Compare And Contrast The Spanish And The English Colonies

HISTORY 203B Forum Discussion #3 What are some of the major differences between English and French colonies in North America? English colonists consisted of people who, for the most part, came to America as families. Seeking religious freedoms and financial security, they were farmers, artisan, merchants, cattlemen and fur traders.

1) Compare and contrast the French and Spanish experiences in the New World. a. As the Spanish empire spread over the southern portion of the present-day United States, the mission was developed to colonial development and to convert the Indians. More importantly the Spanish were there to get gold and other riches. On the other hand French wanted to increase trade. They traded textiles, weapons, and metal goods.

The middle colonies’ had a very diverse economy that was influenced by both the southern and New England colonies. One of the main parts of the colonies’ economy was farming. The rich soil and plenty of sunshine and rain made it ideal for growing grains and tobacco. In fact the middle colonies are nicknamed the

Spanish, British, and French colonies in America were created in the 16th and 17th centuries and had a profound impact on the formation of their separate economies, communities, and governments. Each colonial power had diverse goals for its colonies, resulting in unique social structures, economic systems, and political institutions. There were numerous similarities, but there were also some differences. While Great Britain's colonies were formed to create permanent settlements, Spain’s colonization was focused on resource exploitation through forced labor. The French colonies were essentially trading posts that placed heavy reliance on the local population.

The economy of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was built around things like, “Fishing, lumber, The Triangle Trade, run, and whaling” (Cayton 47). North Carolina’s economy was centered around “the ties they possessed with the flourishing sugar islands of the English West Indies” (Kennedy 35). The economy of New York was a combined effort of, “Wheat, milling, distilling, ship building, and trading through their major port” (Cayton 47). Because the colonies had been created for different reasons, then that led to having different

The differences in the economy in the three different regions of the thirteen colonies were determined by both the people who went there and the environment. The environment limited how the economy was based because an agricultural economy needs good ground for growing, so without good soil, the economy would have to be based on industry. In the New England colonies (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island), the economy was dependent on their industries, not their agriculture. The Middle Colonies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) were equally dependent on industry as they were on agriculture. The Southern Colonies (Maryland, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia) depended on selling their

New England had attracted colonists because there were so many possible jobs. Jobs included lumbering, fishing, fur trading, shipbuilding, and rum distilling. New Englanders could also be farmers but few families became wealthy

Before the American Revolution, the colonists still considered themselves to be English and followed British rule. However, the American revolution allowed them to separate themselves from British rule and form their own separate power. This separate power unified the colonists who now shared the same political, religious, cultural, racial, historical, linguistic, and ideological views which were different from their views under British rule. They were beginning to pave the way to becoming "Americans" rather than English.

English colonists in the North America improved its economy and also became ethnically diverse, whereas the native people were accustomed to both political and economic autonomy. The desire of the British colonists to maintain the North America as its empire faced a lot of resistance from the other colonists who had already accustomed great autonomy. The regional differences in the British colonies declined with time, and therefore the British developed similar culture, governance and also laws. The elected representatives of the colonists under the influence of the growing preference of the native people to have self-government decided to lead the independence

The goal of the Spanish conquerors and colonizers in the beginning was not to provide a Native American economic life, but to enrich the Spanish metropolis with riches brought from the America’s. The first goal was the exploitation for the Spanish Crown. The conquerors had not come to America to work or settle in distant lands and start a new life. Most conquerors wanted to find enough gold and riches to be able to live like a gentleman. Living the wealthy life would became impossible without creating some productive economy in the New World.

The English were more concerned with finding gold rather than building functioning societies; which were primarily built around biblical teachings, while the Spanish intended for European national power to extend to western civilization beginning with Catholicism and influence of the pope. English settlers were driven from England due to religious practices and perceived themselves as saving the Indians from the Spanish and their tyrannical ways. For the English, owning land would give men control over their own labor and the right to vote in most colonies, and this land possession would show wealth. This new obtained wealth would not only have demonstrated power, but it could also be used to influence a society a certain way to convince others to follow suit. The English believed that their motives for colonization were pure, and that the growth of empire and freedom would always go together, unlike the Spanish.

There were many important causes and effects of the Spanish American War. In the 1880’s the U.S. wanted to achieve manifest destiny and so they expanded out west and took control over the Native Americans. There were four different motives that the United States could’ve used to imperialize: political and military interest and economic interest were mostly with trading. Humanitarian and religious interest, to help those that you have allied with or to spread religion and the rich help those who were “under privileged.” Lastly, social darwinism, the idea that you are superior than someone else.

Starting in the early 1600’s settlers from England came to “The New World.” England and Spain were competing to claim this new undiscovered land. The English were the first to claim the land by sending the first group of settlers, the Chesapeake settlers. They settled in present day Virginia and Maryland. The Chesapeake settlers came for commercial and profit.

100 years after Columbus first arrived in the Americas, the first of 13 colonies, Virginia, was settled. Little did they know that 400 years later, these colonies would evolve and become one of the most powerful nations on Earth. With the colonists populating both southern and northern area, many aspects of the colonies changed. Not only did the colonies change because of the climate and topography (which was inevitable) but also because of the people who lived there. New England was primarily composed of people searching for religious freedom, the Southern Colonies had wealthy people looking for land to grow their plantations, and the middle colonies, the most ethnically diverse, consisting of people searching for a new and wealthier life.

As the world of global exploration and colonization grew, many powerful European empires set out to see what the New World had in store for them. Each empire had their own individual agendas and incentives for colonization. This led to the many differences between methods of colonization and exploration in every colony and region. The Atlantic World portrayed these contrasts between the Spanish, French, Dutch and British empires. However, the British settlements along the Eastern seaboard differed the most from those of other empires because there were no established policies or methods in British colonization, which led to differences in the economics and culture of each colony depending on who settled it.