I didn't even read most of the chapter.... would have liked an A though (some stuff is what the teacher wrote in after grading..
The Great Spanish, French, and English Colonial Race
There were many Spanish motives for heading west. Christopher Columbus wanted to prove his theory, that the world was not flat [in the 1400s no serious person believed the world was flat, the ancient Greeks demonstrated it was round, as did the Arabs, only the foolish peasants and unschooled Biblical literalists thought of it as flat. Columbus thought the distance from Europe to Asia by sailing west was only 3000 miles. Everyone else thought it was at least 6000 miles. No one could sail 6000 miles because no ones supplies would last more than about 3000 miles, so the big fear was starvation and death by thirst] and if he sailed west, then he would be able to reach Asia on the other side. This would change the world’s perception of the earth. Another motive that Christopher Columbus had was a religious one. In the text, it states that Christopher Columbus thought that he would bring on the Millennium. The book defines this as the time when Christ would return for a thousand years and lead his saints. Also, Columbus and the rest of Spain wanted wealth. Juan Ponce De Leon, from Spain, wanted to find the Fountain of Youth. The main motives for Spain would be to acquire wealth and find the passage to Asia. The Spanish wealth came in the form of Aztec and other natives’ riches.
Most of the French motives were similar to those of the Spanish. The French specifically wanted to find a northwest passage to Asia. Because of this, the French were searching more around North America as opposed to the Spanish looking at South America. The French also wanted to find wealth in the America’s. The Spanish were more about conquering by war rather than conquering by forcing religion upon the Native society—at first. While the Spanish could not see how the South American natives could exist (because of their religion, they thought that natives were not to be respected), the French wanted to convert these people and blend them into their society. A major motive of the French was to “Europeanize” the natives (Textbook 35).
While the French were trying to push their religion onto the natives, the English were escaping the mother land so that they could be free to practice their own religion. England wanted to earn money from their colonies. Also, England was quickly running out of space for expansion and North America had a lot of room for the people and their livestock (Textbook 40). Jamestown was founded in hopes that gold or silver, a northwest passage to Asia, or a cure for syphilis would be found (Textbook 42). The Spanish, French, and English were all looking for wealth in the America’s, the wealth just came in different forms. The French, English, and Spanish governments wanted to find a passage to Asia, but after unsuccessful attempts at finding a route to Asia, England quickly become more interested in colonies.
The Spanish took over the new land by fighting the natives. Early upon their arrival, they imprisoned the Aztec ruler, signifying that they were now going to be in charge. Conquistadores, Spanish conquerors, were considered the new rulers of Mesoamerica (Textbook 22). The Spanish destroyed the Aztecs by leaving their city in ruins, and then building their colony on top of it. The French mainly traded with natives in the Americas. They were unsuccessful at building colonies under King Francis I. Under Louis XIV, France had finally tried to have a permanent settlement “New France.” Soldiers were sent to New France, but unlike the Spanish, they were not having wars with the natives and trying to take over their land (Textbook 36). England also had a few unsuccessful attempts, like France, when starting colonies in the new world. The settlers of Roanoke disappeared. Instead of fighting natives, France and England were fighting each other during the time of colonization. The English settlers were not trying to conquer the Indians. Instead, they decided that if there were problems with the Indians, they would try to “form alliances with more distant Indians” (Textbook 42). There still ended up being the Indian war, however. [Why were the English and French unsuccessful during the 1530s-1590s? What was going on that prevented them from having or committing the resources necessary to building and maintaining colonies in the Americas?]
France attempted to manage Natives by converting them. Huguenot (French Protestant) settlements were created in the Great Lakes area for this reason. The French tried to marry nearby natives to improve the peace between the two. This caused hostility from the Iroquois Nations, who disagreed with France’s policies. The explorer, Champlain, wanted to unite Catholics and Protestants and work together to settle and convert natives in Canada. Many Natives were baptized in a European religion. France’s methods of conversion were much gentler than the Spanish. The Spanish, after conquering the Natives, wanted to convert the remainder to Catholicism. The Spanish found out that it was easier to convert Indians in New Mexico than to try to conquer them (Textbook 24). The Spanish priests made it difficult for the Natives because they did not care to learn their languages. Instead, they tried to get the Natives to speak in Spanish. They treated the natives poorly, some were whipped or shackled. After a drought, some converted natives went back to their old beliefs which sparked several executions by Spanish missionaries—the basis of the Pueblo Revolt. The book best sums up how the Spanish, English and French colonies managed the natives “Spain and France shared a Catholic zeal for converting the Indians that exceeded anything displayed by English Protestants” (Textbook 87).
There are several religious groups of English settlers. The Plymouth settlers from the Mayflower wanted to worship freely. They did not believe in the Church of England. Settlers in Maryland did not establish a church as there was in England. The inhabitants were not trying to convert Natives like the French and Spanish. Another group of English settlers were the Puritans. The Puritans looked to John Cotton as a role model in Boston for converting others to their religion (textbook 52). They would assess the validity of another’s religion and compare it to the Puritan beliefs. They were very strict and would even “test for regeneracy, or conversion, and the standards of acceptance escalated rapidly” (Textbook 53). Quaker’s were different from the other religions. The Quaker’s were peaceful and found no reason’s for wars. This made Catholics, Christians, and Protestants angry. Also, everyone was equal in the Quaker’s eyes. They treated everyone the same, whether or not they were a superior (textbook 61). The English colony, Salem Village, was the host of the Salem witch trials. Instead of worrying about converting the Native Americans, the English were busy with religious battles amongst themselves. [Virginia was the first English colony in 1607 and was the big money maker and they had little in the way of religion. They made money on tobacco and used both white and black slave labor.]
The conquistadors lost their administrative power over the colonies when the missions started. The Spanish government was to be the ruler of the colonies. France also had control of their colonies. Some English settlers were trying to escape from the home land, but the home land was also trying to create colonies in the New World. The colonies created would be under English control. The queen had to approve of new colonies (Textbook 41). The colonies were divided and ruled by two separate English entities. One was in Plymouth and the other was in London. Settlers got to help make political decisions in Virginia by electing members to the House of Burgesses (Textbook 45). The royal colony was directly ruled by the English monarch. The monarch got to elect a governor.
The French tried to incorporate Native law or rules into their government because the natives respected them more if they “honored their ways” (textbook 89). Onontio, the governor of New France was similar to the traditional Indian chief. The Algonquians respected him and he would receive gifts for listening to them. English and Spanish settlers were not interested in trying to incorporate Native views in their politics. The colonists of New France paid fewer taxes than those in France. Also, less money was expected to go to the church in New France (Textbook 36).
England’s colonies grew more rapidly than France’s. In the British colonies, all sons would receive their father’s status; this was a large contributing factor to their rapid growth. The English colonies were a patriarchal society. An agency was created in England called the Lords Committee of Trade and Plantations. They ruled over navigation and trade to and from colonies. Since the crown selected the governor of each colony, who created the constitutional structure of that colony (textbook 81), the colonists were not satisfied with their government. They believed that they had a right to constitutional rule. The appointed governors followed written instructions from England. The governor had to command the militia and avoid anything that would be unfavorable to English trade with the colony. The book points out that “royal instructions never acquired the force of law” (textbook 81) because the instructions were only obligatory to the governor. Also important, is that the New England and New France colonies would not allow slaves to learn to read. They wanted to keep them uneducated. This would help the colonists keep control over them. [Good concluding paragraph. You cover the key issues in this paragraph and you make some good comparisons.]
This is a good essay. You provide a good level of evidence and make some good comparisons. You raise some issues that you don’t settle. A little research on the web, maybe using the sources in the Class Discussions would have helped or in the HCC Library’s Web By Topic section on the HCC Library page. A little bit more evidence and more specific pieces of evidence would help this essay become a higher graded essay. ---You demonstrate skill in composition and in logical exposition.
10/7+7/8=32/40=80/100
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