Foundation America Native
Many different groups of people have made contributions that have helped shape America. There are three groups of people that played a vital role in the development of Early America. The greatest contributors were the Native Americans, the Africans and the Europeans. Their interactions with one another shaped the development of the American territories. Their influences on Early America would have far reaching effects through the colonial era and ultimately beyond. They laid the foundation for America.
It is believed that humans existed in North America since as early as 13,000 B.C. An estimated 7 million to 10 million Indians lived north of Mesoamerica (Boyer, 2008). Native Americans developed and adapted a lifestyle that allowed them to thrive as a people. Their cultural, economic, political and religious components were concrete. Native Americans were not just one group as a whole. There were several hundred nations and tribes (Boyer, 2008). Each group had their similarities as well as their differences. Their societies were based on kinship, reciprocity, and the control and communal use of their resources (Boyer, 2008). They not only traded goods, but ideas and technology as well.
Native Americans found their means to survive in many different ways. Some were hunters, agriculturists, hunter-gatherers, or fishers (Boyer, 2008). These tribes had different ways of living than others. They were hunters, agriculturists, hunter-gatherers, or fishers, and each one had. In some of the tribes, the labor was divided among the sexes (Boyer, 2008). For example, the hunters required that the men hunt and the women process the food (Boyer, 2008). In other tribes, this was not the case. In some agricultural societies, the labor was the responsibility of the men. In some tribes women owned land, made political decisions, and distributed food (Boyer, 2008). Overall, it does not seem that Native Americans considered one sex more powerful than the other.
Many of the Native American tribes were held together by kinship. This created social obligation and interdependence (Boyer, 2008). Some tribes developed kinship through the extended families of the women (Boyer, 2008). For example among the Iroquois, once married, the husband would go to live with the extended family of the wife. Instead of the husband, the eldest son would be the male role model in the home (Boyer, 2008). In some tribes it was vice versa. Ultimately it was all a means to create kinship.
Their political structure was arranged much like a government. There was not much of a hierarchy. Most of the tribes had a village council, which was their utmost political authority (Boyer, 2008). The Iroquois on the other hand, had a sophisticated political hierarchy known as the Iroquois Confederacy (Boyer, 2008). The role women played in politics varied from tribe to tribe. Because of their leading roles amongst the agricultural peoples, women were more likely to assume leadership positions than those among the hunters (Boyer, 2008).
Between the 15th and 17th centuries, European life was filled with a concern of power and rank. The European's status was affected by their gender, wealth, inherited position and political power (Boyer, 2008). There were many conflicts between the states, religions and social classes. About 75 percent of Europeans were stricken by poverty (Boyer, 2008). They were in debt to landlords and Catholic Church officials. Their conditions were made worse by a spike in population and an environmental scarcity in land (Boyer, 2008). For more than four centuries, crops were either less abundant or failed to grow. The increase in population also demanded more wood to be used as fuel and building resources, ultimately deforesting much of the land (Boyer, 2008). The towns were crowded, dirty, and disease infested. Many moved to other towns and fell on the social ladder as servants. They were financially unable to marry and live independently (Boyer, 2008). The rapid increase in population occurred primarily in England. There were more births than deaths. With the rising population, prices rose and wages dropped. Many were homeless; unemployed, and left to wander the land (Boyer, 2008).
Europe rested on the idea of maintaining long-term reciprocal relationships. This required the upper class to carry themselves with self-resistant and dignity. It also required that the lower class show respect to their betters. Lender's profited from the accrued interest on borrowed money or sellers raising its prices, in response to demand (Boyer, 2008).
The European household consisted primarily of a small nuclear family. . There was usually the mother, father, and several children (Boyer, 2008). The children were the potential laborers that would aid in the household tasks until they were old enough to leave home and live independently. These families were not only related but their own socioeconomic unit (Boyer, 2008). The husband was head of the household. The children usually knelt for the blessing of their father (Boyer, 2008). The women's main role was to bear children and help their husband provide for the family. In these societies, women were viewed as inferior and held little, or sometimes no place in the home and society (Boyer, 2008).
Religions also played a major role in Europe. The Catholic Church, which had been the primary religious authority in Western Europe, was pierced by the Protestant Reformation (Boyer, 2008). Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others broke away and formed rival denominations (Boyer, 2008). These rivalries often contoured themselves to the rivalries that existed between and among European nations and powers.
Another major group that contributed to the foundation of America society was the Africans. Africans lived within a network of interlocking mutual obligations to kinship (Boyer, 2008). They lived with their extended family consisting of parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Their elders were regarded with the highest respect (Boyer, 2008). The bond between them and their extended families ultimately helped them when their nuclear family was broken up and they were brought to the Americas.
Many Africans married shortly after puberty. The death rate was high due to shortages of food and disease. Africans had many children that they used as laborers. The Africans used marriage to forge alliances for mutual benefit (Boyer, 2008). A husband would make a payment to his bride's family as a security. This payment would be recognized as an acknowledgement of both his and her extended families (Boyer, 2008). Their kinship was recognized through the families of the mother. This reinforced the status and power of the women.
The agricultural work was done by both men and women. There was an abundant amount of land of they were able to shift their fields, maintaining high quality soil.
Their religions were primarily geographically traditional religions (Boyer, 2008). In certain ways, these religions were similar to those of the Native Americans. They believed that there was another world that they were not able to see. They also relied on their priests and religious leaders to communicate with the other world (Boyer, 2008). Their religions were emphasized on ancestor worship, believing they were their guardians.
Slavery was of no revelation to the African people. The African nations had been enslaving their own people or people captured in war for years (Boyer, 2008). Because these countries were extremely poor and they needed any money they could get, they would sell their own slaves to the English. It was primarily the Africans on the western coast of the continent that were subjected to slavery (Boyer, 2008). Trading natural resources and human beings was the link between Western African societies with North Africa, the Mediterranean region, and Europe. Upon this same trade would be built West Africa's European connection with the Americas (Boyer, 2008).
Early America was comprised primarily of three different groups. Each had a different reason for being in America. They all differed socially, politically, and religiously. They each contributed good things and bad things.
The Native Americans were already in America upon the arrival of the settlers. The Natives cultivated land, were accomplished hunters and fishers, skilled craftsmen, and formed self-sufficient communities (Boyer, 2008). They saw the arrival of the Europeans as an opportunity to increase trade and share ideas. The setter's had other plans. They wanted to expand. But their success and expansion of the colonization of America would depend upon the ability of the settler's to feed large amounts of people. Farming became crucial to the success of the new colonies. The Native Americans had already cleared plenty of land for farming but, it was their techniques and adaptations over the centuries that enhanced productivity (Boyer, 2008). Native crops had adapted to the American climate and the skilled Indian farmers had developed methods of irrigating and fertilizing crops. These techniques produced the food needed to sustain a growing population. These techniques were soon adopted by the settler's and, they too, were able to feed a growing population. Without these techniques, early settlers would have had great difficulty producing the food necessary to support large numbers of people. This would have affected the early colonies, by limiting their size and changing their rapid growth and expansion of colonial settlements. The benefits of the Early America and its native inhabitants were not just limited to its settlements. Europe and other parts of the world benefitted as well.
Many of the Europeans sent to America were sent as indentured servants (Boyer, 2008). They were sent to work off some sort of debt or crime. Many were being religiously persecuted (Boyer, 2008). All the different religions available in America gave people the opportunity to express the religion and god of their choice, without persecution. England was a Roman Catholic country, where the Pope showed unconditional guidance (Boyer, 2008). Then there was the Anglican Church that was created by Henry VIII in which the King was in charge (Boyer, 2008). Then there was radical John Calvin preaching about predestination (Boyer, 2008). His ideas struck through all of Europe before too long. Severe religious conflicts surfaced. Many of the Europeans just wanted to express their own religion. Their arrival in America contributed to a rainbow of new religions.
The Africans contributed to America's economy (Boyer, 2008). It was not before long that the settler's realized it was not economically cost efficient to have indentured servants. The servants would only work for a certain number of years a then eventually their contract would expire (Boyer, 2008). They turned to a cheaper form of labor, slavery. With the indentured servants of Europe, they did not own the individuals, just their labor. The Africans that were brought were not servants, rather slaves. They were not paid for their services. Everything about them was owned by their masters, including their children. The use of slaves decreased labor costs and increased profits (Boyer, 2008).
The vast influence of Native Americans, Africans, and the Europeans on the exploration and settlement of America is indisputable. First and foremost, they were the first three groups of this country. Although some would argue that we probably could have done without some of the events that occurred in our history, all of their contributions, whether it is good or bad, contributed greatly to America. Their influence on American history is equally indisputable.
Bibliography
Boyer, Paul S. (2008). The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
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