Colonial America free essay sample

The colonial period of America was a time of great change to the New World. People of the colonial period had very traditional thoughts and traditions. These different ideas influenced the unique society that America is today. The people of this time period had very different political, economic, and social values than we have today. Political life during colonial America was much different than it is now. They were broken up into three types of colonies, proprietary, royal charter, and self-governing. A proprietary colony is a colony that is owned by one person, the proprietor, who can un the colony however they want. An example of this is William Penn and Province or Pennsylvania. The opposite ofa proprietary colony would be a royal charter colony, where the colony is under direct control of the mother country, and has no role in running the colony. The Province of North Carolina is an example ofa royal chart colony. We will write a custom essay sample on Colonial America or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The final type of colony is the self-governing colony, which as the name states, is more self-governing than the other two. The government of these colonies is elected and makes most decisions for the colony. An example of this would be the Colony of Massachusetts. There would also be a colonial legislature in every colony. They would be elected by property holding males and would be in control of the salary of the governor. They could use this influence to keep governors thoughts in line with those of the colony. However, the governor would be appointed by the king. This was Just one way for the mother country to control their colonies. Another way was through the policy of mercantilism, or the belief in the benefits of profitable trading. All this along with the freedom that everyone sought served as stepping stones towards the American Revolution. Much like the political life, the economy was much different during colonial America than it is today. In the New England Colonies the growing season was much shorter than the rest of the colonies, so as a result many families barely could grow enough to feed themselves. However for the more fortunate farmers in New England, corn and wheat grew in large numbers and livestock was also very prominent. They also thrived in small manufacturing, ship building, and fishing, in which they would use to trade with the West Indies. Similarly, the Middle Colonies also traded with the West Indies, although they had much more to offer. The Middle Colonies, also known as the Break Basket, exported massive amounts of grains, including wheat, rye, and corn. As for the Southern Colonies their dominant exports included wood, tar, tobacco, rice, and indigo. However when England instilled the Navigation Acts, it limited the trading of the colonies to Just that of itself. They were also not allowed to make any products they could buy from England. The result of this was the triangle trade, where the Colonies would ship their goods to England, where more goods would be shipped to Africa, and as a result the colonies would nd up with loads of African slaves. As a rule of thumb, the farther south one went the more used and abused the slaves would be. Generally the New England colonies didnt use slaves because they had plenty of help from the family. In the Middle Colonies, slaves would help out in the melds but compared to the Southern Colonies, where loads of them were in the fields every day, there were very few of them. Between the American Revolution, and the Civil Way, Americas economy is much different today than it was. The biggest effect that American Colonialism had on present day America was that of society. As America was seen as a free country, and a new beginning, the ethnic background of Americans today is very diverse because of all the people that came here. The New England colonies were mostly settled by English Puritans and the Southern colonies were settled by the English, except present day Florida which was settled by the Spanish. As far as the Middle Colonies go, there were settlers from Dutch, to English, Polish, French, and German. Most of the settlers that came to America came for the freedom of religion. There were the Puritans of New England who felt that anybody who didnt follow them should be persecuted. There were also the Quakers of present day Pennsylvania, and the Baptists and Anglicans that occupied the Southern colonies. All these ethnicities and religions evolved into what present day America represents, freedom and diversity. America in the 1700s represented a fake sense freedom. While freedom of religion was a constant there was always the mother country controlling many aspects of everyday life, including parts or the economy and political life. However, all these freedom seeking colonists turned America into the truly free and independent nation that it is today.