Chapter 2
1. The Spanish were in their endless search for gold, they were in search for the seven golden cities of Cibola, but instead discovered other places. By the 1560’s Spanish officials gave up the search for rich Indian peoples and focused on the defense of the existing empire. Immigrants felt that if they could come to Chesapeake they would be able to find land, gold, and fur. Giving them to idea to make revenue and sell the goods outside of Chesapeake.
2. The Virginia Company of London and Lord Baltimore allowed settlers to own land, grating one hundred acres to every freeman and allowing masters to claim additional fifty acres for every servant. The House of Burgesses, which first convened in Jamestown in 1619, could make laws and levy taxes, although the governor and the company council in England could veto its legislative acts. By 1622 these incentives of land ownership, self-government, and judicial system had attracted about 4,500 new recruits. To an extent they were able to be successful, but the influx of English immigrants started a war with the Indians. In 1622 Opechancanough launched a surprise attack that killed nearly a third of the white population.
3. The number of Native Americans in Virginia had decreased from 30,000 in 1607 to a mere 3,500, as compared to 38,00 Europeans. Many English freeholders wanted cheap land and wanted that natives to either relocate or be killed. Wealthy seacoast planters, who wanted ready supply white labor, opposed expansion into Indian territory. In 1675 a band of Virginia militia murdered 30 Indians. The Susquehannocks retaliated by raiding outlying plantations and killing 300 whites.
4. England was going deeper into religious turmoil. King Charles I disowned some Protestant doctrines, such as the role of grace in salvation. English Puritans, accused the king of holding Catholic beliefs. In 1629, Charles dissolved the parliament, claimed the power to rule by “divine right,” and raised money...