African Americans in colonial America

For African Americans in colonial America, life was brutal and unfair as whites gradually took advantage of these people and eventually enslaved a whole race of people.

Many people believe that slavery in America started all at once. This, however, is untrue. Slavery happened gradually- from one person to many, and an increase in oppressive laws, and the influence of slave colonies over others. In the beginning many blacks who came to America were treated as indentured servants. But, with the increase of number and the advantage that white landowners saw they were growing, slavery as America now knows it to have been came into existence. Slave trade led to a new economic system: one where the color of one's skin could determine whether he or she might live as a free citizen or be enslaved for life. (PBS)

 For most of the seventeenth century the lives of white indentured servants and enslaved blacks were similar. They worked together in the fields; they ate together and slept in the same part of a building (Shifflett). From the start of slavery, the slaves were at the mercy f their masters. Masters had the authority by law to punish them for anything and everything through abuse. Many masters provided slaves with the bare minimum of clothing and food which grew hatred toward the masters. (Shifflett)

Slaves being captured by a surrounding tribe.

As African presence continued to increase, so did the violence that the maters would use. Africans continued to be shipped because they would be captured in war, kidnapped, or even sold by other Africans and bought to traded from owner to owner. Once they got to America, southern masters expected their slaves to work from sunrise to sundown and sometimes into the night. Constant physical abuse was laid on slaves who messed up or were found taking a break during the work day. One thing that these slaves never lost hope in was God. They had a strong heritage in family ties and with worshiping their creator (Roark, 139,140). As Brian put it, “Even through the horrible torture the slaves endured, they never turned their backs on the God who created them."

Bibliography

PBS. "From Indentured Servitude to Racial Slavery." Africans in America. PBS, 1998. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.

Shifflett, Crandall. "Indentured Servants and the Pursuits of Happiness." Texts of Imagination and Empire. Virginia Tech, 2000. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.

Roark, James L. ., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia C. Cohen, Sarah Stage, and Susan M. Hartmann.  The American Promise. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2012. Print.

North, Middle, and Southern Colonies

              Each colony in America, whether it be the North, South or in between, had specific characteristics that defines solely that area while sharing many common denominators that unifies the colonies between one another.

Separation of North, Middle, and South colonies.

                Let’s first take a look at the Northern colonies and then make our way down the coast. The North Colonies include the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The people in the North came prepared to work, had strong family units which unified the people, and only had small quarrels with the Native people. The type of people who came to the north were separatists, which means they sought to withdraw from the church of England since they lost hope it would reform from its corrupt ways. (Roark, 94-95) These separatists moved to America with unison with a joint stock company where the company provided the capital and the Separatists provided their labor and their lives as they made the journey to the Americas. (Roark, 95) The North was mainly self-governed towns who made a living through the exports of fish, timber, and subsistence farming. One interesting state was the state of Rhode Island. This state, being founded by Roger Williams, was a state that did not require religious connections since he himself was kicked out of the church because his community could not tolerate how radical of a separatist he was.

                The Middle colonies included New York, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. These colonies were the most diverse ethnic group of people. People from all places found refuge in this quaker land. These people included the Dutch, Swedish, French, Germans, Jewish, and even peace with the Natives. Most of these early pioneers to the new world depended on fur trade and farming as a way of economic dependence. Because of the Quaker influence on the colony, which included the idea that there is equality for all, a single religion was not enforced, yet they still stayed true to a code of morals. Similar to the puritans, Quakers emphasized a relationship with Christ, but they believed that one could so individually through inner light. These colonies overall emphasized religious and cultural difference, which would be why slavery was not well accepted. (Shelton)

                Southern colonies included Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia. The settlers who came here were people who were not expecting to work hard. This is where the use of other’s hard work came into play. Since the main economic advantage the South had was exports of rice, indigo, and tobacco, the southern colonies began full-fledged slavery. The import of people being imported as slaves were mainly from Africa and were granted no rights throughout their journey through the middle passage. By 1770, the Southern states had twice as many people than either other region because of the rapid growth of economics (Roark, 135).

                Overall, all New World colonies were considered new and exciting. According to Jacob, it gave people a “fresh start” and “religious freedom.” Professor Holden added that this new world gave “liberty, a freedom for people to own things and give people opportunities.” All three regions prospered in economics as agriculture as a main source of living. All colonies were traditionally grounded deeply in a religious background, but all regions saw a decline in the 18^th century. Each region was had specific characteristics, but one strong tie they all shared was their loyalty to England. England was their mother land, and it would be sometime before tension would begin to be out of control.

Bibliography 

Roark, James L. ., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia C. Cohen, Sarah Stage, and Susan M. Hartmann.  The American Promise. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2012. Print.

Shelton. "The Middle Colonies." The Middle Colonies. Radford University, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.

Columbian Exchange

            Before 1492, “World History” could not really be discussed. At best, discussion could go as far as the ocean and contain information about different regions, but not from the whole world. From the start of  European expansion and exploration however,  it was inevitable for the new world and old worlds to clash at some point. When Christopher Columbus had his initial exploration to the New World, the clash began with full force. The Columbian Exchange opened light to many new opportunities in the trade of goods, people, and ideas that would transform the modern world of the Americas. However, with these positive trades also came a dangerous handful of negatives such as disease and the inhumane treatment of human lives. Overall, the inevitable clash of New and Old Worlds both hurt and helped while transforming and setting the stage for the future.

The diseases from the Europeans
 were detrimental to the native race.

            Disease is said to be the one factor that had the most effect on the lives of the New and Old worlds. It is estimated that over half, and some even project up to eighty percent, of the Native population was killed off  because of the “biological isolation and the limited intrusion of infectious diseases.” (Crouthamel) The Native Americans had never been introduces to diseases such as influenza, typhoid, measles, mumps and smallpox so that when every disease came at the same time, the Natives were defenseless. Diseases were spread at a high rate because of close quarters with one another, unsanitary conditions, and war that broke out between different groups of people.  The Native’s transaction of diseases to the Europeans was limited and mostly stopped at the spread of syphilis.   

          The more fruitful exchanges that went on during the Columbian exchange were the trading of food sources including both plant and animals and ideas of how best to product a harvest of these things.When the Europeans came to the Americas, the natives had a few animal servants such as dogs, camels, guinea pig, and a several kinds of fowl. However, when the Europeans came, they introduced horses, pigs, cattle, chickens, sheep, and goats. These animals meant a new way of transportation, new way to have labor opportunities, and a new food source. (Cory)  

This explains the exchange between New and Old Worlds.

          One main source of exchange that Europeans could not get enough of was tobacco. If the Europeans killed thousands with disease, the natives killed just as many Europeans from addiction to tobacco. Tobacco became a main source of economics, which created money and jobs for the Europeans who moved to the New World. (Roark)
          The Columbian Exchange was both positive and negative on both Worlds. In class, Julianna said, "People of both worlds learned to adapt to the culture that was being instilled on one another." This quote explains the start of America as we know it today. 

Bibliography

Cory, Malone, Sarah Gray, Sean Ross, and Katie Ryan. "Animals." The Colombian Exchange. Gettysburg College, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2013.

Crouthamel, Steven J. "Columbian Exchanges." Columbian Exchanges. Palomar College, 2003. Web. 16 Feb. 2013.

Roark, James L. ., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia C. Cohen, Sarah Stage, and Susan M. Hartmann. "Europeans Encounter The New World." The American Promise. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2012. 39-40. Print.