Warm-Up • Compare and Contrast your description and your interviewee’s description of the event in your life? • Why do you think there were similarities and/or differences?
Colonial America Jamestown
Standard: SSUSH1 • SSUSH1 The student will describe European settlement in North America during the 17th century. • a. Explain Virginia development, include the Virginia Company, tobacco cultivation, relationships with Native Americans such as Powhatan, development of the House of Burgesses, Bacon’s Rebellion, and the development of slavery
Essential Question: SSUSH1 • During the 17th Century, how did the British and French Empires establish settlements in North America?
English Settlements • In 1588, England defeated the Spanish Armada which ended Spain’s dominance of the Atlantic Ocean. • Thus, England soon began to forge colonies along the eastern shore of north America extending its empire to North America • Unlike the Spanish, English colonies were funded and maintained by joint stock companies. • The first English settlement was attempted by Sir Walter Raleigh – The Lost Colony of Roanoke – though being unsuccessful
The Lost Colony
England’s Foothold in America King James I granted a charter to two joint stock companies (The Virginia Company) who were interested in the challenge. The investors would receive 4/5 of the gold and silver founded by the colonists with the king receiving the remaining 1/5. 1607:The Virginia Company’s 3 ships with 150 passengers left for the shores of Virginia…Named after Elizabeth “the virgin queen”
The Colonists named the settlement Jamestown and the river the James, in honor of their king
Jamestown • A disastrous start for the settlement of Jamestown and John Smith. • Disease from contaminated river hit the colonist first. • Unaccustomed by a life of labor, the settlers refused to clear fields, plant crops, or gather shellfish • Smith persuaded the nearby Powhattan to John Smith help provide food for “Those who do not work, shall not eat!” the winter
Cultural Clash in the Chesapeake In the early 1600’s skirmishes took place between the new settlers and the Natives. The settlers won these battles. The Indians were again defeated in the Second Anglo-Powhatan War in 1644. By 1685, the English considered the Powhatan people to be extinct. Chief Powhatan
Jamestown’s Further Demise • In 1609, about 600 new colonists arrived • Clashes with the Native Americans over the growing threat of settlers. • Jamestown had deteriorated to the point of famine. • “Starving Time” – the colonists ate roots, rats, snakes, boiled shoe leather. • Of the 600 new colonists only about
Jamestown Begins to Flourish
1:
A half-hearted peace agreement between the two peoples formed due to John Rolfe marring the famous Pocahontas (hostage taken during hostilities)
2 : Jamestown
stabilized the colony by expanding farther inland along the James River which further infuriates the 3 . Equally important Natives to the colony’s growth was the strain of tobacco founded by John Rolfe that was suitable for the Virginia area. Thus being the saving grace of Jamestown.
Jamestown Flourishes
Brown Gold • The high quality tobacco strain that the citizens of England would soon grow to love. At first, tobacco was banned by the king. • By the 1620’s, colonist exported more than 1.5 million pounds of “brown gold” to England each year. • In order to grow the tobacco, the colonists needed a key ingredient: Field laborers.
Luring Settlers:1618
• The Virginia Company introduced the Headright System in order to get laborers needed for the tobacco. Under this system, anyone who paid their own way or another’s way to the colony received 50 acres of land • Many owners turned to the method of indentured servitude . Which a person would agrees to a limited term of servitude (slavery)~ 4 to 7 years. • Thus leading to the first African’s laborers arriving in Virginia in 1619. It would be several decades before the systematic use of Africans as slave
What about law and order in Jamestown? • In 1619, self-government was created in Virginia. The London Company (funded by the King) authorized the settlers to summon an assembly, known as the House of Burgesses. The House of Burgesses is a representative government resembling our Congress.
Describing the House of Burgesses and its dislike by the King • Served as the 1st representative body in colonial America. • First met on July 30, 1619 just twelve years after the founding of Jamestown. • The House consisted of 2 members from each of Virginia’s eleven districts which closely resembles our senators (two per state) • The house had the authority to make laws and raise taxes almost exactly what our senators and representatives do today • Just like the President of today, the English governor could veto any legislation the house passed
Describing the House of Burgesses and its dislike by the King • While the house represented a limited constituency-since only white male landowners could vote-it contributed to the development of representative government in English America. • This exact governing body would eventually supply delegates to the Constitutional Convention which would ironically orchestrate the break from Great Britain, the mother land. • King James I didn't trust the House of Burgesses and so in 1624, he made Virginia a royal colony of England, directly under his control.
Economic Differences among the people in Jamestown • Most inhabitants of Jamestown were poor and did not own land so there was another side of the tracks in Jamestown (grandees vs. squatters). The have-nots lived on the outskirts of town on the western edge and were in constant contact both positive and negative with Native Americans.
Economic Differences • Poor settlers began asking why their tax dollars weren’t used to help protect them from various invading tribes. • After several unnecessary incidents with the natives, colonists pleaded to Governor Berkeley for help with protecting the frontiersmen
Bacon’s Rebellion
Nathaniel Bacon: Said to have hated Indians And considered them WOLVES!
Nathaniel Bacon, as a representative of the people, asked the governor of Virginia to help the outskirt farmers with the growing Indian problem. Gov. Berkeley however had a nice fur trade going with the Indians and didn’t want to hurt the partnership. Upon Berkeley’s refusal to help, Bacon and several of his farming friends marched on Jamestown and burned some of the structures there while running Gov. Berkeley out of Virginia via boat. This action exposed the power of the commoner in society and that their numbers were growing.