English colonization has had a vast impact on the world. The Oxford dictionary defines colonization as “the action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area” (Lexico by Oxford, 2020). This is precisely what the English accomplished in several places. After seeing other European nations, such as Spain and France, attain wealth and political power by colonizing, England decided to send out explorers too.

Conquering land was a way that these European nations were becoming wealthier and was a means of gaining political ground. England sent out explorers on many different occasions. The failed attempt of the Roanoke colony put a pause on “English efforts to settle…for nearly two decades” (Norton, 2015). They succeeded once they used their own model, instead of copying their European neighbors.

Social pressures were also contributing factors in the English colonizing North America.

Many of the English wished to break away from the Church of England. King Henry VIII requested a divorce from his wife, but the Catholic church refused to grant him one. The King broke away from the Catholic church and created the Church of England. At this time, the Protestant Reformation was already underway in different parts of Europe, such as Germany with Martin Luther and Scotland with John Calvin. The king’s break from the Catholic Church spurred the beginning of the English Reformation. Theological doctrines between Calvinists and the Church of England were so greatly opposed that many Calvinists, such as the Puritans and Separatists, wanted to leave England for fear of being arrested and imprisoned on the grounds of heresy. When the English came to America, they came with the resolve to stay.

One of the major ideas that inevitably led to the American Revolution was the Age of Enlightenment and the philosophies behind it. The Age of Enlightenment “which emphasized

science and reason over faith and superstition, strongly influenced the American colonies in the eighteenth century” (Kahn Academy, 2017). Another name for this was the Age of Reason. The great thinkers of the time began to look to science for answers to questions of the natural world and the universe instead of religious teachings. Among some of these thinkers and scientists were Alessandro Volta in Italy, Daniel Fahrenheit in Poland, Isaac Newton in England and Benjamin Franklin in America (Jarus, 2019). Another ideology that brought the colonies closer to the American revolution were the ideas from the Real Whigs, who were writers from Britain. Their faith in the monarchs also began to crumble. More people were open to the idea of cutting ties with English monarch and becoming its own republic.

Some events that led to the American Revolution were the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Before the Boston Massacre, “British Parliament enacted strict provisions for the collection of revenue duties in the colonies” (Wallenfeldt, 2020). Numerous colonists did not fancy these new requirements and boycotts for such goods were organized.

Troops from the British army arrived in Boston in the fall of 1768. This did not help with growing tensions between the British and the colonists. On March 5, 1770, a confrontation between British soldiers and colonists escalated and resulted in the death of five colonists and injury to seven others.

The Boson Tea Party is a well know protest that took place in the Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773. In 1767, British Parliament passed the Townshend Acts which required duties, or fees and taxes, for exported goods. Some of these duties were repealed due to the uproar among colonists, except for duty on tea from the East India Company. Three tea ships arrived in the Boston Harbor and when agents attempted to cancel the order and send it back, the merchants refused. On December 16, 1773, “342 chests of tea…were thrown from ships into

Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians” (Wallenfeldt, 2020). The protest was over the tea tax as well as the supposed tea monopoly by the East India Company.

The American Revolution was the precursor to the colonies gaining independence from Britain. There were many people affected by changes that occurred as a result. Many prominent groups that were affected were Native Americans, African Americans and women. For the Native Americans, if the colonies won independence, the colonists would continue to take over land. On the other hand, if Great Britain won, the Native Americans would have “a continued British presence that restrained American westward expansion” (ushistory.org, 2020). Great Britain did not win, so expanding to the west by settlers continued. Some Native American land was taken by treaties, but much was taken forcefully. Many colonists tried to “civilize” the indigenous people groups instead of letting them keep their cultural identity. Some tribes were granted reservations to live on and others fled north to Canada.

African Americans were also significantly affected by events that followed the American Revolution. “The Revolution transformed slavery from an unspoken assumption to an open question” (Norton, 2015). The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banned slavery north of the Ohio River boundary. Some states in the north abolished slavery little by little in the following years, but it was not abolished completely. They were not yet considered citizens and did not have the same rights as whites at this time. Many moved to cities, away from rural areas after being freed. Some founded churches, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which would also serve as important cultural centers for their communities.

Events that followed the American Revolution also greatly affected women. Months before the Declaration of Independence was completed and signed, Abigail Adams, wrote a letter to her husband, John Adams, requesting that he “Remember the Ladies” (Lange, 2015). Her

husband believed women could still impact society outside of politics. Women began to be educated so they could teach both inside and outside of the home. Some women took to writing as an outlet for their concerns, such as Judith Sargent Murray and Mercy Otis Warren. Similar sentiments were also felt among some women in England, such as Mary Wollstonecraft who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women which circulated in the states. Her book “set off the first ripples of what would eventually become the worldwide movement for women’s rights” (McCrum, 2017). There would still be a long way to go, but Women’s Rights were starting to head in a better direction.

References

Brooks, R. B. (2020, March 7). Native Americans in the Revolutionary War. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from https://historyofmassachusetts.org/native-americans-revolutionary-war/

Calloway, C. G. (2008, December 4). The American Revolution. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from https://www.nps.gov/revwar/about_the_revolution/american_indians.html

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2019, November 18). Northwest Ordinances. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/event/Northwest-Ordinances

Jarus, O. (2019, September 12). What Was the Enlightenment? Retrieved March 27, 2020, from https://www.livescience.com/55327-the-enlightenment.html

Kahn Academy (Ed.). (2017). The Enlightenment Period. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/colonial-america/colonial-north- america/a/the-enlightenment

Lange, A. (2015). Rights in the Early Republic. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/early-republic

Lexico by Oxford. (2020). Colonization: Definition of Colonization by Lexico. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/colonization

McCrum, R. (2017, July 17). 100 best nonfiction books: No 76 – A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792). Retrieved March 27, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/17/100-best-nonfiction-books-vindication-rights- woman-mary-wollstonecraft

Norton, M.B. (2015). A people & a nation. Retrieved from https://lrps.wgu.edu/provision/53540310