UNITED STATES HISTORY NOTES: GRADE 5

 

 

 

CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE TO FOUND COLONIES

 

 

 

LESSON 1: HARD TIMES IN VIRGINIA

 

 

 

I.           YOU ARE THERE (page 156)

 

 

 

-How could 100 people just disappear? When John White left Roanoke Island three years ago, English colonists were beginning to build a settlement here.

 

 

 

-Among the colonists were his daughter Ellinor and baby granddaughter Virginia. Now White is back on Roanoke Island with supplies for the new colony. But no one comes out to greet him.

 

 

 

-White walks around the tiny colony. He hopes to find some clue that might tell him what happened. He finds a clue, but it only adds to the mystery.

 

 

 

-Carved into a tree is the word “CROATOAN.” What does this have to do with the disappearance of White’s family and more than 100 other people? This is a question John White will never be able to answer. And today, we still have no answer.

 

 

 

II.        THE LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE (page 157)

 

 

 

-England’s rulers watched as their rival Spain established vast new colonies in the Americas. In the late 1500s, England began trying to establish colonies of its own. The colony at Roanoke Island was England’s first attempt.

 

 

 

-Queen Elizabeth I of England and other English leaders had many reasons for wanting colonies in North America. Like the Spanish, the English hoped to find gold in the Americas. Even if there was no gold, English leaders hoped that North America was rich in some other natural resources.

 

 

 

-But Queen Elizabeth knew that establishing a colony in North America would be difficult and expensive. It could also be dangerous. The powerful Spanish did not want other nations building colonies in the Americas.

 

 

 

-A close advisor to Queen Elizabeth, Walter Raleigh, offered to organize the first colony himself. Raleigh was a soldier who explored North America in the early 1580s. He knew of a place called Roanoke Island off the coast of what is now North Carolina.

 

 

 

-The first group of colonists Raleigh sent to Roanoke Island landed in 1585. They faced a difficult winter during which they had trouble finding food. In 1586, the starving English returned home.

 

 

 

-But Raleigh was not ready to give up the idea of starting a colony in North America. In 1587, John White led more than 100 men, women, and children to Roanoke Island. This colony also struggled.

 

 

 

-When supplies ran out, White sailed back to England for help. When he reached England, however, he found the country at war with Spain. England could not spare any ships to send supplies to the colony.

 

 

 

-White was not able to return to Roanoke Island until 1590. When he got there, everyone had disappeared. The only clue White found was the word “CROATOAN” carved into a tree. Croatoan was the name of an American Indian group that lived near Roanoke Island.

 

 

 

-No one knows what happened to the Roanoke settlement. The colonists may have been captured by Spanish soldiers. They may have died in battles with Native Americans. Another possibility is that the starving colonists may have moved south to live with the Croatoan people.

 

 

 

-Because the mystery remains unsolved, the Roanoke Island settlement is known as “The Lost Colony.”

 

 

 

 

 

III.     THE BATTLE OF THE SPANISH ARMADA (page 158)

 

 

 

-Tensions were growing between England and Spain. England’s attempt to build a colony in North America angered Spain’s King Philip II. In addition, English sea captains had been raiding Spanish ships as they carried gold and silver from the Americas to Spain.

 

 

 

-One of the most famous English sea captains was Francis Drake. In 1577, Drake began an historic voyage around the world. When he returned to England in 1580, Drake’s ship was loaded with gold captured from Spanish ships.

 

 

 

-He became a hero in England. But the Spanish called Drake the “Master Thief.”

 

 

 

-In 1588, King Philip decided to attack England. He assembled the Spanish Armada, a huge fleet of war ships. Armada is the Spanish word for fleet.

 

 

 

-With 130 ships carrying about 30,000 soldiers and sailors, the Spanish Armada met the English fleet off the coast of England. The Spanish were confident of victory.

 

 

 

-But the English navy and had some important advantages. The English ships were smaller and could move faster in the water. They also had more powerful guns.

 

 

 

-Lord Howard, commander of the English fleet, wrote of the Spanish: “Their force is wonderful great and strong, yet we pluck their feathers by little and little.”

 

 

 

-Many Spanish ships were sunk by English cannonballs. Others were caught in a storm and smashed against the rocky coast of Ireland. Of the Spanish Armada’s 130 ships, only about 60 made it safely back to Spain.

 

 

 

  

 

-The Battle of the Spanish Armada was a major victory for the English. The victory helped make England one of the world’s most powerful nations. Now English leaders could turn their attention back to founding colonies in North America.          

 

 

 

 

 

IV.       THE JAMESTOWN COLONY (page 159)

 

 

 

-In 1606, a group of merchants formed the Virginia Company of London. They asked King James I for a charter to set up a colony in Virginia.

 

 

 

-A charter was a document that permitted colonists to settle on land claimed by their ruler. The owners of the Virginia Company raised money by selling stock, or shares in the company. Each person who bought stock in the company would earn a profit if the colony was successful.

 

 

 

-In 1607, three English ships carrying about 120 colonists reached the eastern coast of Virginia. They sailed up a river, which they named the James River, in honor of King James.

 

 

 

-Looking for an area that would be easy to defend, they chose to unload their ships on a peninsula in the river. They called this spot Jamestown.

 

 

 

-One of the settlers, John Smith, called Jamestown “a very fit place for erecting a great city.” He was wrong. The land was low and swampy. The air was full of disease-carrying mosquitoes. The river water was not healthy to drink, and it made people sick.

 

 

 

-Almost as soon as they arrived in Jamestown, many settlers began to die. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

V.          JOHN SMITH AND THE “STARVING TIME” (page 160)

 

 

 

-Some Jamestown colonists had expected to find gold in Virginia. Instead of planting crops and building houses, the men spent their days searching for gold.

 

 

 

-After some thought they had found gold, the colonists did nothing but dig for gold. But what they found was not gold. Soon, men began dying of starvation and disease.

 

 

 

-By the end of the first year at Jamestown, only 38 of the settlers were still alive. A colonist wrote that what little wheat was left from the voyage from England “contained as many worms as grains.”

 

 

 

-Then John Smith was elected leader of the colony. He issued an order to the surviving men based on the Bible: “He that will not work, shall not eat.”

 

 

 

-Under Smith’s leadership, the colonists built houses and dug wells for fresh water. They planted crops and fished in the river. Smith also began trading with Chief Powhatan, leader of the Powhatan people.

 

 

 

-Corn from the Powhatan helped keep the colonists alive. For a brief period, relations between the English settlers and the Powhatan were peaceful. Chief Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas, often visited Jamestown.  

 

 

 

-John Smith later wrote that when he first met with Chief Powhatan, he was taken prisoner. He was about to be executed when twelve-year-old Pocahontas saved his life.

 

 

 

-She then persuaded her father to let Smith go free. Historians are not sure if this story is true. Whether or not it is, Smith returned to England in 1609.

 

 

 

-The colony suffered without Smith’s leadership. So many people died of hunger that this time period became known as the “starving time.”

 

 

 

-With the population dwindling, Jamestown was nearly abandoned. However, more settlers arrived including a new leader, Lord De La Warre. The Virginia Company gave him new powers, such as forcing colonists to work. The last survivors were saved and the colony was revived. 

 

 

 

 

 

VI.       TOBACCO HELPS JAMESTOWN GROW (page 161)

 

 

 

-Like corn and tomatoes, the tobacco plant is native to the Americas. Earlier European explorers and traders had learned from Native Americas how to grow tobacco.

 

 

 

-By the early 1600s, tobacco was becoming popular in England and other European nations.

 

 

 

-In about 1612, a settler named John Rolfe raised a crop of tobacco in the rich Virginia soil. Tobacco soon became Virginia’s first cash crop, or crop grown for profit. Tobacco was soon widely grown.

 

 

 

-England’s King James did not approve of tobacco. He called smoking “hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs.” As we know today, King James was right about the harmful effects of smoking.

 

 

 

-But the King’s opposition to smoking did not stop people in Virginia from raising tobacco. Tobacco imports to England rose rapidly. Farms were growing so quickly that farmers needed more workers. Thousands of English indentured servants began arriving in Jamestown.

 

 

 

-Indentured servants agreed to work for someone for a certain amount of time in exchange for the cost of the ocean voyage to North America.

 

-Most indentured servants hoped to buy land of their own when they gained their freedom. Many never lived that long. Between 1619 and 1622, many of the newly arrived indentured servants died from disease, overwork, and mistreatment by their masters.

 

 

 

-In 1619, another group of newcomers came to Jamestown. A Dutch ship arrived with 20 Africans who were sold as indentured servants and later released. Some of them established their own tobacco plantations. Later, Africans brought to Virginia would be enslaved.

 

 

 

-In spite of the hardships of life in Jamestown, the colony continued to grow steadily. The marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas in 1614 helped maintain peace between the English and the Powhatan people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VII.    SELF-GOVERNMENT IN VIRGINIA (page 162)

 

 

 

-The Virginia Company of London continued to try to attract more settlers to their colony. With this goal in mind, leaders of the company declared that settlers in Virginia should have “such a form of government…as may be to the greatest benefit and comfort of the people.”

 

 

 

-On July 30, 1619, the Virginia House of Burgesses met for the first time. The House of Burgesses was the first law-making assembly in an English colony.

 

 

 

-Members were chosen to represent each district. The House of Burgesses helped establish the tradition of self-government in the English colonies. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIII. JOHN SMITH (page 163)

 

 

 

-John Smith was only 19 in 1599, but he had already served as a soldier and had traveled through France, Holland, and Scotland. He had returned to England to work on his soldiering skills.

 

 

 

-He took books and his horse to a remote place in the woods, where he spent several months reading about warfare and improving his horse riding.

 

 

 

-Then in 1600 he joined the Austrians and Hungarians in their fight against invading Ottoman Turks. His bravery won him promotion, but when the Turks won the war, Smith was taken to Turkey as a slave. He eventually escaped, returning to England in 1604.

 

 

 

-Two years later, Smith joined a group of people sent by the Virginia Company to Jamestown, Virginia. Smith’s experiences taught him how to adapt to new situations, and he was good at learning languages.

 

 

 

-He studied the plants, culture, and languages of Virginia, and wrote books about all he learned. These books are still studied today.

 

 

 

-His skills were critical to helping the colonists survive in the new land. He made sure every colonist did his share of the work.

 

 

 

-He later wrote of himself: “Smith set them all to work, and led the way himself…They must cease grumbling, he said; try and help themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

LESSON 2: NEW EUROPEAN COLONIES

 

 

 

I.           YOU ARE THERE (page 164)

 

 

 

-Samuel de Champlain sails his ship up the mighty St. Lawrence River, wondering where it will take him. Could this be the river so many explorers have been searching for?

 

 

-He soon comes to the place the Indians call Quebec, where a rocky cliff towers over the water. Champlain wants to continue up the river, but the Native Americans warn him that he will soon come to dangerous rapids.

 

 

 

-After several days of hard rowing, Champlain and his fellow French sailors reach a place where whitewater rapids crash over rocks and dark whirlpools spin. They can travel no farther. This is not the river that explorers have been hoping to find.

 

 

 

 

 

II.        FRENCH AND DUTCH SETTLEMENTS (page 165)

 

 

 

-Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer. In 1603, he was part of an expedition that explored the St. Lawrence River in present-day Canada. The expedition was hoping to find the Northwest Passage, a waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

 

 

 

-Explorers had been searching for a Northwest Passage for over 100 years. Such a waterway would make it easier for trading ships to sail from Europe to Asia. Many European countries, including France, England, and the Netherlands, hoped to be the first to find the Northwest Passage.

 

 

 

-No one ever found the Northwest Passage—because one does not exist. But the search did lead to the founding of new European colonies in North America.

 

 

 

-In 1608, Champlain founded the French colony of Quebec on the St. Lawrence River. This proved to be a good location for a colony, because millions of beavers lived in the forest of this region.

 

 

 

-Beaver fur could be sold for huge profits in Europe. Quebec quickly developed into a thriving trading center. Huron Indians trapped the beavers and brought the furs to Quebec. Here, they traded the furs for European goods.  

 

 

 

-The French started other colonies in North America, including the town of Montreal. These French colonies were called New France.

 

-In 1609, Dutch leaders sent an English sea captain named Henry Hudson to search for new water routes to Asia. Like Champlain, Hudson sailed up a wide river, hoping it would prove to be the Northwest Passage.

 

 

 

-After sailing about 150 miles, however, the river became too shallow for the ship. But before turning back, Hudson claimed the land he explored for the Dutch. In honor of Henry Hudson, this river was later named the Hudson River.

 

 

 

-The Dutch colonies in North America became known as New Netherland. The Netherlands is another name for Holland, the country of the Dutch.

 

 

 

-In 1624, Dutch settlers began building the town of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. From this spot, the Dutch could control trade on the Hudson River. This ideal location helped New Amsterdam become the biggest and most important Dutch settlement in North America.

 

 

 

 

 

III.     FACT FILE (page 166)

 

 

 

-John Cabot: Born in Italy. Sailing under the flag of England, he reached the mainland of North America in 1497.

 

 

 

-Jacques Cartier: Born in France. Sailing under the flag of France, he reached the present-day country of Canada in 1534.

 

 

 

-Giovanni da Verrazano: Born in Italy. Sailing under the flag of France, he became the first European to reach the mouth of what became known as the Hudson River in 1524.

 

 

 

-Samuel de Champlain: Born in France. He explored the St. Lawrence River for France in 1603. In 1608, he reached Lake Champlain, which is named for him.

 

 

 

-Henry Hudson: Born in England. Sailing under the flag of the Netherlands in 1609, he explored the Atlantic coast of what is now the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

IV.       NEW AMSTERDAM GROWS (page 167)

 

 

 

-To help their colony grow, the Dutch encouraged people from many countries to settle in New Netherland. Settlers
arrived from Belgium, France, Germany, Finland, Norway, and many other countries.

 

 

 

-New Amsterdam became a thriving town with a diverse population. While in New Amsterdam in 1644, a French visitor named Isaac Jogues wrote that “there were persons there of eighteen different languages.”

 

 

 

-Later New Amsterdam was taken over by the English and given a new name. You probably know this city by its English name—New York City. 

 

 

 

 

 

LESSON 3: THE FIRST COLONIES

 

 

 

I.           THE PILGRIMS (page 169)

 

 

 

-As you have read in the stories of Jamestown, Quebec, and New Amsterdam, colonists came for many reasons. They came to explore, to gain wealth, to spread their religion, and to live on land of their own.

 

 

 

-Some of the earlier settlers, however, had another. They came in search of religious freedom.

 

 

 

-The story of the Pilgrims begins in England during the early 1500s. At this time, England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. England’s king Henry VIII created a new Christian church called the Church of England. Everyone in England had to belong to this church.

 

 

 

-As time passed, some people felt that the Church of England was too much like the Roman Catholic Church. One group was called Separatists because they wanted to separate from the Church of England. Separatists often faced persecution, or unjust treatment, because of their beliefs.  

 

 

 

-A man named William Bradford was a leader of a group of Separatists. Bradford’s group decided to leave England and start a settlement of their own, where they could worship as they pleased.

 

These colonists became known as the Pilgrims.

 

 

 

-William Bradford went to the Virginia Company and asked for permission to begin a new settlement in Virginia. He said that the Pilgrims would live “by themselves, under the general government of Virginia.”

 

 

 

-Leaders of the Virginia Company agreed. The Pilgrims began preparing for their journey, knowing there were hard times ahead.

 

 

 

-“The dangers were great,” Bradford wrote. “The difficulties were many.”

 

 

 

 

 

II.        THE MAYFLOWER (page 170)

 

 

 

-In September 1620, about 100 Pilgrims crowded into a small ship called the Mayflower. Storms battered the Mayflower during its long journey across the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was pushed off course.

 

 

 

-Instead of arriving in Virginia, the Pilgrims landed much farther north at Cape Cod. John Smith had named this region of North America New England—the name we still use today.

 

 

 

-The Pilgrims decided to find a place to settle in New England. They chose a rocky harbor the English called Plymouth.

 

 

 

-Before landing their ship, Pilgrim leaders decided to write a plan of government for their colony. They called the plan the Mayflower Compact. It said that the Pilgrims’ government would make “just and equal laws…for the general good of the colony.”

 

 

 

-All adult males aboard the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact. Women were not allowed to participate. Like Virginia’s House of Burgesses, the Mayflower Compact was an important step toward self-government in the English colonies.

 

 

 

-In November 1620, the Pilgrims finally set foot on solid land. Bradford wrote that they “fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the fast and furious ocean.”

 

 

 

-It was not the best time of year to start a colony in New England. As William Bradford wrote, “They that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent.”

 

 

 

-Many Pilgrims were already weak from the long voyage. Now they faced freezing weather, hunger, and disease. In their first three months at Plymouth, nearly half of the settlers died.

 

 

 

-When spring finally arrived, something unexpected happened. While the Pilgrims were at work planting seeds they brought from England, a Native American named Samoset walked into their settlement and called out, “Welcome, Englishmen!”

 

 

 

-Samoset explained that he had learned English from fishermen and traders. This meeting began a period of friendly relations between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people.

 

 

 

 

 

III.     A THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION (page 171)

 

 

 

-Samoset told the Pilgrims of another Native American named Squanto. Squanto had been captured by European traders and sold into slavery in Spain. Later freed, he went to England, where he learned English. Now he lived with the Wampanoag people.

 

 

 

-Acting as a translator, Squanto helped the Pilgrims make a peace treaty with Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag. Squanto also showed the Pilgrims where the best hunting and fishing areas were located. And he taught them how to grow corn in the rocky New England soil.

 

 

 

-That fall, the Pilgrims gathered their first harvest in Plymouth. “Our corn did prove well, and God be praised,” wrote a Pilgrim named Edward Winslow.

 

 

 

-The Pilgrims decided to hold a celebration of thanksgiving. They invited the Wampanoag, who had helped them survive a very difficult year. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag feasted on deer, wild duck, lobster, fish, cornbread, pumpkin, squash, berries, and wild plums. The three-day celebration also included parades, games, and races.

 

 

 

 

 

IV.       THE PURITANS ARRIVE (page 172)

 

 

 

-In 1630, another group sailed from England to North America in search of religious freedom. This group was called the Puritans because they wanted to “purify” or reform the Church of England.

 

 

 

-Like the Pilgrims, the Puritans faced persecution in England. Many were put in jail for their beliefs.

 

 

 

-The Puritans were led by a lawyer named John Winthrop. Winthrop believed that the Puritans should build their own colony in New England. There. They could worship as they pleased, and set an example for how other people should live.

 

 

 

-John Winthrop described this idea when referring to the Bible, he said, “For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill, the eyes of all people are on us.”

 

 

 

-The Puritans had learned important lessons from the hardships faced by early settlers in Jamestown and Plymouth. In 1628 a small group of Puritans sailed to New England to get the colony started.

 

 

 

-Then, in 1630, Winthrop sailed for New England with about 1,000 colonists and about 15 ships loaded with food, tools, horses, and cows. When the colonists arrived, some small buildings and farms had already been built. Thanks to this good planning, the Puritans did not face a time of starvation.

 

 

 

-The Puritans called their colony the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They began looking for a location on which to build their main settlement. They chose a peninsula in Massachusetts Bay. They named this place Boston. 

 

 

 

-The Massachusetts Bay Colony grew very rapidly. The colony’s economy thrived on fishing, fur trading, and shipbuilding. By 1634, about 1,000 people had come to Boston. This would remain the largest city in the English colonies for over 100 years.

 

 

 

 

 

V.          THE PURITAN WAY OF LIFE (page 173)

 

 

 

-Puritan towns were carefully planned. Each family had its own land on which to build a home and a farm. At the center of each town was a building called a meetinghouse, where religious services and town meetings were held.

 

 

 

-The Puritans also believed in education. They especially wanted children to learn how to read, so they could read the Bible for themselves and understand the laws of the community. In 1635, Puritans built the first public school in the English colonies.

 

 

 

-The Puritans had found a place where they could live according to their religious beliefs. But what happened when someone disagreed with their beliefs?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LESSON 4: THE 13 ENGLISH COLONIES

 

 

 

I.           GEOGRAPHY OF THE 13 COLONIES (page 177)

 

 

 

-The 13 English colonies were located in the eastern region of the present-day United States. All 13 colonies lay between the Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Appalachian Mountains in the west.

 

 

 

-The colonies can be divided into three regions—the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies.

 

 

 

-The New England Colonies had thin and rocky soil, making them a difficult place to farm. People found that the region was rich in other valuable resources, however. The thick woods provided excellent timber for homes and ships. The coastal waters were rich in fish and whales.

 

 

 

-With a warmer climate and more fertile soil, the Middle Colonies were better for farming than New England. Because farmers in the Middle Colonies grew so much wheat, the region was called “the breadbasket of the colonies.”

 

 

 

-Long, wide rivers like the Delaware and the Hudson made it easier for colonists to travel and transport goods.

 

 

 

-Farmers in the Southern Colonies enjoyed the warmest climate and the longest growing season. The rich soil produced valuable crops such as tobacco and rice. Many rivers connected inland farms with ports along the region’s coast.

 

 

 

 

 

II.        NEW ENGLAND COLONIES (page 178)

 

 

 

-During the 1630s, many Puritan settlements were built in Massachusetts. In these towns, Puritan leaders made strict laws that people were required to follow.

 

-All citizens had to attend church, for example. But not everyone agreed with all of the Puritan laws.

 

 

 

-Roger Williams was an outspoken young minister in Salem, Massachusetts. He believed that the government should not punish citizens for what they believe.

 

 

 

-Williams was known as a dissenter, a person whose views differ from those held by most people in the community. Because of his beliefs, Puritan leaders forced Williams to leave Massachusetts.

 

 

 

-He traveled south in the snowy winter of 1636, founding a settlement he named Providence. This was the start of a new colony that would be called Rhode Island. Under William’s leadership Rhode Island became the first English colony in North America to offer complete religious freedom to its settlers.

 

 

 

-Anne Hutchinson was another dissenter who angered Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. She believed that a person’s own faith in God was more important than the church’s rules and laws. She often held discussions in her Boston home.

 

 

 

-Like Roger Williams, Hutchinson was forced to leave Massachusetts because of her beliefs. She moved to Rhode Island.

 

 

 

-In 1636, a Puritan minister named Thomas Hooker left Massachusetts with about 100 followers. They founded the colony of Connecticut. Hooker and his followers came to this new land in search of greater religious and political freedom.

 

 

 

-They also wanted to build farms on the fertile land along the Connecticut River. English settlers were also moving to New Hampshire during this time. The earliest settlements in this colony were small fishing villages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III.     THE MIDDLE COLONIES (page 179)

 

 

 

-By the mid 1600s, there were about 5,000 European settlers living in the Dutch colony of New Netherlands. Religious freedom, rich farmland, and the fur trade attracted people from many different nations to this region.

 

 

 

-England’s King Charles II decided to expand the English colonies by taking over New Netherland. He gave his brother James, the Duke of York, the task of capturing the colony.

 

 

 

-In 1664, English warships sailed into New Amsterdam harbor. Dutch leader Peter Stuyvesant saw that he could not defend the settlement. The English captured New Netherland without firing a shot.

 

 

 

-In honor of the Duke of York, New Netherland was renamed New York. New Amsterdam became New York City. The Duke gave a part of New York to his friends George Carteret and John Berkeley so they could establish their own colony. This new English colony was named New Jersey.

 

 

 

-In 1681, King Charles II gave a huge section of land in North America to a young man named William Penn. The king had borrowed money from Penn’s wealthy father. Now Penn asked for land as repayment. Penn wanted to build a colony based on his religious beliefs.

 

 

 

-Penn was a Quaker. Quakers opposed war and believed that people could worship God without going to church or following religious leaders.

 

 

 

-The English king named this new colony Pennsylvania, meaning “Penn’s Woods” in honor of William Penn’s father. William Penn said that this new colony would be a “holy experiment,” where people from different nations and of all religions could live together in peace.     

 

 

 

-He also promised to pay Native Americans a fair price for land. In a letter to the Lenni Lenape Indians, Penn wrote, “I desire…that we my always live together as neighbors and friends.”

 

 

 

-For the site of Pennsylvania’s main settlement, Penn chose land between the Schuykill and Delaware Rivers. He named the new town Philadelphia, which means “city of brotherly love.” A section of Pennsylvania to the south of Philadelphia later became a separate colony called Delaware.

 

 

 

 

 

IV.       THE SOUTHERN COLONIES

 

 

 

-You have already read about colonies that were founded by Pilgrims, Puritans, and Quakers seeking religious freedom. Like these groups, Catholics also had faced persecution in England. They wanted a colony of their own.

 

 

 

-In 1632, King Charles I gave a large section of land north of Virginia to a Catholic landowner named Lord Baltimore. Baltimore named his colony Maryland. Maryland became a refuge, or safe place, both for Catholics and Protestants.

 

 

 

-Maryland was a proprietary colony, meaning a colony where land was controlled by an individual or a group of proprietors, or owners.

 

 

 

-The next southern colony to be formed was Carolina. This happened in 1663, when King Charles II gave eight proprietors a charter to a large section of land between Virginia and the Spanish colony of Florida.

 

 

 

-Over the next few decades, this region’s fertile land and good harbors attracted many new settlers. In 1729, Carolina was divided into two separate colonies—North Carolina and South Carolina.

 

 

 

-An English leader named James Oglethorpe helped found the last of the English colonies in North America. Oglethorpe saw that English jails were crowded with debtors, or people who owed money. He came up with a plan to help them.

 

 

 

-He would start a new English colony in North America where debtors could go to start new lives on their own land.  In 1732, King George II gave Oglethorpe a charter to land south of the Carolinas. Oglethorpe named the new land Georgia.

 

 

 

-Georgia’s location helped the other English colonies. Look back at the map on page 177. You will see that Georgia lay between the Carolinas and Spanish Florida. Because of this location, Georgia helped protect the other English colonies from possible Spanish attack.

 

 

 

-Like William Penn, James Oglethorpe wanted his colony to have peaceful relations with the Native Americans of the region. As soon as he arrived in Georgia, Oglethorpe met with Tomochichi, chief of the Yamacraw tribe.

 

 

 

-The Yamacraw agreed to give land to Oglethorpe and his settlers. With about 100 released debtors, Oglethorpe founded his first settlement in Georgia, which he named Savannah.

 

 

 

 

 

V.          GROWING COLONIES

 

 

 

-The English colonies grew very quickly during their early years. From 1650 to 1700, the population of the colonies increased from 50,000 to over 250,000.

 

 

 

-Fifty years later, the population had topped one million. People moved to the colonies’ three largest cities—Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. They also moved away from the cities and towns, clearing forests and building farms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VI.       WILLIAM PENN

 

 

 

-At the age of 22, William Penn, the son of a high-ranking English naval officer, found himself locked in a cell. Earlier that day—September 3, 1667—Penn had been sitting in a quiet room, praying with a group known as the Religious Society of Friends, or, “Quakers.”

 

 

 

-The law of England at that time did not allow for a group of Quakers to worship together. Penn and his fellow Quakers believed that they should have the right to pray in the way that felt right to them.

 

 

 

-Just after the start of the meeting, an English soldier entered the room. Soon more soldiers arrived and arrested everyone present.

 

 

 

-From his cell, William wrote a letter asking that all the imprisoned Quakers be released. He wrote: “Religion, which is at once my crime and my innocence, makes me a prisoner…but mine own free man.”

 

 

 

-Penn and the other Quakers were set free, but Penn would spend much more time in prison because of his religious beliefs. Years later, in 1682, William established Pennsylvania as a new colony in North America.

 

 

 

-His belief in religious freedom was one of the ideals that guided the new colony. The city of Philadelphia welcomed people of many different backgrounds and religious faiths.