Chapter 3: Settling the English Colonies – Chesapeake to New England

The era of 1619 to 1700 saw the diverse establishment of English colonies along the Atlantic coast, differentiated by environmental, economic, and cultural factors. In the Chesapeake colonies like Virginia, prosperity was driven by the staple crop tobacco (or "King Nicotine"), which created an expansive plantation system and fueled the demand for labor, initiating the North American slave system in 1619 and supporting the early House of Burgesses. Maryland, founded by Lord Baltimore, served as a haven for Catholics and secured temporary religious protection for Christians through the Act of Toleration. Farther south, the British West Indies specialized in sugar cultivation, a capital-intensive "rich man's crop" that necessitated massive importation of enslaved Africans and established the harsh framework of chattel slavery, epitomized by the Barbados slave code. Settlers migrating from the West Indies introduced this labor model to Carolina, where rice became the dominant export, relying on the agricultural expertise of imported West Africans. Meanwhile, New England was shaped profoundly by Calvinism; Puritans sought to create a righteous, collective society, a “city upon a hill,” based on the doctrines of predestination and the pursuit of conversion. Governance in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was limited to “freemen” (church members), fiercely suppressing dissent from figures like Anne Hutchinson, who advocated antinomianism, and Roger Williams, who championed religious freedom and founded Rhode Island. Westward expansion inevitably led to violent conflict with Native American populations, culminating in the near-annihilation of tribes during the Pequot War and the widespread resistance known as King Philip's War (Metacom’s War). The middle colonies (Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware) developed greater diversity, specializing as “bread colonies” and embracing religious tolerance, particularly in William Penn’s Quaker colony, which was founded as a "Holy Experiment". Throughout this period, the British crown attempted to integrate the colonies into a cohesive, hierarchical structure to enforce mercantilist aims through the Navigation Laws and the imposition of the Dominion of New England under Sir Edmund Andros. However, this imperial tightening was relaxed after the Glorious Revolution, ushering in a long period of “salutary neglect,” allowing the colonies to develop greater self-government.