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History Of The United States

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The history of the United States from colonization to reconstruction is long and complicated. It is filled with suffering, death, and hope. To best describe the story of the United States we would have to use the phrase “slow and steady growth filled with conflict.” The United States was not formed in one day, nor was it planned. It took hundreds of years of economic, territorial, and political growth and conflict. In this paper we will focus on three types of growth and conflict; economical, territorial and political. Each of these phases will contain three time periods; colonial, revolutionary, and a growing nation. These time periods reflect key intervals to better understand and see the common theme of growth and conflict. I. Economic …show more content…

With pressure looming, John Rolfe helped cultivate tobacco in Jamestown. This would become the “gold” for the Jamestown colony. Initial tobacco exports between 1615-16 were roughly 2300 pounds. By 1640 exports had surpassed 1.5 million pounds per year. But success came at a cost. Conflict would spring up between local native tribes, like the Powhatans, who were seeing their lands being taken for the cultivation of tobacco. This expansion was due to tobacco plants absorbing huge quantities of nutrients from the soil and the demand to grow more tobacco. This conflict would be known as the Anglo-Powhatan Wars, which lasted on and off from 1610 until 1677 in which the Treaty of Middle Plantation would establish indian reservations. This similar process of early struggle, to finding a cash crop, and fighting of Indians would continue for the rest of the colonies, from New England to the Southern Colonies. We would see the rise of cash crops such as rice and indigo. Rice would dominate the Carolinas as a cash crop that helped the region grow and prosper. Rice was introduced in the 17th century, and would dominate the plantations of South Carolina and Georgia. Slave labor, specifically slaves from West Africa, who had experience cultivating rice, were used in early plantations. Rice would help make many southern plantation owners prosper in wealth. Indigo would come into prominence in the 1740’s as plant to be grown on the side when rice is not being

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