Brief Summary: Life In Colonial America

Between 1492-1776, although many people moved to the “New World”, North America lost population due to the amount of Indians dying from war and diseases and the inability of colonists to replace them. John Murrin states, “losers far outnumbered winners” in “ a tragedy of such huge proportions that no one’s imagination can easily encompass it all.” This thought of a decreasing population broadens one’s perspective of history from that of an excluded American tale full of positivity to that of a more unbiased, all-encompassing analysis. The Indians and slaves have recently been noted as a more crucial part of history than previously accredited with.

After the first few struggling settlements in the New World progressed, more and more colonies sprung from the untested North American soil. Eventually, there were three main categories to the European colonies. They were each unique, although one certain class stood in stark contrast to the other two. This group, the Middle colonies, was a halfway point between the New England and Southern colonies – and not just geographically. The Middle colonies extracted parts of its neighbors, like farming habits and spiritual sects, but the middle group managed to retain its own flavor.

     When the first colonists came to America there were not many things available to them. Their life was hard, almost impossible compared to life today. The early colonists spent almost every hour of everyday working to stay alive. They survived because they were committed to making their settlement grow. (John F. Warner- pg.12-13)

Of both the reading assignments over the summer I enjoyed Colonial America by Alan Taylor, because of the writing structure, the footnotes/sources and the visual aids. This text is no more than what it is named for, the colonization of America. The book is a view of the events that led to colonization, and the effects said colonization had on the, now american, landscape. It is a clean a simple overview of the causes and effects of the colonization of America.

Black folk traditions like spirituals and “ragged music” evolve into the blues, ragtime, and jazz.

America, one of the youngest countries in the world, partly owes its success to the events that took place in the northeastern coast in the 1600s. It was great risk for English to colonize in America, a foreign and faraway land, from which they did not know what to expect. At that time, America was dominated by Dutch and French traders and a native population not-so-friendly with most of the settlers. The colonies in Massachusetts and Chesapeake, located at the main crossroads of English, Dutch, and French settlers and natives, play a significant role in the development of the future world power. Although today the east coast enjoys a harmonious and successful lifestyle, in the early days of our Nation’s birth, the Massachusetts and

Democracy is a system of government where the supreme power is rested in the people. In colonial America, democratic features began early on and common rights were given such as the tolerance of religion, educational opportunities, freedom of speech, and a representative government. The principles of democracy were first mentioned in the Mayflower Compact as it notes about working together as to support the colony. As democracy in colonial America progressed, civil rights were provided to the majority but were limited to the minority. Colonial America granted common rights such as freedom of speech and protection from crime.

The democracy established in colonial America developed greatly as the rights of colonists were recognized, however, the early establishment caused many of the features to be undemocratic. The history in colonial America as shown in the documents imply that equality among people of different races, genders and beliefs was not yet established during this time. America was filled with inequality and undemocratic features, allowing prejudice to occur between men and women, and the difference races. In 1763, the qualifications that one needed in order to vote varied depending on the colony. Although, each colony required that the voter was to be of the christian religion, white race, and male gender.

Daily life during the colonial American days was were rough and began the marking period for America. The colonial period set the stage for what we have today in American history such as what we grow and where we grow them. Anything from the clothing made to the foods we grow has been discovered during the colonial period. The start of the colonial period stood for rough livelihood by 1774 the ability to sustain life had been reached and reflects some parts of the modern world today. As for the Virginia Colony of 1775 there were millions of people living in the colonies and there were about 500,000 living in Virginia. Based off of those numbers we can see that Virginia was a popular place to be, Virginia was not full of wealthy people such as planters and merchants but there were a small significant amount that stood at two percent lived in cities such as Richmond, Williamsburg, and Fredericksburg.

Colonial Americans faced many hardships as they came to the new land and established the new country. These hardships were explained and told in the writings of John smith, Phillis Wheatley, and Anne Bradstreet. As these writers were primary sources, meaning they experienced the suffering and privation first hand, you can have a better understanding of what it was like for them, or the people during that era. These colonists had suffered a great amount. Either these colonists did not know how to hunt for game, they did not know how to farm correctly, they were slaves, or had troubles with many other things. Which had led to many of these colonists’ having to suffer in many different ways, such as from the lack of proper nutrition, being diseased, or from the vicious beatings of their owners. Many colonist’s lost their lives, starved, and did not know how to live when they found or were coming to the new land. There were many different types of hardships that the people of that era endured. Each writer had their own rough experience they spoke about in their writings.

Next, life in the colonies, now i am going to tell you about life on a farm. Here are some things about life on a farm. The colonists developed an economy based on farming and commerce, and handcrafts. Most farmer families raised mostly everything they needed. So you wake up really early to share the chores and some of the chores were like

The Massachusetts colony, otherwise known as the ‘Massachusetts Bay colony’ was originally settled by Puritans in 1630. They were plagued by the religious persecutions of King Charles I and the Church of England. Weary from this dogged torment, they left England under the leadership of John Winthrop. These original colonists quickly established many small towns in the name of high religious ideals and strict societal rules. They also planted churches, spread Puritanism and religiously educated the masses, as these were some of their goals. A utopian society that other colonies looked upon with high regards was the ultimate goal.

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.

The European conquest for establishing North American colonies began with various motivations, each dependent on different, and/or merging necessities: economics, the desire to flee negative societal aspects, and the search for religious freedoms. Originally discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 in search for a trade route to Cathay (China), North America remained uninhabited, excluding the Native American establishments. Following this discovery, Spain –along with other European nations such as France, England, Sweden and the Netherlands– soon began the expedition to the new land with vast expectations. Driven by economic, societal, and religious purposes, the New World developed into a diversely structured colonial establishment

In the documentary, Up from Slavery: 18th century Colonial America Under the Rule of the British Empire, the story of slavery begins on the coast of West Africa where thousands of African people are unceasingly enslaved and placed upon overcrowded ships on which they must endure the cruelest of conditions. Many did not live through the journey due to disease, malnutrition, or in some cases murder, such as the Zong Massacre where 132 slaves were thrown overboard in a monstrous act committed by the captain all for the sake of an insurance claim. Out of the 12 million slaves who endured the grueling Middle Passage, only about 5,000 were transported to the United States. However, by the time of the Civil War, that number increased to 4 million