US History Notes 9-16-14

¨1619 – a year to remember

¨Polish craftsmen had been imported to make trading beads, tar, and pitch; they were denied the right to vote and went on strike; they were given voting rights – first strike in US history

¨First Africans are brought to Jamestown by a Dutch ship that had taken them from a Spanish ship; captain trades them for supplies; they were thought of as indentured servants

¨Women were recruited and arrived in Jamestown as wives for the colonists; thought this would cause the colony to flourish

¨Representative Government

¨Early 1619, the Virginia Company instructed the governor to call for elections of an Assembly

¨All free men were given the right to vote

¨22 Burgesses were elected and convened in the Jamestowne Church; 2 from each of the 11 boroughs

¨This became known as the House of Burgesses, which meet for 6 days

¨All laws passed by the Assembly had to be ratified by the Virginia Company

¨First law passed stated tobacco was to be sold for no less than 3 shillings per pound

¨prohibitions against gambling, drunkenness, and idleness, and a measure that made Sabbath observance mandatory

¨Became basis for other colonial assemblies to established as other colonies came into existence

¨Indian Massacre – March 22,1622

¨Powhatan and Pocahontas were now dead

¨Powhatan’s son was now chief and wanted to push the English into the ocean

¨Attack was a complete surprise

¨Killed 347 settlers

¨Destroyed houses, livestock, and fields

¨John Rolfe was killed in the attack

¨Wolstenholme Towne was  completely destroyed

¨News did not reach England until June of that year; Virginia Company sent more supplies and guns

¨Wolstenholme Towne

¨Jamestown proper was spared from the attack due to the local Natives not participating and the fort had been warned by a Christianized Native boy

¨The settlers were forced to trade with the Natives for food that winter

¨Massacre failed to force the English out

¨Virginia Company sells out

¨John Smith, the treasurer of the Virginia Company of London, was forced out of the Company due to be accused of embezzlement

¨Smith felt that he had been wronged and sought the help of King James

¨Due to Smith’s information, King James decided to buy out the Virginia Company

¨The Company was dissolved in 1624 and Virginia became a Royal Colony

¨Royal Colony – under direct control of the king

¨Jamestown as the first permanent English Colony in the New World and served as the capital of the Virginia Colony until 1699 when the capital was moved to Middle Plantation (Williamsburg)

›British Colonies Grow

›13 is the lucky number!

›Why leave Europe?

›Conflict over religion

›Search for political freedom

›Widespread unemployment

›Economic upheaval

›Conflict over religion

›Protestant Reformation placed Catholics and Protestants at odds with one another

›Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin – spread Protestantism throughout Europe

›England broke with the Catholic Church in 1534 under Henry VIII

›Englishmen objected to the Anglican Church – called Dissenters

›Separatists, Puritans, and others sought freedom from persecution by going to the New World

›Search for Political Freedom

›Political problems in England came to a boiling point with the Stewart kings

›James I thought of himself as an absolute monarch and that he was not responsible to an earthly power for his actions

›The problem became worse with Charles I, son of James I, came to the throne in 1625 – for 11 years Charles refused to call Parliament into session

›English Civil War

›The English Civil War broke out in 1642 between the Cavaliers (Loyalists) and the Roundheads (Puritans)

›The war ended in 1649 with Charles I being beheaded for treason

›Puritans ruled England for the next 11 years with Oliver Cromwell as their leader until his death in 1658

›Which ever group was in charge, persecuted the group that was on the outs at the time

›Widespread Unemployment

›1500’s and 1600’s many large estates converted to raising sheep and forced farming tenants off the land

›Displaced farmers went to towns and villages to find work – not enough for all of them – many turned to criminal activity to find food, slept in doorways, etc.

›No all turned to crime, large numbers of them signed contracts to be indentured servants

›Indentured servants worked for a set period to time to pay back their passage

›Then they were free to become landowners on their own

›Economic Upheaval

›Inflation was rising quickly due to gold and silver flowing into Spain from the New World

›As prices continued to rise, many of the poor could afford less and less – leading to poverty

›English businessmen such as merchants, traders, and manufacturers made money, which they in turn invested in New World adventures