The New England Convicts

Australia was first claimed by Captain Cook in early 1770, but it wasn’t settled until 1788 when the first fleet of 11 ships arrived at Botany Bay, carrying 1,530 passengers - mostly convicts, as well as some marines and officers. They moved to Port Jackson to begin establishing a settlement. Specific prisoners were chosen for the trip, the ones with skills in building, farming and other things that would have been useful to create a “liveable” environment for the new inhabitants. The first “free” settlers only arrived in 1793, thus beginning the colonisation of New South Wales.

Throughout the years, the use of imprisonment has varied, along with its influences of society. It is thought that although prisons have been around since the thirteenth century, prisons as we know them now to be have only been around for the last three centuries. The first uses of prisons were not seen as a form of punishment instead they were used as a way of making people do something. People would be held in prison until they paid their debts, or awaiting trial and then leading up to their sentence. McGowen (1995) suggests that from the early 1700s ‘bridewells’ a house of correction have existed, however at that time being used merely for vagrants and drunks. At the end of the sixteenth century there was a shift in punishment to imprisonment, along with this came a new, more humane idea of reform. Criminals would spend their days of prison carrying out hard labour. However after the American Revolution, imprisonment took a step back and there was another change. There was mass overcrowding within the prison service and although the death penalty was still being used it was a symbol of the power of the state. Therefore, an everyday way of dealing with offenders would be transportation to the colonies, being either Australia or America.

In 1755 Herefordshire, England, William Eggleton was conceived. William's family was exceptionally poor likewise, he was a laborer with very little cash so was compelled to steal. 39 shillings worth of attire was taken on his behalf. At 31 years old his trial was held on Wednesday, 22 March 1786. William was discovered liable of robbery in this manner was sentenced 7 years of transportation to Australia. 13 May 1787, came the depature of William who travelled on the "Alexander." As this was the first arrangement of vessels to leave England with convicts, it was known as the First Fleet. 195 other male convicts travelled with him for 241 days until they achieved the shore of Botany Bay on the 18th January 1788.

During the 17 and 18th century the British legal system was incredibly harsh, distributing death penalties for often minor offences, the aim of this was to deter individuals from committing crime. There was very

The first fleet arrived at Botany Bay on the 18th of January 1788 which was later declared as an official prison. The Captain of the fleet, Captain Phillips however found out that the harbour was in lack of fresh water therefore was unsuitable for conviction. The fleet then redirected to Port Jackson which then marked the official first European landing on Sydney Harbour.

Throughout New England Colony life they have very strict rules and will not tolerate bad behavior. There so strict in fact they have a man called the tithingman, the tithingman whacks people in the head if there asleep in church and he tickles the females. If the children are misbehaving then the tithingman punishes them to, if this keeps going on the tithing man will find their parents and whack or tickle them to (how embarrassing). The New england colonies practiced slavery throughout the 17th century.

The three original regions of English settlement on the Eastern Coast of North America developed independently into societies according to the environment and people who settled in them. These communities lay the foundation for the thirteen colonies that later became the United States of America.

The American colonists saw them self’s just as common folks in King George III eyes. They figured by trading with Britain they can all just be in peace. (So they thought) In this time period, they did not have banks and they had little money so Colonists used credit to get the things they needed from the other colonies. When they came to America, Britain wanted to control expansion into the western territories after the French and Indian War. To do so, King George issued the Proclamation of 1763 prohibiting settlements beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Pushing everyone who hand already settled down on that side to move back over to were the rest of the colonist were.

On May 13th, in 1787, "The First Fleet" is the name given to a group of 11 ships that sailed from Portsmouth. Then on January 18th, in 1788 with 1,530 people, 736 of them convicts. Eight days later, the fleet left to establish a settlement at Port Jackson. The settlement grew to be Sydney, Australia’s biggest city. The first ship and crew went to the Australian coast and met with Aboriginal people. Many of these were merchant ships from the Dutch and included more ships. Chartering parts of the north, west and south coasts of Australia, which was then known as New Holland. The coast of Australia, featuring Tasmania as a separate island, was mapped in detail by the English navigators. Expeditions between 1790 and 1830s, were recorded by naturalists. In the

Most American colonists were loyal to Great Britain and looked to it for protection, but after the French & Indian War ended things began to change. The war had cost Great Britain a lot of money and they wanted the American colonists to help pay for it. Each attempt to raise revenue in the American colonies was resented. Great Britain stated passing laws such as; the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Acts. The colonists saw this as an attempt to tax them without representation in Parliament and as a tyranny which led the colonist to choose sides. The Americans also resented the "Proclamation of 1763". This forbade American to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. Due to deteriorating relations with the colonies,

Massachusetts Bay Colony settled by a group of somewhat 1000 Puritans refugees from England. The Puritans came up with a theocratic government with the franchise which was limited to church members. Leader were trying to find a way to prevent independence of religious views and other religious views. By the mid 1640’s the population grew to approximately 20,000 people.

The Puritans were a widespread and diverse group of people who took a stand in the 16th and 17th century in Europe. Their rise was directly related to the increased knowledge that that came to the common people during the Enlightenment. As people learned to read and write, and as the bible became more accessible to the commoners, many began to read the bible for themselves. The word Puritan first came as a term for those who advocated more purity in the church. “Under siege from church and crown, it sent an offshoot in the 3rd and 4th decades of the seventeenth century to the northern english colonies in the New World- a migration that laid the foundation for the religious, intellectual, and social order of New England.”

Amid the sixteenth century, the main exiled people to settle in Jamestown were for the most part ladies however as additional time passed it turned out to be more regular for young fellows in their adolescents and mid-twenties to immigrate into the New World. It was very common for emigrants to make their way across the Atlantic in return for their work as contracted slaves. Meaning that travelers and English could work for a specific measure of years until their "obligations" were paid off while being fed and clothed by salve owners. The slave owners had a decision to pick between getting English and European contracted slaves since it was low-cost work. Furthermore, when compared to the amount it would cost to purchase an African slave, the

The European jailing system was the method used by early English settlers for America; at the time the colonists first arrived in this country, all the knowledge they had come from England, France, and Holland, so it only made sense to develop a justice system that they were familiar with and then change it along the way. The earliest concept of common law included a set of rules that were designed to help with problem solving throughout society; these ideas were drawn upon in making decisions that were made by judges from the past. The colonists would eventually develop their own system of criminal justice; these practices are what helped develop the system that America currently uses today (Social Welfare History Project, 2012).

Slavery is often thought of as a Southern Institution, which is not true. All of America, and in fact the whole hemisphere was part of the dark and regrettable history.