American Colonization Dbq Essay

Beginning in the early 1400s, Europeans, ranging from French to Spanish to English, began flocking to North America for a variety of reasons, both holistic as well as selfish. While some methods of colonization were healthier than others, all had their advantages and disadvantages to the overall gain of the colonizer. Some argue that colonizers sought mainly religious advantages; however, all colonization in the New World, even religious, was rooted in socioeconomic greed. Men who were unable to climb the social hierarchy in Europe sought new opportunity in America, and other colonists sought economic gain through gold and cash crops; therefore, the colonization of North America was not a religious endeavor, but instead it was a socioeconomic

Document 3 was an enumeration as to why English Christians should have moved to America, and the author’s audience was power hungry men. He specifically targeted those who were socially oppressed by the English government, which could be seen through his syntax. He did this, because he wanted to exemplify why Englishmen should move to the New England colonies. By using statements to impact his target audience, such as “better land”, the author effectively appealed to their pathos. After all, land equaled wealth, and land in the New World was plentiful. Although the author claimed that this move from England across the Atlantic to New England would be “worthy of a Christian”, the main goal of this passage, as shown through the intended audience, was to move English settlers to the New World in hopes of finding new land to gain social status that they could not in overpopulated 16th century

Similarly, document 3 states that a reason to move to America was to encourage Christianity to “grow strong and prosper”. In response to this, an Indian chief translated that “all was his, and that [colonists] should not setup any crosse without his leave”(Document 2). On the same note, a Jesuit priest surveyed the land of New Amsterdam for a personal account, and in his description he notes that “the savages had burnt a part of their grain” (Document 6). This priest believed that Indians were inhuman and uncontrollable, similar to animals. In historical context, though, the Indians were trying to push the colonists out of their land through vandalism in revenge for the abusive techniques that colonists used on the Indians, like raping and killing them. These two pieces of evidence showed that Indians were not receptive of European religion, because they already had their own culture. Since the Europeans were seeking trade and other economic gain more than religion conversions anyway, they were not impacted by Indian resistance to Christianity. This can be seen through Document 4.; the historical time period that this was drawn for was saturated with hostilities between powerful French colonists and peaceful Native Americans, such as the Hopi. The purpose of this image is to show how small, literally and