U.S. History / Unit 1: Colonial America
1.3 Founding the English Colonies
Notes
England started colonies later than Spain, but for different reasons: profit, religious freedom and land.
- Jamestown, Virginia (1607) was the first permanent English colony, founded by the Virginia Company to make a profit.
- Early Jamestown nearly failed from disease and hunger. Tobacco, grown by John Rolfe, made the colony profitable.
- The House of Burgesses (1619) was the first elected representative assembly in the English colonies.
- Indentured servants worked several years (often 4 to 7) in exchange for passage to America.
- The Pilgrims (Separatists) founded Plymouth (1620) and signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement to make fair laws and obey them.
- The Puritans founded Massachusetts Bay (1630) hoping to build a model Christian community, a "city upon a hill."
Practice
Why was the Jamestown colony founded?
Jamestown was a business venture of the joint-stock Virginia Company.
The Mayflower Compact is important because it:
The settlers agreed to form a government and obey the laws it made.
A young man in England agrees to work for a Virginia planter for seven years in exchange for his ship fare. He is:
Indentured servants traded years of labor for passage and became free when the term ended.
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