New England Colony example essay topic

The First Americans - Groups of Indian cultures that settled in North America. Their cultures depended on the region of North America that they settled. The Northwest culture of Indians lived in wooden lodges, fished for food, and made clothing out of tree bark. The Southwest culture of Indians lived in adobe apartment buildings.

Their source of foods was corn, beans, and squash. Their clothing was made from cotton fibers. The Eastern Woodland culture of Indians lived in longhouses and wigwams. Their source of food was deer, rabbit, squirrels, and berries. Their clothing was made from small animal hides and deer hides. These cultures developed over time and depended on the region of land, the Northwest Indian culture was different from the Eastern Woodland in the ways they got their food, what they wore as clothes, and the homes the built for shelter.

I chose the first Americans because it gives you a good idea of the difference in geography from coast to coast. It also was interesting how culture depended solely on the land they settle. Colonization of America - When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain with gold and resources that he found in America it started colonization in America. When other countries heard of the riches Spain had found they started to explore America. The English colonized from Georgia to New England. The southern colonies such as Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, produced sugar, tobacco, rice, and indigo.

The Middle colonies which were Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York, produced wheat and indigo. The New England colonies which were Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine, economy was built on trade of rum, slaves, and shipbuilding. Each colony had a governor appointed by the king. Each colony held colonial assemblies where they could pass laws and were sent to the king for approval. In turn this gave the colonies a new freedom to do things their own way.

I chose the Colonization of America because if it didn't happen America would be what it is today. It also gave the colonist a new feeling of life without a king. The Navigation Acts - The navigation acts forbade import of all goods from foreign ships except from England. The laws that great Brittan put on the transatlantic trading system. The colonies were not prohibited to manufacture the raw materials they find, it had to be sent to England to be manufactured, and when sent back to the colonies these products were taxed. The wool act of 1698 prevent the export of finished wool cloth, they wanted just raw wool.

The iron act 1750 banned the finishing of iron and ensured England to have supply of raw iron. The act of 1663 forced all foreign goods be shipped to colonies through English ports. This led to English restricting manufacturing and regulating trade. Molasses act of 1733 was basically unenforceable in the colonies because of smuggling. This act raised the tax on French West Indian sugar. This angered the colonists because it forced them to buy more expensive British West Indian sugar.

Smuggling increased as a result of the molasses act. John Hancock played an intricate part in smuggling within the New England colony. He graduated from Harvard at 17 and at 27 was one of the richest men in America. He took over his uncle's mercantile business.

I chose the navigation acts because I believe that they play a big role in America's history, which aide in leaning towards revolution. The colonist wanted direct representation in parliament not virtual representation. The American Revolution - There were many events leading up to the revolutionary war, such as the stamp tax. Prime Minister, George Greenville forced the British navy to enforce the navigation acts, raised the duties on sugar with the sugar act. This angered the colonists, they began to boycott British goods, protest, and resulted in many colonies refusing to import any British goods until the stamp tax is repealed. 1766 the Sons of Liberty is formed which was a group of colonist who fought for direct representation in parliament.

1767 Townsend acts, King George the third of England replaced Prime Minister Rockingham with William Pitt, who was favored by the colonist. He believed that the colonists were entitled to all the rights of an English citizen. Pitt became sick and Charles Townsend took over the government and he was not concerned with the rights of the colonists. He convinced parliament to pass laws imposing tax on colonists, taxes on lead, paint, paper, glass, and tea imported by the colonies. The colonist responds with a boycott and agrees not to import British goods. 1770 The Boston Massacre, colonists surrounded the British troops and were throwing snowballs at them, a shot went off and was followed by several others five colonists died, and eleven hit.

The sons of liberty took this news and used it as propaganda. They publicized it and as this story traveled down to the other colonies it changed and ended up being huge news with a body count of over a hundred, when it was only a tragic accident. 1770 the Townsend act was repealed on all goods except tea. 1773 the Boston tea party, the sons of liberty organized a boycott on tea. They dressed like Indians and raided the ships with the tea on them and threw all the tea into the water. 1774 after the tea party Brittan was very annoyed with the actions of the colonists so they imposed the coercive acts, which were called the "Intolerable Acts" in the colonies, which included the closing of the port of Boston until the tea was paid back to the east India Tea Company, the royal governor took over the government of Massachusetts, and the British took the right to quarter soldiers anywhere in the colonies.

1774 First continental congress meets to come to an understanding with their relationship with Brittan after Parliament passed the Coercive acts. The cam to an agreement to stop all trade with Brittan and voted to stop drinking tea from the East India Tea company. The war began when the British planned a sneak attack on Lexington, Paul Revere over heard this and road in the middle of the night to warn them that the British were coming. Evolution of the American Political Party system - the first political party's emerged from a simple difference in opinions on the future structure of the new country. The first to party's were the Federalists Verses the Anti-Federalists. Their basic differences were the support of and against the ratification of the Constitution.

Federalists were for a central government and the Anti-Federalists were in favor of individual state governments. 1800 the Federalists verses Democrat / Republicans, and 1820 Federalists verses Republicans, the first Political Party collapsed after the death of Federalism as a national part. The Republican Party had no connections to the modern republicans. Second national party system grew into a bisection al competitive system by 1832.1825 Whigs verses Democrat-Republicans, 1834 Whigs verses Democrats, 1854 Republicans versus Democrats. The system remained competitive and bisection al till the mid 1850's because issues arose relating to the expansion of slavery and foreign immigration led to weakening of the bisection al strength of both Whigs and Democrats which then weakened the system. Transportation Revolution - Manifest destiny was the drive to expand the westward.

There were many pressures promoting westward expansion such as, economic, social, and political pressures. Periods of high birth rate and immigration caused an increase in population. By 1800 the population in the U.S. was five million and grew to about twenty three million by mid century. The rapid growth in population forced expansion into new territories. An estimated four million Americans moved westward from 1820 to 1850. Economic depression also drove people westward in search of new territory.

There was to economic depressions in the 1800's, one in 1818 and the second in 1839. Frontier land was inexpensive and sometimes free which also supported people to migrate. There were many trails westward such as the Mormon trail, Oregon trail, and the Santa Fey trail, that took the people through frontier land to there new settlements. The Mississippi river served as a mode of transportation during this time. They would ride it to its furthest western bend and jump off and travel by land the rest of there way. The transportation Revolution and westward migration was good for America in many ways, but mostly it made the country stronger and less vulnerable.

American Reform Movements - the 19th century was the beginning of the American reform movements. There were many important movements during this period such as, Abolition, Women's rights, education, etc. The Women's rights movement was because at this time laws did not allow vote or hold public office. Everything a wife earned belonged to the husband.

Due to relentless efforts to change this from women like Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Fuller, and Lucretia Mott, many changes took place. In the mid 19th century a world wide movement was aiming for the right to vote for women and by the end of the century American women won the right to vote. Abolition was the movement in the 1800's to end slavery in America. The American Colonization Society led the anti-slavery protests in the early 1800's. many writers posted there thoughts on the topic in periodicals and wrote just about the abolishment of slavery. 1831 The Abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison published his paper, "The Liberator". Many free blacks joined the abolitionists such as Fredrick Douglass, a former fugitive slave from Maryland who educated himself.

In 1840 the movement to a new step forward. The movement's leaders started to enter politics, but mostly remained interested in the cause and not in holding political offices. After the Civil war began abolitionists obviously protested the Unions cause for war. Then on Jan 1st 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves free in most of the south. 1865 the 13th amendment was added to the constitution which totally abolished slavery throughout the U.S. Events leading to the Civil War - Since the mass migration of Americans westward the country developed geographic sections, north, south, and the west. This sectionalism began with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and ends when the Mexico ceded to claim the territories in the U.S. which gave its present borders.

Also at this time technology had role in the civil war. The invention of the steamboat leads to the creation of canals such as the Erie Canal which connected New York with the south. Railroads connected major cities with wagon trials. The Bessemer made it possible to mass produce steel and the invention of the telegraph revolutionized communication. The north grew more industrially, immigration was high which increased labor supply. The south was mostly plantations which depended on slave labor.

In the 1850's the controversy over slavery had grown into a real disagreement. Congress ends all slave trade in the District of Columbia. Fugitive slave Law allows bounty hunters from the north to seize fugitive slaves and bring them back to the south. In 1860 Lincoln election to president triggers the secession of South Carolina, the first of seven to secede. April 13th, Confederates bombard Fort Sumter to force its surrender.