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Reasons for English Colonization and American Revolution

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: History
Wordcount: 1204 words Published: 23rd Sep 2019

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A)    Reasons for English Colonization

According to the text, the two major political reasons for England’s colonization of North American are the opportunity for expansion of profit and the different ways to make money, and the expansion of colonies on American soil to ensure that Spain and France didn’t take over all the land.

 There were also social reasons for expanding the English Empire. With new land, the English would be able to improve their agriculture and crops which would lead to an increase in population. Due to the these factors, the English economy increased drastically so fast, but negatively affected the economy because as the population increases the prices increased but the wages decreased. When landowners raised rents, seized lands they displaced their tenants.

B) Economic, Social and Political Characteristics

Economic System

Social Characteristics

Political System

Massachusetts

 The initial economy depended on the shipbuilding, fishing, fur, and lumber trades. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade,

Church membership was a prerequisite for voting. All the early English colonies, north and south, taxed residents to build churches and pay ministers’ salaries, but only New England based criminal codes on the Old Testament. New Englanders were required to attend religious services. Their leaders also believed the state was obliged to support the one true church—theirs. These laws forbade people to be drunk, play, cards,, dance, or even curse.

Company elected John Winthrop, a member of the lesser English gentry, as its governor. Winthrop organized the initial segment of the great Puritan migration. political power was limited a government run by religious officials who would enforce religious principles

Virginia

Tobacco was the major cash crop of Virginia and It was mostly grown by slaves. Tobacco was used to buy everything including things important from England.

Virginia households were run by the father, and by law followed the Church of England.

Virginia colony operated under what historian Edmund S. Morgan has called a “semi-military dictatorship,” but the discovery of tobacco as a money-making crop and the establishment of an elected legislature, the General Assembly, placed the most political power in the hands of wealthy planters.

North/ South Carolina

Tobacco and corn were major cash crops of the Carolinas. Cattle and corn were sold to the caribbean harvesters. They also exported slaves Indian Slaves

The father was in charge of all the money and was responsible for managing it. It was ran like a totalitarian household.

Governors were elected by men who owned property of legislatures, the judiciary included county courts and appeal courts.

 

C) Major ideas and events led to the Revolution

There were several events leading up to the American Revolution that was the start of the Americanization of the Colonies. John Locke, an enlightenment theorist believed that no person was born with knowledge in their head, that it was all learned through questions and observation. One of the events was the enlightenment, which consisted of curiosity, questioning and knowledge through reason. The Enlightenment educated Europeans and Americans with a common vocabulary and a unified worldview. This theory challenged a hierarchical political order originating in the power of fathers over families. There were many colonial conflicts amongst one another. Wars among Indian nations was Europe’s first conflict, and when the British, French, Spanish, and Dutch arrived in America, their political, religious, and mercantile tensions of effected the new colonies. These wars were fought by the colonials alone, lacking resources from a mother country. Americans at the same time were brainstorming strategies that would beat the Indian ambushing of men marching in European formations.

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 The new colonies didn’t only face conflicts from war but from the government. They faced Imperial regulations such as the Sugar Act and Stamp Act. The Sugar Act, revised existing customs regulations and laid new regulations on some imports into the colonies. The Sugar Act was designed to raise revenue, not to channel American trade through Britain. The Stamp Act (1765), required tax stamps on most printed materials, placing the heaviest burden on members of the colonial elite. Those who used printed matter more intensively than did ordinary folk were affected the most. The Colonies had their own ways of fighting back against the government. One act of rebellion was the burning of the Gaspee, the revenue schooner Gaspee ran aground near Providence, Rhode Island and was burnt by locals angered by the enforcement of trade legislation. Also the Boston Tea Party who were angered by the Tea Acts, disguised as Mohawk Indians and dumped £9,000 of East India Company tea into the Boston harbour.

D) Effects of Political, Social changes on Native Americans, Women, and African Americans.

Many different groups were affected by the American Revolution. The three groups that were mainly affected where the women, Native Americans, and the African Americans. After the American revolution, women began to fight for their rights and they had more say. Women’s rights became of great interest after the American Revolution. Abigail Adams, John Locke’s wife, advocated for women’s rights and disagreed that men should have complete control of the household and money and this begun the start of the women’s suffrage. Native Americans who were once the enemy of the new colonies, was now becoming accepted and Americans were trying to Americanize them and make them adopt American Culture. They taught them American way such as farming instead of hunting. Lastly, African Americans were no longer used as slaves across all colonies. Different states had different laws on slavery, and were no longer using slaves to harvest their crops. Although there social status had changed, life in general was much harder for them, and in many states they were not able to vote, or speak against white men in court.

E. List of References

  • Norton, M.B (2015). A People & a Nation. Retrieved from https://lrps.wgu.egu/provision/5354310

 

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