Colonial period from 1607 to 1750 Essay

During the colonial period from 1607 to 1750 an â€Å"American† way of life emerged, differing from Old World European culture. This new lifestyle developed from the interaction of five major groups, including the; Native Americans, Chesapeake colonies, New England colonies, Indentured servants, and African slaves. Each of these peoples contributed ideas, principals, practices, and beliefs to the melting pot that would later become the United States of America. Native Americans had a significant impact on Europeans as early as America’s discovery in 1492 (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 14), during which time, the Columbian Exchange occurred. This initial exchange had a larger influence on Native American life than European, as the Old World explorers introduced diseases to which the Indians had no natural immunity (Yazawa, Melvin 46). According to Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey (15), in the Centuries after Columbus’ landfall, as many as 90 percent of the Native Americans perished. When Europeans returned to America in the 1600’s to develop permanent settlements, Native Americans reintroduced to them planting techniques and crops, such as corn and tobacco, that would revolutionize the early colonies economies and diet allowing them to grow and flourish and making them an important aspect of â€Å"American† culture (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 15). Additionally, Native Americans shared in the celebration of the first Thanksgiving with the Plymouth pilgrims (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 52), a holiday still important and beloved today. Later interactions between the Native Americans and Colonists were mainly hostile, as a result of the European’s insatiable land-lust, evident in such conflicts as the Pequot War (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 52). The aid Native Americans provided to early settlers allowing them to sustain themselves would result in the downfall and destruction of numerous Indian tribes, who had already dwindling populations as a result of European diseases (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 31). However, conflict forced Native Americans to band together, displaying a way in which Europeans shaped Indian history in America as well (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 32). The Chesapeake colonies were another group that largely influenced the development of the â€Å"American† culture. Virginia was the first colony; founded in 1607 by a joint-stock company hoping to find gold and a passage through America to the Indies (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 28). This company, named the Virginia Company of London, received a charter from the King for a settlement in the new world (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 28). This charter was important to the formation of an â€Å"American† pride. The document guaranteed the New World settlers would be guaranteed the same rights of Englishmen at home. However, this document later fueled the colonists desire for independence from their intrusive and controlling mother country (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 29). The introduction of tobacco to early settlers played a large role in the growth of the Chesapeake colonies, especially Virginia. In fact, tobacco growth was so important to colonists they threatened themselves with starvation by choosing to plant the cash crop over food crops (Wheeler and Becker 29). Without tobacco’s economic contribution to the survival of Virginia, contributions made by the colony might not have been made. Virginia’s House of Burgesses was the first representative legislative assembly in British North America (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 33). This was the first of many parliaments to emerge in America, justifying the efforts of the Colonists to eventually breakaway from British rule, as they believed themselves fit to oversee their own nation. The other Chesapeake colonies also contributed to the formation of a uniquely â€Å"American† way of life. Maryland, founded in 1634 (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 33), was haven to Roman Catholics seeking refugee in the new world. Without a place for this minority religion to survive, it might not have been sheltered in the new world. The Carolinas were composed of large expanses of open land, resulting in a large plantation agriculture system in the south (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 38) that resulted in the use of indentured servitude and slavery throughout southern America. However, the colony founded last in 1733, Georgia (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 38), slowed the immediate development of slavery in the Chesapeake colonies. As Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey stated, Georgia was a religiously tolerant settlement, which was slavery free until 1750. The New England colonies were formed largely so those settling in the colonies could be free of religious persecution, especially in Massachusetts Bay (Wheeler and Becker 30). According to Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey, The Mass. Bay colony was formed in 1628 (37), although the puritans who merged into the Massachusetts Bay colony from Plymouth arrived in 1620 (37). The Pilgrims who arrived in Plymouth influenced â€Å"American† ideals of freedom from oppression, through the Mayflower Compact. This document became quintessential to the creation of later constitutions. It was an agreement to form a crude government and submit to the will of the majority ( Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey). The Massachusetts Bay colony contributed early concepts of a liberal government to America. Local affairs and issues were eligible for discussion by a large percentage of adult men, and voting was completed by majority rules (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 47). However, religious leaders held significant power in the lives of the settlers, influencing the beliefs of those residing in the Massachusetts Bay colony. As a result, those threatening Puritan views such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, were banished (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 48). This was actually advantageous for the development of a diverse American culture, as those forced outside of Massachusetts Bay moved to more accepting colonies, such as Rhode Island. Rhode Island was a region of varying religious beliefs and ways of life as there was a lack of religious oath or taxation present in so many of the other colonies (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey). The Dutch contributed names and settlers to the renamed New York colony after it was surrendered to the Duke of York in 1664 (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey). Pennsylvania, founded in 1681 according to Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey (60), was home to the passive Quakers. Pennsylvania influenced American ethnicity, as the colony attracted people of various backgrounds (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 61). Indentured servants played a large role in the growth of an American lifestyle. Prior to the popularity of slavery in the South, colonies such as Virginia and Maryland utilized indentured servants to tend large plantations (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 33). Indentured servants supported the cash crops that helped the early colonies thrive financially, without which finances, the colonies might not have survived (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 67). Once indentured servants had completed their terms, they became freemen, but remained much in the same position as before. They were penniless and searching for land and a job. These freemen also contributed to a rebellious and headstrong American people, willing to fight for what they believed in. During Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, a group of young freemen led by Nathaniel Bacon attacked Indians near jamestown in retaliation of Indian attacks on frontier settlements (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 68). African slaves during the colonial period influenced the development of the American way of life. Due to economic change in colonies in the 1680’s (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 70), it was financially possible for plantation owners in the south to purchase African slaves as opposed to using indentured servants. Additionally, by 1662, distinctions between a white indentured servant and african slave were made in Virginia (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 72), which made blacks and their children the property of their white masters for life. African slavery in America made it possible for southern plantations to truly develop, at the cost of a people’s rights. African slaves were subject to a plethora of harsh conditions, including harsh hours and intensive labor in the blistering heat (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 72). This resulted in a large part of American economic success being reliant on the exploitation of a group of people. The American way of life developed as a result of the interaction of numerous groups including the Native Americans, the Chesapeake colonies, the New England colonies, the Indenture servants, and the African slaves. Native Americans contributed staple crops which would support the early settlers and modify the American diet permanantly. Chesapeake colonists, although originally settling the America’s in order to attain wealth, found a permanent home that they would later fight to rule. The New England colonists wrote up the Mayflower compact, a primitive agreement which would inspire later constitutions. The indentured white servants led to the eventual treatment of people solely as property in the case of African American slaves after indentured servitude ended. Slavery would prove to be a social barrier and issue for numerous years to come, as africans struggled to acquire the same rights as granted to white citizens.