Classifying the Colonies:
A "Top Ten" List
Annmarie Vincenzo
Jamestown
2. Jamestown is the first British North American Colony.
3. Only males were sent to colonize Jamestown and this became a problem because they could not repopulate.
4. Captain John Smith was sent to Jamestown to organize and delegate the colony.
5. When John Smith went back to England, the two year "Starving Time," in which many people died due to starvation, began.
6. John Rolfe went to the colony and introduced "American Gold," which is tobacco.
7. Due to the increase in need for tobacco, indentured servants became a source of labor. Indentured servants are white people that work for a 5-7 year contract on condition that they would be free after their years are over. Though, most servants never made it past their 5-7 years.
8. Jamestown is located in the Chesapeake Bay, which is between Virginia and Maryland.
9. John Rolfe married Pocahontas, which temporarily eased the ever changing tension between the settlers and Native Americans.
10. Barter-and-exchange networks were established between the settlers and the Native Americans while they were on good terms. The Europeans traded their firearms with the Native American skins.
Massachusetts Bay
2. Massachusetts Bay Colony waste one of the first that was "town" based and not set up with plantations.
3. The economy relied on fishing, lumber, and fur trade.
4. The people in the Massachusetts Bay Colony had friendly relations with the Native Americans.
5. Puritans and Separatists were the inhabitants of the colony.
6. There was religious freedom in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
7. Massachusetts Bay was founded in 1629.
8. The non-separatists wanted to be free from the Church of England but they did not want to completely break away so the Massachusetts Bay Company gave them a charter.
9. They had a sense of unity from God and wanted to be a model society.
10. Only adult, Puritan males were able to vote.
Pennsylvania
2. Pennsylvania is a Middle Colony, along with New Jersey, New York, and Delaware.
3. The people in Pennsylvania had peaceful relations with the Native Americans.
4. Pennsylvania was a safe haven for Quakers.
5. Quakers were non violent and did not agree wi the Puritans' beliefs of predestination.
6. Pennsylvania had profitable trading centers.
7. William Penn wanted Pennsylvania to have a liberal government.
8. The form of government was an elective assembly that was chosen by land owners.
9. There was religious tolerance.
10. There was no military defense.
Maryland
1. In 1632, George Calvert was granted a royal charter for Maryland.
2. In 1634 a proprietary colony of Maryland was created.
3. Tobacco was the main crop in Maryland.
4. George Calvert's original plan for ruling Maryland was to govern it as an absentee proprietor in a feudal system relationship.
5. Protestants in Maryland felt threatened because Catholics were given many rights in Maryland.
6. The Toleration Act of 1649 guaranteed toleration to all Christians in Maryland (Jews were not included in this).
7. Maryland had lord proprietors.
8. Lord Baltimore lived in England but gave land to his Catholic relatives in America. This is how Maryland got started.
9. Maryland was healthier than Jamestown.
10. Lord Baltimore was an absentee proprietor.
Georgia
1. Georgia was founded in 1733 by James Oglethorpe. It was named after King George II.
2. It was the last of the thirteen colonies to be founded.
3. The purpose for Georgia being founded was to be a "buffer" colony to the Carolinas from Spanish Florida and French Louisiana.
4. Georgia's main export was silk and wine.
5. Georgia was also a haven for debtors that were thrown in prison.
6. Originally Oglethorpe wanted to keep slavery out of Georgia, but in 1750 slavery came to the colony.
7. Savannah was a port city in Georgia that was extremely diverse therefore having religious toleration (except for the Catholics).
8. Georgia received subsidies from the British government because they were a buffer colony.
9. Georgia was a haven for debtors.
10. Georgia struggled with growing quickly because of constant Spanish attacks.