissenters –those who

followed a faith other than the official religion of Great Britain

(The Church of England)a. Haven for a single faithb. Places of toleration for

multiple religions

2.People looking for economic freedoma. Indentured servants –worked on a

plantation for 7 years for free passage and a land grant

b. Individuals looking to own their own land

3.Slaves a. Cash crop agriculture of the South was labor

intensive; indentured servants did not provide enough workers

b.Plantation owners used the already existing Triangular Trade system to solve their labor issues

c. Middle Passage was the journey from Africa to the Americas by enslaved Africans

4.Prisonersa. James Oglethorpe, established the Georgia colony (1702) provided a new start for debtorsb. Colony of ‘undesirables’ became a buffer

b/w the profitable English colonies and Spanish Florida & Indians