1. CREATING ENGLISH
AMERICA
1590-1660

2. ENGLISH COLONIZATION
IN IRELAND

4. ENGLISH COLONIZATION IN
IRELAND

5. ENGLAND’S MOTIVES
FOR EXPANSION
Economic
Religions
Political
Social

6. ENGLAND’S SOCIAL
CRISIS
•England’s decline economy (brought on by frequent drought and
war) led to an increasing number of poor that strained the
economy and led to a social crisis
•Population grew from 3 million in 1550 to 4 million in 1600
•A significant change for the time
•“Enclosure movement”
•The English crown did little to alleviate the problem
•Henry VIII stated those without jobs could be whipped, branded,
forced into military service, or executed

7. ENCLOSURE

8. ENGLAND‘S SOCIAL CRISIS
•Elizabeth I offered two solutions:
•Force vagrants and vagabonds to accept any job offered
•Go to America!
•(The ‗unruly poor‘ was highly encouraged to venture to the
New World to find riches)
•Propaganda campaigns
•The crown and colonizing companies appealed to the poor
by stating they could become ―Masterless Men‖ in the New
World
•A man could control his own labor, gain independence from
the English ―man‖, and own land.
•Thomas Moore‘s Utopia describes this in detail and
encouraged the ‗unruly poor‘ to go to America to escape the
inequities of Europe

9. ENGLAND‘S INITIAL PUSH TO AMERICA
•How many people left?
•Between 1600 and 1700, over half a million
people left England
•Sustained immigration was vital for a
colony‘s success (and survival)
•Lower class ―unruly poor‖ and indentured
servants represented 2/3 of those that left
England
•Indentured servants did not enjoy liberties
while under contract (essentially another
form of slavery)

11. ENGLISH COLONIES to 1675
•Roanoke (Failure)
•Jamestown
•1st attempt – Failure
•2nd attempt – Success
•Chesapeake
•Virginia/Maryland
•New England
•Plymouth/Massachusetts Bay/Rhode Island, Connecticut

12. ROANOKE

13. ROANOKE
•Sir Walter Raleigh (English pirate) sent 100 colonists to set up a colonial base on
Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina.
•Why? He wanted to keep pressure on Spanish ships in the area
•The initial push to colonize was abandoned and most of first 100 returned to
England
•In 1586, he sent another 100 colonists to try to establish a permanent colony
•Those 100 disappeared when a supply ship came in 1590
•More than likely, they assimilated with the local Indian tribes
•The only evidence left was the word ―Croatoan‖ scrawled on a tree
•Raleigh quickly lost his enthusiasm for colonization and gave up
•Moral of the story: England really needed to plan better before attempting to
colonize

14. JOHN WHITE

15. EASTERN WOODLANDS:
POWHATAN
Not one people, but a complex chiefdom
32 tribes under Wahunsunacaugh (Powhatan):
14,000-21,000 people at time of contact
Tsenacommacah: ―densely inhabited land‖-18,000 sq miles
Matrilineal: kinship and inheritance passed
through female
Social status determined by inheritance or
achievement
Extensive trade network featuring luxury goods

19. JAMESTOWN

20. JAMESTOWN and VIRGINIA
•In the first year, disease and lack of food killed 66 of the original 104 settlers; of
those, only 10 able to work
•200 more settlers came the next year
•After the winter of 1610, only 61 settlers remained of nearly 500 immigrants
•Most died of starvation and disease
•Of the nearly 8,500 people who came to the settlement between 1607 and
1625, only 1,281 remained
•Unclear until 1624 that the colony would survive

21. A worlde of miseries ensewed as the
Sequell will expresse unto yow, in so
mutche thatt some to satisfye their
hunger have robbed the store for the
which I Caused them to be executed.
Then haveinge fedd upon our horses
and other beastes as longe as they
Lasted, we weare gladd to make shifte
with vermin as doggs Catts, Ratts and
myce all was fishe thatt Came to Nett to
satisfye Crewell hunger, as to eate
Bootes shoes or any other leather
some Colde come by. And those
beinge Spente and devoured some
weare inforced to searche the woodes
and to feede upon Serpentts and
snakes and to digge the earthe for
wylde and unknowne Rootes, where
many of our men weare Cutt of and
slayne by the Salvages. And now famin
beginneinge to Looke gastely and pale
in every face, thatt notheinge was
Spared to mainteyne Lyfe and to doe
those things which seame incredible,

22. JOHN SMITH AND
POCAHONTAS

23. JOHN SMITH AND
POCAHONTAS

24. ―CARE YE FOR SOME TOBO?‖
•John Rolfe ships first crop of tobacco back to England in 1614
•Ironically, King James I considered tobacco ―harmful to the brain and dangerous to the
lungs‖
•However, he did not have any problem with selling it to make a profit
•Tobacco later becomes the ‗cure-all‘ for medicinal purposes in the 17th century
•By 1624, 200,000 pounds were grown and exported
•By 1680, 15 million pounds were grown and exported
•Essentially, tobacco becomes the new gold for English in North America
•The tobacco boom was partially responsible for the establishment of colonial government in
Virginia
Eventually, a social and political elite was established: Virginia‘s white society came to
resemble that of England, with a landed gentry at top, small farmers in the middle, and an
army of poor laborers—indentured servants and former servants without land —at the
bottom.

27. VIRGINIA COLONY AND THE CHESAPEAKE
•Social Conditions
•1625 census reveals that 5% of
the population were ―gentlemen‖
•½ were listed as ―servant‖
•8% were native-born
•17% of population under the age
of 15
•Barely 1% over the age of 40
•Men outnumbered women 7 to 1

28. EARLY SLAVERY (?) IN
THE CHESAPEAKE
•Slavery in the colony
•The number of slaves slowly climbed during
the mid-17th century
•1619-- First ―twenty and odd‖ Africans arrived
in Virginia
–―Angela‖
•1623 – 23 of 1200 Virginians were black
•1660 – 900 of 24,000
•Before 1660, blacks were able to acquire
freedom and land (similar to indentured
servitude)
•Some freedmen became very wealthy and had
property rights similar to whites
•Anthony and Mary Johnson: ―Angola‖

29. VIRGINIA'S GREAT
MIGRATION
1645-1665: Population triples during Gov.
Berkeley's tenure
Recruits from ―the distressed Cavaliers‖
of the English Civil War
Migrants came from higher and lower ranks of
English society
– Most of lower rank: 75% indentured
servants
– 2/3 were unskilled laborers
– 30% listed as artisans
– High illiteracy rates
– 3 out of 4 were between the ages of 15
and 24
– Females were outnumbered 4 : 1, in
some years, 6 : 1

30. NEW ENGLAND

31. PLYMOUTH COLONY
•Puritans: Diverse group of English Protestants
united by their belief that the Anglican Church
retained too many doctrines and practices of the
Catholic Church
•―Congregationalists‖
•After staying in Holland, they believed their
children were too influenced by the Dutch: set
sail for Virginia. Ooops.
•However, they landed in Cape Cod,
Massachusetts in November, 1620
•Mayflower Compact
•All adult men aboard the Mayflower signed a
compact indicating that they would obey ―just
and equal laws‖ enacted by representatives of
their choosing

32. PLYMOUTH COLONY
•Initial Problems
•They faced a similar situation to Jamestown; starvation
•They arrived 6 weeks before winter with no food or animals, and then randomly
sailed the MA coast, not disembarking until 21 December
•45 of the 102 aboard the Mayflower died the first winter
•Tisquantum and Hobomok taught the English where to fish, plant corn, and helped
them form an alliance with the Wampanoag chief Massassoit
•Plymouth remained independent until 1691 when it was absorbed by
Massachusetts Bay

33. MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY

35. MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY
•Economy
•Per capita, wealth was pretty evenly distributed (significantly better than Virginia)
•Those who had emigrated from England were mostly from the middling class of English society-yeoman, husbandmen, artisans, craftsmen, merchants
•Less than 25% of emigres were servants, 5% ―laborers‖
•About 11% identified as ―gentlemen‖
•The majority (50%-60%) had been engaged in a skilled craft or trade
•URBAN migration
•The economy was primarily centered on farming
•Fishing and timber exportation were large industries though
•A merchant class that traded with England rose gradually
•This did not bode well for some of the most conservative Puritans
•Merchants that continually clashed with Puritan authorities left to establish Portsmouth, New
Hampshire

36. MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY
•Most immigrants came over in family groups
•Somewhat even sex distribution-- 150 males: 100 females
•Family Life
•Structurally patriarchal; hierarchy of age, not gender or rank
•Women were expected to be subordinate to their husbands at all times: ―I am
but a wife and therefore it is sufficient for me to follow my husband.‖
•True freedom for Puritan women meant submission to authority
•Reasoning:
•Biblical in nature: Eve was the evil temptress that caused man to fall into sin
•However, women were allowed full church membership and could divorce
•More females than males were full church members

37. PEQUOT WAR: 1637
•Roots in 1632: dispute over
control of the CT River valley
between Dutch fur traders and
Plymouth officials.
•Result: a defensive compact
known as the United Colonies
of New England (Mass Bay,
CT, New Haven, Plymouth)
John Adams considers this
the prototype of the Articles of
Confederation

38. NEW ENGLAND'S GREAT
MIGRATION
Begins in 1630, continues until 1640
Size, wealth, and organization without precedent
in the English colonization of North America
–80,000 leave England-- 21,000 people migrate
to New England
•Economic depression, epidemic disease,
Charles I rules without Parliament
Migration reverses in 1640 as many Puritans sail
home to serve in the English Civil War
New England's population also grows through
natural increase: population doubles every
generation for two centuries

39. Chesapeake?
New England?