People across the world come here in hopes of the “American Dream” and for some, it does happen, but at what cost? How many come in hopes of finding a better life but just realize that to find a better life they must leave behind culture and previous ways of life. They realize that although they come here to be accepted, they’re isolated and in some cases looked down upon by the natives, in this case Americans. Immigration has always been an issue to some natives, viewing immigrants as people who take and ruin their turf, rather than just trying to share it. In “The House on Mango Street” the author, Sandra Cisneros, really shows us all the troubles an immigrant faces like isolation and the struggle of assimilation.
Another difference was the difference between who did the work in developing the colony. The colonies differing views on religion also helped shape the way each colony developed economically. The Virginia and Massachusetts Companies both realized that they would need to have a strong economic system, but their views on religion and profit had too many differences and resulted in different systems. The Puritans did not feel the need for “excessive profits” and lived by the belief of self control. The use of company labor and overpricing caused a lot of problems with Virginians.
Since England owned these particular areas of the New World, these colonies were very influenced and affected by their mother country. The social faults, political chaos, and economic distress in England during the early colonial years in America played a role in shaping the English colonial experience. The societal issues that were present in England during the 17th century pushed many people to go to the Americas. The overpopulation in England was a major incentive for many to move across the Atlantic. Another reason for migration was the idea of primogeniture, which allowed the eldest son to inherit the wealth; leaving others desperate and in hopes of finding riches overseas.
A lot of people moved to colonial America. They moved to colonial America either because the were forced to, or protested there king. Slaves were forced to move to colonial America to do labor work for Americans. The English, who became the Americans moved there because they were sick of there King’s laws and religious requirements. African slaves were forced to move to colonial America.
Because of this, the Southern colonists made their living off farming cash crops, such as rice, usually in plantations. The Middle colonists also shared a prosperous growing season because of their mild climate. However instead of cash crops, the Middle colonists would grow wheat and grains, being the “breadbasket” of the colonies. New England colonists didn’t have much prosperity in agriculture. They would instead participate in subsistent farming, meaning they grew only what they needed to feed themselves.
However, due to the Industrial Revolution, America began to stray from the vision the founding fathers had for the nation in the late 1700’s and 1800’s. Though social mobility was promised to immigrants and common Americans, these same people were often exploited and left in poverty. Founding fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, valued farming above all else, but as industrialism took hold of America, farming became much necessary, and farmers more scarce. Finally, though America’s politicians promised to hear what the common people had to say, during and after the Industrial Revolution it seemed that only the very wealthy could make any sort of impact, and there was nothing to stop them from crushing the working class underfoot. The United States of America was built on the ideal that every man should be able to make his way in the world regardless of his family or class.
Colonial Ways of Life: The young males who colonized in the 1600’s and 1700’s was a wave of human movement happening in Europe and Africa because of religious intolerance, population increase, the growth of plantation agriculture, industrialization, indentured labor, penitentiary, and slavery. The land was shaped by the slash and burn practices of the native Americans and the use of land as private property and the deliberate introduction of cattle, oxen, sheep, goats, horses, and pigs and unintentional introduction of weeds by the Europeans. These animals and weeds caused conflicts between the native Indians and the Europeans. During this period the population of the colonialists exploded, for example, in 1704 English speaking colonists numbered 75,000. The women folk who made up the colonial population, while they could not vote, preach, hold office, attend school, bring lawsuits, make contracts, or own property; these barriers did not prevent many from engaging in commerce, being in professions, and land owners.
Therefore, the Europeans decided to make the Native Americans slaves in order to create a cheap labor force. This was a logical decision for the Europeans because the Indians were native to this land, and they were more advanced in their agricultural techniques. Due to their language barrier, however, the Native Americans did not understand the European’s purpose at first. The inability of the Native Americans to understand what was happening to them only led to greater resentment and, ultimately, a rebellion. One example of Native American revolt is the Jamestown Massacre in 1622.
But after the battle of Plassey in 1757, the nation began to seize large amounts of land especially in the north. Over 3000 troops of the company fought the Nawab of Bengals soldiers as well as their French allies; seemingly luck was on the side of the British after heavy rain soaked the Nawab’s gunpowder with the British strategically covering theirs the night before to keep it dry. This lead Britain facing little resistance with around $5 million being taken from the Bengali treasury to finance Britain’s further expansion in the country. In this instance Britain was fortunate to establish some form of superiority through trade and luck allowing them more opportunity to continue their take over. With
Many individuals in the history of the world would flee their countries of persecution from religious beliefs, and look for a better land; the Americas. Though, these individuals came into contact with natives. These Natives had already established their way of life, though it wasn’t what the colonist were seeking; so they cut them out. People now had separate stores where they could buy their goods, but still it wasn’t as convenient as they would have liked, thus Wal-Mart was created. Wal-Mart can be seen as America.