Southern Colonies
Virginia
Sir Walter Raleigh, an English explorer and adventurer, came up with the idea of sending an expedition to Virginia. His first attempt disappeared, but in 1607 Jamestown, Virginia became the first permanent English settlement. Raleigh saw the colony as an investment, a way to earn money by trading the raw materials to be found there.
An assembly of elected representatives was formed in the Virginia colony. This assembly was called the Virginia House of Burgesses, and was the first representative assembly in the colonies.
Large plantations were formed to grow tobacco. This caused the need for the first slaves brought to the colonies.
Maryland
Maryland was settled in 1643. The land had been given to Lord George Calvert, who wished to establish a safe place for his fellow Catholics, who were being persecuted in England. He also hoped that a colony would bring him a fortune.
North Carolina
In 1663 King Charles II created a larger colony south of Virginia. The king gave the colony to a group of eight prominent members of his court who had helped him regain his throne. The Lords considered it an investment, or a way to earn money. Settlers would pay their own way over to the colony, then sell what they produced and trade for what they needed only through businesses owned by the Lords. As middlemen, the Lords could make money. Settlers created huge plantation where they used slave labor to grow tobacco, indigo, and rice. In 1729 King George II took over the colony and divided it into North and South Carolina.
South Carolina
Georgia
In 1733 General James Oglethorpe led a group to Georgia. Oglethorpe planned to create a colony where English debtors and poor people could make a fresh start. In England if a man owed money and could not pay it back, he was thrown into prison. While he was imprisoned, he could not earn money to pay back his debts and gain his freedom. Oglethorpe imagined sending the “industrious yet unfortunate poor” to Georgia, where they could work to settle the wilderness and earn money for the Trustees in order to pay back their debts. The King benefited from the creation of Georgia, the last of the 13 colonies, because it served as a military barrier against Spanish Florida.