Unit 2

• Jamestown was the first English settlement in North America established in 1607. Jamestown soon became an epicenter for tobacco production and relied on the popularity of tobacco in Europe.
• Bacons Rebellion, lead by Nathaniel Bacon, caused interracial colonists to fight the Native Americans after European and African indentured servants started to run away.
• The Headright system enabled that for every paid passage you get 50 acres of land. This caused English merchants and explorers to have a lot of land for tobacco, but not enough workers to grow it. Because of this the colonies started depending on slaves, indentured servants, and natives to cultivate tobacco in order to gain a profit.
• Tobacco was an addictive cash crop introduced to colonists by Native Americans that took over Europe in the 1600’s. Because of its popularity Jamestown used indentured servants, slaves, and Native Labor to grow tobacco on a large scale and profited greatly from it, causing Jamestown to become a center of wealth.
• Salutary Neglect (1650-1685) many of the Navigation Laws were ignored, causing colonists economy to become independent from Britains as colonists were smuggling goods to other countries.
• The First Great Awakening divided many American colonists. On the one hand, it was an experience that created unity between the colonies. It led to a shared awareness of being American because it was the first major “national” event that all the colonies experienced. Most of all, the new denominations of Christianity were much more democratic. The overall message was one of greater equality and democracy.
• The Enlightenment (1650 to 1780) was an intellectual movement that provided the philosophical basis of the American Revolution. It ushered in a time of equality and democracy. The idea that everyone was equal and no one had any more right to king than others, threatened the church and monarchy.