English Influence On American Culture

1165 Words5 Pages

American culture, one of the most diverse and unique cultures in the world. Unlike other countries, who may have been building their culture and government for so long and kept it that way for centuries, Americans are always welcoming in different ideas and adding it to their culture. Two of the biggest contributors within American culture and government is the English, who settled many colonies all throughout the United States. The other contrubitor was Native Americans, who were here before any of the others. Both built from ancient civilizations, and were a complete concrete foundation for many of the things Americans do today.

Although the New World was originally settled by people known as separatists, who did not appreciate the life …show more content…

When the English met them they were interested in how they lived and in some cases, cultures between the English and the Natives clashed, occasionally meshing. What the English didn't have, the Natives did. Although there were many battles among the two different people, they still managed to pick up a thing or two from the Native Americans. The Native Americans did little to have no influence on the what is now American Government, but what they lacked in that domain, they offered so many other things on the cultural side of things. One of the biggest things that English built on was corn[1,4], which was originally grown by the Natives. Another big part was architecture and art, which eventually merged in with English culture. Some evidence of this is sewing and paintings. Apart from art they also were advanced in the way canoes were built. The Native Americans used them typically for trading and war. Their design was very innovating and was the basis for the canoes and kayaks we have today[1]. In addition to their innovating boats, they brought along what is now extremely controversial way of thinking, which is Womens Rights. The Native Americans treated their women almost the same way they treated their men. They were allowed to vote on the outcomes in both domestic and public situations or changes to the tribe, which was though sacrilege within many other cultures of the world. There is still a debate today on whether or not that is a valid way of approaching things, however it was a big influence for American culture, and what is now today known as Feminism. Now, although the Natives didn't offer as much as the English, they did influence the English at the time, and what they learned ended up merging in the already growing American