Slavery and War

Midterm 1. What fundamental factors drew the Europeans to the exploration, conquest, and colonization of the New World? There were many fundamental factors that drew the Europeans to the exploration, conquest, and colonization of the World such as natural resources, overpopulation and religion. The European explorations have been hearing a lot about all the natural resources that the New World can offer to them. They wanted to travel and find the Far East for the gold, silk, spices, and possible crops that they may be able to bring back to Europe.They believed that the New World would be able to offer all of the natural resources that they may need in order to survive in Europe. They were also very fond of gold and all the other riches they may find. Another reason that drew the Europeans to the New World was due to population. Europe was getting overly populated and the lack of available land caused crowdedness. People were determined to get away from Europe and arrive to the Americ an colonies to establish a new place to live. Due to overcrowding, majority of people in Europe were contracting unknown contagious diseases.Many people also wanted to get out of Europe to avoid being infected. Religion has also become a fundamental factor to the exploration of Europeans. There were many different types of religions that the Europeans wanted to spread to the New World. The Europeans wanted to convert all the Native Americans that they have encountered. The Catholics settled in Maryland, while the Quakers settled in Pennsylvania. The goal of the Puritans was to arrive in the New World and be able to freely worship any religion. They wanted to free themselves from the England’s church and be able to create their own churches.What was the impact on the Indians, Europeans, and Africans when each of their previously separate worlds â€Å"collided† with one another? Indians, Europeans and Africans were all significantly impacted when each of their previously separated worlds â€Å"collided† with another. The Indians were significantly impacted when the Europeans came to the New World. The diseases that the Europeans have contracted from Europe were brought to the New World, and resulted to killing thousands of Indians. The diseases were highly contagious and did not take long for countless amount of Indians to get them.If the diseases did not kill the Indians, the Europeans would mistreat them or force them to get out of their own land and move somewhere else. The Indians did not benefit much from the Europeans and overall caused interactions to negatively affect the Indians. The Africans also did not benefit much from Europeans and the interactions that they had. Europeans did not like the Africans because of the dark color of their skin. In result, Europeans took advantage and turned Africans into slaves in the Americas. Only a few Africans benefitted with the Europeans’ interaction with them; slave traders.Some African s became slave traders and traded their own kind by capturing Africans and selling them to ships to travel to the Americas for profit. The Europeans benefitted the most when their separate worlds â€Å"collided† with the others. Due to their advance weapons and animals; they were able to kill the Indians or remove them form their own native land. After they did this, they were able to explore the land create new colonies, find new animals and plants to use for work and food. The Europeans benefitted from Africans because they enslaved them and did not have to pay for the labor.What caused the shift from indentured servant to African slaves as the dominant labor force in the southern colonies? The institution of slavery began in England because young women and men wanted to find a master who they will serve for (usual terms were from 4 to 5 years) to exchange for food, housing, and a way to get to America. After serving their time, men ended up being farmers, artisans or worse ; unemployed without anything and women ended up getting married. Indentured servants started to decline due do low birth rates and lack of improvement in the economic conditions developed.They often did not want to stay in the southern colonies due to the poor advancement it offered. In result, landowners started to use African slavery as their source of labor. They were free and landowners did not have to worry about paying for the African slaves. 3. What efforts were made to strengthen English control over the colonies in the seventeenth century, and why did they generally fail? After the civil wars that were going on in Europe, England tried to restore their authority on the colonies and make sure that throne was still powerful.After the British throne had been restored by Charles II, he wanted to be able to control his colonies more strictly. However, he was surprised that the orders he have made were not being followed in Massachusetts. The colonies were being taxed a lot by t he English and they also sent out governors of their own to try to take charge of the colonies and made sure that the British laws were being enforced. Charles II wanted to continue the English rule in the New World and tried to overpower the colonies. It generally failed because the English were fighting civil wars themselves, and colonies were left insolated for many years.This can be argued in a good and bad way. The colonies started becoming independent and did not like the idea of being ruled under England anymore. They liked the idea that they were free from England’s rule, which foreshadows terrible events down history. The colonies wanted to be under their own rules and disliked the thought of still being under England’s rule. What were the causes of the Bacon Rebellion and what impact did the rebellion have on Virginia politics and slavery? There were many causes of the Bacon Rebellion.Nathaniel Bacon created an angry group of people (slaves, farmers, servants ) to protest and burn down Indian settlements and Jamestown because they believed that the government was not giving them enough protection. This was caused by a disagreement between the Natives and the newly settled lands to the west. William Berkeley, Virginia’s governor, created a deal with the native. This deal was that there would not be any more settlers settling west of the mountains. However, due to the rapid growing of population, the agreement was difficult to maintain.There were people who were still settling west of the newly settled land where they have agreed not to settle in. This made the Natives very furious and started to harass the settlers. Nathan Bacon wanted support from Berkeley for a militia but Berkeley turned him down. This angered Nathan Bacon and ultimately, gathered people to defend him and others against the natives. After he did that, he invaded Jamestown and exiled Berkeley. Also, it was evidence of a struggle that was continuous between the In dians and the colonies in Virginia.The competition among the easterners and westerners revealed the bitterness they had for each other. It demonstrated the fact that the colony may not be capable of proving stability to the large population of free and landless men (most were former indentured servants). Bacon’s rebellion also made a huge impact on Virginia politics and slavery. The rebellion indicated the fact that it was the first class struggle between the rich and the poor whites living in the New World. It also continued to reduce the amount of Indians living there and open new land for white settlers.It reduced the population of white servants and increased the population of African servants. The indentured servants started to decrease because the landowners knew that indentured servants were to be released after their contract was finished. Landowners turned to Africans slaves because slaves did not have any contracts about how long they were to work for. They did not pose a threat for any uprisings, which the landowners highly approved of. 4. Identify the basic beliefs and assumptions of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening.The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening impacted the intellectual and spiritual life of the colonies in different ways. The Enlightenment challenged the divine right and the role of religion, which assisted Colonial America to realize that it was possible to challenge the divine right and the King. It resulted in opening the ideas about literature, science and education. It focused more on scientific advancements and helped produce more of an interest in politics and education. The Great Awakening had an idea behind it: â€Å"a new beginning†. It created a new pathway toward religion being shared.T led to the ability to challenge the clergy and the King. The Great Awakening believed that God was coming soon. This caused the believing of others and they started creating churches and school for education. This mea nt that it gave the people a freedom of religion. How did these two movements affect colonial development? The Great Awakening is the religious response to the Enlightenment to the Enlightenment and the Enlightenment was a change from religious thinking to scientific thinking. The Enlightenment gave the colonies opportunity to another option other than religion.This enabled the colonies to challenge traditional beliefs. How did the American colonies move from loyalty to protest to rebellion in the twelve years following the end of the French and Indian War? The American colonies moved from loyalty to protest to rebellion in the twelve years following the end of the French and Indian War. The fertile soil in the Ohio River Valley sparked the interested of the colonists. The idea of colonists entering the land caused the French and Indians to be concerned for they have already established a great trading relationship together.The British, which also included the colonists, defeated th e forces of the French and Indians combined. Ultimately, this war made a severe financial issue to the British because while they were fighting with the French and Indians; they were also fighting in the Seven Years War in Europe. The British needed to find a way to increase revenues to the treasury while saving money. One way the British were able to save money was by passing the Proclamation of 1763. The Proclamation of 1763 was to stop settlers from advancing and settling in west of the Appalachian Mountains.They wanted to separate the colonists from the Indians and prevent any conflict between them. By reducing any conflict between other groups, they would not need as many military forces, which will help them save money. Unfortunately, the colonists did not like this idea because they believed that since they participated in the war, helped fight, and win the war; they would be able to settle in the Ohio River Valley. The British were able to increase the revenue is by adopting the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act stated that all printed items; for example, playing cards, newspapers and pamphlets, would all be taxed.This caused mixed emotions and led to a serious of actions on both the British and the colonists. The colonists did not like that idea and so they would protest about the tax. The British would try to rescind it, change it or enforce it. If the British were forced to rescind the act, they would change it to another tax; for example, Currency Act or Sugar Act). The colonists were not to happy about the acts because they did not elected any representatives to the Parliament. The British Constitution did not allow taxing unless there were representatives in the Parliament.This caused the colonists to be taxed without any representation. However, the British fired back and said that the colonists were being represented. The Parliament counted and represented all Englishmen even though they have not voted. After the French and Indian War, there were many e vents that caused the colonists to be angry. The most obvious reason was because of the series of Parliamentary acts. 6. What advantages and disadvantages did the American rebels and the British possess as the war began? There British and the American rebels both had many advantages and disadvantages as the war began.The British had many advantages compared to the Americans as the Revolutionary War began. The British had the confidence that they were going to win the war. The unlimited amount of money to buy any materials/resources they needed, and the significantly huge amount of trained soldiers were big advantages for them. The disadvantage the British had was that the soldiers really did not have any purpose in fighting because most of them were being paid to fight. The British soldiers were doing what they were told to do. They did not find any significance about this war.The British soldiers did not have to fight for their independence, unlike the Americans. The Americans had a couple advantages going into the war: the purpose of fighting, which was for their independence (they did not get paid at all unlike the British) and that made them fight harder than the British. They were truly fighting for themselves and valued the significance of this war. They were also fighting on their own land so they knew important landmarks. This was a great advantage for the Americans because they would be able to identify and predict where the British would be.The disadvantages that the Americans faced were that they were very limited in supplies. They did not have the huge amount of money to buy materials, which meant that they valued every bullet, cannon, and guns. They were not as populated as the British soldiers. They also did not have as much soldiers as the British did. The Americans were not also properly trained to fight. They did not have well-experienced captains leading them. Why was the Battle of Saratoga such a key to American success in the Revolutionary War? The French disliked the British for particular reasons like the war they had about gaining territory in North America.The French wanted to weaken the English as much as possible, which meant that French might be able to take revenge for what the British have done to them. In order to win the Revolutionary war, the Americans knew that they needed help from foreign forces. However, the French did not commit to fully support the Americans until they are certain that the Americans were capable of winning. After the Battle of Saratoga, the French started thinking that the Americans were worthy of their support. The Americans’ victory in this battle resulted in France becoming allies to the Americans.The Battle of Saratoga was significant because it was a major turning point of the Revolutionary War. Battle of Saratoga was the first American victory in the Revolutionary War. The confederacy of the Iroquois was neutral during the war. But three of the Iroquois nation fought al ong side with the British forces in the Battle of Saratoga. The confederacy was then weakened severely and with the Americans winning the Battle of Saratoga, the confederacy weakened even more. The result of the confederacy being weakened, the Iroquois nation were forced into Canada.What role did France play in winning the America’s independence and what were the long term implications for France? The France played an extremely important role with the winning of America’s independence. The French and the Americans were allied, and the Americans had no navy at all. The French were able to supply the Americans with the navy that they needed. The Americans also lacked the weapons and supplies they needed to fight in the Revolutionary War. They were able to give the Americans huge amounts of guns, other weaponries and ammunitions. The Americans were also lacking a huge army.The French also gave the Americans half of the army they had in the war. The French were also allied with the Spanish, which was a bad thing for the British. The French supplied the Americans with money that the Americans did not have. The French did not think about the American’s independence during the war, but mainly to try and get rid of the British. They wanted to crush the British armies because of what happened in the French and Indian War. The French disliked the British and that is why they allied with the Americans. If it wasn’t for the French, the American’s chances to winning were close to nothing.