f North America in the 1500s. Before that time, the continent was an unknown place to them. These adventurers saw it as an entirely new land, with animals and plants to discover. They also met new people in this exciting New World—people with fascinating lifeways that the Europeans had never seen and languages they had never heard. This New World for Europeans was actually a very old world for the various people they met in North America. Today we call those people American Indians.
Everyday Life in Early America was written by David Freeman Hawke, a professor of American History at Lehman College. He was seventy-five years old when he passed away in 1999. Hawke carried multiple degrees from Swarthmore College, University of Wisconsin, and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a highly regarded historical scholar with a talent for writing. Hawke already had several books published by the time he wrote Everyday Life in Early America in 1988. These books include: The Colonial Experience (1966), In the Midst of a Revolution (1961), Paine (1974), and Franklin (1976). His other book, “Benjamin Rush: Revolutionary Gadfy” was a biography nominated for National Book Award in 1972.
The New World In 1492 a man named Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean to come across what they later learned to be the Americas or the “New World”. Columbus thought he had reached India, therefore calling the Natives, Indians. The interactions between the Native Americans and colonists from Spain, England, and France would shape American history as we know it today, the good and bad.
The rise of English-Americans was motivated by their intense missionary zeal and the increased poverty in England. They consisted of immigrants, indentured servants, and the high demand for their products by the Indian-Americans. However, settling became difficult with several challenges that led to colonies such as the Jamestown, and tobacco colonies. The conflicts during English settlement also contributed to the rise of religious homes in Maryland. After settling, they began to integrate their way of life characterized by the rise of puritanism – religious Protestants who believed the Church of England had many Catholic elements (Foner, 2014). This led to the division of English-Americans
AAmerica began as a small struggling nation, with each citizen desiring an opportunistic way of life. To achieve this way of life, many changes needed to be made. Different people with distinctive ideas came together, and although there was conflict, they made great changes politically, socially, and economically. Each aspect changed America tremendously in a variety of ways. Analyzing each specific change can determine the extent in which America has changed for better or for worse.
Throughout early history, beginning with 1492, exploration was well on its way. European nations began heading west towards the New World in search of new trade routes to the East Indies. With support from kings through financial aid and moral guidance, a new peak was reached upon the arrival of Columbus in the Caribbean islands off the mainland of the Americas. Such an extraordinary event, future voyages were sent off to explore the rest of the New World by Spanish, French, and English ships and explorers. During these times of exploration, traveling nations encountered the Natives among the lands where they would then determine their future through alliances and conflicts. The settlement patterns, along with the attitudes of the American Indians that were encountered with by the Spanish, French and English exploration, can be compared and contrasted through the goals of these nations culturally and socially, and even through the opportunity for economic growth .
In the early days of America under British rule, there were only 13 colonies; all of which across the Atlantic coast of North America. These 13 colonies of British colonial America were divided into 3 geographical regions: New England colonies (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire), Middle colonies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware), and Southern colonies (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia). Environmental and Geographical variations led to the division of the colonies; but economic, social, and political issues led to the colonies being represented by 3 separate regions and not a unified whole. I believe that colonial america was represented by 3 separate regions because of economic specialization,
Colonists were practicing a democratic features in colonial america time because Great Britain is hundreds of miles away. Democracy in colonial America was in a work in progress with democratic and undemocratic features.
Whether by land or by sea, eighteenth century colonial travel was arduous, expensive, and many times dangerous. Because of this, few people traveled very far from their homes. Transportation has changed dramatically since the late 1700’s. It was during this time that Colonial America was budding as a new country. This was before airplanes, which appeared in the very early stages of the 1900’s. Cars showed up about the same time, so rewind about 200 plus years and we’re back in colonial America. It wasn’t civilized like it is today. The dirt roads were bumpy, grimy, and when the rains came, they were mud baths. So how did people during this time get around? Often, they didn’t. Not many people could afford the cost of travel back then. Daily American Colonial Life was extremely harsh for the first settlers and colonists. They were faced with a new country, unknown territory and no friends, relatives or neighbors to help them “In those days, it was fairly expensive to travel. Because of this, generally only government officials, merchants, and planters took the risk (Constitution Facts).” Women were supposed to stay home and look after the children while the husband went off to do business. America was still a budding country, so there were not as many cities as there are now and they were more spread out. If the man wanted to travel, it would require several hours, or even several days to ride on horseback. Often the husband wouldn’t return for a couple of days, and when he
From 1607 to 1754, people’s views on governing themselves changed greatly. It began in 1607, with the settlement of Jamestown. They were a corporate colony, working for the Virginia Company, they were whole-heartedly British. The Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and the Tradition of Neglect all introduced new ways for the American colonies to think of themselves as more independent. Although they still considered themselves part of the British Empire, by the end of this era they had discovered that they could make their own laws and constitutions that fit the way that their world worked as opposed to Great Britain.
At the start of mans relationship with government and man it was very rocky throughout the hundred of years. The first government was extremely cruel to own people. The government in Britain was killing people because of their own religious rules. In Africa the government in place was selling their own people into the slave trade. All around mans first government was externally terrible and corrupt to their own people.
During the late 1700s, production and manufacturing were centralized around people’s homes and farms. The majority of the work produced was done to provide for individual or community use; often hard labor, basic machines, and hand tools were used to carry out tasks. An era of powered machines and factories created the Industrial mark across the nation. Textile and iron industries developed the steam engine to help improve transportation and exchange to increase manufactured goods. While the impact improved the standard of living for a small majority, others a large majority remained poor and living in poverty. Urban cities that housed large manufacturing plants that provided jobs in often overcrowded cities and poor living conditions.
During the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, the Europeans decided to embark on many journeys that would change their way of life forever. These journeys and the exchange of people, ideas, animals, food, and diseases between the two groups shaped history for the next five hundred years. When the Europeans arrived at this new-found land, they discovered what they considered to be an entirely new species of humans, the Native Americans. These two newly encountered groups of people had a few of the same characteristics and way of living, but overall the differences between them were extremely immense.
Prior to the famous European discovery of the Americas in the 14th century, the land now known as contemporary America was much different. It was full of dense forests, unmolested picturesque landscapes, and human inhabitants that were separated from Europe’s economy and advancements in technology by the Atlantic Ocean. This untouched human race had a population of upwards of one-hundred million that would soon face a holocaust unlike any this world may ever see. One of the most interesting, nefarious, and catastrophic interactions throughout all human history was shared between the people of two vastly different and glorious cultures. Two populations, together numbering upwards of 125 million individuals, shared a the largest cultural clash
As early as the fifteenth century, Europeans began to become eager to discover the New World that was unknown to them. With the concerns of rapid population growth, commerce, new learning, and the rise of competing for nation states, they set out for new adventures and discovery. For a long time, Spain and Portugal were the only European powers with New World colonies.
Until the late 1400's, Europeans did not know the existence of the two American continents ( North and South America ). To the European explorers, exploring the other side of the Atlantic was like exploring an entire different world, hence the name- the New World. In 1492, Christopher Columbus unknowingly discovered the new continent. His original motives for exploring was to find an easier route to Asia but instead, he discovered the New World. Thus; Spain, France and England began sending out conquistadors and explorers to the uncharted terrains of the new continent. Motives for the Spanish, French, and English explorers varied greatly, however, they were similar in some ways. The motives of the Spanish explorers were acquisition of