KS+Responses+to+Essential+Questions-

Why did the English Stay in the Americas? By the fifteenth century Spain has entered the Americas and started to colonize current day Mexico, and Florida. Right around the same time on May 14th 1607, England had arrived in the New World and had a mission to survive and thrive in the Americas. The main question asked about these settlers is, why did these colonists decide to go through all of these hardships in order to colonize America? Some people simply suggest that they were enduring it just to keep pace with Spain. There is some truth with this statement, but I truly think that they stuck through all the hardships simply to honor their country of England, and be the first to accomplish the impossible. Some people of the colony might have withstood the hardships for this reason, but the majority stayed there for the sake of fear. There are a lot of the people in the world that they were the first to invent the television or build the first roller coaster, but the colonists of Jamestown became the first to say that they were the first to start and colonize the future United States of America. In this honor I think that the people of Jamestown decided to toughen out all the hard times and to endure the impossible. If they survived this amazing feat the people that first set foot on the Eastern coast of the United States would be known as brave and honorable people for the rest of the life of the United States. We do still to this day honor the settlers of Jamestown who took the big leap of colonizing the New World. I’m sure that the main reason that people still stayed at the colony in the Americas is because of fear. People in the colony would rather suffer and die in the Americas than face the King of England and tell him that they went back to England because they thought it was too hard to live there. After they told the King this they would probably be known as a coward for the rest of their existence on Earth. If this happened than this person might have turned into an outcast of the entire country.

 Where Would I Stay If I Was a Settler?

In the seventeenth century many colonies have risen up in New England, and each of them have distinct characteristic about them. Out of all the colonies between Pennsylvania and Massachusetts I would have to choose Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has many economical and social aspects that are rare if not impossible to find in any of the colonies. Pennsylvania was established by William Penn and the Quakers. He wanted people to come in and his motivation was fifty acres of land given if you move there. All people of different religions and nationalities were invited. If a settler moved to Pennsylvania they would have had many economical advantages over the rest of the colonies. If you moved to Pennsylvania you were instantly granted fifty acres of land. When you are granted this land you can do whatever you want with it, and most people grew their own food, so they don’t have to worry about buying food from other farmers. Also all religions were invited to Pennsylvania, so there were no church taxes to be paid. Since there was no military defense for that colony you didn’t have to pay taxes for that cause as well. Above all the social advantages to living in Pennsylvania were the best out of any other colony. The way that they ran the social part of Pennsylvania is a lot like we do today. Any religion was accepted in Pennsylvania. The Quakers respected the Native Americans, and therefore the Indians are peaceful with Pennsylvania. Since they are friends with the Indians they trade with each other. Pennsylvania’s justice system is a lot more lenient than the other colonies as well. The only death penalty is for murder and treason. No slavery is allowed in Pennsylvania because the Quakers believe that are people are equal and should be treated the same. There are laws against stage plays, cards, dice, excessive hilarity, and no excessive drinking because there are many religions in Pennsylvania and some of these events can lead to sins and trouble. Overall, I think that Pennsylvania has all the best positives socially and economically. It is open to all religions and nationalities. Also you get fifty acres of land for just moving there. These are the reasons why I would go to Pennsylvania if I could go to any colony between Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Essential Question 2  When the French and Indian War began, British forces were sent over to fight in the war. When they were sent over the British officers had control over all the militias, and made them follow their lead. The colonists right away didn’t like this because they were being told what to do all the time. Also, the colonists elected their leaders and when the British came over they had officers already. This makes the colonists not follow their British leaders with as much heart as the people they voted to be their officers. The British also had a fighting technique of standing in straight lines and firing/reloading at the same time, which was known as “gentlemen like”, while the colonists had Indian style, Guerilla tactics that gave them a bigger advantage in battle. The colonists and British came together and won the War. After they won the war all of the credit went to the British, and the only rank of any officer that was recognized was a general. So when the colonists were given no credit they were very angry because the risked their lives as well. After the war there were still 10,000 troops in the Americas, so King George III can now enforce his laws now. The British were in a lot of debt after the war ended, and they needed a way to get it back. So King George turned to the colonies to make money. He hired a man to make laws to make the British money off the colonists. One law was the Sugar Act, and this was to make sure that the colonists weren’t smuggling sugar into the Americas from the Caribbean; it only had to be from Britain so that they could make money off them. The soldiers had the right to search anybody’s ship or home at any time to see if they were smuggling sugar into the Americas from any place than Britain. If a British ship stopped a colonial ship they could do so if it looked suspicious. Then if they think that the people are guilty they would do something that is called Admiralty court. The way this went was by searching the boat, and if they found anything suspicious they would find the person guilty until proved not guilty. In this the Admiral is the judge and jury, and the courthouse is the ship that they are on. The British decided to send more troops over to the Americas in order to have more control on the colonists, and by doing this they ended up losing even more money than they had before. There was also the Currency Act that made all of the colonist’s currency all the same. After six months the British found out that they can’t control this because every colony’s is different, and they wouldn’t be able to control it. The one Act that probably annoyed the colonists the most was the Quartering Act. This act made every colonist shelter and feed any British soldier that wanted to stay with them, and they couldn’t do anything about it. This made it impossible for the local militias to organize themselves in public, and they couldn’t bear arms at all. After the war was over Pontiac’s rebellion took place, and the Indians attacked the British staying inside the Forts. King George III then made a law so that nobody could go past the Appalachian Mountain line so that the Indians wouldn’t attack to save money.

The American Colonists Declaring and Fighting for Their Independence From the beginning of the colonization of the New World, Britain has been a main contributor in establishing a foot hold, and thriving in the New World. In the beginning of their first successful settlement in Jamestown, their dependence on England was very high, since they brought over food and supplies. After the years passed the colonists were starting to become less and less independent. In a short amount of time, the colonists didn’t need any help from England to survive, thrive, or run the colonies properly. At the beginning of their colonization, England was very fair and helpful to the colonists. As time went on the colonists were treated more poorly and poorly. After a while England had been treating the colonists so bad that there were terrorist organizations set up against England itself. This conflict between the two groups really struck, when the French and Indian War began. When the soldiers came over, the colonists were treated like they were inferiors to the British soldiers. The British told them what to do and when to do it. When the war was won, none of the colonists were recognized for their efforts, and the money that they spent wasn’t reimbursed like it was promised. After the war England was in a lot of debt, and they turned to the colonies to get themselves out of debt making unfair laws that the colonists had to obey. Some of these laws included the Tea Act, which made the colonists buy tea directly from England. Some colonists would smuggle the tea in, and to enforce this law England sent more troops over, and when they did they actually lost money since it costs money to keep troops in the Americas. There was also the Quartering Act, which made the colonists home and feed any troop that wanted to stay with them. And the Act that made the colonists the angriest was the Stamp Act. This act made a direct tax on any paper goods, such as newspapers, documents, letters, and deeds. This tax went directly to the English government. After being exposed to this act the colonists came up with the slogan, “no taxation without representation”. After the Boston Tea Party in 1773 the Revolutionary War was inevitable. After this event The Coercive Laws were passed. These laws included Salutary Neglect and a harsher Quartering Act. After they passed these laws all of the colonies began to stockpile weapons and prepare for war. If England treated the colonists fairly, instead of taxing the colonists to death and making unfair laws this separation would have never occurred.

Essential Question- How does the constitution allow for an enduring political debate?

The Constitution covers a majority of political topics, regulations, and laws of the United States of America. The debates could be based on the controversial topics, in which have two or more view points, and have evidence in order to support each side of the topic or issue. They could be based on whether or not an amendment or law should be approved, or the view points of two or more figures in our country’s history; just like the debate we had on Thursday. Some of the Amendments in the Constitution are very controversial, and there are many outlooks on these issues. You could use the right to bear arms as one issue. Some people would prefer to keep the gun control law strict, and others would want to be able to have and use guns. When the Constitution was created, two major groups of politicians emerged with very different viewpoints on many topics. These two groups were Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The Federalists wanted a strong central government, while the Anti-Federalists wanted a strong state government system. In our debate the two viewpoints were from an Anti-Federalist Thomas Jefferson, and a Federalist Alexander Hamilton. Each topic that was brought up in the debate, both of them had completely separate opinions. This factor alone gave a lot of fire and opposition in the debate alone.

Was the revolution of 1800 truly a Revolution? The revolution of 1800 was definitely not a true revolution. The “revolution” of 1800 was only a switch between parties in politics. This could be called a revolution since it was a switch in power between two parties, but it isn’t a revolution meant to overthrow a government as a whole in order to obtain freedom. If we considered the “revolution” of 1800 a true revolution, then there have been many revolutions in this nation’s history. In actuality there was only one revolution, and that was the American Revolution of 1776, in which the American colonists overthrew the control of Britain’s control, and became their own country. Also this “revolution” was bloodless and legal, but this didn’t change the fact that the changes were profound, and that the Federalists lost the control of the presidency and congress. By the time of 1800 the colonists were ready for a change, and thus turned to the Democratic Republican Party. Since there was no uprising of people in the country to overthrow the government, this “revolution” of 1800 is truly not a revolution.