1607-1763 Part 1
S. S. STUDY GUIDE: Introduction — Overview of Colonial Experience: 1607-1763
A. Pre-Jamestown settlers
1585 — Sir Walter Raleigh sent 7 ships and about 100 men to North America
- Raleigh was granted a charter to set up a colony in North America.
- Charter – a legal document giving certain rights to a person or company
- He named his colony Virginia — in honor of Queen Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. (land located between Roanoke Island and the Potomac)
- His men landed on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present day North Carolina.
- Settlers included John White, an artist who made drawings of the new land and its people.
- Settlers searched for a year without success for gold and silver.
- Tired, discouraged, and hungry – they returned the next year to England.
1587 — Raleigh asked John White to return to Roanoke with another group of colonists
- Raleigh sent along women to help set up a farming community.
- Among these women was John White’s daughter, Ellinor Dare.
- While at Roanoke, she gave birth to the first English child born in North America — Virginia Dare.
- When supplies ran low, White returned to England.
- He left behind 117 colonists & his family, he instructed them to
- carve the name of the new location on a tree if they moved
- drawn a cross on the tree if they were attacked
- Planning to return in 3 months, he did not return for 3 years.
- England, preparing for war with Spain, needed all available ships to defend England against the Spanish Armada.
1588 — Attack and Defeat of the Spanish Armada
- Under the leadership of Sir Francis Drake, the Sea Dogs led the fight against the Spanish Armada.
- During the fight, a violent storm scattered the Armada.
1590 — White obtains a ship and returns to Roanoke Island
- The Settlement was abandoned.
- The word Croatoan was carved on a tree.
- The word was both the name of local Indians & a nearby Island.
Due to a storm and rough waters, the captain decided the journey to the island was too dangerous & left for England against White’s wishes.
- Before going ashore, they drew up the Mayflower Compact.
- They would consult each other about laws and work together
- With 41 signatures, it became the first set of written laws
- After a harsh winter, they were befriended and helped by local Indians.
- Shown how to grow corn and how to fish, they offered the first Thanksgiving following the first successful harvest.
1624 — The Dutch establish the colony of New Netherland
- Peter Minuit led a group of Dutch settlers to North America
- He bought Manhattan Island from the local Indians.
- He called his settlement on this island, New Amsterdam
- The Dutch laid claim to what is today New Jersey and about half of New York, and organized it into the colony of New Netherland.
- New Amsterdam became the capital of New Netherland.
1625 — King James I died and was succeeded by his son, King Charles I
- It was during the reign of Charles I that England and Scotland was finally united into one country called Great Britain.
- His reign eventually ended in Civil War between the Anglicans (supporters of the King) and the Puritans (in control of Parliament.)
- The Anglicans (led by Charles I) were defeated by the Puritans (led by Oliver Cromwell.)
- Charles I was beheaded & the monarchy was temporarily abolished.
1629 — The Massachusetts Bay Colony received a charter from King Charles I
1630 — More than 1,000 Puritans on 17 ships arrive in North America
- They were led by John Winthrop, who became their first governor.
- For religious and economic reasons, more than 20,000 Puritans arrived between 1630 – 1640 at Massachusetts Bay — The Great Migration
1634 — Maryland is settled by Lord Baltimore (Cecil Calvert, son of Sir George Calvert)
- Sir George Calvert, the 1st Lord Baltimore, secured a charter from King Charles I in 1632, to establish a refuge for England’s Catholics.
- The colony was named after the King’s wife, Queen Henrietta Maria.
- Unfortunately, Sir George died before the charter could be signed.
- His son, Cecil (the 2nd Lord Baltimore), fulfilled his dreams.
- During the rule of Oliver Cromwell in England, many Anglicans (members of the Church of England) fled to Maryland.
- As Protestants grew in number, Lord Baltimore ask the assembly to pass the Act of Toleration — granted religious freedom to all Christians.
1639 — The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
- Written by the Connecticut settlers, it expanded the idea of representative government and became the first constitution.
- It extended the right to vote to all male property owners and limited the powers of the governor.B. Establishment of the 13 English Colonies
1603 — Queen Elizabeth I of England died — End of the Tudor Family
- King James VI of Scotland was crowned King James I of England
- This marked the beginning of the Stewart Family.
- King James began the process that would eventually unite England and Scotland into one country called Great Britain.
1606 — The Virginia Company of London received a charter from King James I.
- This charter granted the company the right to settled in Virginia.
- It also guaranteed colonists the same rights as English subjects.
- To raise money, the company organized a joint stock company.
- The company sold shares to investors.
- When the company raised enough capital, or money for investment, it outfitted ships for trading voyages.
- If the ships returned safely, the cargo was sold.
- Investor then received a share of the profits.
1607 — Three ships and 104 (out of 144) men sailed into the Chesapeake Bay.
- They sailed up the James River and founded Jamestown.
- Before long, many died from disease due to swampy land, too many mosquitoes, and undrinkable water.
- The first women arrived in 1608.
- Captain John Smith took charge between 1608 & 1609.
1612 — John Rolfe introduces Caribbean Tobacco — Produced Virginia’s first profit
1619 — A Dutch Ship arrives at Jamestown with the first African Slaves
- Africans were treated as Indentured servants for the first 35 years.
- Unfortunately, this system was replaced with slavery by the late 1600s.
Virginian settlers established the House of Burgesses
- First representative government in the New World
- Burgesses means representative
- Based on the Magna Carta of 1215 (King John & the Great Council of Nobles)
1620 — The Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth Colony
- Known as Separatists (those who wanted to break away from the Church of England), they were persecuted for their religious beliefs.
- In September, more than 100 men, women, and children set sail on the Mayflower for the New World.
- Their charter gave them permission to set up a settlement in Virginia.
- On the way there, a storm and rough waters forced them far to the north.
- They landed near present day Cape Cod.1640 — Swedish setters establish New Sweden, a colony along the Delaware River.
1644 — Roger Williams received a charter for a new colony
- Fleeing from Massachusetts Bay in 1635, Williams spent the winter at Narragansett Bay.
- In the spring, the Indians sold him some of land for a settlement.
- In 1644, he received a charter to establish a colony at that location.
- This colony was first called Providence Plantations.
- Later, Providence and other towns united & formed Rhode Island.
- Roger Williams is the father of “Separation of Church & State”
- Rhode Island became the most religious free of the 13 colonies.
1655 — The Dutch from New Netherland attack and take over New Sweden.
1663 — King Charles II gave Carolina to 8 nobles to establish a colony there
- Carolina, named in honor of Charles I, stretched from Virginia to Florida.
- The northern region was settled by poor farmers from Virginia.
- The southern region was settled by wealthy families from Great Britain.
- They built Charles Town, later shortened to Charleston.
- The settlers eventually discovered that the climate & swampy lands were excellent for the establishment of rice plantations.
- They eventually turned to slavery to meet their labor needs.
- Differences between the two regions led to the division of the Colony into North Carolina and South Carolina.
1664 — New York and New Jersey are established
- Rivalry between England and The Netherlands led to war in Europe.
- Urged by traders, King Charles II ordered an attack on New Netherland.
- Governor Stuyvesant was forced to surrender due to few weapons.
- King Charles II gave this land to his brother, James the Duke of York.
- James renamed the colony New York in his honor.
- At first, James governed the colony directly.
- Eventually, he gave in to Puritan pressure and allowed the settlers to establish a representative assembly.
- During his rule, James realized that New York was too large to govern.
- He gave the land located between the Hudson and Delaware rivers to his friends, Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.
- They renamed this land New Jersey.
- For awhile, NJ was divided into East Jersey and West Jersey.
- In 1702, the two settlements were joined as a single royal colony under the control of the English Crown.
1680 — New Hampshire was established out of 3 coastal settlements north of Boston1682 — William Penn (a Quaker convert) arrived in and settled Pennsylvania.
- The Society of Friends (Quakers) were the most persecuted religious group in England.
- William Penn was given a charter by his father’s friend, King Charles II.
- Penn named this colony Sylvania, meaning woodlands.
- The King changed the name to Pennsylvania (or Penn’s woodlands) in honor of William Penn’s father.
- Having no access to the sea, Penn asked James (the Duke of York) to give up some land along the lower Delaware River.
- James gave him the land that was originally known as New Sweden.
- This land area became known as Pennsylvania’s Lower Counties.
1685 — King Charles II died and was succeeded by James, the Duke of York
1686 — King James II established the Dominion of New England
- King James II tried to exercise tighter control over the colonies.
- He dismissed the assemblies of all the colonies from New Hampshire to New Jersey and grouped them into the Dominion of New England.
- The colonists angrily protested this change.
1688 — The Glorious Revolution
- Before the angry colonists could take further action against King James II, Parliament called for a revolt against the Catholic King.
- Parliament asked William and Mary (daughter of King James II) of the Netherlands to lead the revolt and take over the thrown.
- They ended the Dominion of New England and restored the colonial elected assemblies.
1589 — William and Mary sign into law the English Bill of Rights
- Protected the rights of individuals & guaranteed the right to trial by jury
- Outlawed cruel and unusual punishments
- Forbid the raising of taxes or an army without Parliament’s approval.
- Guaranteed colonists the same protection.
1701 — The Lower Counties of Pennsylvania established their own assembly
- They did not want to travel to a far-away assembly in Philadelphia.
- Later, the Lower Counties broke away & formed the colony, Delaware.
1732 — Georgia, the last of England’s 13 colonies was established
- This land was carved out of the southern portion of South Carolina.
- Named in honor of King George II, it was founded as a refuge for English debtors by James Oglethorpe.
- Arriving in 1733, the settlers built Georgia’s first settlement, Savannah.
1735 — The New York trial of John Peter Zenger — Freedom of the Press
- He published the newspaper, The New York Weekly Journal
- He expose the dishonesty of New York’s Governor, William Cosby.
- Imprisoned for 8 months, he went to trial.
- It took the jury 10 minutes to find him “not guilty”.
1754 — Fighting broke out in the Ohio Valley (land claimed by both France & England)
- Washington (sent by Governor Dinwiddie to protect Virginian land claims) took 150 men to built a fort in the upper Ohio River Valley.
- When he arrived, the French had already built Fort Duquesne at the precise site selected by Washington.
- At first, Washington surprised and scattered the French.
- In a counterattack, the French surrounded and defeated Washington.
- He and his men were released and allowed to return to Virginia.
1759 — The Fall of Quebec
- The city was defended by the Marquis de Montcalm
- The combined British and colonial forces were led by General James Wolfe and Admiral Jeffrey Amherst.
1760 — The Fall of Montreal
1763 — The Treaty of Paris ended The Great War for Empire
- French power ended in North America.
- Great Britain gain Canada and all French lands east of the Mississippi.
- Spain received all French lands west of the Mississippi, but gave up Florida to Great Britain.