US History Exploration and Colonization Overview
US HistoryExploration and Colonization
Overview
Pequot War• First Serious armed conflict between the Native Americanssettlers of New England. Numerous previous conflicts over
property, damage to Indian fields, hunting and dishonest trade dealings.
The Pequot were outgunned, a smallpox epidemic had also weakened the tribe.
1637, the Pequot leader Sassacus is captured, main village destroyed and the Pequot were finished.
The Causes of European Exploration
•No central government
•Famine
•Foreign invaders
•Black Plague
•Religious intolerance
Rise of England as an Exploration power
•Spain was the most powerful nation in the world because of their extensive exploration which led to their wealth.
• England was the second most powerful country and knew they needed to explore to contend with Spain.
•Also, free land was offered to any English colonists by the Virginia company.
•Anyone who paid for the trip to Virginia would receive 50 acres of free land.
•England was in turmoil, exploration was looked at as a new opportunity to wealth and a better life.
Main differences of the Spanish, French and English Colonies
Spanish- colonies located in Mexico and Central America, hostile relationship with Native Americans, stratified social system, and they explored for gold, god, glory
English- colonies located on Atlantic Coast, sometimes hostile relationship with Native Americans, and they had religious freedom
French-colonies located in Canada and Louisiana, cooperative relationship with the Native Americans, and they explored for fur trade and religious reasons
Main Characteristics of the New England, Middle and Southern Colonies
New England: Puritans, no religious freedom, Plymouth colony, Salem Witch Trials, discrimination,
Middle: Quakers, more diverse, religious freedom, accepting, Dutch, appealing location, good farmland, very little political order
Southern: House of Burgesses in Virginia, most slavery, tobacco for cash crop, business oriented, Roanoke colony, free land, no religious freedom
Bacon’s RebellionAs Virginia's population increased settlers moved into the center of the state.
This made Native Americans angry because of the intrusion on their land.
Settlers wanted to destroy all natives in that area.
The uprising was led by Nathaniel Bacon in a protest against Native American raids.
Some historians say that it was also a protest against William Berkley, the governor of Virginia
Headright SystemThe Headright System was first used in Jamestown Virginia to make an attempt to solve shortages of labor in the tobbacco industry.
The Headright System was a system of getting people to come to Virginia and help with tobbacco growing by giving them 50 acres of land for their service
The wealthier people benefited most from this because they could by the most amounts of land
King Philip’s WarIn 1675 a large Native American rebellion erupted which the colonialists called King Phillips War
Colonialists thought Metacom or King Phillip planned and led a rebellion against them, this turned out to be false. Each native village was led by their own leader and attacked separately.
The war erupted and eventually the natives lost to the colonialists due to starvation and lack of ammunition
1000 english colonists were killed
3000 natives were killed
House of Burgesses
In 1619, the House of Burgesses was created by planters.
It was the first representative body in colonial America.
Male land owners over the age of 17 could vote for two Burgesses to represent their settlement.
The house had the power to create laws and raise taxes.
Later in the 1700’s two types of colonial governments were formed, royal and proprietary.
Joint Stock CompanyA joint stock company is a type of business entity that is a partnership between two or more legal persons.
One of the first joint stock companies was the Virginia Company in the 1600’s
Another joint stock company is the Plymouth Company
These are the first two of these to be in the Americas
MercantilismMercantilism is a policy that holds that a nation or an empire could build wealth and power by developing its industries and exporting manufactured goods in exchange for gold and silver.
It worked well for the colonies because it offered different economic strengths to the empire.
In the colonies there was more land but fewer people and less money for investment, this favored agriculture
As a result more than 90 percent of colonists lived and worked on farms
Navigation ActsThe navigation acts were a series of trade laws that Parliament created in the 1600s to get more sailors, ships, and trade
These acts stated that only English ships could trade with English colonies
Valuable colonial goods could only be shipped to their mother country
Colonies had to import all of their European goods to English ports and pay custom duties
Triangular TradeThe triangular trade route was a route that connected england, its colonies, and western Africa.
First, British ships loaded manufactured goods and traded these in western Africa for slaves
Then, they took the enslaved Africans and traded them for valuable raw material, like timber, sugar, and tobbacco
After this long process the ships would return to Europe.
Salutary Neglect
Salutary neglect was a English policy of avoiding strict enforcement of Parliamentary laws
They did this to try and keep American colonies under control of Great Britain
This policy lasted from 1607 to 1763 and allowed trade relation laws to be very lenient.
Salutary neglect was a large contributor of the things that led to the American Revolutionary War
Great AwakeningThe great awakening was a religious movement in the mid 1800s that swept through the colonies
This is when powerful preachers would travel from town to town giving emotional sermons that deeply touched and scared listeners
Thousands of people would come to be inspired by these words of religion
Puritans and Separatists
The majority of New England colonists were Puritans which are religious dissidents who disagreed with the established church
They believed in leading moral lives, praying devoutly, reading the Bible, and heeding their minister’s sermons.
Separists are Puritans who started their own church with their religion in a rebellion to the Anglican Church
Puritans challenged church of England. Because of that King Charles began to persecute the Puritans.
Mayflower CompactThe Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower.
The group who wrote the compact was largely separatist that was seeking religious freedom from the English Church
The compact was basically a social contract that settlers compacted to follow the rules of the compact for sake of survival.