Historical Context

Sir John Harvey is named the governor of Virginia and he almost immediately faces discontent with his leadership in the Jamestown colony.  From a criminal trial of his predecessor to a rival threatening to settle next door, how does Harvey keep things in Virginia together? 

Virginia Seal: By UK - http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/57200/57201/57201_seal_virgini.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75035453

Read Harvey’s early notes and Dr. Potts pardoning of a murder: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4242282.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Aa6c443ef1651c00c6fa292e2f64a77b8

Compiled source of today’s episode: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4242309.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A224f2d48cc84230ad078b33fb8bbf37d

Fife and Drum by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3748-fife-and-drum License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

With a patent in hand, Cecil Calvert makes preparations to colonize Maryland.  Calvert's brother, Leonard, serves as the first governor.  In this episode, we detail the preparations, founding, and first days of the Maryland colony.  Read the Charter of Maryland: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/B09480.0001.001/1:1?rgn=div1;view=fulltext More on Leonard Calvert: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Calvert Read “A Relation of the Successful Beginning:” http://aomol.msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000551/html/am551--46.html Read “A Relation of Maryland”: https://archive.org/details/mdu-md-086018/mode/2up Leonard Calvert image By Florence Mackubin (1857–1918) - Maryland Archives Online http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000100/000198/html/msa00198.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33660225 More on the Yaocomico: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaocomico Read the Thorowgood Letter: https://cdm17340.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/sccm/id/6 Fife and Drum by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3748-fife-and-drum License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

George Calvert, the father of the Maryland colony, took a complicated path to obtaining a royal patent.  We summarize his life and the steps he took to obtain a Catholic colony patent from King Charles I.  Read Calvert’s Petition for a New Charter: https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/exploration/george-calvert-letter-1629.php More on George Calvert: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Calvert,_1st_Baron_Baltimore More on Cecil Calvert: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Calvert,_2nd_Baron_Baltimore Read the Maryland Charter: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/B09480.0001.001/1:1?rgn=div1;view=fulltext Claiborne photo: By Appletons 1880 Cyclopedia of American Biography., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26763163 Fife and Drum by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3748-fife-and-drum License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

After a three month hiatus, Historical Context returns to Jamestown in 1625.  Fresh off of being stripped of its charter and being converted to a royal colony, Jamestown struggles to survive.  See how the colony handles a negotiation with the king, as well as two changes in governor.  A 1629 arrival would set the stage for a new, competing colony.  Read the Petition from the Convention of 1625: https://archive.org/details/journalsofhousb1619virg/page/42/mode/2up Read Decisions of Virginia General Court 1626: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4241917.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A800638eb0030f35d57a403247f1def69 Read Decisions of the Virginia Court of 1627: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4241960.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A943bca0c78e26974505fb0ae32a85eff More on Francis West: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_West More on Charles I: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England More on Sir John Harvey: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_(Virginia_governor)  Fife and Drum by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3748-fife-and-drum License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, we outline the first twenty years of interest (up to 1630) and colonize by the Dutch in modern day New York and New Jersey.  While few primary sources exist, we've managed to find enough writings to tell the story.  The Dutch join the English and the Spanish (American southwest) as living in America.  Read more about the First Fort Nassau: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Nassau_(North_River) Read the Grant of Exclusive Trade of 1614: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/charter_011.asp Read more about the Two Row Wampum Treaty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Row_Wampum_Treaty#The_treaty Read the Charter of the Dutch West India Company: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/westind.asp More on Cornelius Jacobsen Mey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Jacobsen_May More on Fort Orange: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Orange_(New_Netherland) More on Willem Verhulst: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Verhulst More on Peter Minuit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Minuit Read the Notification of Purchase of Manhattan: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/charter_015.asp Read the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions: https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/dutch-new-netherland/sources/1345 New Netherland seal: By Original artist Unknown authorPhotograph by MattWade; Vectorization: ZooFari - Vectorized version of File:New Netherlands Seal Photo.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7434072 Fife and Drum by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3748-fife-and-drum License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Fort Painting courtesy of: https://www.albany.edu/museum/wwwmuseum/tantillo/trading.html

John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity" was a sermon given in April 1630 while he was aboard a ship headed to the newly established Massachusetts Bay colony.  The speech is considered the earliest example of the strive towards American exceptionalism.

We return to Plymouth in today's episode only to learn that another addition to the colony is creating trouble.  Read The Division of Cattle: http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/cattlediv.html More on Thomas Morton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Morton_(colonist) Mayday at Merrymount photo By New York, Scribner, Armstrong, and company, publisher - https://archive.org/details/pophistusa01bryarich/page/425/mode/2up, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105356550 Fife and Drum by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3748-fife-and-drum License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

***Please note there is an audio crackle at the beginning.  That is on our end***  Charles I's dissolution of Parliament in 1629 was a critical point in the divisions between him and the growing Puritan culture in England.  While many do not consider the speech significant to American history, it does represent a turning point to immigration in America.  Without Charles I's rough stance on Puritan culture, Massachusetts Bay would have never grown into the colony it became.    This video focuses on the exact text from Charles I's address dissolving Parliament.  Please let me know in the comments if this is a new feature you'd like to see more of.

Today's episode discusses the start of the Massachusetts Bay colony, which neighbored Plymouth and also contained English Puritans.  Our episode will introduce John Winthrop whose book, "A History of New England" would chronicle the early days of the colony.  More on Matthew Cradock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Cradock More on John Endecott: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Endecott Read the Royal Charter for the Massachusetts Bay Colony: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/mass03.asp More on the Cambridge Agreement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Agreement Read “A History of New England”: https://archive.org/details/historyofnewengl01wint/page/n11/mode/2up?view=theater More on John Winthrop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Winthrop John Winthrop photo courtesy of: By Unknown author; when donated to the AAS, it was thought to be by a follower of Anthony van Dyck; Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, v.6, facing p. 572) attributes it to van Dyck. - http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Inventories/Portraits/153.htm , additional provenance from the American Antiquarian Society: http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Inventories/Portraits/bios/153.pdf, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12601199 Fife and Drum by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3748-fife-and-drum License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

***In today's episode, you will hear a few intermittent audio crackles.  That issue is on our end.***  Strife hits the Plymouth Colony as a few settlers begin to sympathize with the Church of England and opposing viewpoints.  A conspiracy unfolds leading to the first banishments from Plymouth.  Today's episode tells the story of how it all unfolded.  More on Edward Winslow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_WinslowMore on William Bradford: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bradford_(governor) More on John Oldham: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Oldham_(colonist) More on John Lyford: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_LyfordMap Courtesy of: USA Massachusetts location map.svg for borders, rivers and coastline; by Alexrk2, GFDL/CC-BY-3.0 Fife and Drum by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3748-fife-and-drum  License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/