Shaping America - Settling the Southern Colonies

After viewing this episode and completing the required reading, the student will be able to

  1. …analyze the English settlements of Roanoke and Jamestown and indicate the roles played by the Spanish Armada, John Rolfe, Pocahontas, John Smith, and Powhatan.
  2. …assess the significance of the “stinking weed” and indicate its connection to ownership of land and forced labor.
  3. …evaluate the successes and failures of English settlement in the Chesapeake area and integrate the following into your evaluation: Tidewater Aristocracy (old guard), back woodsmen, Bacon’s Rebellion, and African indentured servants and slaves.
  4. …analyze English settlement in the Caribbean area and include the following in your analysis: Barbados connection, sugar cane, slavery and the Carolinas.

Life in the “New World” in the early 17th century was a world that had been dramatically changed since Columbus’ landing in 1492. The Native American population had been dramatically reduced primarily as a result of European diseases. Three European powers had established primitive outposts in three distant corners of the continent: the Spanish at Santa Fe in 1610, the French at Quebec in 1608 and the English at Jamestown in 1607.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 paved the way for English entry into the colonial race to the “New World.” Although Sir Walter Raleigh had led a group of English settlers in 1583 to Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, the hapless colony mysteriously vanished. This tragic first step at English colonization, in what was to become the United States, was followed by a more successful venture at Jamestown. This colony could well have followed the fate of Roanoke had it not been for the help of Native Americans and the leadership of Captain John Smith.

The marriage of John Rolfe to Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, brought a short-lived peace settlement between the Native Americans and English settlers, but by 1622 a series of Indian attacks left Rolfe dead along with more than 300 other Jamestown residents. However, before Rolfe died, he launched a tobacco industry that would give rise to forced labor. A racial hierarchy would develop that shaped the society, economy and politics of the region in the 17th century.

The English settlers in the Chesapeake area didn’t find precious minerals, but they cultivated tobacco and it, along with the sugar cane plantations of the Caribbean area, became their gold. Both sugar cane and tobacco were labor-intensive crops and large holdings of land were required.

English settlement in the Chesapeake and Caribbean areas was dominated by an aristocracy, which sought complete control of the labor and land markets. Large plantations, indentured servants and slavery became symbols of English settlement in these regions.

Select the single best answer to the following questions. Place your answer on the line.

  1. Spain's dreams of empire began to fade with the _____.
  2. defeat of the Spanish Armada
  3. Treaty of Tordesillas
  4. loss of Brazil
  5. death of Christopher Columbus
  1. The early years of Jamestown were mainly characterized by _____.
  2. starvation, disease & frequent Indian raids
  3. economic prosperity
  4. constant fear of French invasion
  5. conflicts between the Catholics & the Protestants
  1. The cultivation of tobacco in Jamestown resulted in all of the following except _____.
  2. the destruction of soil
  3. a greater demand for land
  4. a desire to control the labor supply
  5. a diversified colonial economy
  1. Sugar was called a rich man's crop for all of the following reasons except that it _____.
  2. had to be planted extensively in order to be profitable
  3. required the clearing of much land
  4. could be purchased by only the wealthy
  5. required a complicated refining process
  1. The statutes governing slavery in the North American colonies originated in _____.
  2. England
  3. Virginia
  4. Brazil
  5. Barbados
  1. In American history, 1619 is important because in that year _____.
  2. blacks from Africa first arrived in English America
  3. tobacco was first cultivated in Jamestown
  4. the sugar cane industry developed in Virginia
  5. Jamestown was founded