U.S. History project 1 - Essay Example

? “US History Project PART The colonial development forming a unified America s back to the 18th century. It was that time when more people started migrating from England showing promise to be one nation. Religion was mainly the factor which helped in shaping the colonial life in North America because the English King forced people n England to attend his church, the Church of England, which was a Protestant church at that time. People belonging to other religions were not allowed to practice their religion with freedom which is why they started migrating to North America where they were free to practice their religion. The perspective of persecuting people who belonged to the other religions motivated hundreds and thousands of people to leave their homes and migrate. People escaping these punishments being conducted by the authorities of the King Charles I mostly settled in the province of Maryland. This religious freedom was the main reason that helped establishing colonies in America which also affected the economic, social and political development in America. Therefore, diversity became the identity of the American nation. Although every individual had the freedom to practice their religion as they pleased but some people looked badly upon other religions. One of them were the close-minded New English settlers in America, it was a good and bad thing at the same time because they brought the other settlers together which later on shaped colonies but it also pushed outsiders away. These colonies accepted many other churches because of the cultural diversity. This proves that these people had much importance for religion and migrating to America provided then the incentive to practice their religion as they pleased. Religion was the basis that brought people together from other countries that belonged to a common religion. The time of the “great Awakening” when occurred in the mid of the 18th century it provided more reasons and chances to the people to practice their religion. Preachers travelled from town to town and inspired people to accept their religion. As many people believe that religion was the case that sparked revolution in England, at the same time there is a never ending debate that economics was the reason. It is valid to say that not only religious freedom was the cause; in fact economic factor was also a major aspect in the English Revolution that encouraged colonial development in North America. The statement that “the economic concerns were the major contributor for bring in British settlers” cannot be denied. These economic concerns mostly outweighed the religious concerns for British North America. Christopher Columbus used a term “New World” for the unexplored lands of North and South America. The economic concerns of the British formed the English colonies in North America; these economic concerns included exploring lands for acquiring the reserves of gold and silver. It also included a waterway that connected North America to China and also for countering dominance of any other nation in North America. The English also sought for obtaining the essential raw materials in North America that they had to buy from the European countries for large amounts of money and gold. Apart from getting a hold of the lands and acquiring valuable resources of North America, English migrates also had other plans like England needed to renew some of its assets to export them to other countries. They also wanted to help them maintain their powerful naval forces through making business ties with the prospect of flourishing their economy by providing help to the unemployed. Therefore, it is true that both factors motivated British to migrate to North America and establish colonies. PART 2 There are multitude of reason to justify American rebel against the English empire, things that kept adding up to their frustration and then resulted in becoming a painful historical event. It is true that the American colonists justified in declaring independence against England and there were plenty of reasons for it. England was charging high taxations without any representation in the parliament, they also took their rights away in the assembly and were using ways on constraining them from raising their voices. One thing that angered them most was high taxation, although British had a good reason to charge taxes because they went to war to defend them that is why they charged them war taxes but what upset them was that they did not have a say into how they wanted to pay the deb. Most colonists called for a boycott against British goods and a few of them also carried out counterproductive attacks on the house of British tax collectors. After months of protest, the British passed a Townshend act to compensate the war debt, to which in return the colonists ended their protest (York, 1972). Most colonists bore through, by quietly accepting the British rule until the execution of the "Tea Act" in 1773. The purpose of this act was to support the staggering "East India Company" by lowering the tea tax, giving them ownership over the American tea trade, thus putting most American tea traders out of business. The colonists found this act as another tyranny by the British rulers regarding taxations. In response to this act the militants organized the "Boston Tea Party" where they dumped 18,000 worth of British tea into the Boston Harbor. In response to the "Boston Tea Party" and many other bold actions by the colonists angered the British, to which in return they sealed Boston to merchant shipping enacted British army in Massachusetts. They also made British officials free from getting prosecuted in America. As the colonists continued protesting and their acts of rebel grew stronger, the British got worried and nervous so they passed acts of completely diminishing American rights over free assembly. This further bolstered their anger but England kept intimidating until an assembly was changed into a two-people meeting on streets. All the while British thought that from separating their basic rights and passing acts they will break their courage of making their voices heard instead it had opposite effect on the colonists, it pushed and motivated them to oppress against the British authorities (Parkman & Levin, 1983). Although British soldiers were strictly told to hold their fires at all costs in America but when the oppressions grew stronger and colonists would not back down. The British soldiers open fired killing thousands of people in Boston, this event is known as the "Boston Massacre". This incident upsets the British government but two soldiers which were heading the force were responsible for this manslaughter and so they were punished and set free. Although it is believed by few that the excuse for declaring independence was meaningless, their prospect of rebelling over high taxation was inappropriate because the people of England paid even higher taxes to the ones the colonists paid. When the American colonists won the war and gained independence they had to pay even higher taxes than they paid England. Although it is appreciable that they gained independence and formed a nation but that too at a very high price because they had to build a government from the start. REFERENCES AHLST PARKMAN, F., & LEVIN, D. (1983). France and England in North America. New York, N.Y., Literary Classics of the United States. ROM, S. E. (1972). A religious history of the American people. New Haven, Yale University Press. Read More