Group Presentations: The Seven Years War

Group presentation 2: The Seven Years War

            The seven Year’s war is regarded by many historians as the first World War, which involved the Spanish, French, and British. The war took place in Europe, Prussia, Russia, the Philippines, Africa and the Americas. The Seven Year’s war was a product of tension between the French and British over land in North America, the seven years was moved into action when the governor of Virginia ordered George Washington to lead troops into the Ohio area, which was French territory, in order expand its empire in North America. George Washington was forced to surrender, France saw this as a start of hostilities  and joined forces with Spain.  The “Mother country” passed the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, Quartering Act, and the Proclamation of  1763 aimed at imposing taxes on Americans in order cover their fees for being involved in the war. These taxes made no sense to the Americans, they viewed, that after years of neglect suddenly Britain focuses attention to them only to tax them for a war they themselves did not choose. These colonist did not accept these taxes and in 1767 Britain  suspended the Legislature of New York for failure to comply with the Quartering Act. In 1768, two British regiments killed and wounded eleven citizens including Crispus Attucks, a mulatto.  In 1775 the a British cargo ship full of tea was stationed at the Boston Port, colonists dressed as Native Americans and dumped all of the tea into the Harbor, this became known as the Boston Tea Party. British parliament angered by this passed the Quebec Act, which closed Boston’s port, limiting Bostonian trade. Colonists were both resilient and dedicated to establishing their rights as British citizens, creating a basis for the ideas of the American Revolution and the Enlightenment.

George Washington

Group Presentations: "The Enlightenment"

Group Presentations: "The Enlightenment"

The Enlightenment was a revolutionary period in English history where people began to accept the ideologies of the inherent rights of man. The Enlightenment movement was concentrated in England and gradually spread into the New England colonies. John Locke, philosopher, believed in the “natural rights of man” which were: the right to life, liberty and property. John Locke’s “natural rights of man”, were later adopted into the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, where government is stated to protect the inherent right of man: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Baron de Montesquieu, another Enlightenment philosopher, believed in the separation of powers creating 3 branches: the legislative, executive, and Judicial. The separation of powers omitted corruption from one party to enter government, today of which is known as the system of checks and balances. The splitting into different branches gave  the governed the right to overthrow a government that they think is unfair. Thomas Hobbes, philosopher, believed in the idea of a “social contract”, a contract between the government and the governed which is not actually signed. 

Enlightenment philosopher John Locke

Blog #5 Colonial Individual

Blog #5: Historical Figure during the Colonial period
ANNE HUTCHINSON

Portrait of Anne Hutchinson

What specifically is it that sets me apart from the other women of her time? I, unlike other women of my time, was not passive or submissive; however, I proved to be one of the first prominent female figures within Colonial History for openly going against the Boston Church.

Anne Hutchinson statue in Rhode Island

                I born Anne Marbury in Lincolnshire, England in 1591 and was the daughter of an Anglican minister, Francis Marbury. Marbury, my father,  felt that the clergy should be well educated clashed with common ideas at the time and was imprisoned years before my birth, in 1580, he was released, he then preached and taught in the small market town of Alford, by 1585 he became schoolmaster at the local Grammar School. I was the third child out of fifteen, my father’s influence, provided me with a powerful insight to a better education than most girls my age. A female during the 16^th century within England, was privileged with education only if their family held a high social position; education, at the time was offered exclusively to  and dominated by males. My father died in 1611, in 1612 I William Hutchinson, my husband and I were exposed to preacher John Cotton; an English clergyman and colonist. Cotton moved to Boston, New England where he would study to become a minster,we were so inspired by Cotton that we decided to make the dangerous trip into the New World. I was specifically interested in Cotton’s theology of “absolute grace”, and his thoughts on the “elect”, “law”, and “work”; and saw myself as a participant in the power of the Almighty. Through this ideology, I was given a voice; an actual method of existing beyond the control of male “superiority”.

TRIAL

                My family of ten, arrived in Boston in the Summer of 1634, where we purchased half an acre creating one of the largest houses on the peninsula, in present day downtown Boston. Once in Boston, I became a midwife, assisting women during childbirth- within the New World twenty-percent of women died during childcare. I also created a Home Bible study group, for women, and later men, who wanted to discuss Cotton’s sermons, hosting at least sixty people on a weekly basis. Within my meetings I started to question the validity behind the legitimacy of the “elect”, stating that “an intuition of the Spirit” s was the only way to go through the gates of Heaven. However, ministers of the Boston Church began to oppose my so called “unauthorized” religious meetings that could confuse the faithful. In 1636, John Winthrop stated that I committed two errors: that the “holy Ghost” dwells in a justified person, and “that no sanctification can help to evidence our justification”. In late 1636 my followers and I were accused of having committed two heresies against the Puritan Church; antinomism and familism. In November 1637, I was put on civil trial by the General Court on the charge of damaging the minsters reputations, found guilty and put under house arrest. March 1638 marked my Church , which lasted nine hours; however, I was excommunicated (banished) from Massachusetts and made my way into Rhode Island along with Roger Williams.