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An Outline of American History, 3rd Edition

Steven L. Rosen

Faculty of Human Culture and Science

Department of Intercultural Studies

The Prefectural University of Hiroshima

www.pu-hiroshima.ac.jp

Mail: rosen@pu-hiroshima.ac.jp

Homepage: http://srosen9.tripod.com

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Chapter I The Colonization of America

Globalism starts with the discovery of America at the end of the

15th century by Columbus. As we enter the 16th century, Europe and the

rest of the world begin a period of radical change in social structure,

economy, religion, and politics. It is the end of feudal civilization in

Europe, and the beginnings of a new social order. It is also the

beginning of the Europeanization of the world. Europe would see an

incredible growth in wealth and power, and individual Europeans

would gradually experience more economic, political and religious

freedom. For the rest of the world, we should remember, the 16th

century the beginning of the end of their civilizations.

Early European Conquest: Spain and France

In 1492 Columbus discovered America, and shortly after that,

Spain, France and later England started colonies in the Americas. The

appeal of unending free land rich in natural resources was very great

and these countries actively tried to explore and settle the North

American continent.

The Spanish came in search of gold. They colonized Florida first

and, by 1600, had colonized the American southwest, spreading their

language and culture. In 1608 the French started a settlement in

Quebec in Eastern Canada and this became the beginning of New

France, the French empire in America.

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The French were mainly involved in the fur trade and had very

good relations with many of the Indian tribes in America. They

explored the region along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers down to

the Gulf of Mexico (1682) and all this land was put under French

control. It was given the name Louisiana after King Louis XIV. In 1718,

New Orleans was founded as a major trading port.

17th century French map of North America

The English Colonies

Tudor Dynasty monarch, Queen Elizabeth I

(1533-1603; reigned from 1558 till her death; Shakespeare’s queen)

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In 1584 Queen Elizabeth I of England allowed a colony to be

started on the east coast of America north of Spanish Florida. It was

named Virginia (because Elizabeth was known as the “Virgin Queen”).

Under Elizabeth, England had become a rich and powerful nation in

competition with Spain and France. Also, Elizabeth had firmly

established the Protestant religion (Church of England) as the national

religion of England (Spain and France were, of course, both Catholic).

North America gradually became a place where these European

countries would compete for colonial possessions. Religion also was a

factor in colonialism which will be discussed below.

Under the next English monarch, King James I, the colony called

Jamestown, in Virginia, was established (1607). This is really

considered the first English colony in America. King James I of

England gave the London Company the right to settle in Virginia and

North Carolina. In 1612 they started growing tobacco in Virginia and

more and more English went there. America was becoming a good

place for British merchants to invest.

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New England: the Puritans

The first Puritans arrived in America on the ship, The Mayflower (Dec., 17, 1620). In 1629 a larger group of 400 came to start the Massachusetts Bay Colony around Boston and Salem. They were then followed by a great migration of mostly English Puritans.

In 1620 the first group of Puritans landed in

Massachusetts. They were called Puritans because they wanted to

purify the Church of England (= the Anglican Church), which they

saw as corrupt. They were also called Separatists, because they wanted

to separate from the Anglican Church. Their purpose in coming to

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America was to start a religious community. The Puritans were a

product of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It was a time

when many people saw hope for freedom from the old social and

political systems in Europe.

In 1620, a ship of 102 Puritans landed in Massachusetts after a 65

day journey across the Atlantic Ocean, and set up the Plymouth Colony

there. Massachusetts’s winters are very severe and about half of them

died in the first winter. However, an Indian named Squanto (who could

speak English before they arrived!) taught them how to plant corn and

where to fish and hunt. In the fall, after their first harvest, they had a

feast which was the first “Thanksgiving.”

In 1630 other Puritans came to start the Massachusetts Bay

Company (Boston). Many of its members were quite wealthy and many

highly educated. Unlike the Virginia colony, the leaders of the New

England Puritans wanted to make a religious community that strictly

followed “God’s laws.” They saw a need for higher education for the

training of clergy, and in 1636, a wealthy colonist, John Harvard, help

to start Harvard College.

In 1692 a kind of hysteria took over the people living in the

village of Salem, Massachusetts. They believed there were witches

among them, and 14 women and 6 men are executed. Later on, they

realized that they had executed innocent people.

This community of Puritans in Salem came under many social as

well as environmental stresses and eventually died out or became

absorbed in the growing communities started by the Massachusetts

Bay Company.

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Historical and Economic Context:

British Mercantilism and Colonialism

The American colonies were part of a European system of trade called

mercantilism. Mercantilism was an economic policy where a nation’s government

tried to actively protect domestic merchants and industries through restricting

imports (through heavy tariffs and duties and shipping regulations), while

encouraging exports: more money coming in and less flowing out. １ The

globalization (Europeanization) of the world was accomplished a clear intention by

these nations to make money through a managed trade policy—and, if necessary,

war to enforce it. Many laws were passed concerning shipping--- who could ship

goods, where they could ship them to, and shipping duties were all to control and

manage trade to get the most profits. Wars were fought in the 17th and 18th

century between England and other European countries to enforce these laws and

protect their trade routes.

Britain rose to become the world’s biggest colonial power based, in part, on

this mercantilist economic policy.

In the 1620’s we see the first mercantilist laws: tobacco from

American colonies could only be sold in Britain. This policy would

obviously help keep the price high, protecting the tobacco merchants

(but meaning higher prices for consumers).

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Then, in 1651, England passed the first law which helped to give a

monopoly to British ships: only English ships could be used for

importing goods from European countries into Britain.

In the 1660’s, the “Navigation Acts” said that all European goods

going to British colonies had to go through England first. Duties had

to be paid when the goods landed at ports in England, and then were

put on ships flying under the British flag to be transported the

colonies for sale. (The bad side of this was that the colonists in

America had to pay higher prices; the good side was that the ship

building industry in America prospered).

In 1733, heavy taxes on sugar coming into to America from French

colonies in the West Indies (i.e., the Caribbean), forced Americans to

buy sugar from British colonies instead. Also, certain products

produced in America (tobacco, rice, and sugar) had to be shipped to

England first before they could be sold to other European countries.

Ships built in New England actually sailed all over the world in the

expanding colonial trade markets and routes. In the case of North America, British

colonies produced lumber, tobacco, rice, indigo, and in the West Indies (the

Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Cuba), sugar. By the 18th century, what some

people call the “triangular trade” developed, meaning a highly profitable trade

between the Caribbean islands, the British colonies on the east coast of North

America, England, the “wine islands” of Spain (Madeira) and Africa (for slaves to

work on sugar and tobacco plantations). There was much piracy in the Caribbean

and elsewhere where pirates could thought they could take advantage of trade

routes.

Great Britain became one of the richest countries in the world thanks to

colonialism and mercantilism.２ The rise of the British East India Company as the

most powerful and world’s richest company is an example of the success of both

mercantilism and colonialism. Of course we should remember that in America,

though the British colonists became rich, the local native population of American

Indians was destroyed; in India the local population was exploited and

impoverished.

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The term mercantilism is not used when talking about the modern global

economy, but similar forms of economic protectionism are still with us today in

government trade policy.

The West Indies (Caribbean)

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The Middle Colonies

New York

In 1621 the Dutch West India Company was formed to establish a

colony in America (in the area of New York State). They bought

Manhattan Island from the Indians for about 26 dollars worth of jewels

and tools and founded New Amsterdam there. In 1664 the English king

Charles II sent warships to take the Dutch colony and rename it New

York

Pennsylvania and the Quakers

The area south of New York became New Jersey. Many Quakers

settled there. The Quakers were another of the many new Protestant

groups which were emerging in Europe and leaving to find freedom

and independence in some other place outside Europe. The Quakers

were very similar to the Puritans in many ways. They wore plain

clothes and refused to bow to anyone. But unlike the Puritans of New

England, the Quakers believed in toleration for other people’s

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religious beliefs. Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 by William Penn,

who was himself a Quaker.

William Penn, the founder Pennsylvania, originally a Quaker colony.３

Because of the Quaker belief in peace and love for all men,

Pennsylvania became a place of safety for Indians, who were treated

very well there. For the main city of his colony, William Penn chose

an area on the Delaware River, which he called Philadelphia (from

Greek, meaning “Brotherly Love”). This city became an important port

and later on, the first capital of America.

The Southern Colonies Develop

The people of Virginia grew tobacco as its cash crop.

Tobacco was enormously popular in Europe and this helped bring great

wealth into America’s southern colonies. Tobacco and also rice

cultivation required a large labor force, more than was available from

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whites or Indians. In the 17th century blacks were shipped from Africa

in large quantities to work on southern plantations as well as

plantations on Caribbean islands (the West Indies). The first Africans

arrived in Virginia in 1619 (on a Dutch ship). By the mid 18th century

about 20% of the population of America was African-American.

The Carolinas were given to some wealthy private

merchants in 1634 and grew quickly and became two royal colonies

(North and South Carolina) in 1729. North Carolina had mostly small

farms, but South Carolina had a large number of big plantations.

In 1732 King George II gave land north of Spanish Florida

to a group of wealthy members of British society. This new colony was

therefore called Georgia. Like the other southern colonies, Georgia

rapidly grew and became a royal colony in 1752.

Overview: Colonial Government in North America

The 13 British colonies which stretched along the east coast of North

America all had local governments based on the British model, and heavily

influenced by Democratic principles and the British system of law.

Nevertheless, each colony had its own unique history and style of

government. Three main patterns can be observed:

1) Corporate or charter colonies: In the charter colony, a group of people

were given the right to settle an area of land to start a business and

given the right to govern the colony The settler ’s didn’t own the land, but

could use the area to develop their business enterprises. The first two

colonies (Virginia and Massachusetts) followed this pattern. Usually this

pattern did not last very long; only Rhode Island and Connecticut kept

this form until the Revolution.

2) Proprietary colonies: Except for Virginia and Massachusetts, all the

other colonies started out as proprietary colonies, which means that an

area of land was given by the king to one of his friends or elite members

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of the British aristocracy; they became “the proprietors.” They owned

and managed the colony from a distance.

3) Royal colonies: Most of the colonies ended up as royal colonies meaning

that the crown (the king) took control of the colony, and the colony’s

governors were directly appointed by the King.

Summary: Colonial America

o After 1680 there was a lot of emigration from other

countries besides England to North America. Large numbers

of people came from France, Germany and Holland and

other countries, particularly from Northern Europe.

o In general, the northern colonies had a stronger

emphasis on education and religion, and in the southern

colonies agricultural grew thanks to the labor of black slaves.

Slavery was not legal in the northern colonies.

o England was becoming the most powerful country

in the world, and, in North America was gradually pushing

out the French and Dutch to become the main colonial power

there.

The Road to Revolution: the French and Indian War

As the British colonies spread west they came into conflict with the

French, particularly in the region of the Ohio Valley. The governor of

Virginia organized a group of citizens (led by George Washington) to

fight the French. It is called the French and Indian War because

Indians were helping out on both sides.

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This conflict spread beyond America when (in 1756) England

and France declared war on each other in Europe.４ When the

British finally captured the cities of Quebec and Montreal in New

France (1760), the French finally surrendered. As a result of this

victory over the French, the British colony of Canada was established in

1763.

Two very important consequences of this war were:

1) It helped to unite the 13 colonies and gave them a sense of

their own power.

2) The debts from the war led to higher British taxes which,

later on, made the Americans want independence from

England.５

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Chapter II

The American Revolution

By the end of the French and Indian war, Britain had emerged

as the most powerful country in the world. However, the cost of having

a large army meant that Britain had to raise money. One way to do this

was to force the colonists to pay taxes on imports into the colonies,

like tea, sugar, coffee, cloth and wine. The rich and powerful merchants

of America, as well as the common people did not, however, want to

have to pay British taxes. No “taxation without representation,”

they complained. They resented Britain trying to take away the great

wealth colonies from the colonies without any political

representation in London.

Resentment towards Britain and British soldiers in America

began to grow. When a group of British soldiers in Boston fired on a

crowd of protesters (March 5, 1770) people in Boston rioted. This was

the famous “Boston Massacre.” (see picture below)

In 1773, when Britain passed a law called the Tea Act, the

colonists (who loved tea) and the tea merchants became angry. The

center of anti-British activity was Massachusetts (Boston) and Boston

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tea merchants and other decided to take action to protest the new

British tea policy. Not only was there a higher tax on tea, the British

law said that the East India Company could sell directly, bypassing the

American tea merchants. American merchants felt that the Tea Act

would result in a monopoly by the East Indian Company and, in

protest; tea was thrown from British ships into Boston Harbor. This

was the famous “Boston Tea Party” which symbolized America’s

determination to be free form British rule.

This revolutionary act—destroying British tea, made the British

so angry that they started to make even stricter laws in an effort to

control their American colonies.

This, of course, only made the American colonists resent British

rule more, and helped to unite them to seek independence. In 1775

fighting started, and in July of 1776 the American Continental Congress

met in Philadelphia to formally declare independence from Britain. A

document called the “Declaration of Independence” was written

and signed which can be considered as the birth of the United States. It

stated the principles of democracy and called for revolution using force

in order to gain political freedom. Every 4th of July in America is as

Independence Day- to celebrate the day America formally declared its

independence as a separate nation. (see picture below)

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IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of Americ

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one

people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with

another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and

equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them,

a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare

the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that

among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to

secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their

just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of

Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People

to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its

foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to

them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

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The British army and navy were the strongest in the world at that time,

and the war was a long and hard one. Eventually the British gave up the

fight, mostly because it was hard for them to fight so far from home in an

environment very different from Europe. France was an enemy of Britain

at this time and greatly supported the colonists in their fight. In 1783 the

Treaty of Paris was signed giving the colonies independence from

England.

Creating a New Nation: the United States Constitution

The Treaty of Paris gave the American colonies the right to

govern themselves, but the hard work of building a republic had to

begin. The great challenge was how to form a government which would

you unite 13 separate colonies into one republic. In 1787

representatives from all over the former colonies were sent to

Philadelphia to write a constitution, which would serve as the legal

framework for a new system of government.

There was a big debate in writing the constitution, between the

“federalists” and the “anti-federalists.” The federalists wanted a strong

central government, which would have more power than the individual

state governments. The anti-federalists wanted strong state

governments to make most laws, leaving the national/federal

government to regulate such things as the postal service or printing

money. On September 17, 1787, after much debate and with

compromises, a constitution was accepted creating a republic with two

levels of government- state and national- but with a strong central

federal government having ultimate power over the states.

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This federal government was divided into three branches- the

executive (=the president and his cabinet), the legislative (the two

houses of the Senate and Congress), and the judicial (the court

system with the Supreme Court at the top). This simple but elegant

system was designed to make sure no single branch of government got

too much power. The founding fathers of the U.S.A. were concerned

that the president might become too powerful like a king, so the two

other branches were given powers which could prevent this from

happening.

In addition to establishing the United States system of

government, the writers of the constitution also added 10

amendments, called the Bill of Rights. These 10 amendments protect

American’s basic legal and human rights, such as the right to follow

any religion, the right of free speech, the right to a trial by a jury with

a lawyer, and the right to own a gun. These constitutional protections

are a basic part of American social life, now as in the past.

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The U.S. Constitution has served for more than two hundred

years as the basic framework for American society. Although it has

been changed or added to over time, the basic principles of

democracy (rule by the people) have not changed. However, the

fundamental problem of whether to give more power to the states or

to the central government remains even now a major theme in

American political life.

１ The term mercantilism is not used when talking about the modern global economy, but

similar forms of economic protectionism are still with us today in government trade policy.

２ The rise of the British East India Company as the most powerful and world’s richest

company is an example of the success of both mercantilism and colonialism.

３ There has been one Quaker president, Richard Nixon, who became president in 1968.

４ This is actually the first “world war,” because England and France fought each other

everywhere around the world over their colonial possessions.

５ Some colonists only hoped to become a “dominion”, like Canada, which means that the

colonies would govern themselves but still be British. Others wanted complete independence

to become a separate nation.