The American colonists came from a variety of backgrounds. There were the English, who were running away from religious persecution, the Dutch, who reputedly bought Manhattan for a string of beads. The French Huguenots, who were Protestants fleeing from prosecution in a Catholic country. The Quakers, fleeing from harrassments of the Anglican establishment, the church of England, and Germans from innumerable principalities, fleeing military draft and the various exactions of the petty princes. Also the Irish population, who fled Ireland because of famine and corrupt and over-charging landlords. Most of these immigrant people came to America with nothing but hope in their pockets.
What they set out to do was make a respectable life for themselves and their families, without the dictatorship of a monarchy or the iron fist of religion looming over them. What they would find was hardship and an even tougher life than in their homeland. The main problem with expansion in the colonies was that the Native Americans occupied the land that the Americans wanted. The natives would not allow the new settlers to push farther inland on their land, thus causing conflict between the colonists and the Native Americans. Also, the new settlers would come into conflict over some desirable parasols of land. For example, when the Connecticut towns sprang up, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop tried to assert authority over them. He had originally expected to procure the land for his and his friends own profit. The colonists and the Indians also had a very uneasy peace for over three decades.
The Essay on Integration Among Early American Settlers and Native Indians
The book The Unredeemed Captive is a story about the French-Indian raid on the small town of Deerfield Massachusetts. The raid is not a total surprise to the people of Deerfield, they find out a few days prior to the incident. They hear of towns east of them being attacked. The town of Deerfield did not feel that they were to be affected by the Indians. These few extra days to prepare for the “ ...
The Pilgrims had tried unsuccessfully to take over Indian land, causing the two former allies to battle for the land. Some of the institutions that were initiated during colonial time were an established church for many different denominations, and colonial governments. When the majority of the settlers came to America, it was to break free of religious oppression. The people wanted to worship their own God. Originally, when the people came to this country, they had to obey the Trinity, as said by the legislature to be the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. This was the rule of the established church for a colony. The churches were generally supported by taxes paid by the colonists, whether they worshiped this religion or not. In Massachusetts and Connecticut, congregationalism was established where independent and self-governing bodies governed a form of Protestant churches.
Although the colonies were across the Atlantic Ocean, they were still in some way not free from England and other countries. Kings had found ways to build local governments that could handle day-to-day affairs of their colonies. Britain had set up these local governments in hope that their colonies would become the most efficient and most powerful. Each colony had a governor, a council (appointed by the governor), and an elected representative with lawmaking and taxing powers. This is a broad system of what the US has in place today. The government was the link between the kings and the colonies. They were somewhat of messengers who would let the kings know if the colonies were being run efficiently.
Some of the colonies even invoked a biblical law, which meant that the government regulated colonists religious beliefs and practices. In Colonial America, women were mistreated by society. They did not have the same legal rights as a man did, yet they were told to abide by the same laws. Woman lacked the right to sell, acquire, or will property to another person. She could also not claim any wages she earned. She could only gain use of these privileges through the permission of her husband. Also no matter how wise or wealthy, women were denied a political voice.
This was true of all English colonies. The Indians, just the same, were treated much more unfairly. When the first settlers arrived in the New World, they became friendly with the Native Americans. Unfortunately, as land became scarce, the newcomers unjustly started battle with the natives. These many battles took its toll on the number of Native Americans in the colonies. Once there were a tremendous population of Natives, yet after many battles those numbers had dwindled to just thousands.
The Essay on The Cherokee Nation Is The Second Largest Indian Tribe In part 1
The Cherokee Nation is the second largest Indian tribe in the United States. There are more than 200,000 members. Almost 70,000 of these Cherokees live in the 7,000 square mile area of the Cherokee Nation which is not considered a reservation, but a jurisdictional service area that includes all of the eight counties and portions of six in northeastern Oklahoma. The big question is how and why they ...
After the new settlers had beaten the various Indian tribes in battle, they would take the Indian land and disperse it amongst the settlers for each colony. The Indians would then be sold into slavery, or forced from their respective areas and pushed further west or north. Unlike most of the other settlers to the new country, African Americans really didnt chose to come here. They were usually sold into slavery and brought to the southern colonies, where they worked for a white master. These Africans were treated very harshly and were often beaten senselessly for no reason after working fifteen-hour days for their masters. These slaves were held for life terms, and would work usually for the same master until they died. Unlike white indentured servants, their owners would not release black slaves after serving a specific amount of time.
The original religious dissenters were the pilgrims, whom escaped England and the persecution the faced for not abiding by the bible laws of the monarchy. The dissenters would usually relocate, either voluntarily or by banishment from their governments, to other states. For example, Roger Williams was a Puritan minister who would give sermons in which he would criticize the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was soon banished from Massachusetts and later founded Rhode Island. Many of the religious dissenters were not a welcome addition to their colonies. If a person was a religious dissenter, there was a good chance that they would either be put on trial or be banished for life from their colony.
The idea of tolerance in the colonies was first decided upon for people who were facing religious persecution and harassment. Charles Calvert, a wealthy nobleman, tried to prevent Marylands protestant population from persecuting or harassing the Catholic minority. He offered equal protection to both religious groups with the Calvert Toleration Act. As far as tolerance of other unlawful practices are concerned, blacks were treated unfairly while all governing bodies went along with the idea of slave trading. Women, as we know were not given many of the same rights that men were given until the late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds. Tolerance was far from coming into action in the Colonial Americas.
The Essay on Middle Colonies Religious England Economic
The religious motive is often emphasized as the predominant one in the migration of the early English colonizers to the New England, but economic motives were undoubtedly the most effective in promoting colonization. Economic considerations were greatly emphasized in the early settlements of the Southern Colonies. As for religious considerations were mainly found in the colonization of the New ...
