Bacon's Rebellion

Michelle Alexander argues that “All people make mistakes. All of us are sinners. All of us are criminals. All of us violate the law at some point in our lives. In fact, if the worst thing you have ever done is speed ten miles over the speed limit on the freeway, you have put yourself and others at more risk of harm than someone smoking marijuana in the privacy of his or her living room. Yet there are people in the United States serving life sentences for first-time drug offenses, something…

Comparison of New England and Southern Colonies British New World Colonies were established in different regions of the present day East Coast of North America, but the motives for establishment, social, political, and economic aspects couldn’t have varied more greatly. The different terrains of land and relationships with Britain seemed to set the colonies and their settlers more different than alike, but with their shared economic roots in agriculture, variant importance of religion, and “a…

Influence of other countries on early settlements in the United States From sea to shining sea, and at times a bit haphazardly, the early settlements of America were founded. The New World was a bit off from the Old and in many ways, different. But, the settlers and their settlements were not in a vacuum, uninfluenced by the workings of other countries. From the creation and location of some states to wars fought, the early settlements of America were at times, unable to pry itself away from the…

Bryn Bostad Midterm Essay #2 Groups of settlers migrated from various countries such as France, Spain, England, Holland, and Sweden all seeking to inhabit the mysterious and desired lands of the New World. The English began the struggle for prime land in North America, arriving in the early 1600’s. Over the years, multiple colonies would form and become classified into three regions: The Southern Colonies, The Middle Colonies, and The New England Colonies. The Chesapeake Colonies (Virginia…

The Influence of the Climate in the Southern Colonies The climate in the south, along with its geography, greatly influenced the development of families and the economy. People living in the South had short lifespans due to the hot, humid climate producing a variety of diseases. Additionally, due to the unfortunate lack of women, family life proved to be a herculean task. However, despite the health and family issues in the South, a strong economy made of cash crops like tobacco, indigo, and…

In the beginning, no indigenous governing power existed in the English colonies, so atomistic competition for colonial dominance manifested. James Henretta argues in his essay Wealth, Authority, and Power that the New England, Southern, and Middle colonies all followed the same pattern of people achieving economic wealth, using the wealth to get political power, and then using this power to assert their authority over the people; however, the regions varied on every step of the process. Despite…

Alexander notes that while Black and White people were unifying under the elite White planter class in America around the time of Bacon’s rebellion, the aftermath of that rebellion showed that the elite planter class decided to halt such unity. They shifted gears, and stopped “their heavy reliance on indentured servants in favor of the importation of more black slaves” (Alexander 24). This shift also resulted…

Manumission is not the end of the struggle for the enslaved. They are left without identity or community. They must rise above the degradation and oppression to find solidarity and change. The chapter from Patterson’s book, Slavery and Social Death, focused on the complexity of manumission and how the release from slavery was executed in many traditions and cultures. Patterson began the chapter by describing the conceptual and cultural problem of manumission as well as the concept of gift…

people are beginning to get upset that the difference between the upper and lower class is becoming greater and Nathaniel Bacon writes this to express the grievances that the lower class people are feeling. A result of this anger and tension is Bacon’s Rebellion where Nathaniel Bacon leads the lower class people in a fight against what they see as injustice; they create the “Declaration of the People of Virginia” which accused Governor Berkeley of levying unfair taxes and failing to protect the…

1. What circumstances led to the introduction of slavery into the colonies AND how did it develop differently throughout the British North American Southern colonies? (for the second part of the question compare and contrast any two of the following regions: Chesapeake, Carolinas, West Indies) There were a few circumstances that lead to the introduction of slavery in the colonies. One circumstance was the development of the South Atlantic system, which had its center mainly in the South…