American History

4 Pages 997 Words

1640-1720
The period in American history from 1640-1720 can be characterized by much crisis and conflict. This era saw the establishment of the African slave trade, political unrest aimed towards England, and increasingly violent clashes with Native Americans amidst an expanding frontier.
The French were settling the great lakes region, the English and Dutch in the northeast, while Spain had colonies out west. As economies grew and trading expanded, all 3 ‘Old World’ settlements began to overlap into each other which resulted in hostility and war. At the same time, all 3 groups began clashing with Native Americans, mainly over land. Many Puritans insisted on trying to convert the natives to Christianity, with limited success. As colonial populations expanded, so did their need for new land acquisitions.
With colonial expansion, the slave trade began to develop, and then flourish to become the mainstay or linchpin of the American economy by 1700. Plantation owners relied heavily on manual labor to cultivate their crops, as fewer and fewer Europeans were willing to indenture themselves for long periods of time, which was common practice before slavery. They were also considered ‘free’, and therefore had better access to decent wages and living conditions elsewhere. This was a problem for landowners, and they found a solution in the “Triangular Trade”. Mass quantities of slaves were imported from Africa, often through the West Indies. A cycle soon developed, whereby goods produced by slaves were then traded to bondsmen in Africa for more slaves in return. In effect, slaves indirectly funded their own exploitation.
Politics began to shift in the colonies during this time. England developed a collective theory on economics called mercantilism. From 1651 to 1673, a series of laws known as the Navigation Acts were put into effect. These were designed to isolate trade markets between England and the colonies. They include...