The first expedition in 1607 was limited to male traders. King James I granted them, the Virginia Company, this land, which they called Virginia. They were there just to get gold, exotic crops, and Indian merchandize to ship to England. They did not find gold, and they died very quickly because of diseases, lack of fresh water, and fatigue. They refused to plant crops. The Indians received them quite peacefully and chief Powhatan even arranged a marriage between his daughter, Pocahontas, and John Rolf, to secure trading allies and to integrate them into his kingdom. They traded with the English. But then, the cultivation of tobacco began and when profits rose, more settlers came, and the chief decided that he didn’t like them anymore. The company allowed settlers to own land and to have a representative government (by means of the great charter). The House of Burgesses could make laws and levy taxes.

 It was in this year that a popular government was introduced with the first meeting of the House of Burgesses, and it was the year that slavery was introduced there. Also, women were introduced into the colonies as wives. 

The Pilgrims drew this up when they founded Plymouth, led by William Bradford. They went in 1620 aboard the mayflower, and they created the first American constitution, the Mayflower compact, which used the Puritans’ self-governing religious congregation as the model for its political structure

In 1630 he led 900 puritans to Massachusetts, becoming the first governor there. Puritans wanted to create a truly “new” England that could be a model for current, corrupt England. They set up their political life in Boston by transforming their joint-stock corporation (general court of shareholders) into a representative system with a governor, council, and assembly, all in the hands of church members only. Religions other than Puritanism were not allowed to have services. Puritans followed the teachings of John Calvin-predestination. Thus, they were uncertain if they were saved, so these were the three things they did: stressed the conversion experience, some were confident in their salvation, and some believed that the puritans were God’s chosen people. They were called Congregationalists- the power was with the people of the congregation. They banished people that they believed to be heretics, such as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. 

 When the Puritans started infringing on the local Pequot territory, they attacked and were subdued in 1636. The Puritans were not racist, but they believed that the Indians were inferior based on sin, not race. Some Puritan ministers tried to convert the Indians, and praying towns were set up for the few that did convert.

In 1636, he became one of the people that the church dispelled from the Massachusetts Bay colony, being a religious dissident, condemning them for taking land from the Indians, and condemning their legal establishment of congregationalism. He and his followers founded a town, (Providence) on land that they bought from the Indians. There was no legally established church. They obtained a corporate charter from parliament for Rhode Island, a new colony. They had full authority to rule themselves. Every congregation was independent, and individuals could worship God how they pleased.

Puritan magistrates in the Massachusetts Bay Colony felt that she threatened their authority because she said that they placed too much emphasis on good works, which she claimed did not give salvation (she said that grace did). Moreover, she claimed that God “revealed” divine truth straight to the believers. Also, she held weekly prayer meetings for women. On top of this, they were frustrated that she was a woman criticizing them. In puritan society, women were subject to their husbands, and the extent of their rights was salvation. They banished her in 1637 because she did not attend to her household duties, and she held heretical views; she followed roger Williams to Rhode Island.

 King Charles I granted Maryland to lord Baltimore (Calvert), a Catholic, in 1632. Baltimore wanted it to become a refuge for Catholics. With Catholic gentlemen and protestant workers and artisans, he established St. Mary’s city. He wanted the two religious groups to get along. The population grew quickly, and the Catholics became minors. As political instability mounted, the people elected a representative assembly, and they pressed for the right to make laws. When anti-Catholic sentiments started spreading, Lord Baltimore managed to get the Toleration Act in 1649, which stated that any Christian has the right to practice their own religious beliefs and hold church services, passed to protect the Catholics there.

This was caused by the struggle in the 1670’s between the wealthy planters and the lower classes of society; it resulted in a smaller gap between the classes of white society and a bigger gap between the blacks and the whites. The corrupt regime of the governor of Virginia, Berkeley, as well as rising taxes and falling tobacco prices put the yeomen farmers in a position to rebel. Originally on Berkeley’s council, Berkeley refused to grant Bacon a military commission to lead an attack on nearby Indians. But Bacon did it anyways, thus getting dispelled from the council and arrested. His followers gained his release and they forced the governor to hold new elections. The newly-elected house enacted political reforms, restoring the vote to landless freemen and curbing the power of the governor/council. Bacon and his armed followers were still not happy and demanded that the Indians be expelled, issuing the “manifesto and declaration of the people.” They were also upset that the poor and the rich paid the same taxes. But then Bacon died and Berkeley crushed the rebellion. Thereafter, planters curbed corruption, lowered taxes, cut into Indian land, and appointed yeomen to office; this kept the people happy. 

 This Indian tribe leader allied with other Indian tribes to attack New England colonies, burning houses and killing many in 1675-76, until they ran out of guns. 1,000 settlers were killed, while 4,500 Indians died. They felt that the only way to preserve Indian land and culture was by military resistance. 

They believed in the supernatural—that it was related to God’s and Satan’s acts. For example, Cotton Mather believed that some lightning-struck houses could be a sign from God. This belief in the spirits stemmed from 2 sources: Christian teachings such as miracles and faith, and pagan superstition, but many ministers and Christians condemned and punished (hanged 14 people between 1647 and 1662) witches and wizards for witchcraft. In Salem in 1692, some young girls accused their neighbors of bewitching them, resulting in the “Salem witch-hunt” and the execution of 18 women and 1 man. 

Merchants and sea captains convinced people to sign the contracts and become indentured servants who would work under a master for 4-5 years and then be free to marry. The English set up colonies based around tobacco that gave wealth to the prominent few who exploited the labor of these indentured servants as well as slaves.

The Pilgrims were religious separatists that were driven out of England by James I and fled to Holland, then they decided to migrate to the new world, led by William Bradford. They went in 1620 aboard the mayflower, and they created the first American constitution, the Mayflower compact, which used the Puritans’ self-governing religious congregation as the model for its political structure.

1680’s; James II combined Maine, New York, Mass, Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey to form a huge royal colony called the Dominion of New England, abolishing local town meetings and assemblies, and setting up a royal governor, Edmund Andros. He also imposed the Catholic religion on these colonies. James ruled them by decree, and the governor challenged their land titles.

 (1689) James II angered English political leaders and they (the Whigs) forced him into exile in a bloodless coup. They put his Protestant daughter Mary on the throne with her husband William of Orange, and they established a constitutional monarchy, making these new leaders sign the Declaration of Rights. This idea of a constitutional monarchy came from the ideas of John Locke. Fortunately, the Dominion was broken up as a result of this.

(1702-1713) There was warfare in the Carolinas and Florida between the Spanish and the English. The Creeks helped the English, hoping to become the most powerful Indian tribe in the area. The Indians also took sides in the conflicts between French Canada and New England

 It was a large uprising in 1739 in South Carolina, where the slaves outnumbered the whites. When Spanish Florida declared that Florida could be a refuge for slaves, 65-75 slaves escaped their masters and marched to Florida, killing a number of whites

James I revoked the charter of the Virginia colony and made Jamestown a royal colony because of the uprising. He established these institutions: Church of England, privy council (and elected assembly), and a royal governor. These became the model of the English royal colonies in America. James ruled them by decree, and the governor challenged their land titles. James II combined Maine, New York, Mass, Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey to form a huge royal colony called the Dominion of New England, abolishing local town meetings and assemblies, and setting up a royal governor, Edmund Andros. In Mass, they refused to live under the feudal system as tenants for wealthy aristocrats. The General Courts of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut distributed land to the proprietors (a group of settlers receiving a title to a township), who distributed the land for ownership among the families. Proprietary colonies were owned by monarch’s supporters. 

The Navigation Acts made it so that the colonists could not trade with the Dutch. Only English or colonial ships can carry the colonial or English goods to and from America and England. European exports to America had to pass through England to pay a duty. And finally, the Revenue Act of 1673 placed a duty on American sugar and tobacco exports. Mercantilism is state-assisted manufacturing. In theory, the colonists would produce raw materials and agricultural goods; English merchants would take the stuff to England where it would be traded or manufactured. 

Centered in Brazil and the West Indies, they produced vast amounts of sugar to meet the demands for this craved food. They relied heavily on Black slave labor, the English, Portuguese and Dutch providing it.

After being taken captive, the slaves would be taken to some coastal port where they would be picked up on ships for the brutal Middle Passage where 15% of them died from disease or lack of water/food. Many rebelled, but many died amidst these rebellions.

during the reigns of George I (1714-27) and George II (1727-60), affairs in England caused them to loosen their authority on the colonies, giving them a chance to strengthen their self-government and assemblies. This was a by-product of the weak workings of Sir Robert Walpole that weakened the imperial system.

 When German migrants brought Pietism to the new world, it sparked a religious revival that was the Great Awakening. It was a colony-wide set of church revivals in the new world sparked by German migrants and pioneered by Whitefield in the 1730’s. Whitefield preached and attracted huge crowds. The people’s lives became infatuated by religion and being pious, and communities received him as an angel of God. He was an excellent and extremely popular speaker that inspired the people (“new lights”) to spread his words and sermons. Jonathan Edwards led revivals among the puritans in New England. The puritans were very pious Christians, but they had lost their zeal for religion over the decades. He restored that zeal among the congregational churches in the Connecticut River valley.

 The board of trade (British) met at the Albany congress in 1754 to repair their relationship with the Iroquois Indians, asking the Indians for help against new France, which had grown economically, agriculturally, and in population. The delegates from the colonies denied that they had designs on Iroquois lands.

In 1759, General James Wolfe (British), who died in the battle, sailed a force down the St. Lawrence and had victory in the heart of France’s American empire, Quebec. It was an essential part in the conquest of Canada.

The treaty of Paris confirmed British victory. Now they controlled French Canada, all French territory east of the Mississippi, and Spanish Florida. They also triumphed some in Africa and India.

 Anti-British sentiments grew as the Indians realized that since there was almost no French presence in America, England could take over. An Indian chief named Pontiac led a powerful rebellion in 1763, but the British forces soon weakened it. In the peace settlement, the Indians accepted the English as their political “fathers” and the English issued the Proclamation of 1763, which stated that they would not settle west of the Appalachians. The colonists would soon ignore it.

 the system of inheritance in freehold society undermined itself as divided lands among children kept dividing, causing people to run out of land for their children. This caused the system of arranged marriages to break down because the parents did not have land to give their children; and thus, they did not have control over them. 

stressed the individual’s personal relationship with God. It was an evangelical Christian movement. It emphasized pious behavior and originated in Germany. It claimed that individuals could form a mystical union with God. When German migrants brought it to the new world, it sparked a religious revival. 

They believed that God created the earth, but does not interfere, like a watchmaker. Enlightenment thinking influenced deists; they rejected the Bible’s authority and relied on people’s sense of right and wrong.

(1732-1757) It was written by Benjamin Franklin and it popularized the ideas of the Enlightenment. It was an annual publication that thousands of people read.

 As people moved west, Indian policy was challenged. After Indian revenge during the French and Indian war, a group of Scots Irish, the Paxton Boys (1763), attacked some Indians. Governor John Penn tried to bring them to justice, resulting in a mob heading for Philadelphia. But Franklin at Lancaster pacified the mob. The Scots Irish dropped their demands to dispel the Indians, but there was still racial hatred and political resentment. The regulators were a group of land-owning vigilantes that suppressed outlaw bands of thieving whites. From the eastern-controlled government they demanded that there were more courts in the western districts and greater representation for the westerners in assembly. Also, they wanted taxes to be fairer throughout the country. The South Carolina assembly agreed to let them have more courts in 1767, but it refused to give seats in the assembly or lower taxes. Like the Paxton boys, they were only able to attract attention to western needs, but not to actually gain power.

 1639; it was the first written constitution in America, and in the world (what about the Mayflower Compact?). Soon, all the colonies followed suit. It laid out the government for the Connecticut River towns that had broken off from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1662; some Puritan leaders came up with this partial form of church membership since many of the second generation settlers were losing their religious zeal and they did not have the conversion experience of leaving their home countries to follow their faith.

1735; John Peter Zenger was put on trial for writing seditious things, criticizing the governor, Cosby. His newspaper was New York’s Weekly Journal. He and his lawyer defended by saying that what he said about the governor was truth, this never would have flown in an English court.