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The Chesapeake Colonies

Decent Essays

Beginning 1625, the first colonies in America was established in the Chesapeake, New England, and Carolina region. More than 250,000 European settlers came over to the colonies, along with 300,000 West African slaves. The colonial societies would become the area for gold, god, and glory. Some of the colonies flourished while some struggled to survive.
To begin, the Chesapeake region consisted of two colonies: Virginia and Maryland. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh went on an exploratory voyage with several men to Roanoke Island. Landing was only temporary because they needed decided the island was fertile to support a settlement. A couple of years later, John White came over with 117 men, women, and children to settle in Roanoke Island. John White …show more content…

150 gentlemen reached the colony looking for gold only. Apparently, there was no gold. The gentlemen had trouble surviving because there were no farms, no shelter, or food. They only survived by the firm leadership of John Smith, who was a great leader. Smith organized peace treaties with the Powhatan, which was encouraged by Pocahontas. He also bargained supplies with the Indians. Later on, John Smith suffered a gunpowder burn, so he returned to England. This caused the treaty to break between the Powhatan. Furthermore, discipline in the colony was integrated. The colony went through the “starving time” during winter. The settlers had to eat rats, dogs, etc. They also resorted to cannibalism. 60 people remained when relief came. The new governor decided to use Indians for labor, which caused the Powhatan Wars. Continuing on, John Rolfe introduced tobacco, which made the colony prosper. Tobacco was known as “brown gold”. The Headrights System was created to lure settlers in. Also, indentured servants were brought in. Jamestown still had problems, which caused the king to declare it a royal colony. There was the Bacon Rebellion where Nathaniel Bacon led 1,000 indentured servants in a rebellion against the governor. The rebellion ended with Jamestown burning …show more content…

Pilgrims were the first to arrive on the Mayflower. They were expected to land in Virginia, but trailed off course, landing in Plymouth. They created the Mayflower Compact which states that all who sign the document were to remain faithful to the king and behave like a good citizen. The Pilgrims worked nicely with the Pequot Indians. They had the help of Squanto and Samoset, who taught them how to farm and survive. The Puritans were the second group of individuals to arrive in Massachusetts. John Winthrop, the first governor, wanted to create a tight-knit community and a model society for Christians. This was known as “City Upon a Hill”. They developed laws that was connected with the church and the state. The Puritans valued education, so they built Harvard University to train Puritan ministers. There was also religious tension with the Puritans. Kids of religious parents didn’t want a public conversion. The church wanted the kids to stay, so they created the Half-Way Covenant. It stated that the kids can continue becoming Puritans if they read the Bible and had parents who went through a public conversion. Next, there was a crisis with witchcraft, known as the Salem Witch Trials. The settlers were afraid of witches, connecting it with the Devil. When the kids started behaving oddly, blame was casted towards women and

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