Virginia's way to the American Revolution
Woody Holton. Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
In his book Forced Founders Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia Woody Holton tries to give a "
study of some (not all) of the causes (not the effects) of Virginia's Revolution." He argues that the Virginia elite were important as leaders of the Independence movement, but were also powerfully influenced by other forces such as British merchants, Indians, farmers and slaves. Woody Holton argues that the Virginia gentry was influenced by those four groups, and that the gentry was even
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The gentry of Virginia was not pleased with this decision, since they invested in the land and were now legally hindered to sell it. Other settlers, like squatters, just settled there, but the gentry had to respect the resolution of their own Privy Council. So they started to petition the Council, but without success. Holton argues that the Indians were able to influence the British government to a certain point not to allow American settlers to settle in the Ohio Valley, because the British simply did not want to spend money for British troops that would eventually have to protect the settlers from Indian assaults. They hoped to prevent a new costly war in America. The problem for the gentry was that
"the Virginia Executive Council had no choice but to void the hundreds of surveys that had been done for Virginia speculators and to put a halt to further surveying. This setback only intensified the speculators' effort to persuade the government to let them have Kentucky and the adjacent region." But the British government did not repeal the act. This caused many of the gentry's members who speculated for land in Kentucky to be displeased and lose a great deal of money. Holton gives numerous examples of gentry members that were affected by these circumstances, including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.
The tobacco growers are
Now, as the 1670's and 1680's came along, indentured servants were beginning to live longer lives. (CL) According to Professor Cutter this new class of potential landowners was unable to get land because the rich had already used it all up. (CL) The only land that was now available was Indian land and the rich people of Virginia, selfish and "psychotically" individualistic as they were, were not about to spend their money on a war against the Indians to get land that they would never see the profit of. (CL) So in response to this, the governor of Virginia
In October of 1794, in response to a popular uprising against the federal government, President Washington sent an army of nearly 13,000 men across the Allegheny Mountains into the frontier regions of Western Pennsylvania. This event marked the greatest internal crisis of Washington's administration and was probably the most divisive event that occurred in the United States prior to the Civil War. The significance of this event has often been overlooked and forgotten in popular historical accounts. Thomas Slaughter's thirteen-chapter chronicle of
I was walking towards the South East corner of the city where the founder of the Virginia lives. His name is Captain John Smith. While I was walking I passed Felicia and Bubby. They told me that they loved that they were safe from the Spanish. They told me a quick story about how dangerous Spanish boats and the sailors on them were. I nodded and kept walking. Then I passed by Bubby’s and Felicia’s ill parents. They told me that when they settled the water seemed almost perfect, but the colonists ruined it and contaminated it. They said that they were sick because of the contaminated water. I got them some biscuits, wished them well and went on my way. I then peered over my shoulder to see what was happening. There was a new ship coming in with new supplies. Effortlessly people hauled the cargo off the ship standing on the dock and into the town center. I looked forward again and now jogging because the night was coming, I continued on to John Smith’s house. When I first got there I knocked on the solid wood door of the small cabin like structure. John Smith answered the door and I asked him my question. He walked out of his house and sat on the ground next to me. I then sat next to him. He told me that there were three main reasons he chose to settle in this area in Virginia. He said that the sea provided protection against the Spanish. “Hmm, coincidence” I thought, remembering when Bubby and Felicia had told me about the Spanish and their boats. Then John Smith said the second reason wass because they thought they had a fresh supply of water near the settlement. Although this proved to be wrong after the colonists contaminated the water. And once again a coincidence had happened. Bubby and Felicia's mother and father had been talking about how they got sick, by the contaminated water. Then John Smith told me that the last reason wa
During the 1600s when England began colonizing in the New World, different colonies had their own concept of freedom backed by their beliefs and/ or motives for settling in America. Massachusetts and Virginia were settled for very different reasons therefore life in their settlements differed greatly. The political, economic, social and of course physical aspects of the colonies were not at all the same, yet they both resulted in their colonies prospering and successfully settling the land. The settlers of each colony had searched for a place to express two contrasting beliefs of what freedom meant to them. Massachusetts and Virginia are two prime examples of how freedom can mean something
In 1791, under the advisement of Alexander Hamilton, congress passed the whiskey tax. This tax, put a twenty-five percent tax on whiskey. Hamilton created this tax in hopes of the federal government gaining more money to help pay of the nation’s debt. However, in doing so, this angered many people, especially farmers in western Pennsylvania, because they distilled the extra grain they had to make whiskey and sell it to make extra income. These small operations in western Pennsylvania rebelled by erecting liberty poles and taring and feathering tax collectors. George Washington, who was president during this time, saw the outburst and decided to take action against the angered farmers. Washington gathered about 13,000 men from the militia to put an end to this rebellion. In doing so, Washington showed that the government help the power over the citizens. In The Whiskey Rebellion, by Thomas Slaughter, he describes different consequences that arise from the whiskey tax. Slaughter presents three main points, which include conflicts between the east and west, two political systems that begin to develop, and the actual rebellion.
Throughout Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia, Woody Holton argues that the causes of the Revolutionary War are different than what most people once concluded. Although many American's believe that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are the men who led this revolution, Holton brings up a new theory on how the war began. As Holton's title states, he believes that Indians, debtors, and slaves had a bigger role in the making of the American Revolution. Throughout the entire novel, Holton argues that the American Revolution is not led by the elite men of Virginia, but the nonessential people are those who play the biggest roles in the making of this war.
The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 helped bring about the demise of the aristocratic Federalist Government in favor of the democratic Republican Government, concerned with the needs of all of its citizens.
Edmund S. Morgan's book, American Slavery, American Freedom, is a book focused on the Virginian colonists and how their hatred for Indians, their lust for money, power, and freedom led to slavery. The Virginian society had formed into, as Morgan put it, a republican society towards the end of the 18th century. This society believed in a certain view of freedom and liberty that would define America, through the realization of how this republican freedom depended on its opposite, slavery. How had the Virginia, a society that originally never incorporated slaves into their workforce, become so dependent on them to the point that they feared them? This question and the republican belief of
The seventeenth century was filled primarily with efforts to colonize the New World. This led to many new colonies being formed. They all faced their own problems, and some were more successful than others. Virginia was no exception to this. While it may have eventually reached a point that it could be argued as the most successful colony, Virginia had its fair share of hardships and challenges to face.
A People’s History of the United States talks about Bacon’s rebellion white frontiersmen, joined by slaves and servants (38). Zinn portrays the elaborate political and economic forces that drove this uprising by creating and displaying an unfair class consciousness. He explains white elitists pursuing their personal interest without concern for the lifestyle of the lower classes, especially the natives. The unjust system described as a complex chain of oppression in Virginia (40). This is when the frontiersman had virtually no power over the Virginia elite or any influence towards England, and obviously this puts the Native Americans at the bottom.
The limitation of this book is that this book could only dedicate about 10 pages in the slavery in Virginia. Since it covered so much time period, some details were overlooked.
There are a multitude of mysteries in life, some greater than others. Some mysteries are solvable, and some we can only create solutions for in both well made and sloppily built theories. America itself has had its fair share of mysteries, some bigger than others, but by far one of the oldest may be the mysterious conditions surrounding the lost colony of roanoke.
This article focuses on the Revolutionary period of Colonial Williamsburg when candles were a primary light source in homes. At this time in history there were four primary substances used in making candles, spermaceti, tallow, beeswax, and myrtle or bayberry wax. The three latter substances were produced in Virginia. Methods of making these candles and how they were shaped are described in the article.
The name "Virginia" is the oldest designation for English claims in North America. The name “Virginia” was proposed by Sir Walter Raleigh to Queen Elizabeth I. The chief of the Indians of the area, the Sectoans, was called Wingina which could have influenced the name. In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh launched a colonization expedition to Roanoke island that failed. But when Sir Francis Drake arrived in 1586 the colonists wanted to go home. The lack of supply ships made them eventually abandon the colony with only one clue to where they went, a word carved into a tree, “Croatoan”.
Starting next week my brother and I are traveling from our home in England all the way to Virginia. My mom is convincing me to go on this journey because I will have a better opportunity in the new World regarding religion. To be honest I am not sure how I will have an opportunity without my parents. I cried a lot when she first told me but she kept telling me I am brave and my protective brother will look out for me. This is a very big risk but I am feeling confident even though I'm leaving my neighborhood that I have gotten used to my whole life. Also leaving behind my friends which won’t be easy. Thinking about my friends i think that will be the hardest thing to leave behind. I am not sure why they aren’t going on this journey as well but it's not my business to ask because everyone's reasons for going to the new world are different. From what I remember my mom telling me, we will be traveling on the Mayflower with a lot of other people, kids, and possibly families. Looking on the bright side though, it should be interesting seeing new and unseen different parts of the world. There are so many different possible situations circling through my head right now, I just really am hoping nothing goes wrong on the way there.