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Chapter 2 – American Society

I. What Is an American?

        A.    Settlers came to the new world hoping for a better life and the freedom to practice their religions. Some had no choice for they would have gone to prison. They wanted to create a new society for themselves. No one ever thought of going back for they traveled 3000 miles in the ocean. This was a new life, and turning back was never an option.

        B.    Conditions in the New World were different than Europe. They had different landscapes, climate, and people.

II. Spanish Settlements in New Mexico and Florida

        A.    In Spanish North America, life was greatly influenced by friars who wanted to convert the local Indians to Christianity. For the most part they succeeded and thousands of Indians were baptized and taught the way of life from a European standpoint. But in exchange, friars expected heavy labor from the Indians. They were paid little or nothing.

        B.    In the 17th century the mistreatment of Indians led to numerous rebellions. In 1680, the Pueblo Indians caught the Spaniards by surprise and killed about 400 of them. They also drove them back from Santa Fe to El Paso.

        C.    In the mid 1690s however, the Spaniard learned to treat the Indians better because of the common need of repelling other nomad Indian tribes.

 III. The Chesapeake Colonies

        A.    The southern parts of English North America comprised of Chesapeake Bay. Thomas Hobbes wrote that life was intended to nasty and short. He related this to the Virginia colony where half of immigrants that enter the colony die.

        B.    The Chesapeake area was also a “hot and moist” death trap. Dry summers were very deadly because salt water penetrated inland. Many got dysentery or malaria. Life expectancy was not above age 40 and children lost parents before reaching maturity. Grandparents were nonexistent in this 18th century. Women typically remarried right after the husband dies.