The Chesapeake Colonies

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The Chesapeake Colonies

• 1500 - 1733

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Early English Settlement

• Reasons for English Colonization?
• English cities were overcrowded with displaced
  farmers
• Foreign rivalries
• Colonies would open up new markets and resources
• England promoted overseas exploration under the
  reign of Elizabeth I
• Sir Walter Raleigh
• Sir Francis Drake

Sir Walter Raleigh and his son.
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Early English Settlement

• In 1584 Raleigh sailed to the outer banks off the
  coast of North Carolina
• Named the region Virginia after the virgin queen
  Elizabeth I
• England settled its first colony at Roanoke in
  1587

Portrait of Elizabeth to commemorate the defeat
of the Spanish Armada
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Roanoke The Lost Colony

• In 1588, England went to war with Spain
• Elizabeth recalled all ships for the war effort
• The war prevented supplies from reaching Roanoke
• In 1590 when English supply ships returned to
  Roanoke they found the colony deserted
• Where did the colonists go?

A map of the Roanoke area, by John White.
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Virginias Beginnings

• Joint Stock Company Allowed for investors to
  pool money to fund expeditions to the new world
• Virginia Company of London - Funded the
  establishment of Jamestown in Virginia in 1607
• Jamestown First permanent English settlement

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The Charter of the Virginia Company

• Guaranteed to colonists the same rights as
  Englishmen as if they had stayed in England.
• This provision was incorporated into future
  colonists documents.
• Colonists felt that, even in the Americas, they
  had the rights of Englishmen

The Virginia Company published a series of
promotional tracts to encourage investments and
emigration.
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Jamestown Housing
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Jamestown

• In the early years Jamestown was a disaster
• Settlers found no gold or silver to send to
  investors back home
• Many colonists lacked necessary skills for
  setting up a colony
• John Smith Military commander who took control
  over Jamestown and set colonists to work

Captain John Smith, from his 1614 map of New
England
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Pocahontas
A 1616 engraving of Pocahontas by Simon van de
Passe.
Pocahontas saves Captain John Smith
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The Powhatan

• Powhatan dominated a few dozen small tribes in
  the James River area when the English arrived.
• The English called allIndians in the
  areaPowhatans.
• Powhatan probably sawthe English as allies in
  his struggles to control other Indian tribes in
  the region.

Chief Powhatan in a longhouse at Werowocomoco
(detail of John Smith map, 1612)
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Cultural Clash in the Chesapeake

• Relations between settlers and Indians got worse
• Cultural differences
• English raided villages for supplies
• First Anglo Powhatan War 1610-1614
• Eventually the Virginia Company called for a
  state of perpetual war against the natives
• Drove natives westward

Indian massacre of 1622, depicted as a woodcut.
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James Town Turns a Profit

• Desperate to turn a profit, company directors in
  England implemented 3 measures
• The introduction of Tobacco
• House of Burgesses First representative
  assembly in North America
• Headright System Provided lands for heads of
  households and their families
• In 1624 King James revoked the Virginia Companys
  charter and declared Virginia a royal colony

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Life and Labor in the Chesapeake

• Indentured Servants Migrants who were
  contracted to work for a number of years in
  return for passage the a colony
• Poor living conditions and grueling work
• Conditions of life were much worse than back in
  England
• Shorter lifespan on average

Indenture certificate from 1738.
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Colonial Slavery

• First Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619
• Status was unclear
• As the number of slaves in the colony increased
  colonists reacted to put down the perceived
  racial threat
• Slavery transformed from an economic to a racial
  institution
• Slave Codes
• Made blacks and their children property, or
  chattel for life of white masters
• In some colonies, it was a crime to teach a slave
  to read or write

English tobacco label.
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Population in the Chesapeake
Why this large increase in black population?
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The Atlantic Slave Trade
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The Middle Passage
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Bacons Rebellion 1676

• Nathaniel Bacon Virginia farmer who organized a
  rebellion against the Virginia government
• Was angry over what he considered a weak stance
  on Indian removal
• Organized poor planters and ex-servants to remove
  Indians and overthrow the Governor of Virginia
• Rebellion was eventually suppressed after the
  death of Bacon
• Largest colonial uprising prior to the American
  Revolution

Nathaniel Bacon
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Impact of Bacons Rebellion

• It exposed resentments between inland
  frontiersmen and landless former servants against
  gentry on coastal plantations.
• Socio-economic class differences/clashes between
  rural and urban communities would continue
  throughout American history.
• Upper class planters searched for laborers less
  likely to rebel
• Black slaves

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Founding Maryland

• In 1632 George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, received
  a charter to create a proprietary colony
• Intended to be a safe haven for English and Irish
  Catholics
• Why did they need protection?
• This colony became Maryland
• Despite Calverts original intentions, Protestant
  servants soon made up the majority of the
  colonys population

George Calvert
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A Haven for Catholics

• Baltimore permitted a high degree of freedom to
  worship in Maryland
• Waned to avoid a repeat of the persecution of
  Catholics found in England

• Toleration Act of 1649
• Guaranteed toleration to all Christians
• Decreed death to those that denied Jesus Christ

The Maryland Toleration Act