Colonial Immigration

“remember always, that all of us are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Chapter Four - The Colonies DevelopThere are four main points to Chapter Four:

I. Financial Implications– How did money impact the development of the colonies?

II. Development of Slave Industry– Why did the slave industry develop differently in the colonies?

III. Growth of Cities– What was the impact of urban growth in the colonies?

IV. Immigration– How did the migration of the various European people in the colonies impact the American culture?

Introduction The history of immigration to the United States is a

continuing story of peoples from more populated

continents, crossing oceans to the new land.

Starting around 1600 British and other Europeans

settled primarily on the east coast.

Later Africans were brought as slaves.

During the nation's history, America experienced

successive waves of immigration which rose and fell

over time.

Throughout the history of our country there have come moments of national crisis, (politically motivated) where there is always a call to get back to a sense of national unity in order to overcome the divisions that have occurred

For the most part they suggest that our nation must revisit the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and re-establish those founding principals of unity.

However, the fact of the matter is, our country was never really a unify body.

When people migrated from Europe into the North American continent they established various colonial clusters that each had their own ethnic, political religious ideals in mind and a different intent.

They were not coming over to form a unified country, they were coming over to establish individual unified societies.

However, this gets lost with the American Revolution.

American Nations Today

American Nations Collin Woodard in his book, American Nations

argues that the foundation of our country was based on the diversity of eleven rival regional cultures that took over the American continent from the Native Americans.

These various cultures developed in distinct and often contradictory values, practices, and ideals.

Even to today these cultural foundations that were established still continue to promote those original ideals which will prevent any attempt to build a national unity.

Woodard continues to argue that State boundaries are just an illusion that hides the real force behind the various cultures of America.

The United States is not a unified country but a conglomeration of 11 rival nations.

American Nations Who are these 11 Nations and what makes them unique?

Is there any validity to Woodard’s book and what he presents?

If so, why is it important for us to have a general understanding of Woodard's argument?

Perhaps, by thinking different, thinking outside the box and accepting the fact that perhaps there might be some element of truth to what Woodard is claiming……

That we might gain a new appreciate to the cultural difference and why people think the way they do and act the way they are?

This is an exercise in critical evaluation and thinking.

In time you can decide on whether or not there is some rational behind this argument.

However, when examined in a broad overarching perspective, it makes sense!

Yankeedom Yankeedom was founded on Massachusetts Bay by radical Calvinists as a religious utopia in the New England wilderness.

From the outset, there was emphasis on education, local political control and the pursuit of the greater good, even if it required individual self-denial.

Yankees have the greatest faith in government’s ability to improve lives.

For more than four centuries, Yankees have sought to build a more perfect society here on earth through social engineering, extensive citizen involvement in the political process and the aggressive assimilation of foreigners.

New Netherland The 17th-century Dutch colony of New Netherland had a lasting impact by laying the foundation for what is now known as New York City the global commercial trading center.

Multiethnic, multi religious, materialistic, and free-trading, the future metropolis was not entirely democratic city- state where no one ethnic or religious group has ever been truly in charge.

This culture promoted two ideas that were originally thought subversive: a profound tolerance of diversity and an unflinching commitment to freedom.

Forced upon other nations at the Constitutional Convention, these ideals have been passed on to us as the Bill of Rights.

Midlands The Midlands culture was founded by English Quakers and organized around the middle class.

The Midlands represented the culture of Middle America, where ethnical purity has never been a priority.

Government has been seen as an unwelcome political opinion.

Most of these people are of German descent, who believe society should be organized to benefit ordinary people and are skeptical of government intervention, as many of their ancestors fled from European tyrannies.

The Midlands also represent a very conservative view regarding most political attitudes and controversial national debates.

TidewaterTidewater was the most powerful nation during the colonial period and the Early Republic. It has always been a fundamentally conservative region where a high value is placed on respect for authority and tradition and very little on equality or public participation in politics.

Tidewater elites played a central role in the foundation of the U.S. and are responsible for many of the aristocratic inflections of the Constitution, including the Electoral College and Senate, whose members were to be appointed by legislators, not chosen by the electorate.

The Tidewater

Greater Appalachian

Greater Appalachia was founded in the early 18th century by wave upon wave of rough, backwoods people from the war-ravaged borderlands of northern Ireland, northern England and the Scottish lowlands.

Identified as “rednecks,” and “hillbillies,” these clannish Scots-Irish, Scots and northern English frontiersmen spread across the highland South and on into the southern tiers of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois; the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks; the eastern two-thirds of Oklahoma; and the Hill Country of Texas.

Keep in mind that these are still very strong tendencies that still are prevalent today!

The Deep South

The Deep South, was founded by Barbados slave lords as a West Indies-style slave society, a system so harsh and cruel that it shocked even 17th-century English observers.

For most of American history, it remains the least democratic of the regions, a one-party community where ethnicity establishes one’s political affiliations.

After successfully resisting a Yankee-led occupation, it became the center of the states-rights movement and racial segregation, as well as labor and environmental deregulation.

It is also the center of African-American culture in America and 40 years after it was forced to allow blacks to vote, it still remains politically polarized on racial grounds.

New France

Another independence-inclined nation is New France, which can trace its origins back to 1604 -- 16 years before the Mayflower’s voyage.

Today, New France is the most nationalistic of the 11 nations.

New French culture blends the French peasantry with the traditions and values of the native people whom the French explorers and colonists encountered in America.

Down-to-earth, the New French are far and away the most liberal people on the continent.

Long oppressed by their British overlords, the New French have, since the mid-20th century, imparted many of their attitudes on the Canadian culture.

El Norte The oldest European subculture in the U.S. is in northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado, El Norte, where people of Spanish heritage have been living since 1595.

They remain fiercely protective of their Spanish heritage, and not wanting to be being lumped in with Mexican-Americans who appeared in the region only in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Today, this rapidly growing nation spreads from the U.S.- Mexico border for a hundred miles or more in both directions.

Overwhelmingly Hispanic, it has long been a blend of Anglo and Spanish America.

The Left Coast

A wet region of staggering natural beauty, this region was colonized by two groups: New England merchants who arrived by sea and gained control of the coastal towns, and fur traders from Greater Appalachia who arrived by wagon and dominated the countryside.

Originally slated to become a “New England on the Pacific”, the Left Coast retained intellectualism and idealism even as it embraced a culture of individual fulfillment.

The Left Coast has been the birthplace of the modern environmental movement and the global information revolution. It is home to Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple, Twitter and Silicon Valley

The Far West is the only one where environmental factors have truly trumped ethnic ones.

High, dry and remote, the interior West presented conditions so severe that they effectively destroyed would-be settlers who tried to apply the farming and lifestyle techniques they had used in other nations.

With minor exceptions, this vast region couldn’t be effectively colonized without the deployment of vast industrial resources: railroads, heavy mining equipment, dams and irrigation systems.

As a result, the colonization of much of the region was directed by large corporations based in distant east coast cities or by the federal government which controlled much of the land.

First Nation

Like the Far West, First Nation encompasses a vast area with a hostile climate of the far north.

The difference, however, is that the Native American people that are still in the area never given up their land by treaty. They still retain cultural practices and knowledge that allow them to survive in the region.

In addition, American Indians have recently begun reclaiming their sovereignty. First Nation’s people now have a chance to put native North America back on the map culturally, politically and environmentally.

Summary The U.S. is wracked by internal discord between

two blocs formed by seven of its 11 regional nations:

The conservative bloc that includes the Deep South, Tidewater and much of greater Appalachia.

Pitted against the more liberal alliance of Yankeedom, New Netherland, the Midlands and the Left Coast.

Throughout American history, the conflict between these two cultural groups have been consistently placing the nation at odds on various political ideas..