The Colonial Period
NEW PEOPLE
Most of the settlers who came to America in the 17th century English, but there were also Swedish Dutch and German in the middle region, a few French Huguenots in South Carolina and elsewhere, slaves from Africa, mainly in the South, and a scattering of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese colonies.
After 1680 England ceased to be the main source of immigration. Thousands of refugees fled continental Europe to escape the path of war. Many left their homelands to escape poverty induced by government oppression and absentee landlords.
In 1690 the U.S. population had risen to a quarter million. Thereafter, it doubled every 25 years until, in 1775, amounting to more than 2.5 million.
Although a family may move from Massachusetts to Virginia or South Carolina to Pennsylvania, without major redesign, the differences between individual colonies were marked. They were even more between the three regional groups of colonies
NEW ENGLAND
New England in the Northeast in general thin, stony soil, relatively little land, and long winters, which makes it difficult to live from agriculture. For other activities, the inhabitants of New England harness water power and established mills and sawmills. Wood is well encouraged shipbuilding. Excellent harbors promoted trade, and the sea became a source of great wealth. In Massachusetts, the cod industry quickly provided a basis for prosperity.
With most of the early settlers who live in cities and towns around the harbors, many New Englanders carried on some kind of trade or business. Common grazing lands and woodlots served the needs of citizens, who worked small farms nearby. Compactness possible the village school, the village church and the town or city hall, where citizens gathered to discuss issues of common interest.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony continued to expand their trade. From the mid 17th century onwards grew prosperous, and Boston became one of the largest U.S. ports.
Oak wood for the hulls of ships, tall pines for spars and masts, and the passage of the seams of ships came from the forests of the northeast. Building their own vessels and sailing to ports around the world, the shipmasters of Massachusetts Bay laid the groundwork for a trade that has grown steadily in importance. In the late colonial period, one third of all ships under the British flag were built in New England. Fish, ship's stores and wooden ware swelled the exports.
New England shippers soon discovered, too, that rum and slaves were profitable commodities. One of the most enterprising - if unwanted - the business practices of the time was called the "triangular trade". Traders and transporters buy slaves on the coast of Africa to New England rum, then sell the slaves in the West Indies, where he would buy molasses to bring home for sale at local rum producers.
The Middle Colonies
Society in the Middle Colonies was much more varied, cosmopolitan and tolerant than in New England. In many ways, Pennsylvania and Delaware owed their initial success to William Penn.
Under his guidance, Pennsylvania functioned smoothly and grew rapidly. In 1685 its population was almost 9,000. The heart of the colony Philadelphia, a city soon to be known for its wide, tree-lined streets, brick and stone houses substantial, and busy docks. At the end of the colonial era, almost a century later, 30,000 people lived there, representing many languages, creeds and professions. His talent for successful business made the city a thriving centers of colonial America.
Though the Quakers dominated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in other places than in others were well represented. German farmers became more skilled in the colony. Important, too, were cottage industries such as weaving, shoemaking, carpentry and other trades.
Pennsylvania was also the main gateway to the New World by the Scots and Irish, who moved to the colony in the 18th century. "Strangers in bold and indigent" as one Pennsylvania official called, who hated the English and were suspicious of any government. The Scots-Irish tended to settle in the countryside, where they took land and lived by hunting and subsistence farming.
As mixed as the people were in Pennsylvania, New York best illustrated the polyglot nature United States. In 1646 the population along the Hudson River, including Dutch, French, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, English, Scottish, Irish, Germans, Poles, Gypsies, Portuguese and Italians - the forerunners of millions to come.
The Dutch continued to exercise an important social and economic influence in the region of New York shortly after the fall of New Netherland and their integration into the British colonial system. His strong-stepped, gable roofs became a permanent part of the architecture of the city, and their merchants gave Manhattan much of its original bustling commercial environment.
The Southern colonies
In contrast to New England and Middle Colonies were the predominantly rural southern settlements: Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Georgia.
By the 17th century, Virginia and the economic and social structure was based on Maryland the great planters and small landowners. Farmers in the region of tide, with the help of slave labor, held most of the political power and the best land. They built large houses, adopted an aristocratic way of life and kept in touch as best they could with the world of culture overseas.
At the same time, smallholder farmers, who worked smaller tracts of land, sat in popular assemblies and found their way to political power. Its independence was openly a constant warning to the oligarchy of planters not to encroach too much on the rights of freemen.
Charleston, South Carolina, became the main port and commercial center of the south. There the settlers quickly learned to combine agriculture and commerce and the market became an important source of prosperity. Dense forests also brought revenue: lumber, tar and resin from the longleaf pine provided some of the best shipbuilding materials in the world. It is not linked to a single crop as was Virginia, North Carolina and South also produced and exported rice and indigo, a blue dye obtained from native plants, which was used in fabric colors. By 1750 more than 100,000 people lived in the two colonies of North and South Carolina.
In the southern colonies, as everywhere else, population growth in the back country had special significance. German immigrants and Scots and Irish, are willing to live in settlements where the tide original English influence was strong, pushed inland. Those who could not get fertile land along the coast, or had exhausted the lands they had, which are the mountains farther west, a generous shelter. Despite their difficulties are enormous, restless settlers kept coming, and the 1730 was discharged in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Soon, the interior was dotted with farms.
Living on the edge of the Indian country, frontier families built cabins, cleared tracts in the wilderness and cultivated maize and wheat. The men wore leather made from the skin of deer or sheep, known as buckskin, women wore garments of cloth spun at home. Their food consisted of venison, wild turkey and fish. They had their own amusements - great barbecues, dances, housewarmings for newly married couples, shooting matches and contests for making quilts. Quilts remain an American tradition today.
SOCIETY, CULTURE AND SCHOOLS
An important factor deterring the emergence of a powerful aristocratic or gentry class in the colonies was the fact that someone in an established colony could choose to seek a new home at the border. So again and again, tidal dominant figures were forced by the threat of a mass exodus across the border, the liberalization of public policy, land-grant requirements and religious practices. This movement in the foothills was of tremendous importance for the future of America.
Of equal importance for the future were the foundations of education and culture established during the colonial period. Harvard College was founded in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Near the end of the century, the College of William and Mary was established in Virginia. A few years later, the Collegiate School of Connecticut, later to become Yale University, was charged. But even more remarkable was the growth of a school system that keeps the government authority. The Puritan emphasis on reading directly from the Scriptures underscored the importance of literacy.
In 1647 the colony of Massachusetts Bay, passed the "Ye Olde deceiver Satan" Act, requiring every city has more than 50 families to establish a primary school (a Latin school to prepare students for college). Soon after, all the other New England colonies except Rhode Island, followed suit.
The first immigrants in New England brought their own little libraries and continued to import books from London. And in the 1680s, Boston booksellers were doing a thriving business in works of classical literature, history, politics, philosophy, science, theology and belles-lettres. In 1639 the first printing press in the English colonies and the second in North America was installed at Harvard University.
The first school in Pennsylvania was begun in 1683. They are taught reading, writing and account maintenance. Since then, somehow, every Quaker community provided primary education for their children. A more advanced training - in classical languages, history and literature - was offered at the Friends Public School, which still operates in Philadelphia as William Penn Charter School. The school was free to the poor, but parents who could were required to pay tuition.
In Philadelphia, numerous private schools with no religious affiliation taught languages, mathematics and natural sciences, there are also night schools for adults. Women were not completely overlooked, but their educational opportunities limited to training in activities that could be done at home. Tutors instructed the daughters of prosperous Philadelphia in French, bookkeeping music, dance, painting, singing, grammar and even at times.
In the 18th century, the intellectual and cultural development of Pennsylvania reflected, in large measure, the vigorous personalities of two men: James Logan and Benjamin Franklin. Logan was secretary of the colony, and was in his fine library that young Franklin found the latest scientific papers. In 1745, Logan built a building for his collection and bequeathed both building and books to the city.
Franklin contributed even more to the intellectual activity of Philadelphia. He formed a debating club that became the embryo of the American Philosophical Society. Their efforts also led to the founding of a public academy that later became the University of Pennsylvania. He was the prime mover in establishing a subscription library, which he called "the mother of all subscription libraries in North America."
In the Southern colonies, wealthy planters and merchants imported private tutors from Ireland or Scotland to teach their children. Others sent their children to school in England. Having these other opportunities, the upper classes in the district were not interested in supporting public education. In addition, the spread of farms and plantations made the formation of community schools difficult. There were a few schools with free in Virginia, Syms School was founded in 1647 and Eaton School emerged in 1659.
The desire to learn does not stop at the borders of established communities, however. On the frontier, the Scots-Irish, though living in primitive cabins, were firm devotees of scholarship, and they made great efforts to attract learned ministers to their settlements.
Literary production in the colonies was largely confined to New England. Here attention is focused on religious themes. Sermons were the most common products of the press. A famous Puritan minister, the Rev. Cotton Mather, wrote some 400 works. His masterpiece, Magnalia Christi Americana, presented the contest in the history of New England. But the most popular work of the day was long poem, the Rev. Michael Wigglesworth, "The Day of Judgement," which describes the Last Judgement in terrifying terms.
In 1704 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the paper launched the first successful colonies. By 1745 there were 22 newspapers published in all the colonies.
How can you put a limit on learning more? The next section may contain a bit of wisdom that changes everything.
In New York, an important step in establishing the principle of freedom of the press was carried out with the case of Johann Peter Zenger, whose New York Weekly Journal begun in 1733, represented the opposition to the government. After two years of publication, the colonial governor could no longer tolerate Zenger satirical barbs, and had put in jail on charges of seditious libel. Zenger continued to edit his journal from jail during his nine-month trial, which aroused great interest throughout the colonies. Andrew Hamilton, a prominent lawyer who defended Zenger, argued that the charges printed by Zenger were true and therefore not libelous. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and Zenger went free.
The prosperity of the city, prompting fears that the devil was luring society in the pursuit of worldly gain, produced a religious reaction in the 1730s that became known as the Great Awakening. His inspiration came from two sources: George Whitefield, a Methodist preacher who came from England in 1739, and Jonathan Edwards, who was originally in the Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Whitefield began a religious revival in Philadelphia and then moved to New England. He enthralled audiences of up to 20,000 people at a time with histrionic displays, gestures and emotional oratory. Religious turmoil swept throughout New England and middle colonies as ministers of the established churches to preach the resurrection left.
Among those influenced by Whitefield was Edwards, and the Great Awakening reached its culmination in 1741 with his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Edwards did not participate in theater, but his sermons in a calm and reflective. He emphasized that the established churches sought to deprive Christianity of its emotional content. His magnum opus, the freedom of the will (1754), attempted to reconcile Calvinism with the Enlightenment.
The Great Awakening gave rise to evangelical denominations and the spirit of revival, which still plays an important role in religious and cultural life of America. It weakened the status of the established clergy and provoked believers to rely on their own conscience. Perhaps most importantly, led to a proliferation of sects and denominations, which in turn encouraged general acceptance of the principle of religious tolerance.
Rise of colonial rule
In all phases of colonial development, a notable feature is the lack of power of control by the British government. All colonies except Georgia emerged as companies of shareholders or owners as derived from feudal charter granted by the Crown. The fact that the king had transferred his immediate sovereignty in the New World settlements to stock companies and the owners did not, of course, means that the settlers in America were necessarily free of outside control. Under the terms of the Charter of the Virginia Company, for example, full governmental authority was held by the company. However, the corona is expected that the company is resident in England. The people of Virginia, therefore, would have no voice in their government, that if the king himself had retained absolute rule.
For its part, the colonies had never thought of themselves as subordinates. Rather, it is considered mostly as republics or states, like England itself, that only an informal partnership with the authorities in London. One way or another rule, exclusive of dry off distance. The colonists - inheritors of the traditions of the English long struggle for political liberty - incorporated concepts of freedom in the first letter of Virginia. That whenever the English colonists were to exercise all liberties, franchises and immunities "as if they had been abiding and born in this our kingdom of England." They were, therefore, to enjoy the benefits of the Magna Carta and common law. In 1618, the Virginia Company instructed its governor appointed on condition that the free inhabitants of the plantations should elect representatives to join the governor and a council of appointment, in passing ordinances for the welfare of the colony .
These measures proved to be some of the most far-reaching throughout the colonial period. Thereafter, it was generally accepted that the colonists were entitled to participate in their own government. In most cases, the king, in making future grants, provided in the letter that the freemen of the colony should have a voice in legislation affecting them. Therefore, the letters given to the Calverts in Maryland, William Penn in Pennsylvania, the proprietors in North and South Carolina and owners in New Jersey specified that legislation should be passed with "the consent of free men. "
In New England, for many years, there was even more complete self-government than in the other colonies. Aboard the Mayflower, the Pilgrims adopted an instrument of government called the "Mayflower Compact" to "combine ourselves to create a body of civil, political, of our better ordering and preservation ... and under it [to] enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, laws, constitutions, and offices ... as thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony ...."
While there was no legal basis for the pilgrims to establish a system of self-government, the action was not contested and, under the covenant, the Plymouth settlers were able for many years to carry out their own affairs without outside interference.
A similar situation developed in the Massachusetts Bay Company, which had been given the right to govern itself. Therefore, all authority was in the hands of people residing in the colony. At first, the dozen members of the original company that had come to America attempted to rule autocratically. But the other colonists soon demanded a voice in public affairs and indicated that refusal would lead to mass migration.
Faced with this threat, members of the company relented and control of the government passed to elected representatives. Subsequently, other New England colonies - such as Connecticut and Rhode Island - also managed to become autonomous, simply stating that they were beyond any governmental authority, and creating their own political model of the Pilgrims at Plymouth.
Only in two cases was the provision of self-government left. These were New York, which was granted to Charles II's brother, the Duke of York (later to become King James II). "Trustees", and Georgia, which was granted to a group of In both cases, provisions for the government were of short duration, for the colonists demanded legislative representation so insistently that the authorities soon yielded.
Eventually most colonies became royal colonies, but in the second half of the 17th century, the English were too distracted by the Civil War (1642-1649) and Puritan Oliver Cromwell, the Commonwealth and the Protectorate of applying effective colonial policy. After the restoration of Charles II and the Stuart dynasty in 1660, England had more opportunity to attend the colonial administration. Even then, however, was inefficient and lacked a coherent plan, and the colonies were left largely to fend for themselves.
The remoteness that offers a vast ocean also control the colonies difficult. This is compounded by the nature of life in early America. From countries limited in space and dotted with populous towns, the settlers had come to a land of seemingly unending reach. In a continent, natural conditions promoted a tough individualism, people are accustomed to make their own decisions. Government entered the country again slowly, and the conditions of anarchy often prevailed on the border.
However, the assumption of an autonomous government in the colonies was not entirely undisputed. In the 1670s, the Lords of Trade and Plantations, a committee established to enforce real mercantile system in the colonies, moved to annul the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony because he resisted the government's economic policy . James II in 1685 approved a proposal to create a Dominion of New England and place colonies south through New Jersey under its jurisdiction, thus strengthening the Crown control over the entire region. A royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros, taxes imposed by executive order, implemented a series of harsh measures and jailed those who resisted.
When news of the Glorious Revolution (1688-1689) that deposed James II reached Boston, the population rebelled and imprisoned Andros. Under a new charter, Massachusetts and Plymouth were united for the first time in 1691 as the royal colony of Massachusetts Bay. The other colonies that had fallen under the dominion of New England quickly set up their previous governments.
The Glorious Revolution had other positive effects on the colonies. The Charter of Rights and Toleration Act of 1689 affirmed freedom of worship for Christians and compliance limits of the Crown. Equally important, John Locke's Second Treatise on Government (1690) provides a theory of government is not based on divine right but on contract, and said the people, endowed with natural rights of life, liberty and property, has the right to rebel when governments violated these natural rights.
Colonial policy in the 18th century resembled English politics in the 17. The Glorious Revolution affirmed the supremacy of Parliament, but colonial governors sought to exercise the powers in the colonies that the king had lost in England. Colonial assemblies, both events in England, tried to assert their "rights" and "freedoms". By the 18th century, the colonial legislatures held two significant powers similar to those held by the English Parliament: the right to vote in taxes and expenses, and the right of legislative initiative and not just act on the governor's proposals.
The legislatures used these rights to control the power of royal governors and pass other measures to expand its power and influence. The recurring clashes between governor and assembly worked increasingly to awaken the colonists to the divergence between American and English interests. In many cases, the royal authorities did not understand the importance of what the colonial assemblies were doing and simply abandoned. However, these acts established precedents and principles and eventually became part of the "constitution" of the colonies.
Thus, the colonial legislatures established the right of self-government. Over time, the center of colonial administration shifted from London to the provincial capitals.
French and Indian War
France and Britain engaged in a succession of wars in Europe and the Caribbean at several intervals in the 18th century. Although Britain won some of these advantages - especially in the sugar-rich islands in the Caribbean - the struggles were generally indecisive, and France was in a position of power in North America early in the Seven Years War in 1754.
By then France had established a strong relationship with a number of Indian tribes in Canada and along the Great Lakes, taken possession of the Mississippi River and, by establishing a line of forts and trading posts, marked a great way to half Moon empire stretching from Quebec to New Orleans. Therefore, the British were confined to the narrow belt east of the Appalachian Mountains. The French not only threatened the British Empire, but the American colonists themselves, for the celebration of the Mississippi Valley, France could limit their westward expansion.
An armed clash took place in 1754 at Fort Duquesne, where Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is now among a group of French regulars and Virginia militiamen under the command of 22 years of age, George Washington, a Virginia planter and the surveyor.
In London, the Chamber of Commerce tried to resolve the conflict by calling a meeting of representatives of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New England colonies. From June 19 to July 10 the Albany Congress, as it became known, met with the Iroquois in Albany, New York, in order to improve relations with them and ensure their loyalty to the British.
The delegates also declared the union of American colonies "absolutely necessary for their preservation," and adopted the Albany Plan of Union. Prepared by Benjamin Franklin, the plan provided for a president appointed by the King acting with a grand council of delegates elected by the assemblies, in each colony to be represented in proportion to their financial contributions to the Treasury. This body would be responsible for the defense, India's relations and trade and colonization of the West as well as having the power to levy taxes. However, none of the colonies accepted Franklin's plan, since none wanted to surrender either the power of taxation or control over the development of western lands to a central authority.
Superior strategic position of England and her competent leadership ultimately victory in the Seven Years' War, only a small proportion of which was fought in the Western Hemisphere.
In the Peace of Paris signed in 1763, France relinquished all of Canada, Great Lakes and upper Mississippi Valley to the British. The dream of a French empire in North America was over. Having triumphed in France, Great Britain was forced now to confront a problem that had hitherto neglected - the government of his empire. It was essential that London organize its already vast possessions to facilitate defense, reconcile the divergent interests of different areas and peoples, and more equitably distribute the cost of imperial administration.
In North America, British territories had more than doubled. A narrow strip along the Atlantic coast had been added the vast expanse of Canada and the territory between the Mississippi River and the Allegheny Mountains, an empire in itself. A population that had been predominantly Protestant and English now included French-speaking Catholics in Quebec, and a large number of partly Christianized Indians. Defense and administration of new territories, as well as age, require large sums of money and more staff. The colonial system was obviously inadequate to these tasks.
Sidebar: The Crucible
In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became subject to adjustment after hearing strange stories told by a West Indian slave. When asked, several women accused of being witches who torment them. The townspeople were appalled but not surprised: the belief in witchcraft was widespread throughout 17th century America and Europe.
What happened next - although an isolated incident in American history - is a window into the world live in social and psychological Puritan New England. City officials convened a court to hear the charges of witchcraft, and swiftly convicted and executed an innkeeper, Bridget Bishop. Within a month, five other women were convicted and hanged.
However, the hysteria grew, in large part because the court allowed the witnesses to testify they had seen the accused as spirits or in visions. By their nature, such as "spectral evidence" was especially dangerous, as can be neither verified nor subject to objective examination. In the fall of 1692, more than 20 victims, including several men had been killed and more than 100 people were in jail - including some of the most prominent citizens of the city. But now the hysteria threatened to spread beyond Salem, and ministers throughout the colony called for an end to the trials. The governor of the colony agreed and dismissed the court. Those still in jail were acquitted or given a pardon.
The Salem trials have long fascinated Americans. Psychologically, most historians agree that Salem Village in 1692 was captured by a kind of mass hysteria, fueled by a genuine belief in the existence of witchcraft. They note that while some of the girls may have been acting, many responsible adults became caught in the frenzy as well.
But even more revealing is a more detailed analysis of the identities of the accused and the accusers. The town of Salem, like much of colonial New England at that time was going through economic and political transition from a largely agrarian, Puritan-dominated community to a more commercial, secular society. Many of the accusers were representatives of a traditional way of life tied to farming and the church, while several of the accused witches were members of the rising commercial class of small traders and artisans. Salem dark struggle for social and political power between older traditional groups and a new commercial class was one repeated in communities throughout American history. However, it took a bizarre and deadly detour when its citizens were swept by the conviction that the devil was loose in their homes.
The Salem trials also serve as a dramatic parable of the deadly consequences of making sensational, but false accusations. In fact, a term common in political debate for making false accusations against a large number of people is "witch hunt".
It never hurts to be well informed with the latest in the colonial era. Compare what you've learned here to future articles so you can stay alert to changes in the area of the colonial era.
Floyd Dorrance is a professional researcher of a variety of items.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar