Exploration and Colonization

Guided Notes

Student Expectations
  1. Identify the major causes and effects of American colonization
  2. Identify the reasons for European exploration and colonization of North America
  3. Identify the different ethnic, religious, and racial groups that settled in North America and explain the reasons for their immigration
  4. Analyze how physical characteristics of the environment influenced where people settled, as well as the development of their social customs and economic activities

Guiding Questions
  1. What are the reasons for European exploration and colonization of North America?
  2. What was the religious motivation for immigration and influence on social movements?
  3. What were the reasons for the growth of representative government during the colonial period?
  4. What were the roles of significant individuals in the development of self-government in colonial America?
  5. What have been the causes and effects of economic differences among different regions in colonial America?
  6. What were the reasons for the growth of representative government and institutions during the colonial period?
  7. What is the importance of the Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, and the Virginia House of Burgesses to the growth of representative government?

Essential Vocabulary
Mercantilism Quakers
Colony Puritans
Plantation proprietary colony
Slavery raw materials
Columbian Exchange import
Colony export
Representative gov’t urban
Pilgrims rural / Significant Events
1607 – Settlement of Jamestown
1620 – arrival of Pilgrims
Signing of Mayflower Compact
Significant People
Thomas Hooker John Locke
Roger Williams William Blackstone
Anne Hutchinson William Penn
Charles de Montesquieu / Important Dates (for Class)

Exploration

Guided Notes

Mercantilism /
  • An economic system of trade that helped European countries make money by using their colonies.
  • The government controls trade.
  • Colonies provided raw materials such as lumber and furs, that the mother country can use
  • Colonies also became markets for the countries to sell their goods that the colonies needed

The Columbian Exchange /
  • The plants, animals, and diseases that were shared between Europe and the New World began with Christopher Columbus in 1492.
  • The Spanish goal for exploring the New World was GOD, GOLD, and GLORY.

Triangular Trade /
  • Triangular Trade was the trade route between Europe, Africa, and the New World
  • The part of the trade route that brought slaves from Africa to the Americas is called the Middle Passage.

Jamestown (1607)

Guided Notes

English Plan Colonies /
  • England wanted to develop colonies to increase its trade and build its wealth (i.e. gold, raw materials)
  • Colonies would also serve as a new trading partner for England’s exports

Financing the Colony /
  • When Roanoke failed, Sir Walter Raleigh lost his investment
  • Joint-stock companies were made to prevent such huge losses from happening like Roanoke. Each investor received pieces of ownership of the company called stock.

Jamestown Founded (1607) /
  • Jamestown founded in 1607, Named for King James.
  • The colony was founded to make money, NOT for religious reasons
  • Hardships of the colony:
  • Swamps bred mosquitoes which carried malaria
  • Colonists mined for gold rather than building shelters or growing food
  • Harsh climate

Growth of Jamestown /
  • More than 50% colonists died in 1st year
  • John Smith took control
  • “He that will not work, will not eat.”
  • Smith began trading with the Powhatan, through Pocahontas, for food
  • The Starving Time – settlers become lazy (again) and had to endure attacks from the Powhatan (again)
  • 1612 – John Rolfe develops tobacco as the first major cash crop for the colonies. This made VA a very wealthy colony.
  • 1619 – slaves are introduced to the colony.
  • Indentured Servants – people sold their labor to a person who would finance tier passage to the colonies

Virginia House of Burgesses (1619) /
  • 1st self-representative gov’t. in the colonies
  • Elected officials met annually to address local issues

Religious Reasons for Colonization

Guided Notes

Voyage of the Mayflower (1620) /
  • Pilgrims – a separatist group who were attacked for rejecting the Church of England
  • Pilgrims crash into Massachusetts (rather than Virginia) during a storm in 1620

Mayflower Compact (1620) /
  • document where they promised to obey laws for the good of the colony – it helped establish the idea of self-government and majority rule

Pilgrims found Plymouth colony /
  • Hard winter – half die by springtime
  • Samoset and Squanto – English speaking natives who help the colonists trading and teaching them how to farm
  • First Thanksgiving held in appreciation

Puritans come to Massachusetts Bay /
  • Puritans are religious group that wanted to “purify” or reform the Church of England
  • Great Migration – Thousands of Puritans leave England and settle elsewhere. 22,000 came to America
  • 1630 – the Puritans begin a well-supplied colony.
  • No starving time
  • Established a representative gov’t. where only male church members could vote or hold office.

Connecticut /
  • Thomas HookerLed about 100 people from Massachusetts to settle along the Connecticut River.
  • This colony put Hooker’s principles, into practice when it adopted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut in 1639(first written Constitution in New World)
  • frame of gov’t for colony of Connecticut – also set-up idea that voting should be extended to non-church members and limited the powers of the governor, thus expanding the ideas of representative gov’t; written by Thomas Hooker.

Foundations of Representative Government / William Blackstone – an enlightenment thinker, he believedhuman laws were like scientific laws. They were creationsof God waiting to be discovered just as Isaac Newton had discovered the laws of gravity a century before. Also known as the father of English Common Law – he wrote the Commentaries on the Laws of England (creates idea of common law)
Charles de Montesquieu – defined the principle/idea of separation of powers, calling for a system of checks and balances in government.
Challenges to
Puritan Leaders /
  • Roger Williams: founded colony of Rhode Island which guaranteed religious freedom because he opposed forced church attendance
  • Anne Hutchinson: believed a person could worship God without a church, minister,or Bible. She was forced out of Massachusetts and fled to Rhode Island.

The Colonies

Guided Notes

New York /
  • Settled for economic reasons
  • Founded as a propriety colony – the colony is owned by one person

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware /
  • William Penn established Pennsylvania for religious reasons (also a proprietary colony)
  • Quakers were allowed to live according to their belief that all people could live in peace
  • Accepted difference religions and ethnic groups

Georgia /
  • James Oglethorpe founded Georgia as a refuge for debtors in 1732. He set up strict rules that upset the colonists. King responded by making Georgia a
royal colony. Georgia was a buffer zone between the colonies and Spanish owned Florida.
Maryland /
  • Lord Baltimore established Maryland in 1632 for Roman Catholics fleeing persecution. Passed the Act of Toleration, promising religious freedom to all, especially the Catholics.