The Colonial Period

1
The Colonial Period

• Early Settlements and Accounts
• of the Americas

2
Christopher Columbus

• October 1492 Columbus reaches the Bahamas,
• believing he has found the East Indies.
• He calls the Bahaman Natives Indians
• He names the island San Salvador, claiming it
  for the king queen of Spain.
• His reason for exploration search for a passage
  to the east.

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3
Early Settlements

• St. Augustine, FL (September 8, 1565)
• Founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles
• The oldest permanent city of European origin in
  the United States

4
The Mystery of Roanoke

• Roanoke Colony (1585-1590)
• First English settlement in America
• More than 100 colonists mysteriously disappeared

5
Captain John Smith Jamestown, VA

• Founded May 14, 1607
• Captain John Smith was chosen president of the
  colony after George Kendall was shot for mutiny.
  Smith insisted that colonists work, declaring,
  He that will not work shall not eat.
• Smith organized trade with the Native Americans

6
Jamestown

• The English sought gold, furs, sassafras (then
  believed to be a cure for syphilis), and anything
  else that could make a profit for the Virginia
  Company of London.
• 1612 the colony began growing tobacco.

7
Jamestown

• Many settlers died from famine disease in the
  first winters.
• The first years of the colony were wretched ones.
  
• There were few bloody squabbles, but for the most
  part the Indians, who could so easily have
  extinguished the flagging settlement, left it
  alone.

8
Indian English Relations

• The Indians, led by King Powatan (named given by
  the colonist), not only permitted the settlement
  to survive, but actually helped the English
  during the first desperate winters.
• The English, however, showed little hesitation
  about attacking the Indians for whatever reason.

9
Tobacco

• Once tobacco began to be cultivated after 1614 to
  meet the growing demand in England, the pressure
  on Indian lands increased.

10
The Massachusetts Bay Colony

• Established in 1630 by John Winthrop and
  consisted of Puritans (who sought to purify the
  Church of England from within)
• Winthrops increasing distress motivated him to
  leave England.
• Winthrop sought to create a city upon a hill

• Winthrop strongly opposed religious dissenters,
  as it was his belief that any dissent could
  subvert the effective governing of the colony. As
  a result, in 1637 Winthrop banished the religious
  reformer Anne Hutchinson from the colony.

11
The Massachusetts Bay Colony

• The colony was ruled by a theocracy (government
  by god), a form of rule in which God is regarded
  as the sole sovereign and the laws of the realm
  are seen as divine commands.
• The main industry of the colony was shipbuilding.
  
• The colony prospered and eventually absorbed the
  smaller Plymouth Colony.

12
A Purified Church

• The Puritans sought to purify the Church of
  England from within.
• They believed the Anglican Church of England had
  become too garish and idolatrous in its worship.
• They wanted to get back to the basics of
  Calvinism.

13
Puritanism

• A version of Calvinism
• Asserts the basic sinfulness of humankind but
  also declares that God has determined that some
  will be saved despite their sins.
• Thus, the experience of conversion, in which the
  soul is touched by the Holy Spirit, is an
  indication that one is of the elect.

14
The Decline of Puritanism

• By 1700, Puritanism was in decline throughout New
  England due to a number of factors
• Indian Wars
• Urbanization
• Age of reason
• Salem Witch Trials