Coming to America Chapter 2

There are things that we learn in elementary school about colonial America that are a way nicer version of what I've read from this book. When I look back on the U.S history I was taught as younger student, everything was puffed up, meaning, it was all of the successes and none of the gory details. It's not until high school that students really learn about the millions of natives that died and it's not until college that SOME get to understand to what degree of genocide early Europeans committed against native americans or how frivolously we used African slaves to establish the capitalistic ideals we've developed today.

In elementary I recalled learning about Christopher Columbus, a brave explorer who founded America in 1492. I learned about the pilgrims and how the nice Indians broke bread with the them when they first arrived. When we learned about slaves, we learned about them being traded and worked on tobacco plantations but they didn't make it seem like a bad thing. Just a matter of fact.

Now, I understand more about the the first colonies and what life was really like in the 1600's. The thing is, more students should know the nitty gritty of how this country was started and what our foundations really are. Being a Bonner, learning about the SOA and corporations and... the how the U.S interacts with the rest of the world, I often ask myself how this ever began. Just in the first two chapters of this book, I feel like I can trace the origins of modern racism, the rich vs. middle class, taking advantage of labor from other countries, unfair treatment of humans and the modern violations of human rights.... Its quite sad and I can tell that the more that I read from this book the more Ill know about the world today and how we stand in the place that we are right now.

Some things that really stood out to me from this chapter, besides all of the above, is the transition from indentured servants to african slaves, the lifestyles of the slaves, and the different religious reasons for coming to America such as Maryland's immigrants.

Again, this chapter has exceeded my expectations and now I know for sure that the rest of this book will be enjoyable for me to read.

For Wednesday's class please read Chapter Two and consider the following questions:

• In the colonial period (1607-1787), how many came to America and how many of those were free?
• "Fewer than a million came- some six hundred thousand Europeans and perhaps three hundred thousand Africans. Since about half the Europeans all the Africans were, to one degree or another, unfree, the free immigrant was the minority during the colonial period." (pg 30)
• What does the first census of 1790 tell us about colonial immigrants?

"First Modern Census in 1790. The first American census enumerated 3,929,214 persons- some 3.1 million whites and 750,000 blacks. No attempt was made to count Indians, who were excluded from this constitutional mandate. Thus the white population had grown by natural increase- excess of births over deaths- some five times larger than its immigrant base, and the black population some two and a half times" (31)

• Who went to Virginia and why? How did the do there?

"Those who went to Virginia were tricked into going, believing that it was the land of milk and honey. "

"As the most recent student of seventeenth century migration has emphasized the majority of those who came were male, young, single, destitute and ignorant. What is becoming clearer and clearer is that migration to America was exceptional in 17th century england only for the distance of the migration. (34)

"Jamestown was the first " successful" attempt at colonization. It was a demographic disaster. On a malarial swamp, Jamestown had a staggering death rate from disease. From 500 to sixty people within 1619-22.

Naturally, colonial morale was not high. The surviving letters and other documents make grim reading."(32)

• What role did indentured service play? What are two reasons it was replaced by African slavery?

"Since the migration to America was expensive, many immigrants were forced to indenture themselves to labor for some planter or company usually for a term ranging from four to seven years…. " In Virginia, the owner got a grant of crown land (headlight) for each immigrant purchased. Those servants who complete their terms of service got freedom dues, theoretically" 34-35

" For these reasons, Edmund S. Morgan has concluded, Virginia's freemen were an unruly and discontented lot and he suggests that the problems, actual and anticipated with this going and dangerous class were one of the reasons that Virginians switched from using unfree European immigrants to using unfree Africans towards the end of the century and of course, Virginias example was filled by the rest of the south. 36

AFRICAN SLAVERY also were replaced because they were more identifiable as being someones property.

• Who established the Maryland colony?

"Maryland stemmed from the life and experience of George Calvert. He was a public Roman Catholic who wanted his colonies to be a haven for well to do Catholic gentlemen. and he was no absentee promoter, he went to the new world as he had previously got to Ireland to participate in English colonization there. " 41

Maryland, as opposed to Virginia was a "good poor man's country. They had a greater degree of social mobility than existed in Virginia but we should note that it was a minority phenomenon. Maryland was a good country for SOME poor men and women, but not for most. And statistically speaking, those enjoying upward social mobility did not enjoy it long. The typical servant who survived to become a landowner married in his late twenties early thirties and died in his early forties. "42

• How and why was the immigration and settlement pattern of New England so different from that of Virginia and Maryland?

The difference between New England migrants from those who came to America in the 17th century before them was that they were: organized into family groups, were possessed of a great deal of agricultural and craft skills and most seems to have enjoyed some degree of economic security in England. there was also an extraordinary number of educated men among the leadership of this migration, many of whose wives and daughters were well educated too.

• What was the role of Puritans in the "Great Migration" of the 1630s?

"The pilgrims and the puritans were a distinct minority of those who came to New England in the seventeenth century. Most of those( puritans) who came were actively recurred by promoters who promised them that they would have a better life in America." 43

• What documents and arrangements were required to immigrate to America from England, and what was the cost and duration of the journey?

License, loyalty oath, passport. 8 to twelve weeks. Of all the ships only one didn't survive and even then they had survivors.