Colonial America Essay Questions

Colonial America Essay Questions

Final
Colonial America
HIS 321 - JUL 08
Joshua Ketzenberger
Excelsior College
1. Discuss how disease, military force, and religion pacified Indians in New England by 1670.

It was not brute force or superior numbers that paved the way for a permanent English settlement in New England, rather, it was disease. Tens of thousands of Indians died in the first year of English settlement. It is approximated that nearly three-quarters or more of the native population eventually succumbed to disease. As a twist of faith, the colonists believed it was the hand of god that lay the terrible stroke of disease upon the Indians. This was Gods way of intervening on behalf of the settlers who were in much need of land.

The disease ravaged tribes of New England were decimated to the point of little resistance. The factors that lead to the use of military force against the Indians were the negative views held by the colonists of the Indians native culture, intertribal Indian hostilities, and most importantly the English hunger for land. Of the course of fifty years 1620-1670 there were numerous attempts by the Indians to overthrow the English settlers and take back what was rightfully theirs. These attempts however were thwarted by intertribal hostilities, disease and overall being greatly outnumbered.

Because New England was founded by Puritans the idea of mastering the savages did not require elimination but rather Christianizing the heathens. To accomplish this, the Puritans brought the Indians under civil government, making them accountable to the ordinances that governed white behavior. After some time several thousand Indians gathered in fourteen villages had adopted English methods of agriculture, worship, and even traditional English hairstyles, dress and customs.

2. Contrasting two colonies, describe what the typical life of a man or woman was like during the eighteenth century.  Be sure to consider race,...

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