American History I
Lecture One (Professor Jopp): The Early History of the United States (before the U.S. was a country)

Who was in the Americas first?

Who came?

Why did they come?

People in the United States came and come from all over the world:

• the indigenous populations (the first people)
• Europeans
• Africans
• Asians
• Etc.
  

The origin of the heterogeneity of U.S. society was the colonial expansion of Europe. The colonial expansion of Europe resulted largely from European countries looking for wealth ( raw materials: wood, rubber, wool, gold, etc.).

The relationship between a mother country and a colony is one of political power and control of the colony and its people. The relationship is also one of the mother country having industrial power and factories that use the raw materials from the colonies.

Who lived in North and South America before Europeans arrived?

The first people probably came from Siberia (now Russia), over a land bridge to what is now Alaska.

• This first people were and often remained nomadic (moved from place to place and followed the seasons). The lived by hunting, fishing and gathering food.
• Some groups became semi-sedentary : they had some agriculture and combined agriculture with hunting, fishing and gathering in order to live.
• Another group were fully-developed sedentary societies. They were highly developed (complex and skilled).

Among these three kinds of indigenous groups (above), there were come common cultural traits that were different than traits of Europeans.

• Peoples in the Americas were polytheistic (they had many gods) and their "gods" were connected to the natural world.
• Kinship and tribal connections were very strong.
• Property was held in common (individuals didn't own land): communal property holding
• Societies that were sedentary and semi-sedentary were less likely to be egalitarian.
• There were collective forms of leadership.
• Women had a different position in society (than women in Europe) and also had political power

European Colonial Expansion

European societies: Common Cultural Traits

• monotheistic
• Christian (the Bible says "subdue the Earth and multiply"=control nature)
• hierarchical societies with a class structure; very little mobility among the classes (it was hard to change classes or status)
• the individual is becoming more important during this time, and the bonds that connect the individual to larger groups were weakening (for example, feudal society was weakening)
• private property: land (and belongings) could be owned, bought and sold
• forms of agriculture with domesticated animals, fences, etc.; special uses for different pieces of land instead of mixing crops together
• patrilineal and patriarchal (property and power were passed to sons); women had less power
• national states (the beginning of countries) and monarchies (countries led by kings) were beginning

Colonial expansion requires:

• resources: equipment, supplied, people, etc.
• people
• wealth

The first phase of European colonial expansion ( years 1492-1600 )

Spain and Portugal were the first European countries to expand their colonies

• Had experiences that prepared Spain and Portugal for further exploration in the New World
  • On the west coast of North Africa and the islands near Spain and Portugal (the Azores, the Canaries)
    • First grew sugar as a source of wealth
    • First used Africans slaves as a source of labor
    • Had conflicts with indigenous people
• Reconqita (re-conquest): Christians got their land back from Muslim control. Victory of Europeans over Muslims after 800 years of fighting.
  • Gave Spain and Portugal encouragement to continue militant Christianity/Catholicism (expanding religion with power and, if necessary, violence)

Columbus was looking for for wealth, for workers, and to spread Catholicism (four voyages)

• Spain had great success in conquering the indigenous populations and taking the wealth from the Caribbean and South America back to Europe
• guns and disease among the indigenous population helped

The second phase of European colonial expansion (1600-1750)

• After Spain's success in the New World, other countries, including England, also wanted labor, wealth, and national power
• English had become a Protestant country
• By about 1600, England had enough wealth and power to begin colonial expansion. However, Spain had already taken control of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Where to go? -- English didn't have enough power to fight the Spanish. So ... they went to North America to look for trade routes and sources of wealth
• People from both the top and the bottom of English society came to the New World

English experience was very different

• Time period in history
• Religious background
• What they find: There were no wide-spread, highly-developed societies in North American as there were in South America.