The study of colonial America is the study of themes. These themes could base on ideas, such as the Great Awakening, or they base the issue on great events, such as the prelude to the revolution. One of the most significant themes in America based on the desire for wealth, land, and prosperity. In fact, alongside the principles enshrined in our Constitution designed to protect rights to speech and faith which otherwise intended to protect property, which is what many had come to the New World to obtain. The colonial America depict the various historical events, which affected America in a great way, it shaped the political, economical and social aspects of the America we know today.
Expansion
One of the most effective ways to look at the theme of expansion in the colonies is to examine how this expansion influenced a particular community. For instance, during the revolution the town of Newport was one of the crowning jewels of the American colonies. In a short space of time, it grew from a small village to a large center of commerce exchange. Admittedly, a large proportion of this exchange took the form of piracy and smuggling and trading contraband items. In fact, it was largely in response to these sorts of activities Newport and similar places that compelled the British government to impose a number of official Acts designed to eliminate or at least limit this undesirable goings on. Unfortunately, these Acts had a very negative effect on all the colonies (Satsuma, 336).
During the colonial period, the town of Newport had grown to have nearly 1000 separate homes. While a number of these homes were quite humble, many were virtual mansions, and often visited by wealthy and influential Europeans. In addition, the town of Newport was expanding into less disreputable forms of trade, including both trade between the colonies and international trade across the Atlantic.
One consequence of this continuous expansion of colonial port cities is that many of them became quite sophisticated and metropolitan. For instance, in addition to its Protestant and Catholic population, Newport had Quakers and use as well. Perhaps surprisingly this early stage, all of these various faiths and denominations that received protection of their rights to bear personal beliefs bylaws put in place to ensure a measure of justice and equality (Owens, 544). To an extent, the fact that many of these principles would later be enshrined in the United States Constitution played a vital role in their early introduction in these expanding colonial port cities.
Profit
Another important theme related to the American colonies was that of profiteering. From the perspective of the British government and British merchants, the American colonies obtained an essence of it seen as a resource that provided useful raw materials for the production of goods manufactured in Britain. It also provided an exclusive market for those manufactured goods, ensuring that the wealth of the American colonies did not slip past Britain and into the hands of other nations like France and Spain.
The laws put in place by the British Parliament to protect their native merchants as well as their growing industries were intentionally designed to make it virtually impossible for the American colonies to avoid a trade deficit with Britain (Shepherd, 230). This meant that colonial exports displaced by the greater value of the goods being imported from Britain. There were two consequences of this policy. The first was that the American colonists found it necessary to pay for this trade deficit with increasing amounts of silver and gold coinage. The second consequence was that this outflow of money from the colonies had the effect of creating a shortage of coinage on this side of the Atlantic.
The shortage of coins in the American colonies had the effect of forcing many of the merchants and private individuals in the colonies to fall back on the old-fashioned barter system, which was not the most efficient way to run even an 18th-century economy. In partial response to this, many of the colonies chose to issue paper money as units of exchange and as a medium for paying off taxes. However, there was no direct one-to-one relationship to the coins and the paper money failed to transact the business for coins. Thus, British policies designed to increase their own profits actually had the effect of slowing the rate of development and growth in the colonies.
Dislocation
As is well known, between the mid-1760s and 1772 there were a number of outbreaks of violence and discord in the American colonies, largely focused on the unfair treatment (as the Americans perceived it) that they received at the hands of the British monarch and Parliament. The result of all these problems was that the British government sought the essence of obtaining power by controlling the colonies. The efforts they made toward this objective help to shape the resulting anti-British political feeling in the colonies. The naval blockade was particularly onerous.
Again, using Newport as an example, the anti-British feeling came to be so strong that many of the citizens of the city decided to simply leave everything behind rather than stay and (by their presence) provide tacit support for the British government and its troops. The naval blockade had the effect of devastating the cities trade and other activities. In the end, more than half the inhabitants chose to relocate either to other port cities in New England and the South or they moved out of the colonies to the British West Indies. However, some also chose to move into the woodland interior of the colonies. So we can see that once again British policies have unintended consequences. In this case, they help to accelerate the colonization and development of the far western regions of the colonies.
Commerce
Just prior to the revolution in the American colonies, it was a great deal of commerce going on in the colonies and between the colonies and Britain. From the perspective of the colonists, this overseas trade focused on raising the living standards and quality of life in the colonies to something approaching that which Europeans enjoyed. This was to be accomplished by the purchase of a range of manufactured items, most of which were purchased from Britain. These were not all fancy luxury items, but frequently intended simply to make life more comfortable.
For many of the port cities like Charleston or Newport, as the trade within the colonies increased over time they began to get access to manufactured items illegally brought to the colonies from other European nations such as France or Spain. This done largely to avoid the extremely strict tariffs and restrictions on imported goods that the British had imposed on those goods that they had not themselves manufactured. One of the ongoing struggles during this time was the constant effort by the British to force the colonists to only purchase goods directly from them. The inclusion of the trade organizations by the America to create influence in the economy of America and the world at large , by basically by in possession of important resources and raw materials hence bigger performance in doing trade with other countries.
Britishness
The anger and deep resentment generated by had very negative consequences for those British officials in the colonies who charged with enforcing these unpopular laws. They often became the butt of abuse and even the tax, to such an extent that they were frequently unable to carry out their duties. The royal governors (who were directly appointed by the crown) often found themselves at odds with the colonial assemblies and legislatures, who had begun to challenge the policies of the British as carried out by the governors.
Unity
For the most part, during the 17th and early 18th centuries the colonies viewed themselves as totally separate entities, with no responsibilities toward one another. For the British, this was of course an ideal situation, since the last thing they wanted was for these colonies to unite in any way. However, increasing tensions during the mid 18th century helped to bring about a consolidation of the various colonies in opposition to British plans and interests. One of the defining incidents known as the Gaspee affair occurs in the history (Schwartz, 104).
In June of 1772, the HMS gasping was tricked into running aground in shallow waters near Warwick Rhode Island. In a demonstration of the general feeling of the time, a party of more than 50 men nearby Providence attacked the grounded ship, removed, and stranded crew and burn the ship to the ground. One of the direct consequences of this early conflict between the colonists and the British was the creation of what were known as Committees of Correspondence (Niderost, 52). These committees serve to permit easy exchange of news and other information, particularly information that might mutually benefit to her more the colonies. Thus, increasingly bitter exchanges and conflicts between the individual colonies and the British helped to forge a greater consolidation of the colonies.
Religious Fervor
One of the most significant themes of the early 18 century in America was that of the rising religious feeling. Known as the Great Awakening, this was a religious revival begun by Jonathan Edwards and continued forward by George Whitfield. Both of these men spoke of their conviction that Protestants in the New World were falling away from the genuine faith in predestination. Thousands flocked to hear that, and they became known as the New Light preachers, while those in hearing to the overviews were known as the Old Light (Jull 258).
Strangely enough, rather than resulting in the kind of violent religious conflict you might expect today or in the Europe at that time, the results of this conflict these newly arisen denominations in the American colonies was greater religious tolerance. To a large extent, it could be argued that the religious tolerance founded the early documents of the United States and the separation of church and state had their origins in the Great Awakening. In addition, while the great awakening was in part a response against ideas of the Enlightenment, it also helped to ultimately bring about the revolution. This was because the plethora of new denominations helped break down respect for particular authorities, and encouraged democratic thinking. In the colonial America there was religious prosecution done by the state itself, which prompted the essence of colonization efforts done by King Charles whereby people had to flee the country due to the acute consequences.
Conflict with Natives
When the first English colonists arrived in the New World, for the most part the natives who had been living here for thousands of years were relatively friendly and even helpful. However, this was before they realize just how many members of this new "tribe" would be arriving on their shores. The fundamental reason why the English colonists and the Native Americans ultimately failed to have a good relationship are fairly simple. The colonists had an insatiable desire for wealth and land, which they were perfectly willing to take from the natives.
This willingness to take from the natives was based largely on English conviction that they were superior to the people that they consider "savages." This mindset of superiority resulted in frequent mistreatment of natives, disregard for their lifestyles, beliefs, and violence. Wars eventually were fought in virtually all of the colonies against the Native Americans living there. From the Mohawks of the North to the Tuscarora in the South, the natives were eventually defeated and either driven from their lands or killed outright (Megapolensis, 168). The issue of racism was experience , immigrants clashed with the native Americans as they had come to settle in their land, for example the issue of racism raised , black Americans were discriminated by the white Americans citing that the black American were inferior and that they should return to Africa as they believed Africa belonged to the blacks only. This aspect resulted to the major conflict with the natives, in the struggle to acquire land, expand their territories, and take leadership in their control.
Conclusion
In conclusion the American history of colonization is a wide field that tries to explain various themes that show their significance of colonization in America, in its struggle to achieve its goals for example on the attempt to win superiority in the world and the need for them to build a strong emperor. Conflicts and wars took place, for America to acquire its supremacy all over the world, the essence of British, search to gain huge profits opted them to create a kind of business regulation to bar rivals from beating them totally. The themes explains the Americas goals of obtaining colonization which helped them become the most influential state all over the world, Americans economy and standard of living is at a high percentage and are influential in the business world, socially and generally in politics.
References
Jull, D. (2011). George Whitfield And The Great Awakening: A Pentecostal Perspective. Asian Journal Of Pentecostal Studies, 14(2), 256-271.
Megapolensis, J. (2009). A short account of the Mohawk Indians.
Niderost, E. (2006). Revolutionary Spymaster Benjamin Franklin. American History, 40(6), 52.
Owens, J. (2011). Enlightenment and Education in Eighteenth Century America: A Platform for Further Study in Higher Education and the Colonial Shift. Educational Studies, 47(6), 527-544.
Satsuma, S. (2013). Politicians, Merchants, and Colonial Maritime War: The Political and Economic Background of the American Act of 1708 Politicians, Merchants, and Colonial Maritime War: The Political and Economic Background of the American Act of 1708. Parliamentary History (Wiley-Blackwell), 32(2), 317-336.
Schwarz, F. D. (1997). 1772. American Heritage, 48(3), 104.
Shepherd, J. F., & Walton, G. M. (1969). Estimates of 'Invisible' Earnings in the Balance of Payments of the British North American Colonies, 1768-172. Journal Of Economic History, 29(2), 230.
