Colonial America

New England Colonies

• Religion played a central role

• Boston became the largest city

• Became an area of small farms and towns

Puritans • Wanted to reform the

Church of England – Purify it

• Mass migration to New England in the 1630s

• Led by John Winthrop – “City upon a hill”

• Created a General Court • Believed that the Church

had supreme power • Only allowed Puritans to

vote • Founded Harvard to

educate ministers

Thomas Hooker and Connecticut

• Left Massachusetts because he felt the government and the church had too much power

• Led 100 settlers to the Connecticut River

• Fundamental Orders of Connecticut – 1639 – All men could vote – Limited the governor’s

power

• Became a separate colony in 1662

Roger Williams

• Strongly believed in religious tolerance

– Letting others practice their own beliefs

• Ordered to leave Massachusetts

– Seen as a danger

• Founded the colony of Rhode Island in 1636

• Allowed complete freedom of religion

Anne Hutchinson

• Questioned church leaders

• Very outspoken and persuasive

• Believed women could interpret the Bible

• Banished from Massachusetts and went to Rhode Island

King Phillip’s War

• New England colonists began expanding into Native American land

• Population 1670 – 45,000 • Metacom ( Chief of the

Wampanoag Tribe) – Called King Phillip by the

English

• Attacked and destroyed 12 towns and killed more than 600 colonists

• Eventually captured and sold into slavery in the West Indies

Life in Colonial New England

• Everything centered around towns and the church

• Sabbath was followed

• Town meetings – Voted on issues

– Community projects

• Shipbuilding and trade ran the economy

• Puritan influence began to decline in the 1700s

Salem Witch Trials

• Witchcraft was condemned in England

• 1692-93: In Salem, Massachusetts 150 people were arrested and imprisoned for witchcraft

• 19 were eventually executed

Middle Colonies

• Why were these colonies called the Middle colonies?

• Greater diversity of people compared to New England and the Southern Colonies

• Mix of small farmers, merchants and plantations

New York • New Netherland was

given to the Duke of York and renamed New York

– 1664

• Center of trade (especially trading furs)

• 1702 – New Jersey broke away and became its own colony

The Quakers • Despised in England

• Believed…

– All people were equal in God’s eyes

– Pacifists

• Given a charter for the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681

• William Penn – Founder and leader

Pennsylvania • Religious Freedom • Treated Native Americans

fairly – Paid for their land

• 1704 – Southern part of the colony broke off and founded Delaware

Life in the Middle Colonies • Mostly farmers

– Land along the Hudson and Delaware were very fertile

– Mild Winters

• Goods were sent to New England to be shipped

• Some slaves, but not a lot

• Some craftsmen, artisans

Southern Colonies

• Everything south of the Mason-Dixon line

• Very different from the other English colonies

Maryland • Founded by Sir

George Calvert and his son Lord Baltimore in 1634

• Passed the Act of Toleration – Religious freedom

was granted to all Christians

• Women were allowed to own land

Bacon’s Rebellion

• 1676 • Wealthy planters

controlled the best lands

• Nathanial Bacon and several hundred followers began raiding Native American lands

• Also burned down Jamestown

• Rebellion fell apart when Bacon died

The Carolinas • Consisted of small

tobacco farms and large plantations

• Rice became a staple crop

• Used slaves from Africa for labor

• 1700 – African Americans outnumbered whites in the Carolinas

Georgia • Founded by James

Oglethorpe

• A place were debtors could get a fresh start

Plantation Life • More profitable to

raise tobacco and rice on large plantations

• Small percentage of people in the South

• Owned 20 to 200 slaves

• Slaves worked as field hands, cooks, maids, carpenters, blacksmiths.

• Owner (Master) oversaw the plantation

Slavery in Africa

• Part of the social and economic system

• Slaves were people captured in war

• Slave traders set up ports along the West African coast

• Africans would go inland to capture slaves

• Loaded onto European vessels

Middle Passage

• Passage between Africa and the Americas

• Slaves were kept below the deck

• Crammed tightly together and chained

• ¼ would die on the passage

• Lasted 400 years

Growth of Slavery in North America

• As slavery increased, more limits were placed on slaves

• Slaves became seen as property

• English colonists felt they were superior

• Some colonists spoke out against slavery – Mostly from New

England and Pennsylvania

Triangular Trade