Created by RaginAzn on Feb 14, 2011
Last updated: 02/21/11 at 08:00 PM
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As the colonists got more rebellious, the British Parliament responded to this by passing the Coercive Acts. The purpose of this act is to subdue the colonists and maintain the power they once had within the area. The first part of the act restricted Boston from doing any type of trade until it compensates for all the cargo of tea destroyed. The second act requires soldiers to be stationed within the residences of the public which includes the residents paying for all the housed soldiers expenses (Carter 59). These Acts really provoked outrage throughout all the American colonies.
The frequent and prolongated presence of the British troops constantly caused conflict between the public and the British military. Eventually things got out of hand, and the Boston Massacre came to be. On March 5, 1770, a soldier was being harassed by a group of young men who were throwing snowballs at him. As he called for reinforcements, it got worse. Finally shots were fired,and 5 people were killed within the process (Carter 55). This massacre caused upset and anger among the public within the colonies.
After the Seven year war with the French, the English finally reigned victorious over them. With a war that just occurred, it has left Britain in a great financial debt of 145 million pounds. In order to pay for the debt, the Revenue Act to raise taxes on British goods. The British government found it fair that the colonies should pay for the war whose outcome benefited towards their safety (Carter 51). However, the colonists beg to differ and completely disagree with this Act. This soon increased the tension between the American colonies and England and the progressed closer towards the American Revolution.
Near the end of the Puritan dominance in Virginia, many strange accusations were declared. In Salem, Virginia, people were being found accused of witchcraft. Once one was accused, they convicted and executed. The ones making the accusations were the lower class Puritans and the ones being accused were the higher class religious minorities. The accusations were made due to jealousy, fear, the weird actions of two young girls within the town, and crop failures (Carter 31). Nonetheless the accusations made has shown major tension between certain groups in colonial America.
A wealthy farmer located in Virginia named Nathaniel Bacon who led the back-country colonists wanted to attack and raid nearby Natives to seek for prosperous land for colonial farmers. However, the wealthy farmers and the governor of the Virginia, Sir William Berkeley was opposed to this idea because it would disrupt the peace between the Natives and provoke them to attack back. As a result, Bacon and several hundred farmers revolted and attacked Jamestown. However, the rebellion soon ended due to the illness and death of Bacon (Carter 29).
As the colonists demanded for more land to continue to profit from their plantations from the Natives, the pressure and tension began to rise. As a sign of confrontation, the leader of Pokanoket, Metacoment (called "King Philip" by the colonists) convinced several Algonquin groups to support him. In response to this, the colonists launched an attack on Metacomet's army. During the war, the Iroquois sided with the colonists in attempt to take over the fur trade and eliminate the competition. Inevitably, Metacomet's army lost and over a total of 6000 lives were lost (Carter 28).
On the year 1929, wealthy Puritans planned to establish another colony in America. So as a result, they created the Massachusetts Bay Company and began a massive emigration of Puritans. Throughout this time period, over 20,000 Puritans came over from England to colonial America. As they got to America, a lawyer named John Winthrop led them into establishing the town of Boston. Within Boston, John was governor and decided that every male head of a household which are church members could vote for preferred delegate. This type of government became a role model in future political advancements in the American colonies (Carter 20).
The first group of English Puritan colonists called Pilgrims set sailed towards America. The reason that the Pilgrims left Europe was to seek religious freedom. The group was sponsored by the Virginia Company and was lead by a man named William Bradford. As they got there, they arrived on the Massachusetts Bay and established a settlement which they called Plymouth. As the winter came, the many of the settlers died but the remaining ones survived with the help of the Natives. A Native American by the name of Squanto was the key person in helping the settlers in forming a relation between them and the Native (Carter 20).
All the men aboard the Mayflower ship heading towards America signed a document called the Mayflower compact. The people that signed the document promises that they would abide the law given and agreed upon by all the male members of the community. The purpose of this document was to maintain their own freedom within the new colony. This document was referred as the first constitution in American history to have a government ran by the population and for the population (Carter 21).
As two decades passed after the disappearance of the Ronoake colony, a group of English merchants called the Virginia company sent a group of a hundred male colonists to Virginia hoping to profit from gold and silver they will find. The group was lead by a man named John Smith. As time went by, the colonists were assisted by Algonquin lead up the local leader named Powhatan who hoped to receive help from the Europeans to fight against other Algonquins (Carter 17-18). Later on, this colony grew to be first permanent English settlement in colonial America.
There were two attempts to set up England's first colonies in America. The first one lead by a man named Raleigh in 1585 failed to colonize due to disputes with the natives. Two years later, the second colony lead by a man named John White attempted to do the same as the first group.After one year, John had to go back to England to get supplies. As John left the colony, he was stuck in England for 2 year time period due to a naval war. However, when John got back, the colonists mysteriously disappeared as he arrived back at the colony location in 1590. This incident delayed England's choices of settlement within America for two decades (Carter 17). The knowledge of what happened to the first colony of America during the three year timespan is still unknown to this day.
Bartolomé de las Casas became one of the first people to protect the freedom and liberty of the First nations. Due to his efforts of protecting the Native Americans, he given the title "Protector of The Indians" and he freed the Natives from any sort of enslavement from the Spaniards. This protection that Bartolomé fought for the Natives was applied all across the colonial America, which in later years it prevented colonists from enslaving Natives (Bartolomé 6). With this in effect, American colonists decided to switch to the alternate source of slavery: enslavement of Africans.
After the Constantinople was conquered, and the land route from Europe to Asia was sealed off. European merchants and traders began to search for alternative routes. Eventually, an Italian man named Christopher Columbus tried to go westward to reach Asia. On his first voyage, he reached the Caribbean Seas. Though he believed this was China, his primary goal of retrieving spices was not fulfilled. Although he was not succesful in his goal, he did influence future generations to travel to America and settle down there (Carter 11). These settlements originating from the Europe were called colonies of America.
Before the European arrivals in the late 15th century, the Iroquois had many vast villages spread widely across the area of present day United States. As it was tradition for women to take charge of farming and leadership, the tradition of warfare was ascended among the men. This caused raids and attacks on many villages. As time went by, these raids ascended to wars and the Iroquois were on the verge of destroying itself. As a result, the five main Iroquois Nations formed an alliance called the Iroquois League. Within this League, the nations get to keep its own liberties yet they negotiate with one another to resolve disputes and to make useful decisions. This alliance allowed the Iroquois to effectively fend off and deal with the colonial Americans coming from Europe in the later years when they arrive (Carter 7).
Before the century of early European exploration in the late 15th century and early 16th century, many Native Americans lived on this continent. Each of them had their own way of life and culture to suit their separate unique lifestyles. Even though the major differences within each others cultures, the society of Native Americans was very similar to the ones in Asia and Europe. Later in the future, some of these Native American groups will give aid or become hostile towards the incoming colonies of America originating from Europe.
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