Founding Fathers: William Paterson

          WILLIAM PATERSON    

                My name is William Paterson I was born December 24, 1745 in County Antrim  and moved to the United States at the age of two. When I was fourteen I entered the College of New Jersey , where I studied law with Richard Stockton. I was admitted into the bar in 17683, a culmination of my perilous efforts I founded the Cliosphic Society along with Aaron Burr.

               I was elected as Somerset County, New Jersey delegate for the three provincial congresses of New Jersey and as secretary I recorded the New Jersey Constitution.  I was appointed as the first Attorney General of New Jersey serving from 1776 to 1783, I established myself as one of New Jersey’s  most prominent lawyers. In 1787 I was sent to the Philadelphia Convention where I proposed the New Jersey Plan. This plan called for a legislative body with equal representation from each state, which was resolved by the Great Compromise:  the Senate had equal representation for each state and the House of Representatives.

Group Presentations: The Great Awakening

Group Presentations: The Great Awakening

            The Great Awakening was a religious revival during the 1730’s to the 1740’s, that created the questioning of the individual within religious society. The Great Awakening started when King Henry forced his subjects to follow his religion. The movement evolved into a personal approach instead of following doctrine. The Great Awakening evolved on the idea that religion should happen at a personal level directly between God and the Individual.  Protestant denominations established their own churches: Quakers, Anglicans, Baptists, and Presbyterians are some of the major denominations. The Great Awakening caused a break in the foundations of the established churches, making followers question otherwise injected ideals from the Mother Country. 

New Light Preacher: George Whitefield

Group Presentation: The Atlantic Slave Trade

Group Presentation: The Atlantic Slave Trade

            Between 1607 and 1775, Slavery in the southern colonies grew resulting from the “necessity” of profit. Blacks were removed from Africa and inhumanely treated in the colonies, leading to American dependence on profitable plantation systems that were reliant on slavery; thus, creating a new social system based on race.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave trade is a form of Triangular trade, which, as the names implies is trade in the form of a triangle connecting three countries. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade connected Africa, the New England colonies and Africa. Western Civilization labeled Africa as the “Dark Continent” , because they knew little to nothing about the people. Slavery had existed before the trade system, typically within Africa when tribes fought  members of the losing tribe might become slaves. Unlike Slavery in the Americas, known for its amount of sheer brutality and basis in inferiority , slaves in Africa had rights: they could marry, and live within their master’s houses. Africa was founded on powerful kingdoms: Ghana, Mali, and Songhuay, complex trade: with Arabs, Europeans, and other African communities, and wealth from resources: gold, salt, iron, copper and diamonds.  Once the Colonies of Georgia. The Slave trade ruined West Africa as entire villages wound disappear, guns and alcohol were introduced, tribes turned on each other. This is known as the Diaspora of the African people which marked the dispersal of the African people from their homeland. the Carolinas and Virginia established success on cash crops: tobacco, rice and indigo. Colonists had troubles adjusting to their new environments, the population declined as they suffered from outbreaks of Yellow Fever and Malaria; meaning that the southern colonies needed a new labor force. The colonies had resources while the England needed resources but had rum, and Africa had laborers. For example a skipper from England  would leave for the New England colonies, he would sail to the Gold Coast of Africa and barter their liquor for slaves. With their newly equipped cargo these skippers traveled  to the West Indies through the Middle Passage would  use either tight or loose packing to “organize” slaves . The Middle Passage took three weeks, slaves would be fed twice a day, and would have small breathing holes. Once they reached the West Indies slaves would be auctioned off to the Sugar islands, then the rest of the cargo would be taken to the colonies and join the cash crop business. The skipper would pick up a load of cash crops and take them back to England, and the Trade System would repeat. Two prominent figure in the abolition of the Trade System in America were the Religious Society of Friends (also known as the Quakers) and William Wilberforce. The Slave trade Act of 1794 did not allow American ships to be used for slave trade, in 1807 Congress outlawed the importation of slaves, while the Treaty of Paris in 1814 both France and England abolished slave trade. In 1859 the last slave ship to American soil which illegally smuggled slaves into Mobile, Alabama, Georgia.  

Atlantic Slave Trade Route

Group Presentations: The Glorious Revolution

Group Presentations:  The Glorious Revolution

                Thesis: English colonies fervently believed in the rights given to the British during the Glorious Revolution . However, the acts established by the British Imperial rule during 1736 and 1776 that were placed upon the colonists left many disillusioned with the government am  began to demand the republican values given to men in the Mother country. The governmental policies of England had a wavering effect on the political, economic and social issues of the American colonies. The English Bill of Rights inspired colonists to protest virtual representation and excessive British taxes.

                                                         Link: The English Bill of Rights

After the death of Queen Elizabeth I the country had to find an heir to the throne, since she left  no children, King James I succeeded as King. The Glorious Revolution originally took place in England with the overthrow of King James II and the replacement of William III (of Orange) and his wife Mary II of England. The Glorious Revolution in turn provided a chance for American colonist to claim their rights as Englishmen which should have rightfully been theirs. However, Parliament argued that everyone under the control of the English crown was represented, through virtual representation. England, passed the Sugar Act, Currency Act,  Quartering Act, and Stamp Act. This sparked resistance within Colonists, in the forms of rebellion specifically the Jacobite rising, the seven Years war and the American revolution . The Rights of the English were found in the English Bill of Rights; which stated freedom of speech, no taxation without representation, freedom to petition are only but a few examples that the Bill presented for Englishmen.  

Queen Elizabeth I