UNIT 2: COLONIAL AMERICA to FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 1
SECTION 1 – BRITISH COLONIES
I. 13 British Colonies
A. New England Colonies
1. Massachusetts (was started to build a new society)
a. In 1629, the ______, led by John ______, established the
______Colony.
b. The Puritans were a religious group who wanted to ______the Church of England.
– They left England because Charles I disliked their religious ideas.
c. Determined to keep non-Puritans out of government, only male church members could
vote for governor of the colony or be elected as representatives to their general assembly.
– They believed the power to govern came from God.
– The church had power over government.
d. Non-Puritans were NOT permitted to worship freely.
e. Between 1629 and 1640, more than 20,000 men, women, and children went to Massachusetts
from England.
– This movement is known as the ______.
– Many settled in Boston, which grew into the colony’s largest town.
2. Rhode Island (was started for religious freedom)
a. In 1635, Roger ______was exiled from Massachusetts.
b. He bought land from Indians and established a settlement that eventually became known as the
colony of Rhode Island.
c. He believed that the business of church and state should be ______.
d. He also believed in religious ______(a willingness to let others practice their
own beliefs).
– He allowed complete freedom of religion for all Protestants, Jews, and Catholics.
e. All white men had the right to vote.
f. Settlers disliking the strict Puritan rule of Massachusetts soon flocked to Providence and other
Rhode Island towns.
g. In 1638, Anne Hutchinson was exiled from Massachusetts; she and her husband
William went to Rhode Island.
– She held Bible readings and meetings in her home after church services, where she often
criticized the minister’s teachings.
– Puritan women weren’t suppose to talk much; and a woman did not have the right to explain
God’s laws.
– She said God told her things, but Puritans believed that God only spoke to men.
– The general court claimed that she was “deluded by the devil.”
3. Connecticut (was started for its farmland)
a. In 1636, Puritans led by Thomas ______left Massachusetts Bay, traveling west to the
Connecticut River.
b. There, they established a colony in Connecticut called Hartford.
c. They set up laws restricting or ______government; and all property owners could
vote.
d. In 1662, Connecticut became a separate colony, with a new charter from England’s king.
4. New Hampshire (was started for fishing and trade – continues today)
a. From Massachusetts Bay, settlers spread out across New England.
b. Trading and fishing villages established along the coast north of Boston became the colony of
New Hampshire in 1680 when England’s king gave them a separate charter.
5. As colonists settled in New England, they took over lands used by Native Americans.
a. Fighting often broke out between the white settlers and Indian nations of the region.
– Indians were forced from their homes, many died of starvation, and some were
sold into slavery in the West Indies.
b. The pattern of English ______followed by ______between settlers and
Indians continued throughout the colonies for many years.
6. The New England Colonies were among the first colonies established by the English in North
America.
a. Major economic activities in the region included shipbuilding, fishing, and fur trapping.
b. Each village had a common area in the center for cattle grazing.
c. ______were used for worship and town meetings.
d. For Puritans, the ______(or holy day of rest) was very serious.
– Puritan law required all citizens to attend church services.
e. Puritan laws were ______, and lawbreakers faced severe punishment.
f. During 1700s, Puritan traditions declined.
B. Middle Colonies
1. New York (was started by Dutch for trade)
a. The Dutch established the settlement of New Amsterdam, a port trading center, in the
New Netherland colony along the Hudson River in 1626.
– Land for New Amsterdam was ______from Indians – Manhattan Island.
– Settlers came from all over Europe, attracted by freedom of religion.
– Most were Protestants, but they allowed people of other religions to buy land.
b. In 1664, rivalry between England and the Netherlands for ______and
______led to war.
c. King Charles II of England sent warships that seized the colony of New Netherland.
– He gave it to his brother, the Duke of York.
d. The colony was renamed New York.
2. New Jersey
a. The Duke of York decided that New York was too big to easily govern.
b. He gave some land to friends who established a colony they called New Jersey.
c. Like New York, New Jersey attracted people of different religions from all over Europe –
English, French, Scots, Irish, Swedes, Dutch, and Finns.
d. In 1702, New Jersey became a royal colony under the control of England’s king.
e. The colony’s charter provided religious freedom and rights of assembly to vote on local matters.
3. Pennsylvania (holy experiment)
a. The colony of Pennsylvania was founded by William ______with land granted to him in
1682 by his personal friend, King Charles II.
b. At age 22, Penn joined the ______(Society of Friends), one of the most despised
religious groups in England.
c. Quakers were Protestant ______, like Pilgrims and Puritans.
d. Quakers believed in ______, ______, and ______.
e. Penn wanted his colony to be a “______” – a model of
religious freedom, peace, and Christian living.
f. Penn also believed that Native Americans owned the land in America and that settlers
should pay them for it.
g. Native Americans respected Penn for his policies and were peaceful with Pennsylvania settlers
for many years.
h. Penn sent out pamphlets describing his colony; and soon settlers came from
England, Scotland, Wales, the Netherlands, France, and Germany.
– German-speaking Protestants became known as Pennsylvania Dutch.
i. Most settlers went to ______(located on the Delaware River), which
became the colony’s capital.
4. Delaware (was started for trade)
a. This region was purchased by William Penn to give Pennsylvania access to Atlantic ports.
b. These Lower Counties of Pennsylvania later broke away to form their own colony of Delaware.
5. ______were less important in the Middle Colonies than in New England because farms were
larger and houses were farther apart.
a. The broad river valleys of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers made the land of the Middle
Colonies rich and fertile; and the winters were milder here than in New England.
b. Farmers were able to produce ______– surplus crops which were sold for
money on the world market.
c. The area also became a center of manufacturing and crafts.
6. The different groups who settled the Middle Colonies used their own favorite methods of building.
a. Swedish settlers introduced log cabins to America.
b. Dutch used red bricks.
C. Southern Colonies
1. Virginia was the first and most important colony (Jamestown).
a. As settlers pressed inland and established ______, bloody clashes with
Indians occurred.
b. The governor refused to take action against Native Americans because he had a profitable fur
trade with them.
c. In 1676, angry settlers organized by Nathaniel ______raided Indian villages; they also
burned Jamestown, the capital – this uprising is known as Bacon’s______,
which ended when Bacon died.
2. Maryland
a. In 1634, a colony was established on land given to Lord Baltimore (George Calvert), who
wanted to open a settlement where ______could freely practice their religion.
b. Lord Baltimore gave land grants to anyone who brought over servants, women, and
children.
c. At the request of Lord Baltimore, the Virginia assembly passed the
______in 1649, establishing religious freedom for all
Christians.
3. Carolinas
a. Settlement took place in two separate areas in 1663.
b. In the north, settlers had small tobacco farms.
– They relied on ______labor.
c. In the south, a larger colony was established by 8 English nobles.
– Tobacco and rice ______relied on ______labor.
– The largest settlement was ______.
d. Planters obtained slaves from Africa.
e. The northern area had few slaves.
f. Differences between the two areas led to the colony dividing into North Carolina and
South Carolina in 1712.
4. Georgia (buffer zone between England and Spain)
a. Founded by James ______in 1732.
b. A colony where people jailed for debt in England could make a new start.
c. Oglethorpe paid for debtors and other people to travel to Georgia, where they became
______servants.
d. Savannah was the first settlement, built in 1733.
e. Strict rules were set by Oglethorpe.
– Farms could be no larger than 50 acres.
– No slavery.
f. The colony grew slowly until Oglethorpe allowed large plantations and slave labor, which was
more profitable.
5. ______and England both claimed the land between South Carolina and Florida.
a. Spain, aided by Creek Indians, tried to force out the English.
b. Mary Musgrove, daughter of a Creek mother and English father, helped established peace
between the Creeks and English.
6. Southern Colonies had warmer weather and a longer growing season than northern colonies.
______affected where southerners built plantations – along the coastal plain and
rivers.
a. Most plantations had their own docks, so few large seaport cities developed in the Southern
Colonies.
b. Only a small percentage of white southerners owned large plantations.
II. Colonial Culture and Society
A. By the mid-1700s, the English colonies had developed a culture quite different from that of England.
B. Social classes
1. Colonists had more social equality than people in England; but class differences still existed.
a. ______– wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, lawyers, royal officials.
b. ______class – farmers who worked their own land, skilled craftsworkers, some trades
people.
– Nearly ______% of all white colonists were in the middle class.
– They prospered because land was plentiful and easy to buy in the colonies.
c. Hired farmhands, indentured servants, slaves.
– ______servants worked 4-7 years without wages for whoever paid
their ocean passage to the Americas.
C. Women and Rights
1. Women took care of the household, husband, and family.
2. They sometimes worked in the fields at harvest time.
3. In the cities, they sometimes worked outside of the home.
4. Women sometimes learned trades from their fathers, brothers, or husbands.
a. Quite a few became printers and published newspapers.
b. A woman could take over her husband’s business when he died.
D. African cultural influences
1. By the mid-1700s, the culture of Africans varied greatly in the colonies.
a. African slaves on plantations in the Southern Colonies saw few white people, so their African
customs remained ______.
b. In many port towns in South Carolina, more than half the population was African.
– Even though most were enslaved, they could have their own shops and were skilled
craftsworkers.
c. In Virginia and Maryland, African traditions were ______because Africans were less
isolated from white colonists.
– By the 1750s, the number of new slaves arriving each year in the region began to decline.
d. Fewer Africans lived in the Middle and New England Colonies.
– Africans arrived here in greater numbers after the 1740s.
– The number of African families remained small because men outnumbered the women.
E. Education
1. People in the New England Colonies were the most concerned about education.
a. Puritans believed that all people had a ______to study the Bible, so everyone must know
how to read.
b. In 1647, the Massachusetts assembly passed a law ordering all parents to teach their children to
read and understand the principles of religion.
c. The Massachusetts law also stipulated that towns with 50 families were to hire a
schoolteacher; and towns with 100 families had to set up a grammar school to prepare boys for
college.
d. Thus, Massachusetts set up the first ______schools (schools supported by taxes).
– Important because both rich and poor children could get an education.
2. In the Middle Colonies, churches and individual families set up ______schools; and
pupils paid to attend, so only the wealthy could afford to educate their children.
3. In the Southern Colonies, tutors or private teachers were sometimes hired; the wealthiest
sent their sons to school in ______.
4. Slaves were denied an education.
5. Most schools in the colonies accepted only boys.
a. In New England, some girls attended ______schools (private schools run by women in
their own homes).
III. Growth of Slavery
A. The first Africans in the English colonies included free people, servants, and slaves.
B. Enslaved Africans on southern plantations brought ______skills from West Africa.
C. By 1700, plantations in the Southern Colonies relied on slave labor.
D. ______were passed to ______the large number of slaves.
1. They set rules for slaves’ behavior.
2. Denied the slaves their basic rights.
3. Slaves were ______, and not viewed as humans.
E. Most English colonists considered black Africans to be ______to white Europeans.
1. The belief that one race is superior to another is called ______.
F. ______in Germantown, Pennsylvania, became the first group of colonists to call for an end
to slavery.
G. European slave traders set up posts along the African coast to meet the growing demand for slaves.
1. The Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French brought slaves from Africa to the Americas.
2. By the 1720s, 2,000-3,000 Africans arrived each year in North American English colonies.
H. The trip from Africa to the Americas was called the ______.
1. Conditions were ______.
2. Records indicate that an average of ______% of all Africans shipped in the 1700s did not survive the
trip; on some voyages the number of deaths was much higher.
IV. Ruling the Colonies and Rights of English Citizens
A. England, like other European nations, believed that the purpose of colonies was to benefit the home
country.
1. The economic theory in use was ______– where a nation became strong by
building up its gold supply and expanding trade.