Maryland Colony: Calverts and Chesapeake Bay

• Maryland Colony founded by the Calverts, a wealthy English Catholic family.
• Calverts sought to profit and create a refuge for Catholics.
• Catholics in England faced worship restrictions.

The Calverts

• George Calvert, or Lord Baltimore, invested in the Virginia Company.
• Calvert requested a colony charter from King Charles I on Chesapeake Bay, in the north of Virginia.
• Calvert died in 1632, before the charter was formalized.
• Cecilius Calvert, his oldest son, inherited the title, becoming the new Lord Baltimore and owner of the colony.
• Cecilius named the colony Maryland.
• Leonard Calvert, Cecilius' brother, was chosen as Maryland's first governor.
• The Calvert brothers ensured Maryland avoided Jamestown's prior errors.
• In 1633, the Calverts dispatched the first Maryland colonists to the colony, most as indentured servants.
• Their ships landed near the Potomac River's mouth, founding the first settlement, St. Mary's City.

Life in Maryland and Virginia

• Maryland and Virginia shared similarities with each other.
• The Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River separated the two colonies, they had a mild climate.
• Both grew tobacco in the fertile soil along the Coastal Plain.

Farming

• Some Maryland colonists became affluent growing tobacco on large-scale plantations.
• Most colonists struggled on small farms.
• Many Maryland farmers were originally indentured servants.
• Former servants received land, clothes, tools, and corn from Maryland's government.

Government

• Virginia was the largest English colony in North America in the early 1700s with Williamsburg becoming its capital in 1699.
• Virginia and Maryland had similar governance structures, with governors and elected assemblies.
• The King controlled Virginia being a royal colony, while the Calverts controlled Maryland being a proprietary colony.
• Maryland passed the Toleration Act in 1649, granting religious freedom to all Christians.
• The Anglican Church became the official church in 1702, after many members settled there.

The Carolina Colonies

• Colonists moved south of Maryland & Virginia in search of more land.
• King Charles II granted land for Carolina in 1663.

Lords Proprietors

• Carolina was divided among eight English leaders called the Lords Proprietors.
• In 1669, they adopted a constitution, or written plan of government for Carolina.
• This allowed free white colonists to chose leaders and make laws, although the proprietors and the king still held the power.
• Carolina was hard to govern
• In 1712, the Lords Proprietors split Carolina into North Carolina and South Carolina.
• North Carolina farmers grew tobacco and corn.
• South Carolina farmers initially struggled growing tobacco.
• Enslaved Africans’ knowledge led to successful rice cultivation.
• Rice became South Carolina's main crop.

Georgia

• England, France, and Spain all claimed the area south of South Carolina.
• King George II sent colonists there to gain control of the area, by 1727.
• James Oglethorpe, A wealthy English leader, suggested sending debtors to settle a Georgia colony.
• Debtors defended it from other countries and were given a second chance.
• King George II gave Oglethorpe a charter for the last of the 13 English colonies.
• It was called Georgia in honor of the king.
• In 1733, Savannah was founded by the first colonists.
• The size of farms in Georgia were limited, and slavery was disallowed.
• Due to this, Georgia did not have plantations.
• In 1751, Georgia's leaders allowed slavery.
• Plantations and enslaved Africans grew Georgia's economy.

Heading West

• In the early 1700s, English towns, farms, and plantations existed near the coast on the Coastal Plain.
• Few colonists were in the Piedmont, the land between the Coastal Plain and the Appalachian Mountains.
• It was called the back country because Europeans settled beyond the region.
• The thick forests, steep hills, and limited roads made travel to the backcountry hard.
• By the mid-1700s, many settlers moved west of the Coastal Plain.
• Germans moved in large numbers from Pennsylvania in the backcountry of Virginia and the Carolinas.
• The settlers followed a Native American trail now known as the Great Wagon Road.
• It became wide enough for wagons to use
• The Great Wagon Road passed through the Shenandoah Valley along the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
• It was the only way to get wagons loaded with household goods to the backcountry.

Conflicts with Native Americans

• Thousands of Cherokee, Creek, Powhatan, and other Native American tribes lived in the would-be Southern Colonies.
• As more Europeans arrived, they built their settlements on Native American lands.
• As occurred in the New England Colonies, conflicts arose between Native Americans and settlers.

The Tuscarora War

• In North Carolina, German and Swiss settlers destroyed a Tuscarora village to build a new settlement.
• Some colonists believed that the Native Americans were not treated justly either from trade or hunting.
• The Tuscarora attacked several settlements in 1711 due to their land losses.
• The Tuscarora War, which began in response, resulted in the death or enslavement of around 950 Tuscarora by 1713.
• Continuing to push Native Americans off lands, they captured them and sent them to the West Indies to work on sugar plantations.
• Others died fighting colonists.

The Maryland Colony was founded by the Calverts to generate profit and to create a refuge for Catholics. George Calvert requested a colony charter from King Charles I on Chesapeake Bay, north of Virginia. Cecilius Calvert, his oldest son, inherited the title, named the colony Maryland, and sent the first colonists in 1633.