How to Grow Potatoes
1. List the three things that characterized the first permanent English settlements. The colonies were business enterprises, there were few efforts to blend English society with the society of the natives, and almost nothing worked out as they had planned. 2. Why was the location of Jamestown significant? The colonists chose the site because they believed it was an easily defended location, but it was low, swampy, humid, and prey to outbreaks of malaria. 3. List reasons the Jamestown colonists were unsuccessful. They had no immunity to the infections of a new land, their focus was on futile searches for gold, there were no women which created a sense of true community, and diets were inadequate. 4. Who is credited with “saving” Jamestown the first time? Captain John Smith. 5. Describe how the Virginia Company reorganized and poised itself for success. In 1609 it obtained a new charter from the king, which increased its power over the colony and enlarged the area of land to which it had title. “Adventurers” in England became investors, it attracted new settlers by offering additional stock, and it provided free passage to Virginia for poorer people who would agree to serve the company for seven years. 6. Why was the winter of 1609-1610 known as the “starving time”? The local Indians, antagonized because of Smith’s raids and more hostile actions, killed off the livestock in the woods and kept the colonists barricaded within their palisade. 7. What “saved” Jamestown the second time? As the refugees proceeded down the James toward the bay, they met an English ship coming up the river bringing supplies and the first governor. New relief expeditions with hundreds of colonists soon began to arrive, and the effort to turn a profit in Jamestown resumed. 8. The wealth of the Virginia colony was found in…? Tobacco. 9. Explain how the tobacco economy transformed the Chesapeake society. There were many critics, including King James I, who denounced it as a poisonous weed, and it meant the Spanish got money. It created a need for territorial expansion, causing more pressure between Native Americans and the colonists. 10. Describe the headright system. Why was it implemented? Headrights were fifty-acre grants of land, which new settlers could acquire. It was implemented to recruit new settlers and workers to the colony. 11. List other incentives offered by the Virginia Company. It transported skilled workers, and 100 Englishwomen to become wives. It promised the colonists the full rights of Englishmen, an end to the strict rule of communal years, and a share in self-government. 12. What was significant about the House of Burgesses? It was the first meeting of an elected legislature, a representative assembly in what was to become the United States. 13. Why did planters begin to see Africans as a true labor source? European indentured servants became scarce and expensive. 14. What happened as a result of the 1622 Indian uprising (the final blow to the Virginia Company)? James I revoked the company’s charter, and the colony came under the control of the crown. 15. Why was Maryland founded? It was the dream of George Calvert, who envisioned establishing a colony both as a great speculative venture in real estate and as a retreat for English Catholics. 16. What was significant about the Maryland charter? It granted a remarkable extent of territory and power for the second Lord Baltimore. 17. Why did Maryland end up with a Protestant governor? The Protestant settlers outnumbered the Catholics, and a non-Catholic governor was placed to please the majority. 18. What was created to deal with the religious situation? A landed aristocracy. 19. What was the economy of Maryland based on? A headright system and tobacco. 20. Who was in charge of the Virginia colony for over thirty years? Sir William Berkeley. 21. What event in England created a population boom in Virginia?