Short Essay

Columbus: In 1492, an Italian seaman named Christopher Columbus led a wave of

European men to the Western Hemisphere. He was exploring to find a sea route to
the rich markets in China and India. The route was never found, but Columbuss
expeditions did led to the European discovery of the New World.
Indentured Servants: In the early 1600s, poor English subjects worked for no pay in
return for a passage to America. They would agree to work for four to seven years
and provide to the employer basic necessities. This system arranged labor, which
was needed for the growth of the New World and product exports to Europe.
Francis Drake: In the very late 1500s, an English sea captain named Francis Drake
was ordered by Queen Elizabeth to attack the Spanish in the New World. He was
educated and very important to the Queens court. He went on to be the first
Englishman to circle the globe and also command the fleet to defend England
against the Spanish.
Walter Raleigh: Sir Walter Raleigh and his older half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
were both favorites of Queen Elizabeths court. Both were also in position to
establish a new colony in the New World with the Queens permission. When Gilbert
failed at this request and died a year later in the New World, Queen Elizabeth gave
the patent to Raleigh in 1584. He went on to establish the lost colony of Roanoke,
which was located on an island off the coast of present day North Carolina.
Roanoke: In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh placed 108 settlers on an island named
Roanoke just off the coast of present day North Carolina. Most the settlers fled from
the island in 1586 after getting word from Francis Drake that the Spanish would be
attacked them. However, Raleigh was persistent and brought in 117 more colonists
in 1587. Because of the war with Spain, no ship was able to reach Roanoke until
1590. It was then discovered that the colonists disappeared without a trace.
Roanoke was not able to survive, but it did pave the way for more settlers to be
interested in colonizing Virginia.
John Smith: Captain John Smith saved the colony of Jamestown from disease and
hostile natives. In 1607, he directly addressed the problems in the new colony. All
the colonists wanted to do was search for gold and easy ways to make money in the
New World. John Smith ran the colony like a military camp with harsh rules. When
he returned to England in 1609, the settlers were divided once again by internal
disputes.
Jamestown: In 1607, the London group of the Virginia Company established
Jamestown south of the Potomac River. The colony would have failed if not for the
leadership of Captain John Smith. The settlers wanted to search for gold in the new
land to make a good living for them. Once the Virginia Company placed a code of

laws on the colony, Jamestown succeeded and paved the way for the royal colony of
Virginia.
Plymouth: While most colonies were founded because of the hope for money and
riches, Plymouth was organized for religious freedom. After fleeing England in 1608,
the English Separatists, or Pilgrims, settled in the Netherlands. From there they
arranged to go to Virginia in 1620 by a ship called the Mayflower. The Pilgrims
arrived near where Massachusetts is today. Instead of going to Jamestown, they
decided to stay and make a living near Cape Cod. After a harsh winter, Plymouth
flourished due to longer life expectancy and high birthrates, not financial success.
Plymouth was finally incorporated into Massachusetts in 1691.
Roger Williams: Roger Williams was a Puritan who arrived in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony in 1630. He voiced his concerns about how the state would corrupt the
churches and how these two should be kept separate. Williams was exiled from the
colony in 1635 because of his publicity about church and state. Williams then went
on to found the town of Providence in 1636. Charles II granted Williams a charter to
formally make the colony of Rhode Island in 1663.
Triangle Trade: The lack of laborers in New England because of the availability of
land triggered the Triangle Trade to take place in the 17th and 18th century. The
colonists in New England demanded manufactured goods from their homeland in
England. However, New England and England could not form a fair trade at the time.
So New England looked to trade with the West Indies for sugar and tobacco. Only
then could New England travel to England to trade for sugar and tobacco. This is
called the Triangle Trade because on a map, these three places form a triangle.
William Penn: In the 1670s, George Fox, a strong Quaker, voiced the idea of a Quaker
colony in the New World. This would let Quakers practice their beliefs without being
punished. William Penn had the means to fulfill Foxs goal and in 1681 received
twenty-nine million acres of land between the Delaware River and Lake Erie. This
land was called Pennsylvania. In 1682, Penn founded the town Philadelphia that
offered religious freedom.
New Amsterdam: Peter Minuit founded the town of New Amsterdam in 1626. New
Amsterdam was built around a fort to guard the Hudson River and the rich fur trade.
Due to lack of laborers, in 1629, the company gave large land grants in exchange for
rent. Because of this, the population started to grow in the New Netherland.
James Oglethorpe: In 1732, King George II entrusted the colony of Georgia to
twenty-two representatives. The English general, James Oglethorpe, was the leader
of organizing the colony. Oglethorpe wished to build a colony on good morals, and
so he set up strict regulations. After 1733, Oglethorpes colonists ignored the rules
of the colony, which led to Georgia becoming a royal colony in 1754.

Navigation Acts: In the 17th and 18th century, the American colonies relied on mainly
one form of management: mercantilism. This means that strong governments must
acquire wealth by the amount of precious metals they have. Parliament passed the
Navigation Acts in 1660, 1663, and 1673. These Acts states that colonists must use
English ships, could not purchase manufactured goods outside of the country, and
forbid exports of certain commodities to anyone other than England.
Puritans: In the late 16th and beginning of the 17th century, there were many
religious dissenters who did not agree with the Church of England. The English
crown forced all subjects to pay a tithe to the church, which was ten percent of their
income. One group of dissenters who did not agree with England was the Puritans,
who followed the practices of John Calvin. They believed that the Church of England
had gone too far to rid all Roman Catholic practices. The Puritans wanted to
improve or purify the Church of England. Most Puritans were located in Southeast
England with its many prosperous market towns.
Simple Culture: To distinguish between a simple or complex culture, one must look
at things like the cultures economy, social structure, and political organization.
From the end of the Archaic period to the arrival of the Europeans, the cultures in
the now United States were more simple than complex. Native American peoples
were used to the simple culture style because they relied on their skills to provide
for their own home. This society was a hunter and gatherer one. Also, political
organization came down to ties of their kinship.
Great Awakening: The Great Awakening was a religious revival, which affected all
thirteen colonies in the middle of the 18th century. It began in 1739 with the arrival
of George Whitefield to America. His sermons were heard by every colony by 1741.
Whitefields tours inspired all types of religions and ultimately defined the American
culture.

Essay
I believe that religious freedom was the main motivator for people to take
the dangerous path to the New World. In the 16th century, Europe was experiencing
a religious outbreak. There started to be more and more different types of religion
instead of just a main one. The rivalry between religions started with the Protestant
and Roman Catholic Reformations. Christian monarchs believed in defended one
true church and to make sure that all their subjects worshipped God correctly. They
also assumed the right to punish those who had other beliefs or disobeyed their
church. The Roman Catholics wished to purify the church without changing the
churchs principles, worship, or organization. To purify the church would mean to
banish corruption and incompetence. The Protestants rejected the Roman Catholic
faith, as the Roman Catholics prohibited the Protestant faith. As a result, both
religions sought to see the New World as a refuge.
Before the Toleration Act of 1692, all subjects under the crown in England
had to attend the Church of England and pay a tithe (ten percent of their income).
People that failed to do this were persecuted by harsh fines, imprisonment, and
even death. Many religious dissenters did not agree with the Church of England.
Some were Roman Catholics, Puritans, Separatists, Presbyterians, Quakers, and
Baptists. Some of these groups escaped to the New World and there built a new life
for their selves. They even established some colonies of their own, including
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. To me, it seems that the pull to the New World
was too enticing to pass up. People would rather fight for what they believed was
right than to be punished for what they thought was wrong.