Colonial History Subsequent to the Essay

  • Length: 5 pages
  • Sources: 3
  • Subject: Mythology - Religion
  • Type: Essay
  • Paper: #76181291

Excerpt from Essay :

Among the first major nations to have their people leaving for America were the Irish and the Germans. Life in Europe during the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries had been difficult, with the lower classes living in extreme poverty. As a result, people saw the opportunity of establishing themselves in a place where they would escape their problems. People coming to America from countries other than England generally received harsh treatments because the English felt that North America mostly belonged to them.

While white people coming to America did so in search of freedom and riches, black people had a totally different fate in store for them. Black people were brought into America as slaves and could have no dreams since they knew that freedom was an inaccessible concept.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have been a period in which women were still regarded as not being qualified to fulfil complex missions. Both in their home country, and in America, women were generally responsible for performing simple tasks such as cooking and taking care of children. Thus, not a lot of women living during the time have managed to enjoy life in a land of freedom and of opportunity.

4. Two of the most successful regions of colonies in America were New England and Chesapeake. Both regions had been taken and colonized by the English after they had become alarmed by the fact that most major countries already had an American colony at the time.

In spite of having been taken by the English at about the same time, the two regions were very different. One of the main reasons for the difference had been the fact that the colonies had been created with different purposes.

The New England region had been colonized by religious people that wanted to break free from a perverted religious system in Europe. The colonies had been created because of religious reasons, with the colonists wanting to have freedom in expressing their religion and a land fit for them to do so.

Chesapeake had been a place where most colonists had come because of the typical reason for which one would choose to come to America: to get rich fast. People wanted to exploit everything that they found in order to make money.

As it had been expected, the two regions of colonies were favored by different types of settlers, with New England being generally preferred by religious people, while Chesapeake being normally preferred by anyone that wanted to make money.

The economies of the two regions also differed, with Chesapeake having tobacco as its main source of money, and New England having its people earning money from several sources such as fishing and farming.

5. The people from the North-American colonies saw the opportunity in exploiting black people as slaves. The first black slaves were brought to a Northern-American colony owned by the British in 1619. Europeans had already been accustomed to using black people as slaves at the time.

From its very beginnings, slavery saw opposition with people claiming that it had been damaging both for the people enslaved, and for the whole society. The first black people that were brought to America were not treated as their followers have. Colonists did not make special laws relating to slaves or to the way that they should behave.

After several years in which slavery thrived, most colonies had been making profits from the slave business. The states of Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina had been the main states in which slaves existed in large numbers. The colonies from the north did not pay great attention to the slave business, as white people preferred to raise crops on their own.

Slavery in the south had become a crucial matter, as the southern society could not function properly without the help of slave labour. In contrast, the northerners did not need slavery, with white people performing the duties performed by black people in the south.

Works cited:

1. Berlin, Ira, "Many thousands gone," Harvard University Press, 2000.

2. Middleton, Richard, "Colonial America," Wiley-Blackwell, 2002.

3. "Puritanism in America," Retrieved April 19, 2009, from Wake Forest University Web site:





Berlin, Ira, "Many thousands gone," Harvard…

Cite This Essay:

"Colonial History Subsequent To The" (2009, April 19) Retrieved February 13, 2017, from

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