Based on this week’s discussion and Voices readings, write a reflection on how the colonial experience differed depending on your race, gender, and class. Who are the privileged and who are the disadvantaged people?
Note:
It is interesting to see how this changes (and doesn’t) for people as we move through American history. Some people’s lives mattered more than others, right? As Professor Foner points out in our readings, this will contribute to who is considered an American. As people continue to come from different places, we will struggle with this idea.
This week’s discussion from different students
Discussion 1
In colonial America, freedom was not the same for everyone. Immigrants came looking for land and religious freedom, especially in Pennsylvania, but some had to work as indentured servants before gaining their independence . Race played a big role Africans were forced into slavery, and laws made it permanent so they could never be free. Over time, slavery replaced indentured servitude because enslaved people were seen as a more reliable workforce .
Native Americans lost land as more settlers arrived, and their rights were ignored . Women also had limited freedom, especially after marriage, since they had to rely on their husbands. However, Quaker women in Pennsylvania had more rights than most because they could be leaders in their communities . In the end, white men who owned land had the most freedom, while Black people, Native Americans, women, and indentured servants had very little.
Discussion 2
1. Immigrants:
Immigration was encouraged and there were economic incentives for those immigrants to settle in the colonies. This particularly targeted indentured servants paying for there voyage over.
A majority of immigrants where males including laborers, farmers, and aristocrats seeking wealth.
the goal of these settlers was to obtain land. Land=Power. Land represents wealth.
There were conditions on immigration some could acquire land and independence after being indentured servants, while others struggled under exploitative conditions.
The idea of free land lured immigrants to settle.
2. Race:
New land was useless without someone to work the land so the colonists turned to slavery.
The early slave trade began in the Chesapeake region when the first enslaved Africans arrived in 1619.
Americans found there were more advantages to enslaved labor over indentured servants.
one pro was africans couldn’t claim english common law.
they also couldn’t escape and try to fit in with the settlers because of their still color compared to indentured servants.
enslaved people were permanently deprived of freedom, as slavery became a racial status.
3. Gender:
Women’s freedom was incredibly limited compared to men
their legal and economic opportunities were restricted.
Married women had fewer rights than single women they could not own property independently.
The colony encouraged immigration of women, women brought in for arranged marriages, but they remained a minority.
Wealthy women had some power, widows could inherited property
most worked under harsh conditions as indentured servants or in domestic roles.
Discussion 3
1
For immigrants, they wanted to move to America because it was a land of opportunity. Masterless men were unemployed people, these people were seen as a danger to society. They would seek America because they saw the opportunity to attain land and grow a better life for their family. A lot of the time, false stories would go around romanticizing about the Americas and the freedom it would bring.
2
Concerning race, racism did not happen the way we see it today. Instead of pure racism, white English people saw people who were different color not as worse or below them. Instead, they saw people who had different skin tones or different religions as barbarians or heathens. Interestingly, slaves from Africa were less common at the dawn of the settling of the Americas. This is because it was more expensive to transport a lifelong slave from Africa to the Americas when there were such high death rates. Furthermore, at the time, indentured servants were cheaper than slaves. However, they did look at Native Americans as barbarians and heathens, so they took advantage of them.
3
There were two groups of women in North America. There were the indentured servants and the rich groups. The Chesapeake came over as indentured servants and were severely outnumbered compared to the men. This would mean that the women would have to work off their servitude, causing them to have kids later. Since that work had a very high death rate, some women would not even have the chance. This caused major problems, like having a lot of orphaned kids and a worse quality of life for the kids. With the rich crowd of women, they had many more rights than European women did. This allowed them to conduct business and inherit their families’ wealth. They would then not have to marry and could build a life for themselves.
Discussion 4
For immigrants in the colonial period they saw freedom as a new opportunity and fresh start for their life. European immigrants came to America and were seeking freedom of their religions and their different beliefs as in Europe they were not able to escape that as much. Also, they were seeking to have their own land and possibly fix their economic struggles that they had in their home land. As for the idea of race, the colonial period faced a major racial divide in America that made freedom be seen differently. The idea of race was seen differently between African slavery and the indigenous people because the African slaves had no freedom whatsoever and were treated like property and the Native Americans viewed freedom similarly to the slaves because they were taken from their land and were forced into following different laws than they previously had. Lastly, the idea of gender in the colonial period was very restricted because women’s rights were very limited and they did not have a say in their decision making. Also, it was worse for the Native Americans and African slaves because these women really had no say in their own lives. As of marriage rights, women couldn’t own their property and they were under their husbands name and properties which made the husband dominant of their marriage and property freedom.
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