Name ________________________________ Class ____________________ Date _____________

The English Colonies

Lesson 1

Main ideaS
1. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in America.
2. Daily life in Virginia was challenging to the colonists.
3. Religious freedom and economic opportunities were motives for founding
other southern colonies, including Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia.
4. Farming and slavery were important to the economies of the southern
colonies.

Key Terms and People

Jamestown an English settlement in Virginia founded in 1607
John Smith a colonist and leader of Jamestown
Pocahontas a Powhatan Indian who married Jamestown colonist John Rolfe
colonists who reached America by working for free for
indentured servants
other people who had paid for their journeys
Bacon’s Rebellion an uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon against high taxes
Toleration act of 1649 an act that made limiting the religious rights of
Christians a crime
Olaudah equiano a former slave who wrote down his experiences
slave codes laws to control slaves

Lesson Summary
SeTTLeMenT in JaMeSTOWn
Life in Jamestown was hard because few colonists Why did many colonists in
knew how to grow crops. Captain John Smith Jamestown starve?
worried about the lack of food, and many struggled to maintaining a
food supply.
colonists starved. The Powhatan helped them
grow crops.
Pocahontas helped unite the Powhatan and the
colonists, but she died in 1617. Fighting broke
out between the colonists and the Powhatan and
went on for the next 20 years. The colony existed
under the authority of a governor chosen by the
king.

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Name_________________________________ Class_____________________ Date   _____________

Lesson 1, continued

DAILY LIFE IN VIRGINIA

Colonists began forming large farms called
plantations where they grew tobacco. At first
indentured servants worked on plantations. The
demand for workers became greater than the
number of indentured servants. So in 1619 the
first Africans came to Virginia. The cost for
slaves was not very high. These factors led
wealthy farmers to begin using slave labor.
Colonial officials began raising taxes and What happened to
encouraging trade with Native Americans. In Jamestown in 1676?
1676 Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy frontier farmer, Jamestown was burned
during Bacon's Rebellion,
led Bacon’s Rebellion. Bacon and his followers
did not agree with leaders, so they burned
Jamestown.

OTHER SOUTHERN COLONIES

Maryland was founded south of Virginia as a
new colony for Catholics. In the 1640s
Protestants began moving in, which led to
religious problems between Protestants and
Catholics. The Toleration Act of 1649 made Underline the sentence that
limiting religious rights of Christians a crime in describes the purpose of
the Toleration Act of 1649.
Maryland.
The Carolinas and Georgia were formed south
of Virginia and Maryland. South Carolina had
many large plantations, and owners bought slaves
to work on them. In Georgia many huge rice
plantations were worked by thousands of slaves.

ECONOMIES OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES

The economies of the southern colonies were How did a former slave
based on farming. Many small farms and some describe treatment of
slaves?
small plantations meant a large group of workers
was needed, so African slaves became these Slaves were punished by
whipping, shackling,
workers. Slavery was brutal. A man named beating, mutilation,
Olaudah Equiano, who had been enslaved, wrote branding, and/or
imprisonment
that slaves were often tortured, murdered, and
treated with great cruelty. Most of the southern
states passed slave codes to control slaves.

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Lesson 1, continued

CHALLENGE ACTIVITY
Critical Thinking: Sequence Create a timeline
showing the dates of important events in the
southern colonies.
Bacons Rebelion Indentured servants Pocahontas James town Olaudah Equiano

Toleration Act of 1649 John Smith

Bacon’s Rebellion indentured servants Pocahontas

Jamestown Olaudah Equiano Toleration Act of 1649
John Smith

DIRECTIONS Read each sentence and choose the correct term from
the word bank to replace the underlined term. Write the term in the
space provided and then define the term in your own words.
1. John Rolfe wrote about the brutal conditions he experienced as a slave.
Olaudah Equiano

Your definition:
wrote about the brutal conditions he experienced as a slave

2. Colonists called Pilgrims signed contracts agreeing to work on plantations

and farms in exchange for the payment of their journey to
America. indentured servants
indentured servants
Your indentured servants
definition:
signed contracts agreeing to work on plantations and farms in exchange for the payment
of their journey to America.

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Name_________________________________ Class_____________________ Date   _____________

Lesson 1, continued

3. A group of former indentured servants led by a wealthy frontier farmer began

an uprising called the slave codes. Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion
Your definition: vBacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion
A group of former indentured servants led by a wealthy frontier farmer began an uprising
called

4. The plantation system made restricting religious rights of Christians a crime,

and was the first law supporting religious tolerance passed in the English
colonies. headright system

Your definition:
set up by the London Company allowed colonists, who paid their own way to Virginia, to
receive 50 acres of land. The colonists could receive another 50 acres for every
additional person brought from England.

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