- 1583: English claim Newfoundland
- 1585: first English settlement at Roanoke, VA,
- 1587: "Lost colony" of Roanoke (abandoned by 1590)
- 1603: King James I crowned
- 1606 First Charter of Virginia
- 1607 Jamestown settlement
- 1608 Separatist group moves to Holland
- 1618 Great Charter (established VA self-governance)
- 1620 Mayflower Company/ Plymouth settled by Pilgrims
- 1622 Jamestown Massacre
- 1624: Virginia Company abolished; royal Colony
- 1639: Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
- 1642: House of Burgesses
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- conditions that "pushed" British emigration
- conditions that "pulled" colonial immigration
- shared ownership for commercial venture; used by England for 1st colonies
- Virginia Company: to establish colonies & find gold (didn’t)
- land grant for brining laborers to colonies
- legislature, governing body of VA colony
- wanted autonomous congregations “separate” from Church of England
- Puritans: anti-papal/ anti-Catholic, wanted to “purify” English Churches
- Pilgrims: separatists group sailed to Plymouth from Holland
- Mayflower Compact: Pilgrim contract for self-rule
- William Bradford: became Plymouth Colony governor; wrote book “On “Plymouth Plantation”
John Winthrop & "city upon a hill"[edit | edit source]
- Mass Bay Colony leader
- called it “city upon a hill”
- insisted on church rules
- “A Model of Christian Charity”: Winthrop sermon declaring Christian mission of the colony
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BIG IDEAS
- Corporate structure & charters of British colonial enterprises
- British settlements & interactions/ conflicts with Native Americans
- Religious movements & motivations
- Concept of self-governance expressed/ experienced:
- House of Burgessses
- John Winthrop
- Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
- Push/Pull factors for British settlement in North America
Push factors
- population growth
- religious persecution
- primogeniture (1st born inherits)
- political advantage
- criminality
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Pull factors
- adventurism
- religious freedom
- political opportunity
- economic opportunity
- "new start"
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DETAILS
- Joint-stock company
- = artificial entity to limit liability and distribute profits/losses across multiple ownership via “stocks” or portions of the enterprise
- originated in order to distribute risk in dangerous/ uncertain ventures such as trans-oceanic trade or colonial enterprise
- generally require legal authorization, esp. from monarchs in early modern Europe
- Virginia Company of London aka the "London Company" or the "Virginia Company," 1607-1624
- 1624: abolished and Virginia became “crown colony”
- Chartered by James I, actually a series of companies and colonial activities
- goal = establish English settlements on N.A. east cost
- also = find gold (didn’t), but did learn tobacco from Indians, John Rolfe (married Pocahontas) cultivated new strains for European market
- self-governed enterprise
- = possible source of democratic impulse among colonials
- Jamestown, 1607
- 1st settlements failed, resupplied
- Anglo-Powhatan wars
- English enmeshed in Indian tribal warfare
- 1610: English attacked tribes, took hostages,
- 1612 tribal leader Powhatan arranged peace, married daughter to Rolfe
- Powhatan’s successor took anti-English position, led attacks
- Jamestown Massacre, 1622, Indians murdered colonials
- peace agreements by 1627-32, but English expansion westward continued, led to war in 1644, finally Treat of 1646 turned tribes into English subjects, Virginia Colony expansion
- Headright System/Headrights
- = grant of land to colonial settlers
- first employed w/ VA colony, then Plymouth and others
- the “great charter” 1816 established headright system
- purpose was to populate, invest and procure labor
- land grants up to 1000 acres prior to departure
- in exchange for sending labor, usually indentured servants
- Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639
- Ii 1636, disaffected Massachusetts Puritans settled in Connecticut River valley
- 1638 Roger Ludlow petitioned Governor Winthrop for authority for those settlements to “united ourselves to walk and lie peaceably and lovingly together”
- 1639 Connecticut established as separate colony
- Fundamental Orders document declared protection of certain rights of individuals, limits on the government and the secret ballot for election of magistrates
- = considered first written constitution in English tradition and important step towards “self-goverance”
- thus the modern “Constitution State” state motto
- House of Burgesses, 1642-1776
- local assembly/ legislature for Virginia colony, bicameral
- replaced the “Council of State” which operated under the Great Charter
- gained power over governors over time, representation expanded w/ colony
- tension w/ British government
- Separatists, 16th-17th centuries
- Protestants who wanted independent churches from Church of England
- initially illegal and persecuted but gained power under Oliver Cromwell, a separatist (1649-1660)
- wanted congregations to be self-determinant (i.e., anti-centralized church, = democratic spirit)
- 1608 separatist group fled to Holland (under James I of England who was persecuting them)
- 1620, off-shoot group, Pilgrims sailed to Plymouth, MA from Holland where they had lived apporx 10 yrs to escape persecution in England; wanted religious freedom but didn’t want to become Dutch
- Puritans
- wanted to “purify” Church of England from Catholic remnants
- strongly anti-papist (“popery”)
- want total separation from Catholic church
- most stayed with Church of England (see separatists and pilgrims)
- established Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630 w/ Pilgrim separatists
- Mayflower Compact
- signed on the ship, Nov. 11, 1620 just off Cape Cod
- destination was Virginia Colony, but the ship landed at Cape Cod, and stayed there
- used that as excuse to declare self-governance
- maintained allegiance to England & James I
- text:
“IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We… Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience …”
- = declaration of self-governance/ democracy
- William Bradford, 1590-1657
- of Plymouth Plantation
- Separatist, Pilgrim, 2nd & on/off governor of Plymouth Colony starting 1635
- inherited farm & wealth
- interested in philosophy & religion, was persecuted as separatist
- in 1607 left for Holland to escape, started a business, married into a wealthy English family
- became ill during 1st winter at Plymouth (others died)
- as governor negotiated w/ local Indians (Massasoit of the Pokanokets), created alliance w/ Pokanokets
- wrote “on Plymouth plantation” = important historical record
- John Winthrop, 1587-1649
- Pilgrim, arrived 1630, settled in area of Boston today
- leader of Mass Bay Colony
- encouraged common effort (not relying on servants for labor)
- helped shape legal system, opposed magistrate (officials in the “General Court” which served as the government) powers as arbitrary, called for laws to shape policies
- opposed pure democracy but supported rights of members of community, especially in church / congregation affairs
- did not support offshoot religious views, including Ann Hutchinson and other new arrivals (1630s), who were banished
- “antinomians” argued against following strict religious law and for salvation through grace
- famed for vision of colony as “city upon a hill” , saw the movement as a modern biblical exodus and example for the world “the eyes of all people are upon us”
- "A Model of Christian Charity"
- started as a diary of voyage to America and life in the colony, important primary source document
- later expanded on his philosophy and religious/ political outlook
- from it, “Model” was a sermon to define Christian community
- “City upon a Hill” from this speech
- saw puritan society as a model state
- saw religious rules as essential, called them “Justice and Mercy” and should apply to all, rich and poor
- historians see “City upon a Hill” as a statement of “American exceptionalism”
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