Why Did Settlers from England First Come to North America?
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Why did settlers from England first come to North America? The first Mricans were brought to the Virginia colony by a Dutch ship in 1619. The Mricans amazed the English with their farming abilities. Looking at Key Terms .Virginia House of Burgesses. Mayflower Compact .Massachusetts Bay Colony Looking at Key Words .indentured servant: a .self-government: the person who agreed to work power to rule oneself for a set time without pay .compact: an agreement in exchange for transporta- tion to a new land Just five years after Columbus's first White wanted to find the island right voyage, an English ship led by John away, but a storm blew up. One ship was Cabot reached North America. However, leaking badly, and the crew refused to it would be another hundred years sail. White took the other ship, but they before the English began to settle in the could not find Croatoan island. They Americas. What took so long? were forced to return to England. No England at the time was not as rich or other sign of the colonywas ever found. powerful a country as Spain. However, To this day, no one knows what in 1588, the English navy smashed a became of the "lost colony" of Roanoke. much larger Spanish fleet in a battle Were the settlers killed? Did they fought just off the coast of England. starve to death? Their fate is still a This battle ended Spain's control of the mystery. It was an unlucky start for the North Atlantic Ocean. It allowed English in North America. England to begin planting colonies in North America. Jamestown In 1606, a group of English merchants received permission from King James I to set up a colony in North America. These merchants hoped Why was there a great conflz:ct between to find riches to rival the Aztec empire democracy and slavery in the Southern in Mexico. colonies? In December 1606, three ships carry- John White stood on the deck of his ing about 100 men and boys sailed for a ship staring into the night. "Hello," he part of North America they called shouted toward shore. There was no Virginia. The settlers arrived at the answer. He shouted again into the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in April night, but again there was no answer. 1607. They traveled 60 miles (96 kilo- White was worried. Three years meters) upstream and began to build a before, in 1587, he had founded a tiny village. They named it Jamestown in settlement here at Roanoke (ROH-uh- honor of King James I. nohk), an island just off the coast of pre- The settlers of Jamestown faced hard sent-day North Carolina. Soon, the times. The village was built on swampy settlement ran low on food. White was land that spread disease. Half the set- forced to sail back to England to get tlers were nobles who were not interest- more food. Then England went to war, ed in planting crops. They only wanted and he was not able to return. Now he to search for gold. They found no gold, had come back, but there was no one to and soon all their supplies were gone. greet him. Many of them died from starvation or sickness. By spring, one half of the set- Vanished without a trace White tlers were dead. tried not to show his concern. The next Then Captain John Smith took over morning, he and his men rowed to as leader. Smith was tough. He told the shore. Something was clearly wrong. settlers they would have to work or go The settlement was abandoned. Houses hungry. Things improved briefly. But were empty. What had happened? The then Smith hurt his leg badly and had only clues were carvings on two trees- to return to England. "CRO" on one tree and "CROATOAN' With Smith gone, things again began on the other. Croatoan was the name of to fall apart. The winter of 1609-1610 an island to the south. was so terrible that the settlers called it ~~apter ~ ~1 "the starving time." Before the starving set number of years. In return, they time, there were 500 people in Jamestown. received a free trip to the colonies. When it ended, only 60 settlers were alive. There weren't enough indentured ser- vants to do all the work. The Native Raising tobacco Conditions Americans refused to work for the set- improved when a strict new governor tlers. In 1619, a Dutch ship brought 20 took over. Soon, new settlers and sup- Africans to Virginia. These first plies arrived from England. Then the Africans in the English colonies were big breakthrough came. John Rolfe dis- indentured servants. Mricans who came covered that tobacco could grow well in after them, however, were brought as the Virginia soil. Tobacco had long been slaves. Slavery would become an impor- grown by Native Americans. Mter the tant part of life in the Southern colonies Spanish conquest, it was introduced to in the years ahead. Europe. Tobacco shipped to England made money for the settlers. Soon Self-government Settlers held tobacco was Jamestown's main crop. slaves, but they wanted more freedom for themselves. In 1619, the new gover- The beginning of slavery As nor of Virginia allowed the settlers to Jamestown grew, farmers needed more have some self-government. Self gov- workers to grow tobacco. At first, these ernment is the power to rule oneself. The workers were indentured servants. governor formed the Virginia House of Indentured servants were men and Burgesses. This group was made up of women who agreed to work for free for a English settlers elected by free white John Smith, at the center of this picture, had a big problem. He was the leader of Jamestown. Yet many people in his colony would rather hunt for gold than make permanent houses or plant crops. How did Smith handle this problem? - 1587 1619 1635 Colonists settle The Roger Williams on Roanoke Virginia arrives in Island and then House of Rhode Island. II disappear. Burgesses is set up. 1675 Native Americans rise up against the colonists in 1620 "King Philip's War." 1497 The Pilgrims John Cabot lands land in in North America, Massachusetts. claiming it for 1607 1630s-1640s England. Jamestown The Great Migration brings is settled in thousands of Puritans to Virginia. M assach usetts. READING A TIMELINE Note "King Philip's War" in 1675. Now look at the timeline on page44. What similar event happenedto the Spanish about the sametime? males in each town. This was an impor- to America for religious freedom. They tant first step toward self-government. were simple, religious people who were This first step toward self-government used to hard work. In the 1600s,England and the introduction of slavery happened did not have religious freedom. The in the same year, 1619. Freedom and Pilgrims were forced to leave England slavery were two ideas that could not becausethey refused to follow the Church exist together. For the next 250 years, of England. In 1620, the Pilgrims were Americans would try to deal with the given permission to settle in Virginia. conflict between freedom and slavery. They sailed on a tiny ship, the Mayflower, on September 16, 1620. A storm blew the Mayflower north. Instead of landing in Virginia, they landed off the coast of present-dayMassachusetts. The Mayflower Compact Before leaving their ship, Pilgrim men signed an agreement to obey whatever laws their officers made. In the Mayflower Compact, Pilgrim men agreed to elect Why did the Pilgrims and the Puritans leaders and obey the laws that the lead- cometo live in New England? ers made. A compact is an agreement. Like the Virginia House of Burgesses, Other English settlers were not like the this compact was an important step settlers of Jamestown. The Pilgrims came toward democracy. ~ ~~a~ter ~ aJ This famous painting show Puritans going to church on a snowy Sunday morning. The Puritans had a very strong faith in "pure" religion. This got them into trouble with the king of England. It led them to come to North America. Help from Squanto The Pilgrims the start of the holiday that is held every built a sturdy settlement on a spot they year at the end of November. called Plymouth (PLIHM-uhth). Still, they faced many problems. The winter Massachusetts Bay Meanwhile, a was cold, and they had little food. Almost second English settlement was being half of the people who had made the trip built near Plymouth. It was called the on the Mayflower died before spring. Massachusetts Bay Colony. This Others were too sick to do any work. colony was founded by people who called Then one March morning a tall themselves "Puritans." They took this Native American walked into the vil- name because they wanted to "purify" lage. His name was Samoset. He sur- the Church of England. When the king prised the colonists by speaking to them punished them for criticizing the in English. He said he wanted to help church, the Puritans decided to go to the Pilgrims. A few days later, he North America. There they set up a reli- returned with a Native American gious colony based on their beliefs. named Squanto (SKWAHN-toh). Salem, the Puritan's first town, was Squanto told the Pilgrims he had founded in 1628. Boston was begun in learned English when he was kid- 1630. Many Puritans came to napped by an English sea captain. Massachusetts during the 1630s and Squanto shared his food with the starv- 1640s. By 1643, there were 16,000 peo- ing Pilgrims.