Colonial America Editorial
JeanLuc Paul
Mr. Schrein
A.P US History
16 December 2014
Do not come to the Early Colonies
The early colonies were hell, if you were thinking of moving to Virginia during the 1620’s, I would have one thing to say DON’T. Those who inhabited England had no inclination to move thousands of miles to a new place, away from home, chasing some folly like wealth or adventure. Even though, the new colonies offered many things: affluence, freedom, land; there was a singular guarantee: STRUGGLE.
Colonial America, for all of its beauty, was nothing but a mere graveyard for English settlers. Death was constant early on; whether you starved attempting in vain to farm the harsh Virginian land, or froze to the death in the middle of a blistering Massachusetts night. Better yet, if you did not die toiling away, your family probably did “I heartily wish your welfare for God be thanked I am now in good health, but my brother and my wife are dead about a year past” (1622 Description of Virginia). Often times the climate of New England would eviscerate the already measly crop of the early settlers and the rocky terrain of the Carolina’s and Georgia were not meant for cultivation.
Simply put the early settlers were clueless and unprepared, they were blindsided by everything this new land threw at them. Worst of all was their relationship with the native people of the Americas.
The natives and the European settlers fought often, and the battles were gruesome, violent and brutal. The European settlers were detrimental to the economy of the Native Americans, but the Natives fought to gain territory and killed just at liberally and with the same grisly avariciousness as the colonists.
The New Colonies were just as strenuous on someone’s finances as they were on the body and the mind. Many settlers were dregs of society; lowly, desperate people who resorted to marketing themselves to patricians and bourgeoisie. Existing as an indentured servant was the only viable option for a
Mr. Schrein
A.P US History
16 December 2014
Do not come to the Early Colonies
The early colonies were hell, if you were thinking of moving to Virginia during the 1620’s, I would have one thing to say DON’T. Those who inhabited England had no inclination to move thousands of miles to a new place, away from home, chasing some folly like wealth or adventure. Even though, the new colonies offered many things: affluence, freedom, land; there was a singular guarantee: STRUGGLE.
Colonial America, for all of its beauty, was nothing but a mere graveyard for English settlers. Death was constant early on; whether you starved attempting in vain to farm the harsh Virginian land, or froze to the death in the middle of a blistering Massachusetts night. Better yet, if you did not die toiling away, your family probably did “I heartily wish your welfare for God be thanked I am now in good health, but my brother and my wife are dead about a year past” (1622 Description of Virginia). Often times the climate of New England would eviscerate the already measly crop of the early settlers and the rocky terrain of the Carolina’s and Georgia were not meant for cultivation.
Simply put the early settlers were clueless and unprepared, they were blindsided by everything this new land threw at them. Worst of all was their relationship with the native people of the Americas.
The natives and the European settlers fought often, and the battles were gruesome, violent and brutal. The European settlers were detrimental to the economy of the Native Americans, but the Natives fought to gain territory and killed just at liberally and with the same grisly avariciousness as the colonists.
The New Colonies were just as strenuous on someone’s finances as they were on the body and the mind. Many settlers were dregs of society; lowly, desperate people who resorted to marketing themselves to patricians and bourgeoisie. Existing as an indentured servant was the only viable option for a