Our time period is like the others is quite complicated. it all started at the Columbian exchange in 1492 and goes through everything up to the Revolutionary War in 1775. It was a period filled with ideas of Liberalism, Democracy, and the start of the U. S. political system. We begin in 1492 when Columbus stumbled upon North America, in his search for India, soon after other European countries followed, all with different goals.
The Spanish was the first to come over in the 1500’s and quickly took jurisdiction over the southwest and Florida, their quest was to find gold, glory, and their God. Next, about 1530’s the French, perusing the northwest passage, came to Canada. After they had secured Canada they traveled down the Mississippi river and claimed all the land from the great lakes to Louisiana. France’s main goal was to get fur so they could trade with the Native Americans.
The next country to come to the new world was Brittan. Around the time of 1580 Brittan ships hit the eastern shore, 75 years later these settlers would create the 13 colonies, all the British were after was land and they didn’t have to wait very long to get what they wanted. It didn’t take the colonists very long to start trading. They would grow cash crops such as tobacco then ship the tobacco off to Europe. Europe would then make the cash crop into a finished good so tobacco would be turned into a cigar.
When Europe sold the cigars, they got money which Europe used to send ships to Africa. The ships would then pick up black slaves and bring them to rich owners of tobacco farms. Creating a constant circulation of product that builds up Brittan’s economy. And this is the part where the colonists get a bunch of land, French started to invade the colonist’s territory so of course, they fought back and so the seven years’ war began more commonly known as the French and Indian War.
The aftermath of the War left the colonist with tons of debt and to top it all off they couldn’t go over to claim the land that they had fought so long for, this angered the colonist and so after this incident and many others such as the Boston macaque which wasn’t really a massacre the colonists made it a bigger deal than it was, the currency act which made it illegal for the colonists to print money, the Quartering act that forced the colonists to share their house and food with royal soldiers, the Stamp act that put tax on stamps legal papers and newspapers but the taxed money would go to the British government whereas the colonists got nothing, but the final straw was after the Boston tea party Brittan shut off all trade with Massachusetts. This gave the colonists a window of time with little brattish authority the colonist took this opportunity to gather reperceives from each colony (except Georgia) to talk about they were unsatisfied with the British government. They met many more times and finally wrote the declaration of independents, which was written to boost the morale of the colonist so they would fight in the revolutionary war. They fought for their rights for their freedom they used a strategy that involved inventing new weaponry and customizing their battle tactics to those that the native Americans used.
But the real turning point was when the French teamed with the colonists finally giving them the numbers they needed to push the brits back. Some may say the U. S history just another war all about the land I know that’s what I thought as a kid. But if you actually take the time to pay attention in class then you see whole another story filled with passion, desire, tragedy, and hope. I might not agree with the tactics used on the native American but other than that I think this story shows that we the people can do anything if it’s that important. Between 1492 and 1783, we and our country should be considered heroic for these reasons; We as a country, fought for our rights with the Declaration not to mention just fighting in a way for our rights and freedom.
For example, In 1776 we signed the Declaration of Independence setting forth a formal assessment of grievances against the British government. In the Declaration of Independence clearly states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men should be created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness. ” Or in more “modern” language; our country is to be treated equal and every man, woman, and child should be treated the same. We are given these rights at birth and they are to stay with us through death. This quote suggests that although there was a “power struggle” between men, black people, women, and children, that all should be created equal.
Despite slavery and the abuse towards black people and women, this era should be considered heroic because we ended up fighting for our rights and equality. Another reason that our era should be considered heroic is the French siding with the U. S in the revolutionary war in 1778 to prove this in state department page 20 paragraph 2 it declares “France recognized the United States as an independent country” which is a hedge deal considering what a huge success it would be being told that your dreams are coming true and you are indeed recognized as a country. Also, the revolutionary war wouldn’t have been won If the French weren’t by the U. S’s side. To back up that statement it says in Don’t Know Much About American History written by Kenneth C.
Davis page 49 chapter two “But the major reason for the American victory was the French involvement” he also goes on to say that “as much as 90 present of the gun powder used in the war came from France” (add last argument here) But on the other hand the time between the Columbian exitance and the revolutionary war was a very selfish time period filled with men who came over to take the native Americans homes they slaughtered native Americans, stole their land and position’s, send them off to Brittan to become slaves, seized their children, Ronald Takaki goes on to say in his book From a Different Mirror For Young People, in chapter 2 removing the savages on page 29 “even before the English began colonizing America, they viewed the native American people as savages, even, sometimes, as less than human” page 29/30″ he lured Abenaki Indians onto his and kidnaped three of them” he being captain George Waymouth.
On page 30 paragraph one, “an Indian was brought to England and, because he was tall, was showed up and down London for money as a monster” page 30 paragraph 4 “London expected the English colonists to “civilize” the savages by taking their Indian children from them and to “train” them up with gentleness, teach them our English language” all this evidence speculates there really is no end to the cruelty the colonists inflicted upon the native Americans. Even without really knowing how the native Americans would treat them, they listened to rumors. Of course, there were a handful of hostile tribes that attacked the colonists first, but really can you group a whole race together and call then savages. That like calling all mammals stupid but really humans a are mammals. Also, not all colonists fought the native Americans Ronald Takaki mentions on page 32 paragraph 1 “expecting every hour the fury of the savages, as smith wrote.
The Indians did come but instead of furry they brought food and rescued the starving strangers” this shows how the colonists thought of the native Americans as people that would come and kill them all, as they were sick and on their deathbed. But in reality, the native Americans brought food and helped nourish the colonists back to health. The colonist didn’t only treat the native American cruelly they lied to their people saying in the declaration of independents “all men are created equal” but they don’t really mean all men, not black men, poor men, women not even white Irish men, only English rich white men. So that means that only this rule is only profitable for that one present and they got permission to have a slave “forever” which means that if that slave ever has a child that child becomes the master’s property.
This rule is mandatory for as many generations as the unlucky slave has children, till the master sells the slave, frees the slave or the slave runs away and the master doesn’t hunt them down. This data displays that although some view the revolutionary war as a heroic fight for our country there is loads of evidence that shows that it is a twosided mirror behind the glass is a tragic and gruesome story that’s not often told. Overall our group has decided that this era in history is a tragic time filled with disrespect and deception. To back this theory up in Ronald Takaki’s book From a Different Mirror For Young People he says on page 33 paragraph three “William Tucker went to a Powhatan village to make a peace treaty.
After they had signed the treaty, he persuaded the Indians to drink a toastthen served them poisoned wine, killing an estimated two hundred” this just proves our point showing how low the colonists stopped to get rid of the native Americans. But the real question is who really is the savage, well the definition of a savage is fierce and violent. It might just be our opinion but we think that colonists, in general, showed more violence toward the native Americans than they showed to the colonists. This period in American history is a truly interesting and complex time filled with many tragic moments but with an equal amount of heroic but over all the bad trumps the good and leaves us with a good story and opportunities to see from a different perspective. But more important it leads to a new way of thinking and the beginning of a truly amazing country.