History

Western Expansion

Manifest Destiny, an attitude that the American people had after we gained our independence from England. Starting after Jefferson had made the Louisiana Purchase, we craved more land. We realized that there was unclaimed land, and this made us crave it more. When Jefferson made this purchase of land, it sparked a fire. Word was out that there was free land that was yet to be claimed. Jefferson never had a devious thought when he purchased this land. However, the premise behind manifest destiny hasn’t ceased to exist even to this day.

One thing that the colonies had in common was that they all wanted freedom. Even when we gained our independence from Great Britain, our nation wanted freedom. Basically, we didn’t want anyone telling us what to do. When Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, he saw it as a way to expand America; an opportunity for the Americans to claim land that was rightfully theirs, or so he thought. When citizens of the thirteen colonies gathered the courage to explore this new land, they were very ambitious. They didn’t just want any land, they wanted to find a place where the resources were endless. Where they would never have to worry about how to get water or food. Unfortunately, this type of land was already claimed by the American Indians. Do you think that would stop us from getting what we wanted?

Manifest Destiny is an attitude, coined by Bishop Berkeley, that stated that the colonists had the right to take over this land, because we were the superior race. We had the technology so why not use it?  Now we recognize Manifest Destiny as a selfish period of time for our country. It was the state of mind that the American people were in, that we could do whatever we wanted because “God was on our side.” We took to extremes and manipulated different messages from the Bible. We turned something good into something bad.                                           

Jefferson had not a greedy thought when he bought this land for the colonists. He saw the opportunity for more land and didn’t pass it by, just as any other man at the time would have. However, the settlers had a different mindset than Jefferson, hence Manifest Destiny. Not only did we have to take the land from the American Indians but we had to turn it into a greedy, manipulative, selfish invasion, the Western Expansion.

Revolutionary War

One of the most important things that people should know about being an American, is where we came from, our  roots. America didn’t magically appear at one point in time; it took our rebellious Founding Fathers and a lot of fighting to get to where we are. Some of the events that lead up the making of country include: Stamp Act, Sugar Act, and Tea Act. These events are what started to give people in the colonies the idea of independence.

When we take a look at the acts in order, we notice that the Sugar and Stamp Acts happened relatively close together. The main purpose of the acts was taxes. The thirteen colonies had a growing belief in the statement., Taxation without representation. The Sugar Act was actually a continuation of the Molasses Act, which was implemented in 1733. The main goal of the Molasses Act was for the british to put a tax of six pence per gallon on molasses. There was no specific ending to this act because, after the bill for this tax was passed, it was renewed every five years. What does this have to do with the Sugar Act? The Molasses Act was still going on through the Seven Years War, as if we were not enough in debt. The purpose of the Sugar Act was to help raise revenue to help pay off the debt from this war. This act started April 5, 1764.

The next action that the thirteen colonies took was their fight against the stamp taxation.. This was known as the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act  was started on June 8, 1765, when the Massachusetts Assembly sent a letter to other legislators, inviting them to a ‘discussion’ about the current state of which the colonies were in. Later did they find out the they were really in New York to discuss England’s law about stamps and their cost. By October 7, 1765, they had formed a Stamp Act Congress and were having secret meetings. They met from October 7 - October 25, 1765. While in their secret meeting, they adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances. This document stated that ‘Only the colonial assemblies had the right to tax the colonies.’  Diminishing the possibility for England’s law and tax on stamps to be placed on us.

The final act that the colonies put into place, was the Tea Act. This was last action that the colonies took before they got serious. Since tea was a staple in the colonies, the british had the cruel thought that if we put a taxation on it, there will be nothing that they could do but pay for it. This made life hard on the colonists. Unlike the other acts, this was put into place to help the East India Company, sell their eighteen million pounds of unsold tea.This act was put into place by parliament on May 10, 1773.

Many people in society today are uneducated on how we got to where we are now. These acts are just three small events that occurred in our history. Although the Stamp, Sugar, and Tea acts seem small, they are far from it! These actions are what lead up to the Revolutionary War, which is how we gained our independence. Without them, we might still be under England’s rule. Without independence, the USA wouldn’t have become the nation we are today.

Colonization Period

Author’s Note: This week Rodney 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 Gosnold, 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. The thirteen colonies were ever-growing until July 4, 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed, making us one country,

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.

Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C8r-dso7agiFq6DrSKPj5NdeS1BhztnstZzma65Oe38/edit