Early Colonies Have Mixed Success
The First English Colonies
Envious of wealth of Spain
No jobs in England – hoped to come to America to get rich
Early Colonies Fail
Roanoke Island
Founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585
Forced to leave
Lack of food
Local tribes
Tried again in 1587
Colony disappeared
No one knows what happened to colonists
“Lost Colony of Roanoke”
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Financing a Colony
– Raleigh lost all his money – paid for Roanoke by himself
– Other people didn’t want to risk this
– Joint-stock companies – group of people called investors give
money to a project with hopes of earning a profit
» Share risk
» Split the earnings, depending on how much each person invests
– Two joint-stock companies were created
» Virginia Company of London
» Virginia Company of Plymouth
» Each granted a charter - written document giving permission
to establish a colony
» Mercantilism – economic system in which government control
of trade to help ensure wealth and security
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Colonies used for natural resources
Colonies used as a market to sell goods
Led to enrichment of “mother” country
 Jamestown is Founded in 1607
 At mouth of Chesapeake Bay, along James River
 Named after King James I
 First permanent English settlement
 Jamestown Struggles to Survive
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Diseases carried by water and insects
Looked for gold instead of working
Not prepared for different climate
Within 6 months, over 60% of colonists had died
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John Smith took control
 No work, no food policy
 Brought colony to order.
 Injured in gunpowder explosion, had to return to
England
Colony fell back into disarray
 “starving time” – forced to eat rats, snakes, etc.
1610 – Lord De La Warr arrived with supplies, imposed
discipline, “saved” colony
Still did not get along with local Powhatan tribe
 Tense, ocassionally violent
 Improved when chief’s daughter (Pocahontas) married
a colonist (John Rolfe)
 Tobacco Transforms the Colony
 Couldn’t find gold
 1614 – Rolfe sent first shipment of tobacco to England
 Became popular – ensured survival of Jamestown
 Colonists demanded share of profits (they were all share
holders of the Virginia Company of London)
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Company responded by allowing them to own land
Worked harder as a result
 Tobacco farms spread along James River, then other rivers in
region
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Allowed for easy transportation of tobacco
 New settlers offered a headright – 50 acres of land to anyone
who could pay their own way
 Indentured Servants – people who could not afford it agreed
to work for a person if that person paid for passage to America
(usually for 4 to 6 years)
 1619 – first Africans arrived
 The House of Burgesses is Formed
 Settlers upset with lack of self-government
 Virginia Company allowed elected reps. to meet once a year
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House of Burgesses
 First elected assembly in America
 Could pass local laws
 Could raise taxes
 Representative Government
 Powhatan uprising in 1622
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Threatened by expansion of English colonies
Attacked settlements in March 1622
¼ of colonists were killed
King James revoked colonies charter – made it a royal
colony
Also dissolved (got rid of) House of Burgesses
Colonists protested
Charles I reinstated assembly in 1629
Tradition of representative government took root at
this time