Unit 2
1607-1754 (Founding of Jamestown - Start of French & Indian War)
European Colonial Goals
Spanish, French, Dutch Colonies
● Spanish
○ Goals: gold, conversion, empire
● French
○ Goals: fur trade, alliances with Natives
● Dutch
○ Goals: trade
British Colonies
● Colonized lands explored by John Cabot
● Permanent settlement, family migration
● Self-government develops over time
Corporate, Royal, & Proprietary Colonies
● Corporate: operated by joint-stock companies (e.g. Jamestown)
● Royal: under direct authority and rule of the king’s government (e.g. Virginia)
● Proprietary: under the authority of individuals granted charters of ownership by the king
(e.g. Maryland & Pennsylvania)
Chesapeake Colonies
Jamestown
● First permanent English settlement (1607)
● Founded by Virginia Company (joint-stock)
● Led by Captain John Smith
● John Rolfe & Pocahontas developed tobacco, made Virginia profitable
○ Tobacco farms & rice-growing plantations → need workers
Headright System
● 50 acres given for each laborer’s passage landowners sponsored
● Encouraged settlement + inequality
Indentured Servants
● Poor Europeans work for passage
● Temporary labor → later replaced by slavery
, Slavery & Middle Passage
● Permanent, racialized labor system
● Expands after Bacon’s Rebellion
Bacon’s Rebellion
● Conflict between frontier farmers & elite
● Led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor William Berkeley
● Frontier settlers' grievances over land, taxation, lack of protection from Native American
raids, and Governor Berkeley's perceived corruption → burning of Jamestown
● Shows class tension
● Leads elites to favor slavery over indentured servants
New England Colonies
Plymouth Colony
● Founded by Pilgrims (Separatists)
● Arrive on Mayflower
○ Mayflower Compact: early self-government, rule by majority
Massachusetts Bay Colony
● Founded by Puritans, led by John Winthrop
○ “City upon a hill”: moral example society
● Great Migration: religious and political conflict in England drove 15,000 settlers here
● Larger, more organized
Connecticut
● Thomas Hooker founded Hartford
○ Fundamental Orders of Connecticut: established representative government
with a legislature elected by popular vote and a governor chosen by that
legislature (1st written constitution in American history)
New Hampshire
Town Meetings
● Local self-government
Halfway Covenant
● People could become partial members of a Puritan congregation if they had not felt a
conversion/confirmed religious experience
● Decline in religious intensity
● Shows weakening Puritan control
1607-1754 (Founding of Jamestown - Start of French & Indian War)
European Colonial Goals
Spanish, French, Dutch Colonies
● Spanish
○ Goals: gold, conversion, empire
● French
○ Goals: fur trade, alliances with Natives
● Dutch
○ Goals: trade
British Colonies
● Colonized lands explored by John Cabot
● Permanent settlement, family migration
● Self-government develops over time
Corporate, Royal, & Proprietary Colonies
● Corporate: operated by joint-stock companies (e.g. Jamestown)
● Royal: under direct authority and rule of the king’s government (e.g. Virginia)
● Proprietary: under the authority of individuals granted charters of ownership by the king
(e.g. Maryland & Pennsylvania)
Chesapeake Colonies
Jamestown
● First permanent English settlement (1607)
● Founded by Virginia Company (joint-stock)
● Led by Captain John Smith
● John Rolfe & Pocahontas developed tobacco, made Virginia profitable
○ Tobacco farms & rice-growing plantations → need workers
Headright System
● 50 acres given for each laborer’s passage landowners sponsored
● Encouraged settlement + inequality
Indentured Servants
● Poor Europeans work for passage
● Temporary labor → later replaced by slavery
, Slavery & Middle Passage
● Permanent, racialized labor system
● Expands after Bacon’s Rebellion
Bacon’s Rebellion
● Conflict between frontier farmers & elite
● Led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor William Berkeley
● Frontier settlers' grievances over land, taxation, lack of protection from Native American
raids, and Governor Berkeley's perceived corruption → burning of Jamestown
● Shows class tension
● Leads elites to favor slavery over indentured servants
New England Colonies
Plymouth Colony
● Founded by Pilgrims (Separatists)
● Arrive on Mayflower
○ Mayflower Compact: early self-government, rule by majority
Massachusetts Bay Colony
● Founded by Puritans, led by John Winthrop
○ “City upon a hill”: moral example society
● Great Migration: religious and political conflict in England drove 15,000 settlers here
● Larger, more organized
Connecticut
● Thomas Hooker founded Hartford
○ Fundamental Orders of Connecticut: established representative government
with a legislature elected by popular vote and a governor chosen by that
legislature (1st written constitution in American history)
New Hampshire
Town Meetings
● Local self-government
Halfway Covenant
● People could become partial members of a Puritan congregation if they had not felt a
conversion/confirmed religious experience
● Decline in religious intensity
● Shows weakening Puritan control
