Common Characteristics of the New England Colonies

The North American colonies that were settled by the English are often divided into three different groups: the New England colonies, the Middle colonies, and the Southern colonies. The New England colonies consisted of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. These colonies shared many common characteristics that helped define the region. The following is a look at these key characteristics. Physical Characteristics of New England All of the New England colonies had been covered by ice during the last Ice Age, which created poor, rocky soil. The final melt-back of the glaciers left some of the rocky areas peppered with large boulders.Rivers are fairly short and their floodplains are narrow, unlike in other areas of America, and do not allow for the creation of huge agricultural plots along their banks.The major resources available and used by the colonists were lumber and fish. The People of New England The New England region was an area of mostly homogeneous culture, mostly settled by large groups of people from England who were fleeing religious persecution or seeking new opportunities.The New England colonists settled in towns, typically surrounded by 40 square miles of land that were farmed by the individuals who lived in the towns.Indigenous Native American groups such as the Pequot in Connecticut were involved in extensive trading with the Dutch, but the situation became tense when the English started arriving in the 1630s. Britain launched the Pequot War in 1636–1637, after which many Pequot were executed and many survivors were sold into slavery in the Caribbean. In 1666 and 1683, Connecticut colony built two reservations for the remaining Pequot. Major Occupations in New England Agriculture:  Farms surrounding the farms were not terribly fertile. As a group, the farmers brought a high degree of mechanical ingenuity and self-sufficiency.Fishing:  Boston began exporting fish in 1633. In 1639, Massachusetts Bay was exempted from paying taxes on fishing boats; and as a result, by 1700, the fishing industry was huge. The colonists obtained crustaceans and pelagic fish from saltwater bays and freshwater rivers, and Pilgrim fathers also hunted right whales off Cape Cod.Commerce:  Individuals from the New England area were heavily involved in commerce. Extensive trade with England allowed ship holders to flourish, and the New Englanders also maintained lucrative trade connections with the West Indies and French colonies to the north. New England Religion Calvinism and the Social Contract Theory: Many individuals who lived in the New England area were Calvinists or heavily influenced by John Calvins works and thought. While many look at John Locke as the primary founder of the idea of the social contract (which defined proper government as an agreement or contract between the individuals to join together into a society), the Calvinist doctrine was one of the first to espouse the idea in England. The fact that many New England settlers followed the religious doctrines of John Calvin meant that this theory was part of their religious heritage. Further, this belief in the importance of social contracts transferred to economic contracts as well.A Belief in Predestination:  One of the tenets of Calvinism is the idea of predestination. This was the belief that God had already predetermined everything, including who was going to heaven and who to hell. The idea that God had chosen the British colonies for a special destiny  to take the N orth American continent and develop and maintain an ideal of liberty and democracy later fed into 19th century manifest destiny.Congregationalism:  This style of religion means that the church itself was governed by its own members, and the congregation chose its own minister, rather than being assigned one by a hierarchy.Intolerance:  While the Puritans might have escaped England due to religious persecution, they did not come to America to establish religious freedom for all. They wanted to be free to worship the way they wished. In Massachusetts Bay colony, people who did not subscribe to the colony religion were not allowed to vote, and nonconformists such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were excommunicated from the church and banished from the colony. The Spread of the New England Population The small towns only lasted a few years, as the populations outgrew the 40-acre supporting fields. That resulted in the rapid increase of many new small towns: instead of having a few large metropolises, New England was dotted with many smaller towns that were established by breakaway groups. This low-intensity settlement pattern lasted until the 1790s when a transition to commercial agriculture and small-scale industry began. In essence, during its first few decades, New England was an area that had been founded by a fairly homogeneous population, most of whom shared common religious beliefs. Because the region lacked huge tracts of fertile land, the area turned to commerce and fishing as their main occupations, though individuals within towns still worked small plots of land in the surrounding area. Slavery did not become an economic necessity in New England, as it grew to be in the Southern colonies. This turn to commerce would have a major impact many years later after the founding of the United States when questions of states rights and slavery were being discussed. Sources and Further Reading Carroll, Charles F. The Timber Economy of Puritan New England. Providence: Brown University Press, 1973.Foster, David R. Land-Use History (1730-1990) and Vegetation Dynamics in Central New England, USA. Journal of Ecology 80.4 (1992): 753–71.Foster, David R., Glenn Motzkin, and Benjamin Slater. Land-Use History as Long-Term Broad-Scale Disturbance: Regional Forest Dynamics in Central New England. Ecosystems 1.1 (1998): 96–119.Scott, Donald M. The Religious Origins of Manifest Destiny. Divining America: Religion in American History. National Humanities Center.  Silliman, Stephen W. Change and Continuity, Practice and Memory: Native American Persistence in Colonial New England. American Antiquity 74.2 (2009): 211–30.Stout, Harry S. The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.  Yankee Whaling. New Bedford Whaling Museum, 2016.

Voices Of Freedom Slavery s Impact On African American...

Voices of Freedom: Slavery’s impact on African American Literature In the early to mid-nineteenth century, America found itself divided over the issue of slavery. The culture, traditions, and economy of southern states depended heavily on slave labor, while the northern states opposed the institution of slavery. Even though the slave trade was declared illegal in the early nineteenth century, slavery itself was not illegalized until more than a half century later. Abolitionists used powerful anti-slavery writings as a way to fight against slavery. During this time, African American literature emerged with a distinct focus on black culture within the larger American society. These authors and their writings preserved the culture of†¦show more content†¦This uncompromising narrative documents the horrors faced by female slaves, particularly sexual abuse and the heartache felt by slave mothers whose children were taken from them. Often slave narratives were deemed fictio nal by the white American public. These autobiographies were constantly under scrutiny for their veracity, even though many narratives were published with endorsements from famous abolitionists confirming the story’s authenticity. Some slave narratives were penned by authors referring to themselves as â€Å"Himself† or â€Å"Herself.† Jacobs was forced to write under the pseudonym Linda Brent to publish her own narrative. Jacob’s autobiography showed how female slaves struggled with sexual harassment and their efforts to protect their identities as women and mothers. With a mounting national debate over slavery, these ever growing narratives provided a unique manuscript documenting glimpses into the inner thoughts of slaves. Another African American writer whose literature was influenced by slavery was Phillis Wheatley. She was kidnapped from Africa at the age of eight and brought to America on a slave ship. John Wheatley, a prominent figure in Boston, purchased the young child and made her a servant for his wife. Wheatley’s owners soon recognized her intelligence and extraordinary literary talent and afforded her an education. Wheatley’s life was an exceptionShow MoreRelatedVoices Beyond Exploitation : Gender Norms And Racial Bias1657 Words   |  7 PagesVoices beyond Exploitation: Gender Norms and Racial Bias in 18th Century Poetry From the mid-18th century until present day, Africans and people of African descent, as well as female poets who advocated for equal rights began to write down their personal stories of how slavery and social restrictions have impacted their lives. At first they would write in small paragraphs and poems, but later they would create collections of slave and feminist literature, that once published reached a range of peopleRead MoreSojourner Truth And Maya Angelou Essay1505 Words   |  7 Pagesfor African American equality. 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Many Are the Crimes Free Essays

The period of McCarthyism brought strong anti-communist campaign in the United States which started in the 1940s and ended in the 1950s. This era was also known as the Second Red Scare. There were fears of Communist infiltration on American organizations and â€Å"espionage by Soviet agents† (Fried, 124). We will write a custom essay sample on Many Are the Crimes or any similar topic only for you Order Now It was a troubled time during the McCarthy era where many Americans where charged of being Communists or being Communist sympathizers. Many of them went through a series of investigations and interrogations by government committees and agencies. These investigations were directed at individuals who work for the government, those in the entertainment business, union members and educators. Although evidences were weak and often exaggerated, suspicions were given more weight. As a result, many Americans lost their jobs and some were even incarcerated (Fried, 150). In Ellen Schrecker’s book Many Are the Crimes, the author describes the persecution of the Communist Party in the U.S. from the 1920s until the 1950s. Schrecker believed that McCarthyism contributed to the downfall of Communism in America and thrusted the country into a gulf of right-wing sentiments which plagues the U.S. until now ( Reeves, Are You Now†¦A new study of McCarthyism and the legacy of HUAC, 1998). The first three chapters of Schrecker’s book explain the Communist Party’s emergence in the 1930s in America. She explained why the Communist Party was susceptible to attacks by the U.S. government. The second chapter â€Å"Red Baiters, Inc.† is an extensive analysis of people and institutions which characterized anticommunism in the 1920s and 1930s (Schrecker, 41). The author outlines Franklin D. Roosevelt’s stance on Communism. According to Schrecker, President Roosevelt’s approach to Communism was â€Å"non-ideological† (p. 87), there were occasions that he did not pay attention to the existence of the Communist Party and there were times that he supported political suppression. Roosevelt authorized the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover to look into the Communist Party’s movement because they saw it as â€Å"a threat to national security† (p. 89). In Chapter 4, Schrecker discusses the U.S. government’s propaganda that the Communist Party was being influenced by Moscow. In Chapter 5, the author talks about how Americans saw Communism as a national threat through â€Å"subversion, espionage and sabotage† (p. 181). In the third part of Ellen Schrecker’s book, explains the â€Å"instruments† of anti-communism and how the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover used different tactics to purge communists in America by wiretapping and surveillance (p. 239). Schrecker discussed the role of Senator John McCarthy in the â€Å"anti-communist crusade†, and his â€Å"disregard for civil liberties† (p. 265). The last chapters of the book Many Are the Crimes, Schrecker talks about the experiences of Clinton Jencks and members of the workers union and how they were persecuted and eventually lost their jobs.   Schrecker explains the impact of McCarthyism in the American society, how it â€Å"destroyed the left† and paralyzed the Communist Party (p. 369). In context, Schrecker’s book exposed the effects of the McCarthy era not only in politics but also in the entertainment business wherein the Hollywood blacklist dictated who would produce movies and star in those films. Screenwriters, actors and actresses did not escape interrogation by the anticommunist committees and those found guilty of espionage were sent to jail (Whitfield, p. 194). The unions played an important part in those days because they talked about racial concerns in terms of equality. The union also provided support for women’s issues. It showed the inequality in terms of salaries that female workers get and how they are poorly-paid in comparison with the male workers. The union also encouraged women to be strong leaders. These progressive attempts of bringing change in the role of women in society and the work force were halted during the McCarthy era (Cherny, p.10). For the most part the greatest damage done during the McCarthy era was the destruction of the American left and the decline of the Communist Party in America. In terms of social policy, McCarthyism interrupted the reforms needed for health insurance. The country’s â€Å"cultural and intellectual life† became stagnant because of censorship during the McCarthy era (Schrecker, The Legacy of McCarthyism). The downfall of the McCarthy era was due to the decline of public support and court decisions which upheld individual rights and freedom (Fried, p. 197). With the current situation in the U.S., people are more vigilant and aware of the effects of McCarthyism. This episode will serve as a â€Å"cautionary tale for future generations† (Rosen, Could It Happen Again?). Works Cited Cherny, Robert W., William Issel and Kieran Walsh Taylor. American Labor and the Cold War: Grassroots Politics and Postwar Political Culture. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2004. Fried, Albert. McCarthyism, The Great American Red Scare: A Documentary History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Reeves, Thomas C. â€Å"Are You Now†¦.A New Study of McCarthyism and the Legacy of HUAC†.   14 June 1998. http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/06/14/reviews/980614. 14reevest.html. Retrieved on 7 January 2008. Rosen, Ruth. â€Å"Could It Happen Again?† 12 May 2003. http://www.commondreams.org/ views03/0512-01.htm. Retrieved on 7 January 2008. Schrecker, Ellen. â€Å"The Legacy of McCarthyism†. Retrieved on 7 January 2008. Schrecker, Ellen. Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999. Whitfield, Stephen J. The Culture of the Cold War. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.                                  How to cite Many Are the Crimes, Essay examples

Lean Processes Case Study free essay sample

The first perspective of organizational effectiveness the hospitals are utilizing is an organizational learning perspective. The hospitals have identified in their studies that several sources of capital influence their effectiveness. Specifically, human and structural capitals are being utilized to benefit the organization. â€Å"Lean works because it is based on doctors, nurses, and other staff leading the process and telling us what adds value and what doesn’t. They are the ones who know. Organizational Behavior: Case Study 1. 1. McGraw-Hill). Here, an emphasis is placed on human capital, and the knowledge, experience, and know-how hospital employees bring to the process. By bringing these individuals into the decision making process who have their hands in the work day in and day out, the outcome will be a more efficient, and smoothly running operation as evidenced by the case study. Building on the human capital used, the hospitals are also using a high performance work practice perspective. We will write a custom essay sample on Lean Processes Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The hospital is packaging together the best use of their organizational practices to create a competitive edge. Employee involvement is key, and has strengthened motivation and improved overall decision-making. By imploring all employees to have a say in how their organization is run, the end product is greater than the sum of its parts. Lastly, I see the lean process using portions of the open system perspective. In many of the hospitals cited, a deep look at how their internal systems were being used was a major factor in how to improve overall. Coordination, productivity, and innovation (all aspects of the open systems perspective), were all used to make sure the inputs created the most effective outputs. 2. Does lean management ignore some perspectives of organizational effectiveness? If so, what are the unintended consequences of these practices that might undermine, rather than improve, an organization’s effectiveness? Absolutely, there are quite a few perspectives of organizational effectiveness that could be ignored with hospitals moving towards lean practices. The first I see is a potential to limit the stakeholder perspective. Although the benefit is quicker and more efficient customer care, at what expense does that come from at the stakeholders who are really the customers and patients? There is a push from hospital staff to make their practices work to their benefit, but at the end of the day, will patients feel rushed, or pushed through the process like cattle? Is it possible we lose some of the personal care aspect in a surgical setting, just to push a patient in and out of the door? Maybe profits and efficiency go up, but if one truly sees the patients as stakeholders, there is a possible conflict. Not to mention, depending on how far the hospitals take their efficiency measures, employees could also feel the pressure of rushing patients through a defined measured process. Do employees as stakeholders get forgotten in this case? This also leads directly into a possibility of ignoring the corporate social responsibility aspect. If a company’s role is to really look beyond their bottom line, and make a positive difference in their communities and our society, does this overbearing style of lean management obtain that goal? I think that depends on how you gauge corporate social responsibility. If we base the argument solely on number of surgeries or patients seen and profit, then yes maybe the hospitals are operating in a socially responsible manner. If we argue that there is a genuine lack of personal care in lean management of a hospital, then no, maybe the hospitals are not operating in a socially responsible manner.