Unit 1 Review

1. Unit 1 Review Bullets for Unit 1

2. Beginnings • Native Americans-came from Asia across the Bering Strait on a land bridge. • Europeans coming out of Middle Ages thought earth was flat • Renaissance- world was round, invented compass, astrolabe, new sails • Christopher Columbus-credited with discovering America in 1492

3. Colonization Begins • Crusades – Pope sent Europeans to take back Jerusalem • Spices/Silks- Crusaders brought spices and silks back • Muslims (middle men) charged high prices to allow Europeans to buy spices • Europeans wanted to find a way to Asia without going overland by the Muslims

4. Colonization Begins • Columbus sails for India and finds Hispaniola • Thinks he is in India- calls natives Indians • Spanish settle Florida, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and southwestern U.S. • Spanish looking for gold and to bring Christianity to the “savages” • Brought death and destruction to the native population

5. Colonization Begins • French colonize Canada and along the Mississippi River. • Mostly interested in furs • Did not increase the size of their settlements • They were able to get along best with Indians because they were not taking much land • Northwest Passage – Henry Hudson and others looked for a northern route through North America to the Pacific Ocean

6. Colonization Begins • English – came to North America after the other European countries • Came for several reasons – religious freedom in New England, religious freedom and to better their lives in Middle, and for profit in the Southern colonies. • Roanoke Island – started by Sir Walter Raleigh • Called the Lost Colony/ it did not last

7. Jamestown • First permanent English colony • Established in 1607 • Swamp land was poor choice • Mosquitoes, starvation, Indians • John Smith saved Jamestown • “No work, no food” • Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life (he was adopted into the tribe)

8. Jamestown • John Rolfe – introduced tobacco • It became a “cash” crop and allowed Jamestown to thrive • House of Burgesses – first democratic legislature in colonies (now known as the General Assembly of Virginia) • In 1619, to help ensure that male colonists stayed, 90 women were sent to the colony

9. Colony of Virginia (Jamestown) • The first Africans arrived in 1619 when a slave ship stopped to trade. • 20 Africans were purchased as “Christian servants,” not enslaved people (slaves). • They had been baptized, and at that time English law said Christians could not be slaves. • A desire for land and feelings of superiority led to conflicts with Native Americans.

10. Virginia • To entice new settlers to Virginia, the Virginia Company introduced the headrights system. • Settlers who bought a share in the company or paid passage for themselves were granted 50 acres of land. • They were given 50 more acres for each family member or servant over the age of 15 whose passage they paid for.

11. Virginia • There was plenty of land for tobacco farmers but not enough labor to work it. • England had the opposite problem. • Tenant farmers had been forced off the land during the enclosure movement, creating high unemployment and a large number of people willing to sell labor for a chance to start over. • To pay for their passage, they became indentured servants.

12. Virginia • Tobacco and other cash crops in the south led to the plantation system. • This led to distinct social classes • Planters who could afford to bring in many slaves or indentured servants received much larger land grants. • They could produce a much larger crop • The result was a society where the wealthy elite controlled most of the land and labor.

13. Virginia • These wealthy elite were often referred to as the Southern gentry or the planter elite. • Most landowners in the colonial south were actually small farmers living in the “backcountry” farther inland. • They are sometimes referred to as yeomen to distinguish them from the gentry. • Another name for the wealthy were “cavaliers”

14. Virginia • By 1660s, wealthy planters led by the governor, Sir William Berkeley, dominated Virginia’s society. • The most important issue for most Virginia colonists was land. • Indentured servants and tenant farmers wanted to own their own farms eventually and backcountry farmers wanted to expand.

15. Virginia • Most wealthy planters lived near the coast in the region known as the Tidewater. • By the 1670s, the only land left for the backcountry farmers was owned by Indians. • The wealthy planters did not want to risk war with the Native Americans and opposed expanding the colony into the Indians’ lands

16. Virginia • A well-to-do planter named Nathaniel Bacon took up the backcountry farmers cause. • He led these men against the Indians and then against Berkeley. • They burned Jamestown and chased Berkeley south • Berkeley returned with his own army and Bacon and his men fled into the swamp where Bacon died.

17. Virginia • Bacon’s Rebellion convinced many wealthy planters of the need for slaves • Slaves would not have to be freed and therefore would not need their own land • In 1638 Maryland became the first British colony to formally recognize slavery when it denied Africans the same rights as English citizens.

18. Virginia • New laws in Virginia and Maryland gradually lowered the status of all Africans, regardless of their religion, and changed slavery into a hereditary system based on race. • In 1705, Virginia pulled all of these different laws together into a slave code. • Slave code – a set of laws that formally regulated slavery and defined the relationship between slaves and free people.

19. Massachusetts • Pilgrims on the Mayflower known as Separatists • Led by William Bradford • Aided by Squanto • Plymouth (covenant community) - Mayflower Compact

20. Massachusetts II • Puritans led by John Winthrop • City on a Hill • Heretics (Roger Williams-Providence and Anne Hutchinson-Portsmouth) • Town Meeting – a gathering of free men in a New England town to elect leaders, which developed into the local town government • Selectmen – the men chosen to manage the town’s affairs in New England

21. Rhode Island • Founded by Roger Williams • Land peaceably acquired from Indians • Based on religious freedoms that Williams promoted • Church and the government are separate (separation of church and state)

22. Connecticut • Founded by Thomas Hooker • Wanted more religious freedom than Massachusetts allowed • Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (first constitution in the nation) • New Hampshire • Owned by Captain John Mason • Royal Colony

23. Pennsylvania • Founded by William Penn • Quakers – Religious group who practiced worship without ministers and were pacifists • Philadelphia – “City of Brotherly Love” • Fair treatment of Indians • Thriving colony – merchants • Good port

24. Maryland • George Calvert (Lord Baltimore) • Established as safe haven for English Catholics • Toleration Act guaranteed religious freedom • Catholics were soon outnumbered

25. New York & New Jersey • Known as New Netherland by the Dutch • Henry Hudson (Hudson River) • New Amsterdam (Manhattan Island) • England’s King Charles II gave this land to his brother James (Duke of York) and renamed the land New York • Gave some of the land to George Carteret who was from the island of Jersey • Named this new area New Jersey to honor Carteret

26. Delaware • Land bought by Penn from the Duke of York • Georgia – last original colony • James Oglethorpe • Haven for debtors • Also a buffer from Spanish Florida

27. Carolinas’ • Royal colony named after King Charles • Grew wealthy from trade (rice and indigo) • Charles Town became major port city • Large slave populations • Became the riches English colony • North Carolina created as refuge for the poor and dissenters • North Carolina did not have a good harbor • Tobacco was their main crop