1. Compare and contrast the British and Spanish imperial enterprises in the Americas up to the early 1700s. Please consider these nations’ goals, practices, and achievements in the New World. Useful readings would include the textbook, Gray’s documents, and the article by Hackel titled “Spaniards” on the course website.
First of all, geographically the British and Spanish colonist journeyed from the similar location of Europe. However it is important to note that each country, Spain and England, had separate languages and cultures. These influences would permeate the new colonies, instilling the results of these differences to this day. For example, in geographical terms, the Spanish invaders located their movements in a north-south fashion. In other words, by looking at the map one sees Spanish colonial occupation as spreading from the western half of North America to South America. The other commonalities between the English and the Spanish included their desires to rule, and commercially benefit from newly established governments, in terms of seizing the land. For example, when the San Antonio Spanish fleet arrived in the Monterey coast of California, a formal mass was performed by the priest Junipero Serra. In addition to the religious celebration of arrival, announcing a posture of conquering hegemony, a “holy water” ceremony and unfurling of Spain’s flag ensued (“Spaniards”). The general concept of taking possession of the lands was an intention both European military expansionists shared.
A main contrast is distinguished in that the invading Spaniard colonists were nearly obsessed with the religious conversion tactics of Rome. In other words, pro-actively converting the native peoples (Indians) to Roman Catholicism was of prime importance. The interesting feature of the Spaniards’ conversion process began with their demonstration of their beliefs. The sprinkling of so-called ‘holy water’ upon the Pacific Ocean showed the people that these rituals closely matched the Spaniards’ beliefs. While it is true that both the British and the Spanish did chase the capitalist idea of gaining riches, each instituted this goal in a different style. For example, from the beginning (dating back to the Christopher Columbus years) the Spanish were greedy for gold. If they could not trick the Indians, or bargain a negotiation, to obtain gold – they resigned to fight and kill for it. Within a decade of Cortez’s arrival onto the southernmost tip of Baja California, in La Paz, bloody clashes occurred. According to the Hackel text, warriors had greeted the Jimenez party and “in a fierce and bloody battle, they killed Jimenez and most of his men” (“Spaniards”). Although the defeat was temporary, the Spaniards exuberantly reported back to Spain of the amazing abundance of gold, and pearls – painting wild visions of insane wealth. Meanwhile, as the Spaniards proceeded to establish missions (in alignment with their obsession to instill Catholic conversion) the British were trying to build a social and cultural foundation. The British had great coordinated efforts with their motherland in forming merchant ports of trade, and they did make inroads to ‘negotiate’ for lands in the process of establishing the Plymouth and Virginia charters.
2. According to the testimonies of Ann Putnam (both mother and daughter), apparitions of Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey apparently tortured their victims “a great many times this day with such tortures as no tongue can express.” Both Nurse and Corey hung from the gallows for their presumed crimes. What do you make of the Salem witchcraft accusations and trials? To what extent was this episode an isolated phenomenon and to what extent does it speak to broader themes (for instance: gender, violence, fear, or religion, etc.) in English colonial America?
As mentioned prior, the British and Spanish colonists’ styles of hegemony greatly differed in terms of religious domination. While the Spaniards’ practices of conversion were plainly demonstrated and promoted, the British colonial practices were more ritualistically subtle. However, deep Christianized perspectives held tremendous fears against ‘demonic spirits’ and witchcraft. British colonialists encountered difficulty, in terms of how to assess living among people of different ethnicities who were naturally hostile. The Indians were being slaughtered and encroached upon, while simultaneously black slaves were in the cruelest bondage ever known. The case of Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey exemplifies the panic. The Salem witch trials were a blowback reaction to women’s hysteria, in a strange land. In terms of gender, women had no political power because the society experimented with securing governance of its newly acquired territory.
The witch hunt trials in Salem was primarily driven by a “fear of the devil,” according to the History of Massachusetts. It is hard to decipher whether or not all the accused actually did engage in the practice of true witchcraft. Perhaps some of the women had been fiddling with the naturally grown herbs in the area, ingested teas, and had bad mental reactions. Perhaps the accusers of Nurse and Corey hoped to gain favorable standing with the local magistrates of Boston. Also, the political worldview of the colonists were very different from the Indians and Blacks. The colonists instituted a cause for ‘Revolution’ and ‘discovery’ of a supposed ‘New-World.’ But the indigenous Indians and imported captive slaves knew better. One critical characteristic about the Salem Witch Trials, is that important community members did not enjoy escape from accusations. According to ‘History of Massachusetts,’ “Another notable person who was accused of witchcraft was Captain John Alden Jr.” (“Salem Witch Trials”). This man’s father sailed to North America on the famed ‘Mayflower’ ship.
3. The United States—a so-called “nation of immigrants”—emerged in part from trans-Atlantic migration flows. What type of immigrants were they? Using information from Murrin’s textbook, Gray’s documents, and lectures, please describe the historical context (aspirations, reasons, and conditions) for the following three characters that might have arrived in the 1640s. Also comment on what the future might hold for them.
The United States has always historically been deemed a nation of ‘immigrants,’ which obviously stems from the early immigrants towards the end (or after the slave importations). The true historical context and conditions were not always a favorable rainbow-dream for people who came to American shores. The first character, a teenaged African enslaved female, would obviously be in the weakest position of all. Any woman might imagine the indignity of standing naked in front of everyone, and being ridiculed, and torn away from her family. The African slave girl would have been terrified. The Indians and Blacks seemed strangely foreign to the European colonists, but the perspectives of the non-whites formulated ideas that the colonists were very weird and uncomfortable. The African slave girl’s arrival in a 1600s-Virginia, would have represented the survival of a hideous journey. According to Murrin, her designation of slavery was racially codified. Murrin points out the words of William Byrd’s haughty attitude of owning people, when he said “my bond-men,” and my “bond-women” in reference to the African captives. The girl was more than likely terrorized, brutally raped, and constantly terrified. Her people did not come willingly, which poses a different situation of so-called ‘immigration’ in her case.
A young English man of wealth entering the Virginian colonies in the 1600s had great hopes of wealth, and obtaining an exciting new life. This person would have embraced arrival as a hopeful adventure, and new beginning in life. He would have initially dealt with the threat of slave revolts, and Indian attacks, but overall he knew that his concentrated effort would pay handsomely. More than likely, this gentleman might have struggled with a lingering sense of loyalty towards his native England and its government. In the case of the 20-year old Puritan bride, her experience may have been one of relative stability. Her position afforded her a dimension of respectability, and from her position of a fervent faith in the God of the Bible a sense of compassion. Also, the Massachusetts Bay Colony represented a relatively safe haven from the unpredictable wildness of the frontier lands. Her sense of compassion, towards the despised darker peoples of the land, framed an attitude that would later encourage the establishment of their education. The Puritan bride probably felt shocked and ashamed of the treatment of slaves and Indians. This individual most likely prayed a lot, and she may have encouraged the breaking of law to harbor a Negro runaway slave. The possibility did exist. But she would have known life in the Virginian territory to be dangerous. The reason the experiences of these three persons was so different is that colonial politics and culture were not yet solidified. According to the handout, colonial America “was thus in some sense not a single geographic or political entity but a variety of entities created by a series of European powers,” and they each held designs on exploiting the resources for capital gain (“Gray”). Historically, the scattered colonial perspectives emerged to reflect the many differing opinions that modern-day Americans portray.
Works Cited
Nov. 2, 2014. Print.
“The Salem Witch Trials.” Historyofmassachusetts.org History of Massachusetts, n.d. Web.
3 Nov. 2014.
