Chapter 3

         The chapter 3 of the book is related to the rise of colonial America and the expansion and diversity which the American society faced when English expanded in the lands of North America. It was very important for me to learn how colonies at Chesapeake established themselves while relying on the basis of one single cash crop of tobacco. It was interesting to analyze that how the cultivation of tobacco helped and shaped up the Chesapeake region in a big plantation system along with their dependence on the institution of slavery where African slaves worked for them under harshly intense living conditions.

            The establishment of a ‘city upon a hill’ in Massachusetts Bay by the Puritans in order to serve as a model to the world is something that raised my level of interest in reading of the chapter. Their religious society of New England was threatened and challenged by Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. The expansion of the White people steadily affected the existence of the Native Americans which led to the conflicts like the Pequot War and King Philips War. Both wars proved to be bitter and costly. The establishment of the Half Way Covenant relaxed the standards that were related to the church membership.  This resulted in the end of New England way and the Salem witchcraft trials served as an event which made visible the deep existing divisions within the society.

            It was also very knowledgeable for me to read about how the agriculture and plantation resulted in the shaping up of slavery in both the Caribbean and Carolina. The Caribbean colonies which were largely dependent on the cultivation of the crop of sugar cane evolved a very harsh version of plantation slavery. Similar was the case in Carolina where planation of rice crops and the existence of severe form of slavery emerged. In my view it was unfortunate for the black majority of population who had to face cruel situations in the form of slavery. The enslavement of tens of thousands of Indians by the Carolinians is something that visibly reveals the cruelty of the White American population of the era.

            The reading of the chapter also provided me with much information about the Middle Colonies where the New Netherland Colony which was conquered by the English gave rise to an historic religious and ethnic diversity and how by the end of seventeenth century, the Middle Colonies emerged as the fastest growing region of America. The analysis and learning about the development of the French and Spanish empires in seventeenth century and their dependence on trade and sharing of good relations with Native Americans was also an informative read for me. The efforts of Spanish for their presence in Florida, Texas, and New Mexico and the resistance they faced because of Pueblo Revolt have been really revealing. The outnumbering of English rivals in early eighteenth century by the non-native population of England’s North American colonies has been a source of much information for me as well.