A New Nation Struggles to Find Its Footing: Power Struggles, 1789-1804
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Jamestown settlement The Great Migration, 1620-1640 Settled in 1607 (modern day Virginia) Early Colonial America With the European religious/political climate The first successful English settlement in America Settlement to 1764 (page 1 of 2) so hostile and threatening, many of Calvinist, Financed and coordinated by the Virginia Puritan and of nonconformist beliefs left. Company of London. Some of the migration was from expatriate Georgia Colony Why? The company expected to make money English communities in the Netherlands of James Oglethorpe, an 18th century British member in this investment; settlers were supposed to nonconformists and Separatists who had set of Parliament, established Georgia as a common repay the company with interest over 7 years. up churches there since the 1590s solution for two problems: 1630-1640, about 20,000 came to colonies. Tension between Spain and Great Britain was “Lost Colony” at Roanoke Island The Great Migration is not so named because high, and the British feared that Spanish Florida Settled in 1585 (modern day North Carolina), by of sheer numbers, which were much less than would threaten the British Carolinas. 1587 all 90 settlers had disappeared. the number of English citizens who emigrated He established a colony in the contested border First birth to European parents on American soil: elsewhere during this time. The distinction region of Georgia and populated it with debtors Virginia Dare, born 18th August 1587 drawn is that the movement of colonists to who would otherwise have been imprisoned New England was not predominantly male, according to standard British practice. New Amsterdam settlement was a Dutch colony but of families with some education, leading This plan would both rid Great Britain of its settled in 1609 (it is now New York City) relatively prosperous lives. undesirable elements and provide her with a 7%-11% of colonists returned to England after base from which to attack Florida. The first Middle Colonies 1640, including a third of clergymen. colonists arrived in 1733 Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania Georgia was established on strict moralistic The Middle Colonies had rich soil, allowing it to Widespread immigration of Quakers to America principles. Slavery was forbidden, as was alcohol become a major exporter of wheat and other grains. by 1700, fleeing the 1660-1685 persecution of and other forms of supposed immorality. Lumber and ship building industries enjoyed them in England (30,000 jailed or whipped). The colonists were unhappy about the success, and Pennsylvania saw moderate success in Quakers were radical thinkers; challenged the puritanical lifestyle and complained that their the textile and pig iron industry. traditional social order; believed in gender colony could not compete economically with Were the most ethnically diverse British colonies, equity; movement appealed to the poor, and; the Carolina rice plantations. with settlers coming from all parts of Europe. refused to bare arms. Georgia initially failed to prosper, but eventually Civil unrest in Europe and other colonies the restrictions were lifted, slavery was allowed, prompted an influx of immigrants to the colonies. British colonial government and it became as prosperous as the Carolinas. With the new arrivals came various religions The three forms of colonial government were The colony of Georgia never had a specific which were protected in the Middle Colonies provincial, proprietary, and charter. These were religion. It consisted of people of varied faiths. by written ‘freedom of religion’ laws. This all subordinate to the King, with no explicit tolerance was unusual and distinct from other relationship with the British Parliament. Colonies of the Carolina’s British colonies “Provincial colonies” The original settlers in South Carolina established Many Middle Colony constitutions did not allow New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, a lucrative trade in provisions, deerskins and taxation without representation. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia Indian captives with the Caribbean islands. Royal governors were arrested or overthrown on Provincial colonies were governed by They came mainly from the English colony of more than one occasion commissions created by the monarch. A Barbados and brought African slaves with them. Most notably when New Jersey arrested its governor and council were invested with Barbados, as a wealthy sugarcane plantation governor and during Leisler's Rebellion. executive powers, and authorized to call an island, was one of the early English colonies to Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn with assembly consisting of two houses, made use large numbers of Africans in plantation two goals: 1. to make money, 2. to launch a social up of freeholders/planters representatives style agriculture. experiment based on the teachings of Reverend of the province. Governor had veto power The cultivation of rice was introduced during George Fox (who was the inspiration of Quakers). and could delay and dissolve the assembly. the 1690s via Africans from the rice-growing The assembly could make all local laws regions of West Africa. Pilgrims and ordinances that were not inconsistent Pilgrims were a small Protestant separatist sect based with the laws of England. North Carolina remained a little-settled frontier in England and the Netherlands. “Proprietary colonies” through the early colonial period. Came to America to flee persecution; once here, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and At first, South Carolina was politically divided. they condemned and persecuted others. Maryland were proprietary colonies. Its ethnic makeup included the original settlers, Signed the Mayflower Compact, in 1620, when Proprietary governments were grants for a group of rich, slave-owning English settlers they established the Plymouth Colony special territory to one or more persons from the island of Barbados; and Huguenots, a ½ died in first winter; Plymouth later merged from the monarch, giving them rights as French-speaking community of Protestants. with the Massachusetts Bay colony. proprietors of the land and with general Nearly continuous frontier warfare during the era Leader was William Bradford. powers of government, in the nature of a of King William's War and Queen Anne's War John Billington – first white person tried, feudal principality or royal dependency, drove economic and political wedges between convicted and hanged in America (for and subject to the control of the monarch. merchants and planters. complaining about the police) The proprietary’s appointed the governor The disaster of the Yamasee War, in 1715, set and the legislature was organized and off a decade of political turmoil. By 1729, the Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony called at his/their pleasure. Executive proprietary government had collapsed, and the in 1629 with 400 settlers. authority held by proprietary/governor. Proprietors sold both colonies back to the Led by John Winthrop “Charter colonies” British crown Massachusetts Puritans were still a part of the Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Church of England (which they sought to reform). Providence Plantation, and Connecticut. 1632, Maryland colony The difference: in America, there was no Charter governments were political Lord Baltimore (a Catholic) makes a deal with the separation of church and state. corporations created by letters patent, King: the new land would be a haven for Catholics The River Colony (later ‘Connecticut Colony’) giving the grantees control of the land and Catholics make up only 2% of England and was organized on March 3, 1636 as a haven for the powers of legislative government. The were persecuted by the British. Puritans charters provided a fundamental The colony was highly successful. Why? constitution and divided powers among 1. Previous failed attempts at settlement were IN THIS TIME PERIOD, NO ONE HAD EVEN legislative, executive, and judicial learned from, 2. Good fertile land, and 3. Control CONSIDERED THE POSSIBILITY OF INDEPENDENCE; functions, with those powers being vested by farmers and large land owners THERE WAS NO UNITED STATES in officials. The Colonies had little appreciation for their shared common heritage pre-1763 Although the colonies were very different from one another, they were still a Early Colonial America part of the British Empire in more than just name. Settlement to 1764 (page 2 of 2) Socially, the colonial elite of Boston, New York, Charleston, and Philadelphia saw their identity as British. They imitated British styles of Population growth in colonial America due to many reasons dress, dance, and etiquette. This social upper-echelon built its mansions in Early marriages (age 15 not uncommon) the British style, copied British furniture designs, and participated in the High birthrate, in conjunction with declining death rates & longer life spans intellectual currents of Europe, such as the Enlightenment. Health epidemics had less of an impact in the colonies relative to in Many of the political structures of the colonies drew upon the republicanism Europe (Why? No urban centers and plenty of space pre-1760) expressed by opposition leaders in Britain. Many Americans saw the Food and fresh water plentiful colonies' systems of governance as modeled after the British constitution. 1720s-1730s was relatively peaceful, so soldiering was safer. Another colonial similarity was the booming import of British goods. The Women dying in childbirth