The document provides background information on early colonial America, including:
1) The founding and struggles of the first English colony at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, including the "starving times" where many colonists died.
2) How tobacco became a profitable cash crop in Virginia and shaped its economy and society, leading to the use of indentured servants and later slaves.
3) The founding and development of other English colonies including Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia in the 1600s-1700s.
4) Conflicts between colonists and Native Americans over land, including Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.
5) The emergence of slavery as the labor system of the