" . . . For I shall yet to see it [Virginia] an Inglishe nation." - Sir Walter Raleigh, 1602
England's Imperial Stirrings:
The New World had been largely transformed, except for North America, by 1600. Then things changed.
1607: English outpost at Jamestown, Virginia.
1608: French outpost at Quebec.
1610: Spanish outpost at Santa Fe.
While Spain was expanding overseas in the 1500's, England did little.
England and Spain were allies in first half of 1500's, but after English religious strife, it became Protestant, and Spain was Catholic. This caused rivalry.
England was very harsh on Catholic Ireland, and Spain didn't help. England sent landlords into Ireland, which caused resent that still exists today.
Elizabeth Energizes England:
Sea Dogs were sent out to raid Spanish ships for treasure.
Francis Drake was most famous Sea Dog.
Newfoundland was the first attempt at an English colony in the Americas. Failed because Sir Humphrey Gilbert died at sea.
1585: Gilbert's half-brother settled at Roanoke Island, North Carolina. It disappeared.
England's attempts were embarrassing compared to Spain's success.
Philip II, king of Spain, amassed the Spanish Armada with his income from the Americas. 130 ships strong, it tried to invade England in 1588. The stupid-assed leader fucked up by not destroying some English ships he saw that reported him and later hunted him down even though his admirals advised him to do so. Anyway, the English destroyed it, and the Protestant Wind carried it North, where people froze to death.
Spain's loss cost too much to continue being a great imperial power.
Lots of Spain's territory claimed independence.
England was now the naval super power.
It started to enjoy the luxuries that Spain once had.
England had 3 things going for it:1. A strong, unified national state under a popular monarch.
2. Some religious stability.
3. A strong sense of nationalism and national destiny.England struck a golden age (Shakespeare, etc.).
People wanted to explore the unknown, and once England and Spain signed a peace treaty in 1604, the New World was ready for them.
England on the Eve of Empire:
England's population had grown 1 million in 50 years (1550 to 1600).
Landlords were enclosing croplands for sheepgrazing, forcing farmers elsewhere.
Many farmers became unemployed after the wool industry died in 1500, and they didn't want a recurrence.
Contemporaries said there were too many people for England to hold.
Only eldest sons could take their father's estates, so other sons were forced elsewhere.
Joint Stock companies in the 1600's allowed people to pool their money in hopes of getting rich.
England Plants the Jamestown Seedling:
1606: The Virginia Company of London got a charter from King James I to found Jamestown.
It was mainly to find gold and to act as a base for the search for a passage to the Indies.
Investors expected to sell their stock and strike it rich within a few years.
This pressured the colonists to strike it rich through the company very quickly.
The charter of the Virginia Company allowed the colonists the same rights as English citizens would have. This planted the seed for American rights.
Upon landing in Chesapeake Bay, indians attacked the ships. They continued up the James River, and found a place that was easy to defend.
May 24, 1607: Jamestown was founded.
Dozens of the 100 men died because they were looking for gold, rather than feeding and taking care of themselves (provisions were plentiful).
John Smith saved the colony when he took over in 1608 with the rule, "He who shall not work shall not eat."
1607: John Smith was captured by Powhatan's people, and set up in a mock execution, demonstrating his (Powhatan's) power.
Pocahontas was the intermediary, providing provisions and preserving the peace.
1609 - 1610: brought "starving time" winter, and of the 400 colonists who had come to settle in Jamestown, only 60 survived.
When they left, a relief party arrived, ordering them back. A new leader, Lord De La Warr, imposed a military regime, and attacked the indians.
Of 8,000 total adventurers by 1625, only 1,200 survived.
Cultural Clash in the Chesapeake:
In 1607, Powhatan dominated the native people. Then relations got shaky.
Powhatan tried to use the English to gain control of his enemies, but English/Indian relations were poor (English raided Indian food supply).
When Lord De La Warr declared war in 1610, relations were real bad, but a peace agreement and a marriage between Pocahontas and John Rolfe settled the war (Anglo-Powhatan War in 1614).
1622: Still pressured by the English, the Indians struck back. 347 settlers died, including John Rolfe.
The English waged permanent war, driving the Indians from being a people.
1644: The second Anglo-Powhatan war was fought, and the Indians tried to get rid of the Virginians. They were defeated.
1669: 10% of the original Virginian population of the Indians remained.
1685: The English considered the Powhatan Indians non-existent.
3 D's the Indians fell to: Disease, Disorganization, and Disposability.The Indians had no defense against Smallpox and Measles.
Powhatan had a confederacy, but it was not made of all his people. It lacked military organization, and didn't compare with what the English could do.
Unlike Indians in the south, who could be put to work, the Powhatan's did very little for the English, and thus were disposable.The Europeans wanted land, and the Indians were currently occupying it.
Virginia: Child of Tobacco:
John Rolfe saved the economy by raising tobacco without the bitter taste. European demand exploded.
Virginians had to import their own food because they grew so much.
"King Nicotine" ruined the soil, and Virginia's economy was based on its demand.
It promoted plantations, and thus slavery.
A Dutch warship sold 20 Africans to the Jamestown people.
1650 - Virginia had less that 300 slaves.
1690's - Slaves were 14% of Virginia's population.
The London Company allowed the Virginia colony to found the House of Burgesses, the first of many mini-parliaments in America.
When the company went bankrupt, James I, who was hostile towards Virginia, made it a royal colony under his direct control.
Maryland: Catholic Haven:
1634 - Founded, fourth colony, second plantation colony.
Catholics were still prosecuted in Protestant England.
Colonists came only if they received land of their own.
Catholic land barons were surrounded by Protestant backcountry planters, which later exploded into rebellion.
Economy boomed in tobacco, so Maryland needed workers. Took indentured servants.
Lord Baltimore was Catholic, so he permitted religious toleration in hopes that his people would have free worship.
The Act of Toleration was written to support the catholics amidst all of the protestants. It was passed in 1649.
While it provided religious toleration for some, it sentenced death upon those who deny the divinity of Jesus (Jews, atheists). It provided less toleration than it did before, but it temporarily sheltered the Catholics.
Maryland had more Roman Catholics than any other English speaking colony.
The West Indies: Way Station to Mainland America:
English were colonizing the West Indies as well as the Chesapeake.
The crop was Sugar Cane.
Sugar was a rich-man's crop because it required extensive land clearing, harvesting, and refining, and it took years to build a crop that was profitable.
1640 - 1690 - Imported 250,000 Africans to work sugar plantations. By 1700, black to white ratio was 4:1.
Slave codes were developed to control the huge slave populations, giving masters complete control over what they could do if a slave misbehaved in any manner.
Sugar replaced everything else, so that the West Indies had to import its food.
Small farmers were pushed out to seek land.
The Caribbean became the testing ground for the slave systems in the north.
Colonizing the Carolinas:
1640's - Civil war in England