The Colonies an Introduction

Important Take Away:

• The 13 Colonies had a ton of land! Europe's land was already owned by other people (there was not enough for everyone) so people looking for a new opportunity came to the New World.

Key Words:

• scarce: insufficient for the demand - or not enough of
• plentiful: abundant - or having more than enough of
• commercial: making or trying to make money (profit)
• imperial: relating to an empire - an empire is a group of states or countries controlled by one government/leader
• overshadowed: something that is or appears to be much more important than something else
• agricultural: relating to farming
• emerged: something that becomes known or visible or important
• sophistication: worldliness, being seen as complex or more developed
• displacement: the moving of someone from their home

Directions - (Individually or in a group):

• Read the information below and take notes in a Google document titled "Your Name Colonies"
• Your notes should be what you believe is important

***This reading is very difficult so you may need help with certain vocabulary words. Be sure to look at the key words at the top of the page. Please be sure to ask for help if you need any.

One of the key facts that is important to remember about the colonies - land was scarce in Europe but plentiful in America. Land equaled opportunity.

The English colonization of North America was part of a larger effort by several European nations to expand the reach of their increasingly commercial societies. At the beginning, the British empire was one of the smallest and weakest of the imperial countries, overshadowed by the French to the north and the Spanish to the south.

In the 13 colonies, new agricultural and commercial societies emerged. In the southern colonies the economy centered on the farming of tobacco and cotton and was reliant on slave labor. In the northern colonies the economy centered around more tradition food crops and was based on mostly free labor. In the northern colonies large trading centers emerged in cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston.

The growing British empire coexisted with, and often found itself in conflict with, the presence of other Europeans - most notably the Spanish and the French.

Between 1650s and 1750s the colonies grew in population, the size of their economies and sophistication (and diversity) of their cultures.

In the northern colonies, society was dominated by relatively small family farms and by towns and cities of growing size. A growing class of traders were making cities, and their urban culture, more powerful.

In the southern colonies there were many family farms as well. But there were also large plantations cultivating tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton for export. By the late 17th century the South was dependent upon slave labor.

At the time almost all white Americans accepted common assumptions about racial inequality. The belief that blacks were not people enabled them to tolerate the enslavement of African men and women and justify the a campaign of displacement and often violence against Native Americans.

Questions to answer in the document "Your Name Colonies"

• Define overshadowed
• What was different about land when comparing Europe and the New World?
• Bonus: Why was this difference important?
  • (***hint look at what each colonies economy was centered around)

Read the Overview of the 13 Colonies (you do not need to take notes):

Delaware:

• Settled in 1638.
• "Founded by the Dutchman Peter Minuit (for Sweden), it was seized by the Netherlands, which yielded it to the British, who made it part of Pennsylvania (to Maryland's anger). Named after an early colonial Governor of Virginia, Lord de la Warr." ("Time: The Making of America")

Pennsylvania:

• Settled in 1643.
• The Crown awarded William Penn this colony (once home to Dutch and Swedes) to encourage Quakers to leave Britain. "Penn's Woods" forested religious toleration and brotherly love. ("Time: The Making of America")

New Jersey:

• Settled in 1633.
• Named for the Isle of Jersey (of which one of its founders, Sir George Carteret, was Governor; the colony's real estate, trade potential and natural resources drew settlers. ("Time: The Making of America")

Georgia:

• Settled in 1732.
• The colony was carved from the Carolinas by King George II (its namesake) to create a buffer between Spain's holdings to the south. Many first settlers were debtors working toward freedom. ("Time: The Making of America")

Connecticut

• Settled in 1635.
• Named for Algonquin word Quinnehtukqut ("Beside the Long Tidal River"), it was founded by Thomas Hooker, who was driven out of Massachusetts for his tolerant religious views. ("Time: The Making of America")

Massachusetts

• Settled in 1620.
• It was colonized by Pilgrims and later, Puritans fleeing oppression by the Church of England; their intolerance led to the founding of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. ("Time: The Making of America")

Maryland

• Settled in 1634.
• Charles I granted Lord Baltimore its charter as a haven for British Catholics; it is named for the King's wife, Queen Mary. An outpost of religious tolerance, it also pioneered tobacco as a crop. ("Time: The Making of America")

South Carolina

• Settled in 1670.
• A Spanish colony here in 1526 lasted only a single year; 144 years later English settlers moved in from Barbados. After Charles II separated Carolina from Virginia, the colony split apart in 1729 owing to agricultural rivalries. ("Time: The Making of America")

New Hampshire

• Settled in 1623.
• Given as a Crown grant to John Mason (from Hampshire, England), it was settled by refugees from Massachusetts Puritans. ("Time: The Making of America")

Virginia

• Settled in 1607.
• The first colony began as a business venture; only 60 of its original 900 settlers survived. Named for Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen"; its house of Burgesses was the first representative assembly in the British colonies. ("Time: The Making of America")

New York

• Settled in 1624.
• The jewel in the crown of Dutch holdings in the New World; when the British seized the colony in 1664, James, the Duke of York (brother of King Charles II) renamed it after himself. ("Time: The Making of America")

North Carolina

• Settled in 1653.
• King Charles II gave loyal nobles this large slice of territory from Virginia; in Carolina (from "Carolus," Latin for Charles), farmers grew rice in the north, tobacco in the south. ("Time: The Making of America")

Rhode Island

• Settled in 1636.
• Roger Williams, banished from Massachusetts for advocating the separation of church and state, founded this most tolerant of the original 13 colonies. ("Time: The Making of America")