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Coming to America. Puritans, Prostitutes Pennsylvanians, and Progress. Reasons for Migration. Virginia Company. An English joint-stock company started by London entrepreneurs
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Coming to America Puritans, Prostitutes Pennsylvanians, and Progress
Virginia Company • An English joint-stock company started by London entrepreneurs Joint-stock company – Business venture in which multiple investors share financial interest and liability. Started for the purpose of sharing the risk of overseas trading. • Secured a charter for colonizing land on America’s Eastern shore
Jamestown Settlement • Settled as a chartered joint-stock venture in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London • First permanent British colony in America • Names James Town after King James I of England who granted the charter
The Problem of Jamestown • Largely gentlemen (no women) • Wanted adventure • Looking for gold and fame • Limited skills for survival • Leadership was ineffective • People began to starve • Anger mounted
The Puritans • Arrived at Plymouth, Mass in 1630 • Led by John Winthrop • “City upon a hill” • Religion • Strict Calvinism • Predestination • Priesthood of all believers • Increase Mather • Cotton Mather • Alan Mather?
Things Fall Apart • Puritan intolerance leads to expulsions: • Anne Hutchinson 1637 moved to Rhode Island • Believed sinners could still get salvation and that women were not cursed due to gender • Gained sanctuary in Roger Williams’ Rhode Island • Puritan ideology faced difficult competition • Emergence of cities placed emphasis on commerce and “vice” • Many younger Puritans moved to cities—found pleasure in gambling, drinking, and sex…oh my!
Pleasure as a reason for migration • Prostitution flourished in colonial cities. John Adams would have counted over 3 dozen “bawdy houses” within walking distance of his Philadelphia home • Taverns were commonplace in colonial cities. Lower and middle classes of all races found spirits, dancing, interracial mingling, sex, and gambling in 18th century bars Source: Thaddeus Russell, A Renegade History of the United States
William Penn • A leading defender of religious toleration in England • Imprisoned six times for speaking out against religious intolerance • While in prison, he wrote numerous pamphlets about Quaker ideology and attacking intolerance • One of his criminal cases helped secure the right to trial by jury
Settlement of Pennsylvania • Charter granted to William Penn in 1681 from King Charles II in payment of a debt • Penn asks for the land as a refuge for Quakers • Quakers, or Society of Friends, were persecuted harshly by the English crown and throughout Europe
Frame of Government • Pennsylvania was settled on the Quaker principles of complete freedom of conscience, religious tolerance, and peace (especially with Native tribes) • Frame of Government, Pennsylvania’s written constitution, limited the power of government and guaranteed many fundamental liberties
James Oglethorpe Soldier; Philanthropist; Founder of Georgia “In America there are fertile lands sufficient to subsist all the useless Poor in England, and distressed Protestants in Europe”
Settlement of Georgia • Chartered in 1732 by a group of trustees led by James Oglethorpe • Founded as a colony for jailed debtors, criminals, and political prisoners from England English Debtors Prison
Settlement of Georgia • King George was not a philanthropist like Oglethorpe • He wanted a buffer between Spanish Florida and the Carolina colony