Colonialism may be one topic that stirs emotions, especially the countries that were colonized due to what they went through. Some areas in America were colonized by the British who were English speakers and that is why they were referred to as Anglo-colonies. Some were colonized by Spain and other European countries. Although the English came late to the new world when compared to Spain, their colonies especially Roanoke, West Indies, Massachusetts and Jamestown picked up that Spain felt a little challenged. All colonist who came to America were all motivated by various reasons, but most were drawn during the Atlantic trade. In this paper we will cover life for the Anglo-American colonies, rights of the male in the English-American colonies and the American Revolution
The Anglo-American colonist faced a mixed reaction of both being welcomed as well as resistance. In 1584, there was an early attempt of colonization in Roanoke which was an Island in the present-day North Carolina. Sir Walter Reign established the colony although it was a small colony with only 117 people. They had poor relationship with the Native people. When their governor travelled to England to sough more people and materials, when he came back he found that people had left the colony. This is why Roanoke is referred to as the lost colony. The next attempt of establishing a colony would happen in Jamestown. When Britain’s first arrived, they settled in Jamestown which is in Virginia County. Life for the Early Anglo-Americans there was quite good is they were welcomed even with the locals and rarely failed any kind of resistance. In Jamestown for example, James I agreed, and three ships arrived in America first and they would be the individuals who would lead expeditions in America. The locals in these colonies considered the English to be friendly people and many thus did not have any problem inviting them to their new land. Prior to setting up colonies, England had already discovered the new world, America. There fishermen had already began fishing in the North American Coast.
Most Anglo-Americans colonies were established on the basis of religion. The English Promoters had promised to their colonies that they would have establishment of Protestantism. A stock joint company known as the Virginia Company were given royal approval that they would establish colonies in Jamestown. Christopher Newport was in charge of leading this expedition. Plymouth colony was their second colony that they were able to set up successfully. This however was set up by individual who were fleeing England from religious persecution. They were referred to as the pilgrims. They had fled to Holland but due to fear they would lose their identity then they decided to move to the new word. In September 1602, a total of 1902 Britons docked at Mayflower and they eventually settled in Plymouth. The colonies that had been founded by the Joint Stock companies were ran by Governors who were tasked with running the settlement. England would later take over other colonies such as New Netherland renamed it to province of New York and New Sweden which is now Delaware.
By 1770, Great Britain had already established several colonies in North America. The Americans in these colonies considered themselves as citizens of Great Britain. They were tied to Britain on matters of trade and their type of Governorship resembled Britain, they even considered themselves as subjects of King George III. Trade was one of the main reasons why the Britain established American Colonies. They wanted to exploit resources from the new land these new colonies would serve as their source of raw materials for their industries. England restricted trade in their colonies as way of ensuring that their colonies remained dependent on them. The colonies had to rely on Britain in order to acquire imported goods. They also practiced barter trade since there was very little money. Through barter trade, Britain would give the things their colonies did not have in exchange for better things in their colonies. “Commodity money” which was a form of trade varied in the different colonies. Virginia for example used tobacco as the rate of their exchange. As commodities were quite difficult to transport, they developed system of notes. Individuals would deposit tobacco in a warehouse and they would then been given notes that have the same value as the tobacco. In 1690 Massachusetts became first Britain colony that introduced paper bills. Trade was to ensure that Great Britain obtained all the profits. It was for these reasons that they introduced the taxes under navigation act. Taxes were levied on products such as lead, glass, sugar and tea.
Soon things were not running as smooth as before. Several taxation laws had been passed as Britain needed money to fund its wars. In 1765, Quartering Act was passes by the parliament that required colonist to pay for lodging for the soldiers who had been stationed in the colonies due to the Indian and French War. Stamp act passed in 1765 followed then the Townsend act which was to ensure colonist pay taxes of imported goods. These laws resulted in a lot of uproar as they felt they did not need to be one that caused a lot of uproar. They felt that it was oppression and they did not have to pay taxes as most of those laws were passed in England rather than their own governments. Most saw these as violation of their rights as British citizens. They revolted by boycotting to buy goods from the British colonies. They had a continental congress in 1774 where they drafted complaints on how Britain were treating the colonies.
Men in all the British colonies almost had the same rights and were treated differently. They were however supposed to acknowledge the colonist as the rulers. They could not hold major positions in the government but were left the minority position at the bottom. In those positions, they were not allowed to make any major decisions. They were also treated as second class citizens and did not accord the same treatment as the British. During the second continental congress, there was a decision to form a continental army. This army would also incorporate the men in the colonies to serve. George Washington was the commander-in -chief and these colonies were now more than ready to fight for their rights. This was already an indication that the colonialist was not pleased with the rules by the queen and King. They were also ready to partner with the locals and revolt. This may have brought the tension that contributed to the braking of the Revolutionary war
The American revolutionary war began in 1775-83. This was because of the tension between the 13 North America colonies and the colonial government. Aside from the taxes that had been implemented, colonists were bitter that they did not have representation in the parliament, yet they paid taxes. They also resented the fact that they were not accorded the same rights just as the British citizens. The first riot was in 1770 when British soldiers fired at colonists. The fringe led to the killing of five men. This came to be referred to as the Boston massacre. The next act that followed was when Bostonians who disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians boarded a British ship. They then dumped 342 chests of tea in the Boston harbor. This led to the parliament being outraged and the thus passed as series of laws to show they were still in control. These laws were referred to as coercive acts and the main aim was to reassert their rule in Massachusetts. It was because of these laws that colonial delegates including George Washington, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Jay congregated in Philadelphia for the first congressional congress. In this meeting they only wanted to address their demands. The key issues discussed included issue of taxation without representation, presence of British army in the colonies without their consent as well as the rights they wanted. These rights included right to life, [property, assembly, liberty and a trial by the jury.
There were skirmishes that had been experienced during the Lexington Concord as some of the colonist had fought against the British soldiers. 19 April 1775, British soldiers clashed with militiamen in concord and Lexington. It was during this time that first shots were fired, and they marked the beginning of the evolutionary war. The Colonist had felt that their demands were being ignored and talking was no longer an option. After the second continental congress, the rebels were already demanding for their independence by waging a full-scale war. France supported the colonist and became part of the revolution. What had started as a civil had now become an international disagreement. The continental army were quite powerful that the British ended up surrendering the Yorktown. By 1776, the revolutionary war was in full mode and most of the colonist now supported the idea of full independence from the American colonies. The July 4th Continental agreed on the declaration of independence. This was drafted by a five-man committee that included John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Thomas Jefferson is however credited with writing of the Draft. It is these men that are referred to as the founding fathers of America as they would to America reclaiming their independence.
After fighting for years, the First American constitution was signed. It established the national government and also had fundamental laws that would ensure good governance and democracy. They also had basic fundamental rights that they had been championing for during the war. The Article of Confederation that had been drafted during the conventions was not that good. The national government did not have much powers as most states were run like independent countries. In the 1787 convention, delegates were looking to develop a stronger federal government. They introduced three arms of government including Judiciary, legislature and the executive. They also introduced some cheeks and balances so that they would ensure no single branch was accorded too much power. The legislature was a way of ensuring individuals would have a right to representation. The Judiciary on the hand was to ensure that a convicted individual was tried by a jury a key thing they had been advocating for.
The bill of rights was a great aspect during the revolution. It was one of the reasons that led to the revolution against the British. There were rights that had already been included in the Article of Confederation such as life and liberty. Thomas Madison, however who was part of the representative had 19 amendments that he wanted introduced to the constitution. On October 25, 1789 congress had adopted 12 of the proposed amendments. Ten of the amendments were ratified collectively by different states and they were thus incorporated into the constitution. The bill of rights would guarantee certain protections to the citizens. They included freedom of speech, press and religion, right to keep armed, right to assembly, protection from unreasonable searches and seizure, right to an impartial jury and speedy trial among others. Madison became the “Father of Constitution” for his contribution to the drafting and ratification of the constitution.
The fight against the British was a fight by all including the blacks who had been enslaved. It is said that the continental army including the troop that was led by the George Washington had the black and the white soldiers that they would at times be referred to as speckled. They fought in the war as they thought slavery would also end or freedom would be presented to them too. However, after the Yorktown war they realized that the newly found freedom, was not for them. The liberty and freedom that was advocated for during the war did not seem to apply to the blacks because soon they still had to work in the farms till late and were still segregated. During the debating of the constitution, slavery was a hot topic. Some sates had already outlawed the practice while others continued with the practice. The southern states however believed that Slavery was a matter of each state and this should be left out of the constitution. It was eventually decided that the slaves would be considered as the 3/5 of a person.
During ratification of the constitution citizenship was not really defined. The 14th amendment however in 1868 defined citizenship. As stated earlier, the slaves were considered three-fifth of a person. American Indians on the other had not taxed were not counted as the voting population in the United Sets. After the Amendment, one was considered a citizen if they were born or neutralized in the United States. The citizens were entitled to enjoying the rights that had been passed in the bill of rights. This meant if one was foreigner, then they could become citizens of the state through naturalization. Prior to this amendment, on was a citizen of a particular state and not United State, however the Supreme court ruled that through naturalization or birth then one would become both a citizen of a particular state and the united states and they would enjoy the rights enshrined I the constitution just like all Americans.
In conclusion, America also went through much in attaining independence. They had to fight for their independence as it was not handed to them on a silver platter. The American Revolution may have been one of the notable wars that other wars would later seek inspiration from. America was one of the first countries to advocate for democracy where citizens were allowed to elect representatives who would represent them. Their bill of rights also offered protection to its citizens that many nations would later long for. Most of these rights were drafted thousands of years ago and still apply completely in the current generation. America may have ratified a constitution that would be imitated by countries that would later champion for freedom democracy and independence.