Mine: Colonialism and History Mrs. Rackley Essay

Submitted By sljones007
Words: 743
Pages: 3

1B There always has been, and unfortunately most likely always will be, discrimination against other races. When the French, Spanish, and English came to the “new world” they brought these discriminations with them. The way each colony saw and treated their non-native population was very different from the others. The French didn’t necessarily treat the non-French of their colony bad. They just dismissed their African culture. The French saw it as valueless, as they saw most people other too. The French did however make it available to them to become Frenchmen if they desired. Some however refused, as they wanted to stay true to their African culture. One main reason that the Indians were enslaved in the Spanish colonies at first was because they didn’t have the same Christian beliefs as the Spanish conquistadors. The mestizos could not hold many jobs, and were discriminated, most often discriminated in the courtroom. Spanish colonies in America were ruled by a small group pure-Spaniards, every other ethnicity in the colonies have little to no rights. Since the slaves weren’t Christian, they were separated from indentured servants since they were Christian. Until 1660 the term “slave” was rarely used. Most people referred to the Africans as “negroes.” The slaves were seen as property and inferior to everyone else. Slaves were the most expensive type of labor; if they were valued so much, why were they treated as property and not given many rights? There are many factors that contribute to racism in every ethnicity. Some beliefs expressed more so than others. These three colonies had very different ways of segregating the different types of people in their communities.

Baylee Jones
AP US History
Mrs. Rackley
2 August 2013
2A
European exploration is obviously a big part US history. As the Europeans were deciding to explore, there were push and pull factors that influenced their decisions. Their desire for wealth and power were major pull factors. Religion was a major push factor. The main reasons for exploration were God, glory, and gold. A major push and pull factor was religion. The religious persecution of Jews was a major reason for exploration; to be able to have religious freedom. The Europeans had always spread Christianity, and after the reformation, competition arose. Colonization became a competition to convert natives to their religion. The want for power is summed up by glory. Most people focused on their own achievements, not their countries’. Competition spread for the rule by individual kings. They were less worried about the countries’ success and more interested on their rank in society. The most important reason for exploration, gold. “Gold” doesn’t just include the rare metal, gold essentially just means wealth. Europe needed gold and silver to refuel their banks. Other types of “gold” were spices like pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon. These were traded through the Colombian exchange. There are definitely more pull factors than push factors. If the Europeans had never explored, we may not have our military and government