Religious doctrines and colonies
Technological advancements
The evolution of capitalist industry
Multinational European presence in the Americas
The beginning of race-based slavery
The rise of Enlightenment and the supremacy of individual experience
The American Revolution and the rise of the New Republic
The Great Awakening and the similarities and differences amongst Puritans, Catholics, and Quakers
The tension between material and spiritual goals
The immense influence of John Locke’s philosophy on the Declaration of Independence
The tension in America between individual rights and the common good
Treaties, wars, and removals of American Indians
Let’s start this first discussion post nice and easy in order to ease us into the era. Here is your prompt:
Pulling just from our reading, I would like you to choose three of the issues I have listed above (in the bullet points). After choosing your three, provide a brief summary of each issue (as it is presented in our reading), some logical connections you can see forming between these issues (i.e. how they interrelate and influence each other), and, finally, your reaction to them. What I mean by this last part is this: did you encounter anything new in the historical overview –something that you did not know before — and/or was your perspective amplified in any way? (For example, did you think that the Mayflower contained only pious Christians?).
Please provide direct quotes and/or paraphrases from our reading as textual evidence. Use a parenthetical citation. For example: (Levine, 20)