Between the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the most important change that occurred in the colonies was the emergence of a society quite different from that in England. Changes in religion, economics, politics, and social structure illustrate this Americanization of the transplanted Europeans.
By 1763 although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual revolution for religious toleration and separation of church and state. The British, after many years of religious revolution had established the Anglican Church. In which the king of England was the head of this church. This resulted in almost no separation of church and state. There were several colonies that had the state and the church separate. One state is Rhode Island; which being a prime example of a state with religious toleration because of it being founded by an outcast of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The founder decided that Rhode Island would be a haven for thinkers and other religions and such. Another state with some religious freedom was Connecticut, which gave us the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. The cause of this difference was that most of the colonist had fled to the colonies to escape religious persecution. In fact they almost had a majority rule, therefore they did not want a powerful church to suppress or persecute them here in the new world. So they hacked the power of the church and made sure it stayed out of government affairs.
In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew their mercantile relationship with the mother country and developed an expanding capitalist system of their own. With Britain's reliance on the mercantile system it rubbed off on most of the colonies. They wanted to be self sufficient so that they would not have to resort on help from other countries. The Southern colonies for example relied heavily on trade with England. This was caused by the geography in the south, because it was mostly a tidewater region. This allowed ships to sail deep within the south. Therefore cotton from Georgia was sent across to England, then it was made into thread or such. It was then sent back to the colonies were it was to be made into various items. Due to the geographic location of the northern ...
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...ould move up North and begin a small smuggling, privateer, or trading business and make a lot of money. In general the new colonies were a treasure trove of new opportunities in which people could make a better life if they worked hard. This same feeling has attracted immigrants to the United States over the past 200 or so years. The main reason for this difference was that the colonies had spawned from Britain but did not share in all of its tradition. Because of the colonies being so far away from the mother country. So many useless traditions were dropped for more favorable ones. Also the Indian culture had some affect on the new colonist because hereditary was based on who ever the head of the house hold chose, usually it was the wife.
In conclusion due to over 150 years of neglect the new colonies had develop a culture and heritage quite unique to the Old world of thought. If Britain had not treated the colonist as cast off rubbish and had given them some guidance, during that 150 yrs., the colonies would not rebel. But after 1763 they insisted that they conform to the old British ways and that would eventually force the colonies into revolution.
During the 18th century, the acts and policies Britain enforced on the colonists strengthened their resistance to British rule and their republican values. The British began to continuously abuse their power over the colonies. As a result, the colonies united against the British and started to fight against their rule.
The English Settlement in the New World was largely the result of the Age of Exploration. The English started emigrated to the New World around the early 1600s; they settles in regions including the New England and the Chesapeake region and by the 18th century these two regions had developed their own society. These two regions had developed different political, economic and social system in their regions. The political differences were due to who governs the colony. The economic differences were due to the motives of the settlement. The social differences were due to the people who settled there, while the New England emigrated as a family, the Chesapeake emigrated with mostly male.
Some say that the Revolution was destined to happen ever since Settlers set foot on this continent, others argue that it would not have happened if it weren't for a set of issues that finally drove the colonists to revolt. Ultimately, Britain lost control in 1765 when they gave in to the Stamp Act Congress’s boycotts against parliamentary taxation and gave them the idea that they had the power to run a country. To a lesser degree, Salutary Neglect led to the conception of a legacy of colonial religious and political ideals which set in motion an eminent conflict. During this period, England “forgot” about the colonies and gave them colonists a taste of independence and suspicions of individual political theories. Through Parliament's ruthless taxation without representation and a near opposite religious and political mindset, Britain and the colonists were heaved into a revolutionary war.
The Puritans who were seeking religious freedom were the first to affect New England religiously. Therefore, religion was heavily influential in the New England colonies. This area was strictly Calvinist, and there was little to no tolerance for any other religion. This homogeneity allowed for a rigorous sense of local order. The church was an equally-important partner with town governance in preserving social order (Church and State were not separate!) In every colony except for Rhode Island, law required everyone to attend worship services on the Sabbath and every taxpayer to contribute to the support of the
The New England, Middle and Southern colonies were all English ruled, but yet very different. Among their distinctions, was the geography which played an important role in shaping these colonies. New England attracted Puritan farmers who wanted to separate from the Catholic Church. But because of the bone dry soil in the North, these colonists found they couldn't continue with their traditional ways of farming. However, with the immense amounts of water that surrounded them, they found that they could fish and trade. The Middle colonies on the other, hand had a moderate amount of everything. The fertile soil and the major seaports such as Philadelphia and New York, allowed these Middle colonists to make a living any way they saw fit. This led to the brisk development of the Middle Seaboard . Unlike the Middle and Northern colonies, the Southern colonies had large amounts of fertile land allowing for the development of large plantations. Because farming the plantations was the economic thrust for the South, towns and cities developed slowly. Thusly Geography greatly affected the lifestyles of these regions in the New World.
An oppressed people will eventually rise against the oppressor regardless of loyalties they may have had in the past to their oppressor. Humans can only withstand so much oppression before eventually reaching a breaking point-a fact the British Empire failed to realize when they took oppressive actions on their colonies that would cause conflict and culminate into the American Revolution. After claiming victory in the French-Indian War, the British decided to implement policies and taxes in the colonies the colonists that the colonists considered illegal due to lack of their consent. While initially, the colonists did attempt more peaceful and logical alternatives to resolve their discontent with the British Empire, eventually more oppressive taxes and violent events culminated to a full Revolution. Before the revolution, the British had incurred debt from the French-Indian War and needed to raise money: they turned to the colonies as a source of income.
The general court was set on a path to separating the beliefs of the church and the government. Luckily, years later a law would be passed in the Constitution that separates church and state.
The American colonists’ disagreements with British policymakers lead to the colonist’s belief that the policies imposed on them violated of their constitutional rights and their colonial charters. These policies that were imposed on the colonist came with outcome like established new boundaries, new internal and external taxes, unnecessary and cruel punishment, and taxation without representation. British policymakers enforcing Acts of Parliament, or policies, that ultimately lead in the colonist civil unrest, outbreak of hostilities, and the colonist prepared to declare their independence.
Many colonies were founded for religious purposes. While religion was involved with all of the colonies, Massachusetts, New Haven, Maryland, and Pennsylvania were established exclusively for religious purposes.
By the time the colonists had settled into their new land they had established some order such as small governments to keep the colonies in line. The ocean separating England and the colonies made it difficult though for England to guide the colonists successfully the way they had wanted. The main thing the British tried was implementing taxes, but they also went so far as letting the colonies on their own for awhile and using military to keep them in place. On the other hand, the colonists saw that the British were stalling their attempts at self-governing so they worked together to disregard any British policies. By the eve of the Revolution, colonists had developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans that was brought about by the British parliament. Exasperated by British efforts to hinder their growing self-reliance, colonists began pushing them away by doing various things such as rioting, boycotting, or voicing their opinions on paper.
The colonists have to deal with a government that is trying to dictate what and how things should be done in America, from across the ocean, and they are starting to realize that they should have a voice for their own well being. The Proclamation of 1763 is just the beginning of the rebellion towards the British and their control over the colonists.
From 1754 to 1763, the French and Indian War took place. This war altered the political, economic, and ideological relations between Britain and its American colonies. It was the last of four North American wars waged from 1689 to 1763 between the British and the French. In these struggles, each country fought for control of the continent with the assistance of Native American and colonial allies. The French and Indian War occurred to end the land dispute between the British and French. Whoever won, in reality, gained an empire. It was a determined and eventually successful attempt by the British to get a dominant position in North America, the West Indies, and the subcontinent of India. Although Britain had won all this land, political, economic, and ideological relations between Britain and its American colonies were totally annihilated.
Before the French and Indian War, the colonies did not associate with one another. Participation in the war, as well as temporarily setting aside their economic, political, and cultural differences helped the colonies form a better relationship with each other. One of the main reasons the colonists began rebelling against the British, was because of the imposed taxation issued after the war. The Sugar and Stamp Act created riots and violence among the colonists and this colonial resistance to the British policies resulted in a new unity between the colonies. Needless to say, “by seeking to impose uniformity on the colonies rather than dealing with them individually as in the past, Parliament had inadvertently united America” (Foner 143).
The beginning of 1763 marked one of the major events that would contribute to the end of British colonial relations. On February 3, 1763 the French and Indian War finally ended in British victory, but while the British celebrated the French’s defeat, colonists feared the oncoming reverberations the war would have on them. The main motive behind the war was for possession over the French fur trade territory in North America. To the colonists, the war was being fought by and for Britain not the colonies. The benefits of the victory only pertained to Britain. The after effect of the war for the colonies was the trampling on their need for expansion. During the war, Native Americans had fought with the French because of how well they treated them. Britain was notorious for abusing the Native Americans, therefore once the French were defeated; they began attacking western settlements of colonists. To avoid confrontation, the Proclamation of 1763 was passed by Parliament. The Proclamation established a limit to the greatly needed colonial expansion. Specifically, the Proclamation forbid settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The passing of the Proclamation of 1763 infuriated colonists ...
One of the darker causes for the Industrial Revolution was the slave trade with overseas colonies at the time. For many merchants who saw the easy money to be made from the voyages, the merchants became extremely rich – and as it is in human nature – these rich merchants wanted to become even more rich, the seemingly best way to do this was to invest profits from the slave trade into the new factories that were arising, this is called “Commercial Revolution”. Britain was one of the few countries that was able to bring in profits from other countries and keep profits in their country, aiding them into being the first country to Revolutionise Industrially.