Southern Colonies

1. Southern Colonies

2. Geography • Five colonies that make up the south are: • Maryland • Virginia • North Carolina • South Carolina • Georgia • Share a coastal area called the tidewater which was a flat lowland that includes many swampy areas • Warm and humid • Long growing season

3. Virginia • New settlers continued to come from Europe • Native American population shrank • Farmers took over more land to plant tobacco • Wealthy planters bought up most of the good farmland on the coast • left no farmland for poorer colonists who wanted to start their own farms • Poor farmers moved inland to the frontier to find good farmland

4. Virginia • Fights with Native Americans broke out on frontier as farmers moved out there • Farmers demanded the governor take strong measures against the Native Americans • Governor hesitated, wanted to avoid conflict • Nathaniel Bacon became leader of frontier settlers • Organized a force of 1000 westerners and began attacking and killing Native Americans • Governor declared them all rebels • Bacon reacted by attacking Jamestown and burning it to the ground • Bacon’s Rebellion

5. Maryland • 1632 King Charles I granted charter to George Calvert who was an English Catholic • Set up colony so Catholics can live safely • First settlers were Catholics and Protestants • Grew tobacco and harvested sea life • When Calvert died his son Cecil (Lord Baltimore) became proprietor. • Proprietor: owner of a business or a colony

6. Maryland • Representative government similar to House of Burgesses • Tension between Catholics and Protestants • Fearing Catholics would lose rights Lord Baltimore got assembly to pass Act of Toleration in 1649 • Welcomed all Christians and gave adult male Christians right to vote and hold office

7. Carolinas • 1663 King Charles II granted charter for colony to be called Carolina • Northern part developed slowly • Lacked harbors and rivers for ships to travel easily • Settlers lived on small farms raising and exporting tobacco

8. Carolinas • Southern part grew more quickly • Grew sugar– great in swampy lowlands • Many planters came from Barbados, brought enslaved people to grow the sugar • Slave labor • Slave labor used to grow rice • Most important crop

9. Carolinas • Rice production spread • Carolina’s main city Charles Town (today’s Charleston) became biggest city in the Southern Colonies • Carolina became two colonies: • North Carolina • South Carolina

10. Georgia • Last of England’s 13 colonies to be formed • Founded for two reasons: • Keep Spanish in Florida • Wealthy Englishmen led by James Oglethorpe wanted a colony where there would be protection for English debtors • English government could imprison debtors until they paid what they owed • Wanted colony of small farms, not plantations

11. Life in the Southern Colonies • Tidewater Region • Most important feature • Plantation: large farm • Hot area where crops like cotton, sugar, and rice are grown • Economy dominated by plantations in tidewater region • Rice farming on coast helped promote spread of slavery, required large numbers of workers

12. Life in the Southern Colonies • The Backcountry • Cut off from the coast by poor roads and long distances • Families lived on isolated farms • Few families had servants or slaves to help them with work • People cared less about rank • Life was a sharp contrast to that on the coast