Ch 4 Lesson 4 – The
Southern Colonies Student Notes
Student Name: _________________________________________________
Class: ________________________________________________________
Date: ________________________________ Period: _________________
The flier above is an advertisement for a slave sale. How would you like to be described as a
‘Buck’ or a ‘Wench’?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Students will know…
… the reasons the colonists migrated to America.
… the society, culture and economy of the Southern colonies.
Key Words:

Indentured Servant

Mason-Dixon Line

Bacon’s Rebellion

Debtor
This information can be found on pages 123 - 127 in your textbook

The settlement of Jamestown in 1607 marked the beginning of English colonization and
the beginning of the Virginia colony.
o
Because the economy of the southern colonies depended heavily on agriculture,
the demand for workers was very high.
o
It took a great deal of labor to plant, tend and harvest the tobacco crop.

To meet their needs, the landowners began to use African slaves.

The first group of 20
African slaves came to
Virginia in 1619 aboard a
Dutch trading ship.

By 1710, there were nearly 45,000 slaves working in the English colonies.

England also shipped criminals and prisoners of war to the colonies to work
as slaves. They could sometimes earn their release by working for a period
of time – usually seven years.
o
Many people came as Indentured Servants. This means that they agreed to work
without pay for a certain length of time in order to pay for their passage to
America.

Maryland came from the dream of Sir George
Calvert (Lord Baltimore).
o
Calvert wanted to start a colony where
Catholic people could be free of
persecution.
o
King Charles I gave Calvert a proprietary colony north of Virginia. Another Calvert
died soon after receiving this headright, his sons took over and started the colony
of Maryland in 1634.
o
Maryland, like Virginia, imported slaves and indentured servants to work on
plantations.

The Penn and Calvert families disputed the
boundary between Maryland and
Pennsylvania. In the 1760’s, they hired two
men named Charles Mason and Jeremiah
Dixon to map the boundary between the
two colonies.
o
The boundary these men drew up
became known as the Mason-Dixon Line.

Conflict arose in Maryland because of differences in religion.
o
Although the Calvert family founded Maryland as a place for Catholics and
Protestant to worship freely, Protestant settlers and the King of England disagreed
with the Catholic faith. In 1692, Maryland was made a royal colony and the
Anglican Church was made the official church.
o
This caused the Catholic settlers to face some of the same persecutions they
suffered back in England.

Virginia also experienced conflict.
o
In the 1640s, Virginia governor William Berkeley made a deal with Native
Americans. In exchange for a large piece of land, Berkeley promised to keep
settlers from pushing further west into native lands. Berkeley was trying to
prevent a war with the Native Americans.
o
Nathaniel Bacon was a settler in western Virginia who disagreed with Governor
Berkeley’s pledge. In 1676, Bacon led attacks on Native American villages. His
army also marched to Jamestown to drive out Berkeley and they burned the town
to the ground. It appeared Bacon would take over the colony, but he suddenly
feel ill and died.
"Of this and the aforesaid Articles we accuse Sir William Berkeley as guilty of each and every one of the same, and as
one who hath traiterously attempted, violated and Injured his Majesties interest here, by a loss of a greate part of this
his Colony and many of his faithfull loyall subjects, by him betrayed and in a barbarous and shamefull manner
exposed to the Incursions and murther of the heathen, And we doe further declare these the ensueing persons in this
list, to have beene his wicked and pernicious councellours Confederates, aiders, and assisters against the Comonality
in these our Civil comotions."
—from Declaration in the Name of the People
by Nathaniel Bacon
o
Bacon’s Rebellion showed that the government could not ignore the demands of
its people.

In 1663 King Charles II created a proprietary colony south of Virginia called ‘Carolina’
(Latin for Charles’s land). The land was divided into northern and southern Carolina.
o
The harbor of Charles Town (modern Charleston) became the primary city in the
new colony.
o
Two new crops became popular in Carolina: Rice and Indigo.

Rice was grown in wet, costal lowlands.

Indigo was a flowering plant that was used to dye clothing.

o
Both of these crops required lots of worker, driving the need for slaves.
In 1729, Carolina officially became two royal colonies, North Carolina and South
Carolina.

Georgia was founded in 1733, as the last British colony.
o
James Oglethorpe received a charter from King George II for a colony where
debtors and poor people could make a fresh start.

In England, a Debtor was a person who owed someone else money and
could be put in prison if they were unable to pay what was owed.
o
The English also hoped Georgia could serve as a buffer from the Spanish colony in
Florida and therefore geographically block any attack from Spanish colonists.
o
Many poor people came to settle in Georgia, along with many religious refugees
from central Europe and even some Jews.
Practice Questions:
1.
Examine the following terms: Indentured Servant, Debtor. Write a sentence explaining
what these terms have in common.
An indentured servant owes labor and a debtor owes money.
2.
Why did the demand for workers increase in the Carolinas?
Rice and Indigo were important crops and both required lots of workers.
3.
Although slavery was socially acceptable in all the English colonies, the majority of slaves
were brought to the southern colonies. Why do you think more slaves ended up in the
south?
The climate in the south made their economy more dependent on agriculture. Slaves were
needed to grow and harvest crops.