American Culture 1700s

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.

In early 1600's, Puritans followed the Pilgrims to America then they landed in Massachusetts bay. The Puritans started the colony because they wanted to escape religious persecution. The only religion was the Puritans.In the early 1600's of, Massachusetts there was only one Indian tribe,and that was the Wampanoag. Puritans tried to purify the Anglican church because they wanted to make services simpler and taking ranks of authority

As the Protestant Reformation lead to oppression of outside opinions and beliefs, many peoples took this opportunity to start anew in colonial America. However, each region adopted a slightly different religion. For example, New England became a stable platform for Protestants. As the Church of England underwent radical changes, some Englishmen opposed these changes due to their striking similarities to Catholicism, and therefore sought a new religion, Protestantism (Foner p.64). In order to avoid oppression and discrimination of their new religion in England, many fled to America in hopes of seeking religious tolerance. Some settled in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. Protestantism preached about the importance of sermons, equality, and even adopted John Calvin’s idea of pre-determined salvation (Foner p. 65). Winthrop and the first settlers of Massachusetts set up a Commission in which Puritan beliefs governed society. For example,

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 colonial America was made up of large cities, rural settlements, and frontier regions. Life in colonial America was nothing short of difficult. The large cities were made up of many classes of people ranging from wealthy to slaves. There were some that had very specific skills as well as communication skills and others who had nothing. The wealthy people dreamed of what they were going to do in the future, however the middle class people dreamed but did not plan. They were better off than the average poor person, but still worked very hard sunrise to sunset. In this paper I will provide information on what life was like for various aspects and people groups in colonial America.

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.

The argument may arise that nearly every European who came to America brought their religion with them, but that was not why they came. Religion was their lifestyle, and there were many dangers of living on new land, so they wanted to remain holy and receive God's protection. Some settlements converted the surrounding Indians (usually by force), but that was not their main objective,

America is a country where individuals are able to find their own niche within their community, to connect with other individuals with common beliefs, and to have an American identity without losing their own roots. One of the reasons why America is what it is today is because of how its history was started and founded. Ever since its discovery, people from different continents such as Africa, Europe, and Asia have immigrated to America for various reasons, allowing America to be ethnically diverse. Throughout the world, cultural diffusion occurs; however, in America, cultural diffusion has been part of the country’s culture since the colonial era. For example, the colonies in America did not only interact with their mother country,

In the early 1600’s when Natives had control over land, their religion was seen to be very different going from tribe to tribe. They all had a strong religion with many beliefs, rituals and traditions. For example, before and during a hunt, they would pray over their food and pray for a good hunt. When Europeans began to arrive in North America, that began to change. The Europeans felt strongly about their religion which was Christianity.

Knox, Dr. Ellis L. "Social History." European Social Structure. Dr. Ellis L. Knox, Boise State, 11 Sept. 2000. Web. 3 Feb. 2016. .

To help with emerging oneself into the text, the author uses photographs and illustrations from living museums and authentic historical reenactments to show how colonial people lived in the 1600 and 1700s. The author does not just make mention of names of those who come over to settle into the New World but tells how and why the New World was settled. The author is very detailed in describing how things were for the settlers. The author even includes the hardships settlers and their families faced when they arrived in the New World such as the death of many settlers due to illness. There is so much information in the book and the author provides the reader with questions to begin each new topic in the book. This will help readers with critical thinking. The book has colored sidebars with even more interesting information and historical facts about colonial times and activities to try with the class.

Many argue that America has very little of its own culture, or that we never had an identity to begin with. On the contrary, America has a distinct patriotism and pride that has stuck with it since the day they won their independence. Many cultures have fled from their own countries and come to it for refuge- similarly to the way the British colonists had originally fled to America in the hopes of religious freedoms and liberties. America may have many different cultures rather than one specific culture, but this has added to its identity, rather than taken away from it.

Becoming America The American culture, a unique culture. What defines “American.” Americans are defined by events in the 1800’s.

The culture of the original colonies that live in the United States in the 18th centuries were different than it is in present day. Their form of arts, sciences, and media would be called mediocre in today’s society but at the time they were viewing this as a revolution and vast improvement because of the change of thinking that had been brought up by The Great Awakening and Enlightenment. For one their art developed through Architecture which had improved considerable since the initial migration to the U.S. along with their painting, and literature. During this time Science had also started to advance through medical and electrical means, but their media had also improved due to the printing press and the distribution of newspapers. So during this time culture had started to take root and become a big part of the colonial life.

There was a lot of religious diversity in the beginning. The settlers were culturally different from each other such as the Congregationalists in Connecticut, Puritans in Massachusetts, and Quakers in Pennsylvania. People came searching for religious freedom. The Baptists, Quakes, Lutherans, Anglicans and Presbyterians had great amount of discrimination and violence. I could see how there would be conflict between the religions because of their different believes and values.