# American Revolution/Chapter 1: The English Colonies in 1750/Lesson 1

In Lesson 1, we will review the manner in which each individual colony came into existence. The first few years of the colony's history and major activities will be studied, but the 150 years of colonial history prior to the American Revolution are not the subject of this course. Chapters 2 and 3 will provide overviews of this time period and explain the situation of the American colonies at the outset of the French & Indian War.
Pay careful attention to the Key Terms listed below. Links for additional reading will be provided throughout, but these terms are those that may appear on the section quiz.

## Key Terms

* Anne Hutchinson
* Congregationalism
* Elizabeth I
* Elizabethan Settlement
* enclosure movement
* Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
* James I
* Jamestown
* John Smith
* Mayflower
* Mayflower Compact
* Pilgrims
* Puritans
* Roanoke Colony
* Roger Williams
* Richard Hakluyt
* Sir Walter Raleigh
* Spanish Armada
* starving time
* Virginia Company

## Lesson Content
### English Colonization

The story of English colonial ventures begins in the 1500s. Unlike England's southern neighbors, religious, economic, and political upheaval prevented the British monarchy from expanding westward. After excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, Henry VIII founded the Church of England and named himself as its Head. His heirs, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I struggled over which religious doctrine, Catholic or Protestant, would dominate England. Edward was a devout Protestant and favored his father's Church of England. Mary was the complete opposite: a devout Catholic who returned papal dominance to the British isles. After Mary's death in 1558, Elizabeth assumed the throne. Knowing that the continual religious upheaval was likely to destroy England, Elizabeth instituted a compromise to restore order within the realm. The Elizabethan Settlement provided England with a Protestant theology dominated by Catholic ritual. Elizabeth also secured the English economic position. The enclosure movement transitioned land from agricultural production to livestock grazing. Landlords found it more profitable to raise sheep for wool than grow wheat; however, this market flooded with supply in the 1550s and collapsed. She instituted several reforms following the collapse of the wool market that expanded the authority of England's merchant class, removed competition, and encouraged agricultural variation. Elizabeth's final contribution to the pre-colonization era was the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Philip II of Spain, former husband of Elizabeth's sister, Mary, sent his armada (Spanish, for fleet) against England when Elizabeth executed her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, for offering abdication in favor of Philip. (Elizabeth knew he would surely return England to Catholic domination.)
With stability in England, Elizabeth encouraged the foundation of colonies in North America. Richard Hakluyt, an Oxford clergyman, proposed in a 1584 essay titled Discourse Of Western Planting three reasons why England should establish New World colonies. These colonies would:
* Create new markets for English goods,
* Siphon off the excess population and alleviate poverty and unemployment, and
* Provide raw materials not available in England.
In the early 1580s, Elizabeth authorized Sir Walter Raleigh to send an expedition to the New World in search of a suitable site for colonization. In 1584, the expedition, under Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, landed in what would become North Carolina. They returned home after staying two months. A second expedition, under Sir Richard Grenville, was sent the following year to found a colony in the newly christened Virginia named Roanoke. After only a year, the 100 occupants wanted to return home. A second attempt was tried in 1588. When reinforcements came three years later, the colonists were nowhere to be found. The only clue to their whereabouts was the word Croatoan carved into a tree. (The "Lost Colony of Roanoke" remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of history.)