WEEK 3: Second Short Response: The English and Colonial America
| Style | APA |
| Number of words | 687 |
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| Spacing | Double |
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Colonial America, Indian Resistance, and Slavery
Though European countries like Spain and France had explored America and colonized it decades before the English first arrived there in the late 1500s, it was the English who came by the thousands and who by the end of the 1600s had firmly established themselves as the dominant European power in America.
English colonization would bring dramatic changes to the Native Peoples who had occupied America for thousands of years. Within a few generations, everything they knew of their culture and way of life would begin to disappear. And in 1619, the first African enslaved people arrived on the shores of the English colony of Jamestown, thus beginning white America’s long embrace of slavery, arguably its darkest chapter.
This week, we will begin to examine 200 years of complex experiences and events, as English colonization spreads from the tiny early 1600s settlement of Jamestown in Virginia (which, as you will see, barely survived) to thirteen colonies that by 1776 will demand their independence from Great Britain.
We will focus our attention on the questions posed below, which examine the English and Colonial America, and particularly the impact on Native Peoples and the growth of slavery in what will become the “land of the free.” This response covers material in chapters 2 and 3.
Below I have listed three topics for you to consider. You only need to do two of these, of your choice. I would hope you would watch all of the clips at a minimum, to further enhance the assigned reading in the schedule, and your overall understanding of this crucial and complicated period.
So – use the film clips and the listed readings from the Eric Foner book to respond to any two of the topics below.
Each answer must:
Be at least 100 words and no more than 300.
Include a quote from the Eric Foner readings listed here, and quotes or references to at least two of the clips. You must cite either the page number of your reference or the film clip title. See the Writing Tips on the home page on how to correctly reference or quote from the material.
Make use of the readings and the film clips to develop a thoughtful and detailed response
Your choices:
1. Colonial America
How and why does America become an English colony, as opposed to Spanish or French? What pressures in England (economic, political, social) caused mass migrations of English people (both rich and poor) to the American colonies? What did America have – what resource did it offer – that England did not (see the assigned readings, especially pg. 55)?
Examine Jamestown, the first successful English colony, and describe the challenges colonists faced and endured. After early failures and high death tolls, why do you think the English stayed and kept coming in greater numbers? And what crop becomes crucial to the early success of Colonial America, and why does it lead to a demand for slavery?
Clips
Crash Course in U.S. History: Colonizing America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o69TvQqyGdg
History Channel short on Jamestown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssS6UoBoiuc
Crash Course in U.S. History: Colonial America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p47tZLJbdag
Readings
England and North America, pg. 51
The Social Crisis and “Masterless Men” pgs. 52-54
Indentured Servants, pgs. 54-55
Land and Liberty pg. 55
A Tobacco Colony, pg. 61
2. Indian Resistance
Describe how the arrival of the English to America impacted Native Americans. How did their lives change? And how did Native Peoples resist or respond to English occupation (for example, sometimes with hostility and resistance, and other times with alliances and trading for goods)? Why do the English and the Indian people come into so much conflict?
Clips
Crash Course in U.S. History: The Natives and the English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTYOQ05oDOI&t=178s
The Pequot War https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz28sJX-JAk
Readings
Indian and European Freedom, pgs. 15-16
Englishmen and Indians, pgs. 55-56
Transformation of Indian Life, pg. 57
Powhatan and the Uprising of 1622 pgs. 59-60
Puritans and Indians, pg. 73
The Pequot War pg. 76
3. Slavery
How, when, and why does slavery begin and grow in America? What crop leads to a demand for slavery, and where in the American Colonies is slavery more common (see pg. 135)? How does slavery differ from indentured servitude of English people?
Think about how African people were brought to America, and the terrible future they faced there. How do enslaved Americans respond to their seemingly hopeless condition? And how do whites establish and maintain dominance in this society?
Clips
Africans in America Part 1, from the beginning up to the 25:37 minute mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aljUGMM-Yk&t=2707s
Crash Course in U.S. History: The Atlantic Slave Trade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnV_MTFEGIY
Crash Course in U.S. History: Slavery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajn9g5Gsv98&t=10s
Readings
The Atlantic Trade pgs. 128-130
Chesapeake Slavery pgs. 132-133
The Rice Kingdom, pg. 134
Slave Populations in the Colonies, chart, pg. 135
Slavery in the North pgs. 135-36
The Stono Rebellion pg. 139
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