American Colonies

Brandon Engberg

Chapter 13:Revolutions

Men And MoneySoon after William of Orange overthrew

James II as king of England he would bring England into a very expensive war with rival France. He would also go on to fight the Nine Years War.

During this time the size of the military and navy would grow

exponentially. However with all the money going into building a military William needed a way to get more

money, thus he encouraged Parliament to tax the English citizen to an outrageous extent. The English

debt would climb to 17 million pounds thus leading to the creation of the

English royal bank. However, the debt still increased due to military

spending. William was forced to compromise and as a result

Parliament gained more control over the government for the future.

Chapter 14: The Atlantic

NewsWhen the colonies were first created they felt very isolated from England. However by the 1730’s ship arrivals were much

more common, thus news traveled faster. Before this time

though colonies were not permitted to have their own newspaper. As time went on

British officials felt less intimidated by the persuasive

abilities of newspaper and thus newspapers became more

common in the colonies. The first of these newspapers being the Boston News-Letter which

first appeared in 1704.

Chapter 15: Awakenings

RevivalsThese revivals were very common in the early 18th

century. They “emphasized the emotional process that transformed sinners into

saints who warranted eternal salvation.” Sermons were

often given that were based upon the creation of fear and hope by saying people were doomed to hell if they were

not saved.

Chapter 17: The Great Plains

TexasIn the 1700’s colonists, especially French traders would travel down to

Texas and offer the native tribes guns for buffalo hides and slaves.

These new guns would create hostilities amongst rival tribes. This would anger New Mexico Governor

Valverde. He would react by sending Hispanics to kill these

newly armed tribes. However they themselves would be killed in a

surprise attack. Eventually Hispanic missions would sprout up in Texas. Though the only prosperous ones would be located in San Antonio. Throughout the rest of the 18th

century battles would ensue amongst the French, Spanish and

the Natives.

Chapter18: Imperial Wars and Crisis

Renewed WarPolitician Robert Walpole was a strong

advocate for British peace during the 1720’s and 1730’s. Many of the

English people sided with him on this because they had seen firsthand the

cost of war. However as tensions between Spain and Britain grew

farther parliament launched heavily favored naval assaults on Spanish

territories. In the end these assaults would be failures and the British would retreat back to fighting on European

soil. More battles would be fought though as the French saw the British as vulnerable and attacked the New England colonies. The colonies would now become a major factor in future

British and French wars.

Chapter 19: The Pacific

Alta CaliforniaWorried that other countries would

start moving into West Coast the Spanish crown ordered the colonization of California.

California would be divided into two parts the northern part which is modern day California was Alta California and the Southern part

which is modern day Mexico would be Baja California. Alta would be

much more inviting for colonization since Baja was hot

with dry soil. Alta California was a very diverse place with thousands

of natives already living there before Spanish colonization. As a result many different languages would be common in the region.