United States

1. Beginnings to 1750:The United States is a land of immigrants. This land was founded by men and women from other countries whether they came over of their own free will, or rather, they were forced into slavery and brought over against their will. United States Of America

2. The first migration: ice age travelers • 20-40 thousand years ago • Ice age travelers crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia to what is now Alaska • Slowly they immigrated South from there

3. THE first migration: ice age travelers • By 1490s numerous groups of Native Americans (American Indians) were living all over North America • Their societies were incredibly diverse • Each has its own long history

4. THE first migration: ice age travelers • Aztec Empire in present day Mexico was the largest Native American civilization in the 1400s !!!!There were already people here when the Europeans arrived in the 1500s!!!!

5. The Europeans arrive: the explorers • First detailed European observations of life on the American continent were recorded in Spanish and French during the 1500s and 1600s 2. Wrote in letters, journals, and books describing America a. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) b. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (1510-1554)

6. The Europeans arrive: the explorers • They hoped to fund further expeditions with what they wrote home about so they emphasized: a. Abundance of gold b. Abundance of natural resources c. Peaceful nature of the people already here • 1492 – Columbus discovered America when he saw fire on the beach of San Salvador

7. The Europeans arrive: the explorers • 1528 – Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca landed with another expedition on what is now the west coast of Florida • Left their ships and marched inland • They never returned

8. The Europeans arrive: the explorers • Ships waited for a year, then departed for Mexico assuming the party dead • De Vacaand his companions wandered in the Texas Gulf area for the next eight years in search of other Europeans who could help them get home

9. The Europeans arrive: the explorers • Vaca’snarrative of his journey is a gripping adventure story • First hand account of the indigenous cultures of the area • They were alternately captives or companions of the various native tribes that they encountered during their journey

10. jamestown • Established May 14, 1607 by the London Company • Was named after the reigning English (British) monarch, James I

11. jamestown • Indian attacks, starvation, and disease diminished the colony, but the London Company continually sent more and more men to replenish the dying…

12. jamestown • For much of the first two years, John Smith was the sole leader of the colony until he returned to England in 1609

13. jamestown • By the end of 1609, after a severe winter, the settlers were prepared to return to England when a new shipment of supplies and men arrived. • Among those who arrived was John Rolfe, who ensured peace with the Indians by marrying Pocahontas.

14. The puritan legacy • Explorers writings were not central to the development of the American literary tradition • Writings of the Puritans of New England have had the greatest impact on American Literature even to this day

15. Pilgrims and puritans • The moral, ethical, and religious convictions of the Puritans shaped American culture and character

16. Pilgrims and puritans • 1620 – a small group of Europeans sailed from England on the Mayflower • William Bradford was one of the more famous and well-known of these Puritans. He wrote Of Plymouth Plantation over the course of 30 years. • The passengers were religious reformers, who were critical of the Church of England. Having given up hope of “purifying” the church from within, they chose instead to withdraw from the Church of England altogether.

17. Pilgrims and puritans • We know these individuals as the Pilgrims or the Puritans • In one sense, the Puritans were radical, since they demanded fundamental changes in the Church of England. • In another sense, however, they were conservative. They preached a plain, unadorned Christianity that contrasted sharply with the cathedrals, vestments, ceremony, and hierarchy of the Church of England.

18. Pilgrims and puritans • By 1630 – upwards of seven hundred Puritans had arrived in what would become known as America • 1640 – as many as 20,000 English (British) Puritans had settled in what they called New England

19. Who were the puritans? • For these first settlers, religion was a personal inner experience. For Puritans, there was no need for an intermediary between God and the individual • They hoped to build a new society patterned after the word of God and create a “city upon a hill”, a community guided in all aspects by the Bible.

20. Torture and mutilation • Many Puritans were persecuted for their beliefs • Being jailed indefinitely • Having their ears lopped off • Being executed • Being drawn and quartered

21. Torture and mutilation • Many Puritans were persecuted for their beliefs • Blinded • Hands or feet amputated • Castration • Ripping out of teeth and nails • Judas cradle

22. Torture and mutilation • Many Puritans were persecuted for their beliefs • Boiled to death • Tongue shredded • Placed on the rack

23. Puritan beliefs At the center of Puritan theology was an uneasy mixture of certainty and doubt.

24. Puritan beliefs • They believed with certainty that because of the fall of Adam and Eve most of humanity would be damned for all eternity. • They were also certain that God in his mercy sent his son Jesus Christ to earth to save particular people.

25. Puritan beliefs • The doubt centered on whether or not you were one of the saved (the elect) or one of the damned (the regenerate).

26. Puritan beliefs How did you know if you were saved or not????

27. Puritan beliefs • Simple, you never knew for sure if you were one of those that was to be saved, so it was imperative that you live as exemplary a life as possible • Many believed that you could feel God’s grace arriving, in an intensely emotional fashion

28. Puritan beliefs • The inner arrival of God’s grace manifested itself by your outward actions

29. Puritan beliefs • After receiving this grace you were “reborn” as a member of the community of “elect” or saints

30. Puritan politics Puritans believed that a covenant or contract existed between God and humanity They believed that people should enter freely into agreements concerning their government

31. Puritan politics The Mayflower Compact was one of the first such examples of this type of agreement.

32. Puritan beliefs: The Bible In america • The Puritan form of government would be considered an theocracy: a state governed and under the immediate guidance of God • Puritans read the Bible as the real-life story of all creation, its fall, its wanderings, and the rescue of the human race

33. Puritan beliefs: The Bible In america • Within this long narrative every Puritan could see connections to their own lives • Each Puritan was trained to see life as a pilgrimage, or journey, to salvation • Bible is the literal word of God, and reading it is a necessity for salvation

34. The southern planters • While the Puritans were settling all along the east coast of what would become known as New England, there were also several southern colonies being settled as well.

35. The southern planters

36. The southern planters • These southern colonies differed greatly from the New England settlements; the climate, crops, social organization, and religion all varied drastically from the Puritan settlements of the North.

37. The southern planters • Beyond these Southern settlements lay large plantations, not small farms. • The image of these plantations has been highly romanticized over the last 200 years; however, the beautiful exterior of these locations covered up a very harsh and dismal reality.

38. The southern planters Up to a thousand people, many of them slaves, might live and work on a single plantation.

39. The southern planters The first black slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619, a year before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

40. The southern planters These plantation owners were Church of England members who regarded themselves as aristocrats. In other words, they were the wealthy elite of British society, who came to the Americas to create even more wealth for themselves.

41. The southern planters • By 1750, Puritanism was in decline everywhere, while the plantation system in the South was just reaching its peak…

42. The Age of REason The Age of Reason The Enlightenment • The Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment began in the 1600s and 1700s with philosophers and scientists who called themselves rationalists.

43. The Age of reason • Rationalism – belief that human beings can arrive at truth by using reason, rather than by relying on the authority of the past, on religious faith, or on intuition