III.
The Southern Colonies
A. Lord Baltimore Founds Maryland
1. 2nd southern colony
2. On Chesapeake Bay
3. The Act of Toleration
a. Lord Baltimore wanted a colony where Catholics could be
free from persecution
b. Charles I gave him a charter and land
c. Proprietary colony – one owned and governed privately
d. Act of Toleration – law that guaranteed religious freedom to
everyone
e. Economy based on tobacco
i. Labor intensive – needed lots of people
ii. Most labor done by indentured servants or slaves
4. Religious Conflict in Maryland
a. Catholics outnumbered by Protestants
b. Puritans eventually dismissed governor
c. Also repealed Act of Toleration, replaced it with antiCatholic law
d. Act of Toleration eventually restored
e. Evident that achieving tolerance would be difficult
B. The Carolinas
1. Given to eight supporters of Charles II
2. Proprietors Plan Their Colony
a. Needed to attract settlers, so offered
i. Religious tolerance
ii. Large land grants
iii. Political representation
b. Became a haven for Huguenots – French Protestants who
were persecuted in France
3. Rice and Slavery
a. Learned how to grow it from slaves
b. Labor intensive – began to import more slaves to grow it
c. Slave labor made Carolina planters elite – wealthy upper
class
d. Always worried about slave revolts
C.
e. Also captured Natives and enslaved them
f. Wars broke out with Native tribes – Tuscarora and Yamasee
g. Opened new lands for settlers
4. The Colonists Rebel
a. 1691 – settlers forced separate government in North
Carolina
b. 1719 – overthrew proprietors because they wanted more
protection against Natives and Spanish in south
c. Both colonies became royal colonies in 1729
Georgia
1. Founded by James Oglethorpe in 1732
2. Ethnic and Religious Diversity
a. Began as a colony for debtors
b. Also a buffer colony – protect Carolinas from Spanish in Fla
c. Tremendous diversity - variety
i. English
ii. German
iii. Swiss
iv. Scottish
v. All Protestant denominations
vi. Jews
d. No Catholics allowed
3. Oglethorpe’s Policies
a. Strict rules
b. No plantations or slavery
c. Wanted settlers to set up small farms
d. Felt free people would protect colony better
e. Colonists opposed Oglethorpe’s policies
i. jealous of wealth of other southern colonies
ii. Felt they needed slave and start plantations
f. Legalized slavery – became plantation society
g. Became a royal colony