The Southern Colonies

CHAPTER 3 LESSON 4

VOCAB

• Indentured Servitude: laborer who agrees to work without pay for a certain period of time in exchange for passage to America

• Constitution: a list of fundamental laws to support a government

• Debtor: person or country that owes money

SOUTHERN COLONIES

• A warm climate

• Long growing season

• Rich soil

• Large scale agriculture

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND

• Settlement of Jamestown marked beginning of settlement of North America and Virginia

• Utilized tobacco crop for $$$

• Needed a lot of workers

• Therefore used slave labor (African slaves)

OTHER WORKERS• Other workers (to harvest

tobacco) included:

• Criminals and prisoners sent by England

• Could earn their freedom if they work for 7 years

• Others:

• Indentured Servants

• People who wanted to come to Americas but did not have money to get their

• To pay for their passage to America, they agreed to work without pay for a certain length of time

FOUNDING MARYLAND• Founded by “Lord

Baltimore” (Sir George Calvert)

• Calvert wanted a safe place for his fellow Catholics who faced persecution in England

• King Charles I gave him land grant north of Virginia

• Farmed- used slaves and indentured servants

Lord Baltimore

King Charles I

MARYLAND• Calvert and Penn families

argued a lot over boundaries

• 1760s they finally hired two men named Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to map the boundary between the two colonies.

• Boundary became known as the “Mason Dixon Line”

• Usually used as reference to where slaves are

• Many south of Mason Dixon line allow slavery later on while those above it eventually outlaw it

MARYLAND AND RELIGION

• Founded by Catholics

• Allowed both Protestants and Catholics

• To protect Catholics, they passed the “Act of Toleration” in 1649.

• Ensured freedom of worship for all

• However, in 1692, the colony became “Royal” (property of England. And the crown limited the worship of Catholics yet again as they did in England.

REBELLION IN VIRGINIA

• Virginia also experienced conflict

• Settlers eventually began moving west onto Native American lands

• BUT VA governor, William Berkeley had made a pledge to Natives to not allow his colonists to move further into Native lands.

• Berkeley wanted to prevent war between his Virginians and the Natives

Berkeley

BACON’S REBELLION

• Nathaniel Bacon

• Young planter living in west VA

• Opposed the government of VA because he wanted to move west onto NA lands.

• Also disliked gov because it was dominated by easterners (eastern VA)

Nathaniel Bacon

BACON’S REBELLION

• Bacon led attacks against Native Americans in these areas that Virginias began to illegally settle

• Also burned the capital, Jamestown, to the ground in protest of Berkeley.

• Had almost taken control of VA when he fell ill and died.

• England sent in troops and restored order

THE CAROLINAS AND GEORGIA

• 1663 King Charles II created a proprietary colony south of VA called Carolina – Latin for “Charles’ Land”

• King gave the colony to eight nobles

• John Locke- wrote a constitution for Carolina.

• English philosopher

• Outlined role of the government

King Charles II

John Locke

TWO CAROLINAS

• Split into North and South Carolinas

• Farmers from VA settled North Carolina

• Grew tobacco, sold timber and tar

• Settlers in South Carolina took advantage of fertile land and the harbor at Charleston

• Traded deerskin, lumber and beef

CAROLINA AGRICULTURE• 1680s- Planters

discovered that rice grew well in the wet coastal lowlands.

• Required much labor

• Demand for slave labor rose

• Another important crop: Indigo

• Invented by Eliza Lucas 1740s

• Dyed clothing blue

• 1729- became two separate royal colonies

GEORGIA• Georgia- Founded in

1733

• Last British colony set up in America

• James Oglethorpe received a charter from George II for a colony where debtors and poor people could make a fresh start

• In Britain, debtors (those who owed debts) could be imprisoned if they were unable to pay what they owed.

GEORGIA

• British also hoped Georgia would act as a buffer for any Spanish attack from Florida

• Oglethorpe built forts to protect against an attack

• Colony was comprised mostly of poor people and religious refugees from Central Europe and a small group of Jews

• Many colonists complained of Oglethorpe’s rules

• Banned rum/ slave labor

• Turned Georgia over to the king in 1751

CLOSURE:• Use the following vocab words in a paragraph about the

southern colonies:

• Indentured Servitude

• Constitution

• Debtor