Essay On Early Colonial America

In early colonial America, specifically the English colonies, little to no cultural or scientific advancements were made for upwards of one-hundred and fifty years. There were many factors that contributed to this lack of advancement, some factors avoidable, some inevitable. No great artists, musicians, or scientists appear in American history until the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The hostilities with Natives, harsh weather, poor work ethic, low educational standards, sickness, and size of the colonies themselves all contribute to the fact that there was little to no cultural or scientific achievements in early colonial America. Many early settlements in colonial America struggled with relations with the Native Americans. Plymouth …show more content…
A colony constantly building and rebuilding from Native American attacks doesn’t have much time or resources to spend educating its inhabitants. A poor climate to settle in greatly increases the time it takes a colony to grow, in some cases, decimating the colony after its first winter. When food is scarce, and people are dying of starvation, morale is low and all work efforts are focused on caring for the sick and finding or attempting to grow food. That leaves little room for scientific or cultural advancement. A colony full of colonists who are eager to get rich, but not work for it, went nowhere. Jamestown went nowhere for its first few years, and would’ve died without John Smith. The poor work ethic of the colonists caused the colony to be weak, grow slowly, and struggle to endure the weather or the Natives. An attitude of poor work ethic causes a colony to be slow to progress anywhere, and with Natives and starvation always on the horizon, scientific discovery and cultural achievements were not on the forefront of the mind. Early America discovered little scientifically and achieved next to nothing culturally due to a multitude of reasons, leaving one to wonder just how these settlements stood the test of