The Spanish were able to conquer the Aztecs for the following three reasons:
1. Even though the Aztec tribe possessed a warrior culture, their army was not a match to that of the Spanish army. The Spanish army’s advanced weapons and army held an advantage over the Aztec people. It was noted that this group of natives were sedentary people, and were unprepared for the Spanish conquistador take-over. While the Spanish army dressed in more protective gear and weaponry (guns) that can wound more people, the Aztec people were less equipped and used spears and arrows.
2. The Aztec culture believed in the worship of many Gods, and believed that these Gods return through reincarnation. When the Spanish arrived, the Aztec tribe were baffled by their
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What was mercantilism and why did the colonies resent it? What were the key points of John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government and how did this document influence the struggle for American Independence?
Mercantilism is the understanding that the colonies existed in order to benefit the colonizing country. In the case between the colonies and Great Britain, it can informally be described a mother and child relationship. Great Britain, the “mother,” expected the colonies, the “child,” to produce raw materials, ship this to Great Britain. Great Britain would then sell and ship manufactured goods to the colonies in return. The colonies resented this because this placed restrictions, known as the Navigation Acts, which disallowed certain goods to be sold to any other market other than to Great Britain. In example, shipments, such as Tobacco, was required to be shipped via ships provided by Great Britain. These sorts of restrictions placed restraints on independence for the colonies. In dealings with the restrictions that Great Britain was placing on the colonies, and disallowing the colonies to build a government for themselves Lock presented the Second Treatise of Government, contending what the point of the government is. In his view, the point of government is to protect the rights, meaning protecting the life, liberty, and property of the people. Further, his analysis stated the power of the government is given by the people, and if the government executes its power not in the benefit of the people, then the people have the right to overthrow and cease that government’s power. An important point that he argued was the equality of all people, and disregarding the social ranking of an individual, the rule of the law applies to all individuals. The document influence for American Independence in that it influences the initial principles of America. His writing caused an uproar amongst the people, those who agreed with his take and those who did not. His influential
The thirteen American colonies’ revolt against the British government for the taxes that it imposed on them is typically the reason given for the resulting American Revolution. In Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia, Woody Holton demonstrates that the Independence movement involved influences from other groups who are often overlooked. He focuses on how the activities of the Indians, debtors, slaves, farmers, and merchants influenced the gentry, particularly in the Virginia colony. These groups effected the decisions of individuals like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, which is why they ought to be given some consideration in the study of History. The Indians of the Upper
Author: Letter VII From a Farmer was created by John Dickinson. Dickinson was born in Maryland in 1732 and published attacks on British reforms in a 1765 pamphlet, The Late Regulations Respecting the British Colonies. He wrote a series of twelve essays attaching the Townshend duties anonymously under the pen name “A Farmer”. The author’s point of view is that the British are oppressing and enslaving the colonists by means of the Townshend duties. Place and Time:
The Democratic American Revolution during the 18th century was, to a large extent, symptomatic of economic and political struggles. The period leading up to the revolution included drastic changes during events such as the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions and the period of Globalization 2.0. Such events led to the rise of mercantile powers that sought to accrue greater wealth and power through any means, including war. The American Revolution would then be a war opposing mercantile, and near tyrannical, influences, reflecting Euro-American conflicts. Unprecedented changes in the English economy throughout the 1600s and 1700s had a drastic impact on European and, eventually, American societies.
The British men gathered full control of the trading center present in the Americas, and created the Navigation Acts to help aid them in their tactics to take control over all trade within the Americas. The Navigation Acts were passed under a mercantilist system, and was used to regulate trade in a way that only benefitted the British economy. These acts restricted trade between England and its colonies to English or colonial ships, required certain colonial goods to pass through England before export, provided subsidies for the production of certain raw goods in the colonies, and banned colonial competition in large-scale manufacturing. This lowered the competition in the trading world for the British and caused the British to have a major surge in power, that greatly attributed to the growth of their rising empire. The British’s ambitious motives in the trading world help portray a way that the British took control of an important piece in the economy of all of the other nations present in the colonies in the time period, and shows another leading factor in the growth of the British empire.
In 1763 conflicts began to occur between the American colonists and British policy makers. The issues began as George Grenville, prime minister, believed that the colonists should have to obey more laws and pay a part of the expense for defending and administering the empire (Brinkley, 2012). This was an attempt to apply the principles of mercantilism to the colonies (Brinkley, 2012). From 1763 until the Revolutionary War began, the British kept making decisions of enforcement that caused more and more resentment from the American colonies. On his quest for more control over the colonists and to gain money from them, the Sugar Act and Currency act were passed in 1764.
The British’s debt forced them into a position to impose large taxes on the colonists but much to the colonists discontent. Beginning with the Stamp and Sugar acts which were taxes put on by the British government. The stamp act taxed any paper product; for example, letters, certificates, or any printed material were colonists were required to pay a tax on, which hurt business owners. The sugar act was a tax put on any sugar that was sent to the colonies. These taxes greatly angered the colonists and their frustrations derived from the idea of “no taxation without representation.”
Many of the reasons the American colonies believed they were justified in their rebellion from England lay in trade and taxes. When George III inherited the throne at the end of the Seven Years’ War England’s debt had risen to 145 million pounds and his chief minister believed that the American colonies needed to help shoulder the debt. (Nash, et al., 2007. , p. 134) In attempting to collect these taxes from the colonies to relieve the mounting debt Parliament passed a range of acts, which led to discontent among the colonists as many of them restricted trade, their political maneuverability and left many believing they infringed upon their “right to be taxed only by their own consent.”
Rhetorical Strategies Analysis Essay “For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Two hundred and forty one years ago, the American colonies began their fight for freedom -- one year later they declared their independence from Britain as the United States of America. Patrick Henry’s The “Speech in the Virginia Convention” and Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence were the catalysts for this revolution, and the reason for these documents’ fame could easily be attributed to the power within the words.
The state of the American Colonies before the events that led to the revolution were that of profit and expansion. Whilst the British Empire was entrenched in a brutal and costly war with France, American markets and trade were flourishing, as well as investiture and population growth. The key events and ideas that drove the American colonists to revolution began in the aftermath of the French and Indian wars that ended in February 10, 1763, leaving the British Empire with a massive war debt. This debt became the basis on which Britain enforced various taxes and policies which led to a series of major events, a decaying relationship between the colonies and Britain and the development of revolutionary thought in Colonial America. ‘In part the deterioration of relations between Britain and her American colonies - which eventually led to the War of Independence - stemmed from a logical British attempt to make the colonies contribute more to the cost of their own defence.
From the time of King Charles II, the British monarchy has accepted the policy of mercantilism, the economic belief that a nation can only gain wealth at the expense of another; it was Britain's motivation of founding colonies. The american colonies were a wealth of resources for their mother country. For about one hundred years, 1650-1750, the British government did not strictly enforce mercantilism in the colonies; however, after the French and Indian War Britain changed its colonial policies. From the declaration of the Proclamation Line, the official end to the French and Indian War, in 1763 to the signing of the Declaration of Independance in 1776, the colonies produced several violent demonstrations showing their support for Enlightenment
Between 1763 and 1775, there were three ‘Imperial Crises’ which occurred between the British and the American colonists. The conflict that was produced during this period arose through an undefined balance of political and economic power between the two parties. In 1763, Britain had just concluded the French and Indian war and was left with an immense and almost crippling debt of around 140 million pounds sterling (“Turning Point In American History”). In Britain’s eyes, the most effective way to reduce this debt was increased taxes. Unfortunately, the people of England were already massively overtaxed, which meant the last option for the British was to tax the American colonists.
So with the tactic, Guile and surprise, which was used with great effect against the Americans, the natives had to find a solution to this Spanish strategy. So, the Aztecs soon became aware of the ways that the Europeans fought, and this almost led to their victory. This, near destruction of the Spanish was not only from the pure initiative of the Aztecs and predictability of the Spanish but also from the massive numbers, especially the Incans, had over the Spanish “ If twenty-five thousand indians perished for every spaniard, his men would still be destroyed” - Cortes (page 171, 1969, the conquistadors, George Rainbird). All the Aztec and Incan warriors were familiar with the land, giving them the advantage of the land “ Which ever figure is correct, it’s terraces and it’s single stairway of 114 steps made it a natural fortress” (page 171, 1969, The Conquistadors, george rainbird).
The most obvious is the shier size and composition difference. The Aztec force stood 300,000 warriors versus 700 Spanish infantrymen, 86 cavalrymen, and 118 crossbowmen were comprised of volunteers and adventurers, and over 50,000 Native Americans allied forces (Davis, 1999, p. xx). Aztec obsidian clubs and bows and arrows proved no match for the emerging technology armored infantrymen and cavalry of the Europeans.
He thought that the natural rights of men should be protected by the government. “To protect natural rights governments are established. . . .Since men hope to preserve their property by establishing government, they will not want that government to destroy their objectives. When legislators try to destroy or take away the property of the people...people who can then refuse to obey the laws” (Document 2).
Using war equipment that the Aztec had never seen before and different battle techniques, Cortes and his men were able to quickly and effectively conquer Tenochtitlan. During battle against the Aztecs, animals from Spain that served in many battles called horses (about twelve), as well as swords and crossbows (a much more advanced version of the Aztec war club and spear-thrower) were labelled as advanced technology as they were quicker, deadlier, and consequently more efficient. These many advantages against the Aztecs and their traditional weapons; and therefore the Spaniards won many battles alongside their allies, and succeeded greatly by using guns that were far more powerful than the Aztecs' weapons. Unfair as it is, this gave the Spanish explorer a supremacy in conquering one of the most elaborate European cities at the time. “The Aztecs were unable to rebel against the Spaniards because most of them were sick or dead from smallpox.