CA - Key Concepts Lesson
Key Concepts
Before you begin...
Notes are given here as well as in the Readings Document from Boundless that is available to download below. There are three presentations over the next few pages to view (which questions may be drawn from as well). This key concepts lesson is very important as it covers the main areas of the Advanced Placement frameworks and the Georgia Performance Standards. Many of the test questions will relate to items found here.
Download the key concepts questions that are found below and answer these as you read and view the information. The answers are found in the text on this and the following pages, the Readings Document, and in the 1 presentation. After you have done this you will use these answers to take the assignment check quiz for this module. Again, it is very important that you answer the questions carefully before taking the assignment check.
Although they emerged later on the colonial scene than Spain, Portugal, and France, the British would eventually plant 13 colonies along the Atlantic Ocean. The British would eventually become the dominant power in North America, and eventually the world.
These 13 colonies can be grouped regionally and each group has some common characteristics. It is important to know these groupings. The northernmost colonies were known as New England and included: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. The Middle (Mid-Atlantic) Colonies were: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The Southern Colonies included all of these colonies: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Additionally, a sub-group of the Southern Colonies included Maryland and Virginia, as they were known as the Chesapeake Colonies as they shared many common characteristics, including a proximity to the Chesapeake Bay.
Map of the European Colonies at the end of Queen Anne's War. It is not intended to show the full extent of European land claims, which is generally much larger, or Native American areas of claim or control. However, it may be helpful in seeing the general areas of settlement.
Image Credit: UserMagicpiano CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Virginia
The first permanent English colony in North America was Virginia. It was a business venture of the Virginia Company, an English firm that planned to make money by sending people to America to find gold and other valuable natural resources and then ship the resources back to England. The Virginia Company established a legislative assembly that was similar to English Parliament called the House of Burgesses. The House of Burgesses was the first European-type legislative body in the New World.
People were sent from England to work for the Virginia Company. They discovered no gold but learned how to cultivate tobacco. Tobacco quickly became a major cash crop and an important source of wealth in Virginia. It also helped lead to major social and economic divisions between those who owned land and those who did not. Additionally, tobacco cultivation was labor-intensive and caused the Virginia colony's economy to become highly dependent on slavery.
Native Americans had lived for centuries on the land the English settlers called Virginia. A notable Native American chieftain in the region was Powhatan. Soon after the English settlers arrived, they forced the Native Americans off their own land so it could be used by the settlers for agricultural purposes, especially to grow tobacco. Their actions caused many Native Americans to flee the region and seek new places to live. However, all the colonists did not own land. Poor English and slave colonists staged an uprising against the governor and his landowning supporters. In what is called Bacon's Rebellion, the landless rebels wanted harsher action against the Native Americans so more land would be available to the colonists. The rebellion was put down, and the Virginia House of Burgesses passed laws to regulate slavery so poor white colonists would no longer side with slaves against rich white colonists.
View the presentation below.
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