4-2.3

It Is Essential For Students To Know:

• English colonists settled along the Atlantic coast of North America for both religious freedom and economic opportunity. The Englishmen who settled Jamestown [1607], Virginia were motivated by economics. They originally wanted to find gold but soon began to plant cash crops such as tobacco to make a profit.
• The Pilgrims [1620] and the Puritans went to the northern part of the Atlantic coast which they called New England because they wanted to establish a model religious community.
• English Quakers went to Pennsylvania so they could practice their religion freely and farm the land.
• Many other English colonists went to the colonies for economic reasons such as to get farm land or as indentured servants.
• The Spanish explored the southern and southwestern parts of North America in their search for gold. St. Augustine and Santa Fe were established as missions where Native Americans worked to make a profit for the Spanish. These missions helped the Spanish to hold onto their claims which they wanted for economic reasons.
• French colonist settled Quebec on the St. Lawrence River and along the Mississippi River to set up a fur trade with the Native Americans so they could sell to Europe to make a profit. The French government did not allow religious dissenters to settle in their colonies.

It Is Not Essential For Students To Know:

• This indicator does not focus on dates and people responsible for establishing specific colonies.
• It is not essential for the students to know the names of all of the colonies but they do need to know the location of these specific colonies on the continent.