AMST Midterm 1 Study Guide

Virginia Company (1606-24)

• Context - sees potential in the Americas, investors promised profits
• Define - Company founded amidst Spanish exploration of Incan/Mayan gold mines
• Significance - Led to the founding of Jamestown, mainly used as home for gold miners

The "Starving Time" (1609-10)

• Context - Took place during the winter of 1609-10
• Define - roughly 80% of Jamestown died due to disease, starvation, and the cold when the Third Supply didn't arrive on time due to a hurricane
• Significance - The colony was restarted with all new colonists when the remains of the Third Supply arrived months after

Headrights v. Indentured Servitude

• Context - Due to the need for more farmers, headrights were offered to those who would farm the land, and land was promised to those who would help farm it (indentured servants)
• Define - Headrights were grants of land. Indentured Servants traded years of free labor in exchange for their own headrights

Mayflower (Nov. 1620)

• Context - Signed for the purpose of self-governing because the members of the Mayflower were not in Virginia
• Define - A governing contract written and signed by the male passengers of the Mayflower
• Significance - Proved the Plymouth colony with a temporary government until a more permanent one was established and the colony was absorbed into the Mass. Bay Colony

Squanto

• Context - Was introduced to the colonists by Samoset, the chief of a local tribe
• Define - A member of the Wampanoag tribe who assisted the Pilgrims
• Significance - He taught the Pilgrims very valuable survival skills, such as farming techniques, following their first winter that allowed them to thrive and prosper as a colony as well as an ally to the Wampanoag tribe

anti-miscegenation law

• Context - Gave incentive for slave owners to rape their slaves as a means of breeding rather than buying new ones
• Define - a racial segregation law that banned black-white marriage
• Significance - This law carried on all the way through the mid 1900's, causing centuries of racial divide and violence

Compare/Contrast Jamestown and the New England Colonies

• Jamestown:
• Settled by the Virginia Company with the goal of making a profit
• Majority of the colonists were gold miners
• Due to the "Starving Time", colony was restarted with new colonists midway through 1610
• Struggled early on due to inexperience with hardship
• First permanent English settlement in the New World
• Warm climate, perfect for growing tobacco as cash crop
• Built in a defendable location
• Anglican faith
• Failed to make peace with local tribes
• Took Indian land by force for tobacco plantations
• Plymouth/Mass. Bay
• Came to New World to escape religious prosecution
• Removed themselves from the Anglican Church
• Much colder climate, unable to grow cash crops
• Had their own government (Mayflower Compact)
• Able to befriend local tribe and gained assistance from Squanto (helped them survive)
• Not a part of the Virginia Colony
• Mass. Bay was intolerant of other religions
• Both:
• Struggles with disease, cold, hunger made life difficult for both colonies early on
• Both eventually were at war with the natives, although roughly a decade apart
• Similar gov't, both had representative gov't with a governor