Colonial America Summary

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.

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.

Queen Elizabeth I desired to establish a permanent English settlement in America, known then as "the New World." In the summer of 1587 a group of nearly 120 men and women from England arrived on Roanoke Island, one of a chain of barrier islands now known as the Outer Banks, off the coast of what is now known as North Carolina. This group of settlers set sail from England with the mission of making the Queen's wishes a reality.

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

In 1419, Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal began the period of time known as the “Age of Exploration”. Europe’s leading superpowers, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and England, all competed for colonization in unknown territories. Samuel de Champlain colonized along the St. Lawrence River in 1608, Henry Hudson of Holland established Albany in 1609, and Spain established colonies in Mexico and Mesoamerica. In 1607, England established its first colony in North America around the Chesapeake Bay, and nearly a decade later established a second colony in present-day New England. Both New England and the Chesapeake were founded by the British around the same time; however, both colonies developed a different economy, government, and many

By the 1700’s, New England, the Chesapeake region and the Southern Colonies developed into three distinct societies, despite coming from the same mother country, England. The regions of Colonial America each had a distinctive culture and economy entirely different from the other regions. Religion and religious tolerance was completely different in each region, running from being free to complete persecution. Ethnicity and racial composition ranged from almost complete British descent to a wide range of composition. Each region was politically and economically structured different and had its own identity. Each developed differently based on immigration trends, geography and other features. Throughout the colonization of Colonial America,

Raleigh sent out two small troops lead by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to scout out a new inhabitable area (Horn, James). They arrived on the outer banks a few months later in August, 1585 (Carpenter, Jeannine). They were the first English explorers to set eyes on North Carolina (The Lost Colony). Within days after Lanes return to Roanoke Island from Weapemeoc, he wrote historian and geographer Richard Hakluyt that they had: “discovered the mainland to be the goodliest soil under the cope of heaven, so abounding with sweet trees, that bring such sundry rich and most pleasant gummes, grapes of such greatness, yet wild, as France, Spain nor Italy hath no greater” (Carpenter, Jeannine). One of the islands they persuade looked like a perfect island to settle. In another letter he sent to Sir Francis Walsingham, secretary to Queen Elizabeth, Lane seems to have enclosed a crude map, its legends revealing a “great store of fish” and “great red grapes very pleasant” there (Carpenter, Jeannine). This island was Roanoke, ten miles long and two and a half miles wide. These were all reasons why the Roanoke colonists would have been able to establish a long term residence there.

     Religion was a very important part of everyday life in colonial America. Sometimes people were not allowed to question what they were taught, and if they did so they were punished accordingly. Before 1700 some colonies had more religious freedom then others. While others colonies only allowed religious freedom to a select group, others allowed religious freedom to all different kinds of religions. In the overall there was quite a bit of religious freedom in colonial America

Historical scholars, critics, and archaeologists have thoroughly analyzed and developed often conflicting opinions on the superiority of religious perspectives of American Indian culture versus European culture. However, in American Colonies by Alan Taylor, Taylor notes that it is futile to claim that one culture was better or worse than the other because of the religious ideologies that shaped their societies, and instead claims that both shared faults and strengths that should be considered before making generalizations (Taylor 4). Alan Taylor identifies important comparisons between the cultures of American Indians and Europeans, particularly in reference to religion, which include their shared involvement in persistent warfare, their similar yet different arrangements of social order, and their contrary approaches to spirituality in regards to the natural and supernatural world that in turn shaped their

In the late 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I of England endeavored to establish a permanent settlement in the New World. Elizabeth granted English aristocrat Sir Walter Ralegh the rights to introduce a settlement to spread the influence of the Queen and the Christian faith. In 1585, the first English settlers populated the new colony of Roanoke. By establishing Roanoke, the English hoped to launch trade with the Native Americans and mount piracy attacks on the ships of the enemy Spanish fleet. Queen Elizabeth sponsored “privateering” by motivating English sailors to raid and pillage Spanish ships, and having an English colony near the Spanish colonies would increase the effectiveness of privateering. Elizabeth hoped that once the English controlled the entire Eastern Seaboard of the new continent, the Spanish would hardly be a threat. However, the English were hasty in establishing their first settlement and this ultimately lead to the downfall of the colony. Roanoke failed to last for more than a few years and by 1590, the entire colony had disappeared. If the English focused on establishing a safe and durable settlement instead of developing a base for trade, privateering, and further expansion, the first colony of Roanoke could have been successful.

In conclusion, England had reasonable motives to emigrate and colonize. Although Raleigh's efforts to found a permanent colony off the coast of Virginia ultimately failed with the mysterious destruction of the Roanoke Island colony in 1587, awakened popular interest in a permanent colonizing venture. Still others looked for the much-sought-after route to the Orient in North America. In addition, the New World provided new resources and land that was desired by the English people. The Renaissance also played a vitale role. In many ways, it promoted colonization and

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

The “new world” that Columbus boasted of to the Spanish monarchs in 1500 was neither an expanse of empty space nor a replica of European culture, tools, textiles, and religion, but a combination of Native, European, and African people living in complex relation to one another. »full text