History

Colonization Period

         

Author’s Note: This week Mckena and I started a research project on the thirteen colonies, we decided to not go so in depth with this project, simply because we just wanted to know the logistics or basics about how this country got to where we are today. 

America started off as a small town, Jamestown. From that little town we have evolved into  dominating country that we are today. The very first people to arrive at the coast of the New Found Land were three English ships: the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. Lead by Captain Bartholomew Gonsnold, Captain Christopher Newport, and Captain George Kendall. Jamestown, later evolved into what they were known as today, Virginia. This was the first successful colony. Many people saw that new settlement was possible and eventually started moving to other parts of the New Found Land, starting other colonies. Until July 4th 1776, when the Delectation of Independence was written, our nation grew into the thirteen colonies

The three ships left from London on December 20, 1606. When the ships landed on the shore of the New Found Land, the date was April 26, 1607, about 4 and a half months.This was later known as Southern colonies. The first Southern colony to be established was Virginia, on May 13, 1607.The main reason that people settled in the south was for the freedom to own slaves, also to have as much land as they wanted. A very important part of the culture in the Southern Colonies was wealth. If you weren’t considered a slave, you were a rich man. The slaves main job was to farm tobacco. That was how the men made so much money. Tobacco was very popular in that time, therefore it was in large demand. The Southern Colonies, were responsible for harvesting all the tobacco for all the colonies.

Part of the reason that farming was so popular then was that they had very rich soil in the south. One of the disadvantages of living in the Southern Colonies, was the poor health. Because of the beating sun and how overworked the slaves were, diseases like Black Death, may have been one of the main reasons that the overall health of the southern colonies was low.

The colonists that settled in the Middle Colonies did not have an exact purpose to why they choose to settle there. There were many different ethnic groups that settled in this area. Out of the three regions of colonies, the Middle Colonies was definitely the most diverse. Some of the different groups that came to the Middle Colonies include: English, Swedish, Dutch, German, French, etc. A large part of the Middle Colonies were Native American Tribes. The reason being, the Middle Colonies were the area where the Native American were most accepted. Native languages of the Middle Colonies include Algonquin and Iroquois. This region of the thirteen colonies are known as the ‘crossroads’.  

Because of the many different ethnic groups that settled in the Middle Colonies, it is no surprise that unlike the New England Colonies; where there was one strict religion, there were many different accepted religions within the region. For example: Quakers, Mennonites, Lutheran, Dutch Calvinists, and Presbyterian. These were some of the most popular religions. Because there were so many religions, it was impossible for one religion to dominate, like in the New England Colonies.

Captain John Smith, founder of the New England Colonies, settled in this region to find spiritual freedom. There were many people that wanted the freedom to practice their religion without the harsh judgement by the Church of England. Along with John Smith, came the puritans and pilgrims. These were people that were religious extremists that were judged by society in such a way that they could no longer stand living in England. Back in the time of the pilgrims, religion was everything. It was what they based their whole life around and if they couldn’t do that without being tested daily by the rest of society then, they were bound and determined to find a place they could. They found their safe haven in the New England Colonies.

Around 1770 the colonies realized that the British were taking away too many privileges that they thought that they earned by starting their own society, and started an uprising. There were more riots and more lawbreakers. A very large riot took place on Kings Street. A British sentry was surrounded by angry civilians and was submitted to verbal harassment. The soldiers, fed up with the yelling, fired into the crowd killing three people and injuring others. Two more people died of wounds from the incident. The Sugar and Stamp Acts lead up to the Boston Massacre, which is what lit the fire within the colonies. They realized that it was more important that they come together as one and fight for their freedom. Following the Boston Massacre, was the Tea Act. On December 16th, 1773, The Boston Tea Party was arranged to show the British that we were sick and tired of their taxes. This was when the colonies knew that they could work together as one big country. On July 4th, 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and declared the colonies a country.

The Revolutionary War

Authors Note: Over the past few weeks Mckena and I did some research on the Revolutionary War. This time however we decided to do separate writing pieces. I focused more on both the American and the British points of view.. Hope you like it! 

America took a lot of work to become what it is today. It wasn't just a gracious gift from the British. It took a team with cunning abilities to rip it out of the British influence. Heroes, the citizens called them, but to the British they were nothing but thieves and criminals.

The Boston Massacre was on of the first heroic acts by the citizens of America. Riots were starting every once in a while but they were quickly stopped by the British, but this time was different. A large group people were calling a group of guards names, very quickly things got far out of the hands of the British. Richard Palmes hit a soldier causing him to shout in anger. One of those word was fire. The guards fired into the crowd killing three people and injuring more. When the crowd finally dispersed the people had won this battle, the Americans had done what they had planned. They got the British to shoot at them without any orders. They had been able to break them. Knowing this meant that they could do it again. 

In the eyes of the British Government, the Boston Massacre was simply a riot that needed to be squelched.  On March 5th, there was a large riot against some British troops, over 400 were said to be there. Private White was being physically and vocally abused until he took higher ground on the steps of the custom house. He called for back up and was then greeted by six more soldiers including Captain Thomas Preston, the officer of the watch. Still things were being thrown at them and people were still calling all of them names. They finally loaded their weapons and got into a semi-circle position. The crowd continued to taunt them and these criminals wouldn't let up. Finally someone came and hit another private with a cudgel causing him to fall. He quickly got up and shouted something containing the words fire, though no command was given. A few seconds later the soldiers fired killing many people. The British had fallen for their trap and lost. 

The British were taking away too many rights. Riots were more common and more aggressive. "No taxation without representation! " is all you would hear down every other main road. With the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act people were already getting annoyed. Now with the Tea act, people are needing to pay more taxes for something most don't even like! There was, however, a team thinking of a way to get to the British, to show them that they aren't messing around, that they were serious. This team consisted of: Samuel Adams, Benedict Arnold, John Adams, Paul Revere, and many more. They were known as the Sons of Liberty. After many secret meetings, they finally perfected their plan. They would attack a new shipment of tea and throw it into the Boston Harbor. The date of the attack happened on December 16, 1773. Most if not all of the members of the Sons of Liberty dressed up like native Americans and ran on to the ship and destroyed most of the cargo. The estimated cost was £9,000 for all the repairs and the tea. The Americans won once again.

Running ships across the Atlantic Ocean costs a lot of money and the British government needed to make more money. By increasing the taxes on some of the things that they would ship over they will be able to create more money. The Sugar and Stamp Act were already creating profit, but they needed more to keep themselves going. They finally increased the tax on tea. They were creating more and more money everyday. When they sent a new shipment of tea in they would wait 20 days for the tea to be payed for. In the month of December a new ship had arrived and had waited until the last of the 20 days. The captain knew that they didn't have enough money to get rid of the tea nor to go back to England. On December 16, 1773 a group of Colonials dressed Native Americans had boarded the ship and destroyed all of the precious cargo on board. The ship had to start a journey back to England empty handed. This was a terrible waste of £9,000 and all of the tea. The British Government was outrage and knew that they needed to do something about these criminal acts.

We will always think of these people as the original american heroes. The British Government will always think of these people as the rebels that took their land right out from under them. Point of view matters, it can take the simplest things and turn them right around. Suddenly the American Revolution wasn't as innocent as we all thought.  

The Western Expansion

 Authors Note: This Piece I decided to write it in a different way, a narrative. It is from the prospective of one of the men chosen to come along with Joliet and Marquette. I used the native names of the rivers and lakes. I hope you enjoy. 

Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette set off on a journey to explore the unexplored regions of the west and they chose me and four other men to go along with them. Joliet told us that his mission was to follow the Misi-ziibi and follow it to the sea. Marquette told us that his mission was to spread the word of God to the people they encountered.  On May 17, 1673, we all left. The seven of us left on our birch-bark canoes. Following the northern and western shores of the Mishigami we paddled and portaged through the Meskousing and many other rivers. Some of the sights were beautiful, all of the full forests and wild life. It had seemed like weeks we had spent just portaging. Before we knew it we were there, we had reached our destination, The Misi-ziibi. We camped out until  Marquette and Joliet went to visit an Iliniwek village. We waited and guarded the canoes just in case we were raided.  When they came back they had some extra cargo: A camulet and a little 10 year-old boy who was claimed to help guide us. 

We rowed down until we reached the ohiːyo' but soon after, a swarm of Akakaze, the quapaw surrounded the canoes and prepared to attack to defend their territory. We quickly took out outr weapons perpared to fire but, before we could shoot we were told to hold fire. Marquette held the calumet very high and a club flew past his head. Then everything stopped. The quapaw took us to the chief village, they called it Akansea, it was beautiful. The elders of the village told us that  further down the river there were people with guns. We came to the conclusion that the Misi-ziibi emptied out into the gulf of mexico. We decided to go back home to ensure that the notes survive. When we left the Iliniwek chief's son told us about another, easier shortcut to get back to Mishigami through theIliniwek River. 

The river brought us to a fertile tall grass prairie. Joliet thought that this would be ideal for settled agriculture. He then decided that he would come back and settle there.  We portaged to the Shikaakwa and back to Mishigami. When we came home we had gone over 2500 miles. Sadly, Marquette died from dysentery on May 18, 1675.  We were on the canoe on our way back to Kebec, when the canoes capsized and two of our men died and so did the little Iliniwek boy. All of the notes were gone as well. Joliet survived after a few hours of hanging on to rocks on the Sault St. Louis. He then told the people about the river and the settlement area but the french simply didn't  have enough money to make his idea into reality. Joliet ended up retiring to a island and spending his life as a teacher, until his death in 1700. The travels are something I will never forget.