United States History Student Edition

The Southern Colonies The Southern Colonies were Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

GEOGRAPHY CONNECTION 1. Exploring Regions Which was the southernmost colony? 2. Human-Environment Interaction How does the map show the importance of tobacco in the Southern Colonies?

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85°W

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R . Maryland Baltimore

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0 100 kilometers 100 miles 0 Albers Equal-Area projection

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A I N S

St. Marys

Virginia

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M O U N T

Williamsburg

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Norfolk

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North Carolina

Products

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35°N

Cattle Fish Indigo Grain Iron Lumber Rum Rice Tobacco

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Wilmington

South Carolina

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n n a

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Georgia

Charles Town

Savannah

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Founding Maryland Maryland arose from the dream of Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Calvert wanted to establish a refuge for his fellow Catholics who faced persecution in England. England’s King Charles I gave Calvert a proprietary colony north of Virginia. Soon after receiving this grant, Calvert died. His son Cecilius inherited the colony and named it Maryland. To set up the colony, Cecilius sent two of his brothers, who reached America in 1634. Cecilius gave large estates to English aristocrats. He also granted smaller pieces of land to other settlers. As the number of plantations grew, so did the demand for workers. To address the desire for more profits and laborers, the colony brought in indentured servants and enslaved Africans. For years, the Calvert and Penn families disputed the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania. In the 1760s, they hired two men named Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to map the boundary between the colonies. This line became known as the Mason-Dixon Line. In spite of Lord Baltimore’s dream, religion became another source of conflict in Maryland. The Calverts welcomed Protestants as well as Catholics. Soon Protestant settlers outnumbered Catholics. To protect Catholics, the colony enacted the Act of

Toleration in 1649. This law ensured Protestants and Catholics the right to worship freely. Tensions, however, continued. In 1692, Maryland—now a royal colony—established an official Protestant church. Now Catholics in the colony faced the same restrictions they had in England. Rebellion in Virginia Virginia also experienced conflict. As the colony grew, settlers moved west—and onto Native American lands. In the 1640s, Virginia Governor William Berkeley, hoping to prevent the outbreak of a war, made a bargain with Native Americans: in exchange for a large tract of land, he agreed to keep settlers from pushing farther into their territory. Nathaniel Bacon was a young planter in the backcountry of western Virginia. He opposed the colonial government because it was dominated by easterners. Many westerners also resented Berkeley’s pledge to stay out of Native American territory. Some ignored Berkeley’s agreement and settled in the forbidden areas. Then they blamed the government for not removing Native Americans from their settlements. In 1676, Bacon led attacks on Native American villages. Intending to drive out Berkeley, Bacon’s

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