American History Part 1 PDF

# The Beginning of the Story The history of our country began a long time ago. Back then, it wasn't called the United States and wasn't as big as it is now. It took many years and lots of effort to build up our country. The Declaration of Independence was the moment when the United States became...

# The Beginning of the Story The history of our country began a long time ago. Back then, it wasn't called the United States and wasn't as big as it is now. It took many years and lots of effort to build up our country. The Declaration of Independence was the moment when the United States became a free country. That's the moment when our history begins. However, it didn't happen in one night! Around 400 years ago, Native people lived in these lands. One day, ships coming from Europe arrived on the east coast. Where did they come from? What did they want? Who were these people who built a new nation? ## The Time When the Europeans Came to America Why did the Europeans come to America in the first place? They lived far away, crossing the ocean and settling in uncharted lands. They learned to live in a place they didn't know. In fact, they weren't even looking for a new place to live, but let's see what happened! Everything began when an Italian sailor called Cristopher Columbus sailed west towards India in Southeast Asia. He wanted to prove that the earth was round and find a new trading route. The Spanish monarchs had entrusted him with a mission: to find a new way to reach the Asian coasts. They used to travel through the Mediterranean Sea, but the Ottoman Empire had taken control of the region. The European kingdoms had their commercial activities interrupted. That's why the Spanish Queen Isabella gave Columbus three ships to embark on a great adventure. He was traveling through uncharted waters. Nobody had ventured to cross the Atlantic Ocean before. However, instead of Asia, he landed on a little island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Today, that island belongs to the Bahamas. At first, he didn't know it was a brand-new continent. He thought he had accomplished his mission. Although, he was right, and by sailing west, he would have reached India eventually. There was no way for him to know that he would come across another continent while making his journey. On October 12th, 1492, Columbus and part of his crew finally landed in what he thought was India. That's why he called the Native people "Indians." Soon, Columbus learned that those lands were filled with treasures: Gold, silver, gems, and many goods that Europeans didn't even know existed, such as chocolate and corn. He returned to Europe to tell the Spanish king and queen about everything he had discovered. Shortly after, every king in Europe also wanted the wealth of these beautiful lands. Then, many excursions came from Europe to what was called the "New World," searching for metals, goods, and more lands for their empires. It took a while before the Europeans realized it wasn't India or Asia but a whole new continent. Many years later, the continent appeared on the maps with the name “America.” ## The Time When the First Conquerors Arrived in North America At the end of the 1700s, the Spanish, Dutch, French, and British explored the shores of North America. The Spanish and the French settled in the south, which is known today as Florida. However, it wasn't easy for all the Europeans to establish colonies as the Spanish and Portuguese had in the rest of the continent. The French succeeded in settling in the margins of the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes region. The Spanish took control of the lands in the south of North America. The British monarchy also had interests in America. At first, the monarchs sent privateers (more about these later) to sail the Caribbean Sea and capture Spanish vessels full of metals. Then, Sir Walter Raleigh settled the first British colony in North America. It was placed on Roanoke Island, off North Carolina. However, the small population didn't last; within a couple of years, it disappeared.. ## The First British Colony Queen Elizabeth I sponsored sailors known as privateers, a type of pirate where the booty was stolen for the queen. John Hawkins and Francis Drake were commissioned to hunt and steal from Spanish vessels. Some years later, after the disappearance of Roanoke Island, ships of the London Company arrived in Chesapeake Bay in April 1607. People on the ships didn't know they were about to become the first permanent English settlers in the New World. There were 105 men: 40 were soldiers, 35 were nobles, and the rest were artisans and laborers. In Europe, people heard about the charms of the new continent, and many wanted to come. Some just wanted a fantastic adventure, and others wanted to make themselves rich. That first colony was called Jamestown to honor the King of England, James I. He had given an order to the London Company to explore these lands. Later, when the colony expanded, it was called Virginia. It was the first of 13 colonies founded by the British in North America, on the east coast by the Atlantic Ocean. The 13 colonies were divided into three regions: New England, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies. It took the British almost a hundred years to create the 13 colonies. Each of the colonies was founded for a particular purpose. For instance, Jamestown was a port whose main purpose was trade. Life wasn't easy for the settlers. They had to face a lot of dangers: Attacks from the local populations who didn't want them there, assaults from the other nations' armies that wanted to conquer more lands, illnesses, and money issues. It wasn't as easy to flourish in the New World as they believed it would before embarking on the adventure. # Chapter 1: Setting the Scene The British monarch realized that the other kings of Europe were expanding their empires. That wasn't good for Great Britain. In those times, monarchies were constantly competing with each other, and more lands and resources meant that the British enemies were stronger. Therefore, the British doubled their efforts to bring more settlers to America and establish more British and, eventually, royal colonies: 1. Virginia, established in 1607, became a royal colony in 1624 2. New York, established in 1664, became a royal colony in 1685 3. Massachusetts was established in 1620 and became royal in 1691 4. Maryland, established in 1632, was declared a royal colony in 1692 5. Rhode Island, established in 1636, received its royal charter in 1663 6. Connecticut, established in 1636, became a royal colony in 1662 7. New Hampshire, established in 1623, became a royal colony in 1679 8. Delaware, established in 1664, became a royal colony in 1707 9. North Carolina, established in 1663, became a royal colony in 1729 10. South Carolina, established in 1663, became a royal colony in 1729 11. New Jersey, established in 1664, became a royal colony in 1702 12. Pennsylvania, established in 1681, became a royal colony in 1707 13. Georgia, established in 1732, became a royal colony in 1752 Some of the colonies resulted from the British king’s efforts to expand his influence on America and compete with the other kingdoms. The economic situation in England was complicated, and the King thought the lands in America could provide new job opportunities for people. There, people could have their own land to farm and produce what they needed to survive. Some of the colonies were born from the initiative of the settlers. It was the time of the Protestant Reformation in Europe, and in England, it caused a lot of unrest. So, some people left the country, searching for a new place to practice their religion peacefully. In America, some of the settlers didn't agree with the rest of the community about morals and values, so they founded new colonies. Lots of people were ready to try their luck in America. They believed it was an opportunity to improve their living conditions. They weren't intimidated by the great challenge, as when they first arrived, there was nothing. They had to build the houses, the roads, the harbors, the land for the crops, and start a village from scratch. In addition, they faced constant threats of attacks and illnesses they weren't prepared for. Even so, they persisted, and the colonies eventually flourished. From the beginning, life in the colonies was characterized by hard work and organization. Even though the colonies were under British rule, they developed their own government for local issues. They weren’t free to make their own rules or vote for who ruled them, but they still had assemblies where they discussed community affairs. ## The New World: Life in the 13 Colonies ### The Endeavor of Surviving in the New World The men who founded Jamestown weren't aware of what life in the colony would be like. Most of them were nobles who had enough money to afford the journey. The Virginia Company brought them to America after the request of King James I, but it was each settler's decision, and people had to pay for their expenses. Once in America, the men landed and opened a sealed box left by the Company with the instructions on how to proceed. They first had to set up a camp, so they searched for a better place further away from the coast for better protection, as The Spanish army could assault them at any moment. The new settlers who had come to trade and start businesses in the first place didn't know about the local threats. They had camped in the lands of the Powhatan, a native population that hunted there. The British men had instructions to trade with the natives, but that wouldn't be so easy. On top of that, the camp was surrounded by water. The settlers thought that was good because ships could easily reach the sea and come and go to Europe. What they didn't know was that those waters were infested with mosquitos, and those mosquitos transmitted malaria, a deadly disease. Besides these troubles, they had to start a life there. When they arrived, it was too late in the year to farm. Even if they could, most people weren't peasants, who usually did the farming, so they didn't know how. The peasant settlers that were there explained to the rest that the lands were surrounded by swamps and weren't good enough for crops. Finding food was going to be another significant challenge. The Virginia Company was concerned about the settlers. After all, they had spent a lot of money to start work in America. In the first months, the results weren't as expected. The settlers were supposed to trade with the natives, send goods to Europe, and explore to find gold, but they struggled to survive. So, they sent new ships with supplies from England to help the settlers. Despite the initial tension, the Powhatan natives established relationships with the foreign settlers and sent them food. This helped the settlers survive while they waited for the Company's assistance. Eventually, ships with more people and supplies arrived, and for a while, things got better. More peasants and craftsmen came and were able to produce some goods. However, it took a lot of work to prosper as the Company pushed them to repay the costs of transporting them there. By the winter of 1609 and 1610, things went wrong again. The relationship with the Powhatan natives was ruined, and the exchange of food stopped. They ran out of supplies and ate all of their stock. Soon, they had nothing to eat, and it was a very cold winter. By the time it was over, only 60 people had survived. However, the Virginia Company was determined to make their endeavor prosper, so they brought new people and a new governor who could lead the settlers in a much better way. They had learned that tobacco, a crop widespread in America, could make a lot of money. It was a new product in Europe, and its demand was growing. So, they decided that Jamestown would become a tobacco producer.. In 1619, the company brought women to the village to help make the colony flourish. Therefore, the lonely settlers would soon have families, and the town would become a real community. Shortly after, they brought more hands to work the crops. In 1620, the first ship with enslaved African people arrived in America to work in the tobacco fields. Within 40 years, Jamestown stopped being a weak village on the brink of collapse and became a thriving colony. Soon, Jamestown expanded the lands under their control, and the territory was named Virginia. ## The Colonists: Who Were They? ### The Pilgrims Virginia, originally called Jamestown, was founded to become a trading point. The settlers and the company took a long time to accomplish that goal, but eventually, the colony survived. Nonetheless, there were other reasons why people left England and moved to America. In 1620, a group of about 100 people embarked on a ship called the Mayflower and started a 65-day journey to America. They were searching for a new life but also looking for a place where they could practice their religion freely without fearing for their lives. After the English Protestant Reformation, the only official religion in Great Britain was the Church of England, which the King was the leader of; this group of people did not agree with this. They were Protestants but differed from the Church of England, so they decided to resettle. They gained the permission of the British monarch to establish a colony in the new lands in North America. Crossing the ocean in the 1600s was a dangerous adventure. The journey was full of threats like raging storms and ruthless pirates. Even so, this group of people embarked and headed to Virginia. They got lost when they approached the coast, and the ship sailed north. They landed in Plymouth, where there was no sign of British settlers. There, they would start their own colony. It was a small group of people, but many of them were families, unlike the group that came to Virginia. Soon, the population started to grow. A baby was born on the Mayflower while they were going to America. The baby was a boy, and he was named Oceanus. After they landed, another woman gave birth to another boy. He was named Peregrine. When they arrived, the new settlers signed a document called the Mayflower Compact. This was the foundation of the colony and its own government. It was an early expression of their will to govern themselves that had great influence in the colony of Massachusetts that developed later. As soon as the Pilgrims arrived, they started building their town. The first years were very hard, and only a few survived. However, in the autumn of 1621, they were able to have their first harvest, which was greatly celebrated. This was later considered the First Thanksgiving. Although their goal wasn’t to run a business, economic endeavors were very important to them. They had to build up the communities and ensure survival, which wasn't an easy task. However, their Protestant beliefs encouraged them to work hard for their neighbors and to progress. Therefore, settlers were dedicated workers, and after great efforts to hold the colonies, they started to grow. Soon, they produced and exchanged goods with England and other European countries. After the Pilgrims, many other people ran away from religious persecution in Europe. Those who followed the Protestant religion were forced to leave countries where the official religion was Catholic. In the following years, more Protestants from England and Europe came to America. ### The Farmers After the first wave of immigration, more people moved to the American colonies. While in the beginning, most of them were people who could afford the trip and searched for new opportunities to make money, many others came with nothing. Farmers and peasants were very important in the colonies. Not only because they would produce the goods to exchange with the Natives and with Europe but also because they produced the food the settlers needed to survive. Delaware was one of the Middle England colonies that developed agriculture. The colonization process began with the Dutch and Swedish settlers. Later, the British took control of the lands, enabling agriculture to prosper. People cultivated wheat, barley, Indian corn, and peas. They also had living stock and farm animals: pigs, sheep, goats, and cattle. The Dickinsons were one of those people. The family was the third generation of landowners and had a tobacco plantation in Maryland. In 1740, the family moved to Delaware to work on new lands and replaced tobacco with grains. The son, John Dickinson, continued his education in his new home. The comfortable economic situation of the family allowed John to have good training in many fields. He learned about crops, trading, and laws. As an adult, John Dickinson took control of the family's plantations, administered the properties, and was in charge of the enslaved laborers who worked for him. He went to Philadelphia to study law and become an attorney. After a while in London, he came back to practice. Soon, he was involved in politics. He was the speaker of Delaware's provincial legislature to represent the voice of the farmers who had made the colonization process possible. John used the local newspapers to write down his ideas about how the colonies should be governed and to express the farmers’ demands. ### The Businessmen When the British first came to America, they were looking for business opportunities. The first immigrants were predominantly businessmen or nobles who wanted to use their money to run a business in the new lands. Therefore, many of the first settlers were businessmen. Nonetheless, not all of them were successful. In 1722, Samuel Adams was born in Boston, one of the most important cities in flourishing Massachusetts. The colony wasn't founded for business purposes, but it became an important economic center of the British possessions in America. Massachusetts was placed along a big bay that was filled with harbors. The abundance of timber and fish allowed the settlers to live not only on farming. The intense activity in the harbor and the frequent trade with Europe led to an early development of the industry. The settlers manufactured supplies for the harbors and ships. Samuel belonged to a religious family, like many others in Boston. His father was a deacon in the local church, but Samuel was more interested in business. After studying at Harvard, he tried to open a business of his own, but things didn't work out. So, he was employed as a tax collector, but that wouldn't be a good option either because his job clashed with his values. He had learned within his family the moral values of their faith: personal and civil virtue, which implied getting involved in the matters that affected his community. People in Massachusetts, predominantly Protestant, had a great sense of self-governance and were active participants in the colony's politics. Therefore, Samuel himself became a politician. After a frustrated career as a businessman, Samuel decided to focus on politics. He became a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Boston Town Meeting. Samuel was concerned about the situation of most people in Massachusetts involved in trading. Even though trading was growing, there were good harvests, and the industry helped progress, most people were workers with middle-range incomes. Mainly, the English were becoming rich. That’s why Samuel couldn’t fulfill his duty of collecting taxes, as they were harmful to the neighbors of his own community. ### The Lawyers People who arrived in America were pursuing different dreams. Many of them had fled from their countries in Europe because they wanted freedom to practice their religion. That had been the case with the Pilgrims who came on the Mayflower and founded Plymouth, Massachusetts. People from other religions, mainly Protestants, settled in the different colonies. Among the refugees, a family of French Calvinists settled in New York. The youngest son was called John, and his surname was Jay. You will need to remember him because he's one of the fathers of our nation. He was born in 1745. By then, the city was thriving and changing. New York soon became one of the most populated cities with a busy and thriving economy. The Dutch, the first settlers, had developed intense fur trading between the local populations and other colonies. The farmer families learned to grow crops in the valley of the Hudson River and had large plantations. Then, after the British seized the colony, they brought enslaved people to also work in the plantations and produce more. The settlers traded those goods produced in the plantations and sold them to the European countries. Therefore, trading became a very important activity. That boosted the appearance of liberal professions and jobs that helped trading and business. To be good at trading, you need to be able to understand the law. People had to sell, purchase, own lands, and administer their properties. Therefore, lawyers were very important. At first, businessmen used their common sense to understand the English laws that framed their activities so they could know what they could and couldn’t do. However, as the city grew, law schools were opened. In New York, the King's College (in the present day, University of Columbia). When John was a young boy, his mother taught him at home, but after his 14th birthday, his parents decided to send him to college. At first, John didn't want to attend college. However, he soon realized he didn't want to be a farmer. He liked the rhythm of the city near the harbor. He wanted to help people to look after their rights. As trading grew, lawyers gained prestige in all the colonies.. Lawyers became more and more important as businesses increased. Businessmen needed lawyer's services to ensure they wouldn’t be cheated or break the law. There were many clients for the new lawyers. Therefore, a lot of young men born in farmer immigrant families decided to study law. One of them was John Adams. His great-grandfather emigrated from Essex, England, to Massachusetts in 1638, one of the first waves of settlers. Therefore, John Adams’s family were pioneer settlers in Massachusetts.. John's father was a church priest and a soldier, and they also had a farm with crops and stock. However, in the 1760s, men found other interests and job opportunities. Then, John studied at Harvard, where he learned about laws, business, and philosophy. His father expected him to become a minister like himself. John didn't want to be a minister. Instead, he started teaching after graduation and soon found out he could have a professional career as a lawyer. He had earned a reputation among his colleagues and had plenty of clients. His father wasn’t pleased about his son's choice, but it was all set. Nonetheless, John wasn’t completely satisfied with his decision.. He was the first man in the family who didn’t join the army. He didn’t know yet that he would eventually become a military hero.. ## Ties Across the Atlantic: The British Power As we have seen, the British crown promoted the first colonies, and the first ships with settlers that arrived in America belonged to trading companies. However, soon after they settled, the colonies expanded their territory and organized thanks to the settlers’ hard work. That allowed them to develop an active economy and grow. This favored the colonies but also the kingdom. The role of the British was important in the early stages as they brought supplies to support the settlers. The British also defended the colonies from the Dutch and Spanish attacks and dominated the local populations to expand the lands.. The negative part of this was that the colonies weren’t free. A colony is a land portion conquered and ruled by another distant country. The people who live there are called colonists and must obey the ruler of that other country. This means the colonists could own, work, and produce in their lands.. However, they had to obey the king of Great Britain and accept the British rules. Even though many colonists were born in America, the population of the colony wasn't a free nation. They had a handful of rights, such as running their own business and buying or selling properties. However, there are many differences between them and those who lived in Great Britain. For instance, Americans didn’t have the opportunity to participate in the government, collect their own taxes, and decide how to spend that tax money. Great Britain was an empire ruled by a king. Therefore, it was the only one with power and legitimate rule over all the Empire's territory, including the colonies. However, as of 1689, Parliament in England was the institution in charge of making the rules, not the king. In Parliament, the people of the kingdom could choose their representatives to speak for them and express their concerns. People in the colonies didn’t have that chance. Each colony had a charter that explained the link between them and the King. That document said that the people of the colonies recognized themselves as subjects of the King of Great Britain, and in exchange, the King provided protection and assistance. On the other hand, since the colonies had been the idea of the British monarch and the main purpose was trading, the Empire had the right to benefit from American goods and work. The colonist could own their lands, enslaved laborers, the goods they produced, and earn money from their economic activities. However, the king still had the right to request a percentage of it. This percentage was collected through taxes. Even though the colonists weren't allowed to participate in the British government, they had their own institutions to debate and make decisions on the local issues in the colonies. Each colony had an assembly where the citizens could participate. Nonetheless, the governors were directly elected by the King, and there were some subjects that the colonists couldn’t decide on.. Taxes was one of them. ### Key Points * The British established their first stable colony in North America in 1607, and it was Jamestown. * After many troubles, Jamestown survived and expanded and became the first British colony in America: Virginia. * Between 1622 and 1732, the British established 13 colonies on the East coast of North America , on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. * The first expeditions were carried out by trading companies promoted by the British King . * The Pilgrims and other colonists were refugees running away from religious persecution. * Farmers and businessmen worked and built up the colonies. They grew crops, took fish from the rivers and the sea, timber from the woods, and exported them to Europe or exchanged them with Native populations. * John Dickinson was a farmer and landowner from Delaware. * Samuel Adams was a businessman and politician from Boston, Massachusetts. * John Jay and John Adams were lawyers. Jay was from New York, and Adams was from Massachusetts. * A colony is a territory conquered and administered by another state. * Colonists don't have the same rights as the state's citizens.. * The British colonies in America had a charter with the British King or Queen accepting their authority. * The colonies had assemblies to discuss life in the colonies, but they couldn’t decide anything on a large scale. * The British Parliament established the rules and laws for the colonies, and the crown could charge their trade with taxes.