A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas

The biological transformation through the movement of diseases and peoples across the Atlantic known as the Columbian exchange had major impacts on both Native Americans and Europeans. Foods of the Western Hemisphere — especially maize, potatoes, manioc, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes — increased the population of China while the arrival of domesticated animals and crops from the Old World, as well as unintended imports like dandelions and other weeds, forever transformed the American landscape.

King Philip II of Spain, intended to eliminate any challenges to Spain and the Catholic Church. This led to a 15-year long war with the protestant of the Netherland. Spain continued to spend their American gold and silver on religious wars, an ill-advised policy that diverted workers and resources from Spain’s fledgling industries. Oppressed by high taxes on agriculture and fearful of military service, more than 200,000 residents of Castile, once the most prosperous region of Spain, migrated to America.

By the time of Philip’s death in 1598, Spain was in serious economic decline. On the other hand, England’s economy stimulated. As their population soared, Elizabeth supported the expansion of commerce and manufacturing. The government-aided textile entrepreneurs by setting low wage rates and helped merchants by giving them monopolies in foreign markets. This system of state-assisted manufacturing and trade became known as mercantilism reduced imports and increased exports. The resulting favorable balance of trade caused gold and silver to flow into England and stimulated further economic expansion.

The Virginia House of Burgesses, first convened in 1619, could make laws and levy taxes, although the governor and the company council in England could veto its acts. By 1622, land ownership, self-government, and a judicial system based on “the laws of the realm of England” had attracted some 4,500 new recruits. In yeoman society, most adult men had a vote in the town meeting, the main institution of local government. it could also levy taxes and enact laws. Both of these institutions represented the growth of a represented type of government.

Both the French and Dutch struggle to attract new settlers to their colonies. The French colony of new France languished to become a successful agricultural settlement because few people wanted to migrate to the cold and forbidding country. While some state policies discouraged migration because King Louis xiv who feared that the French Calvinist Protestants might win converts and take control of the colony.

Migrants to New France also faced an oppressive, aristocracy- and church-dominated feudal system. In New Netherlands, the Dutch struggled to attract new settlers because their population was too small to support much emigration. Besides its migrants sought riches in Southeast Asia rather than fur-trading profits in America.

In the 1530s, Jacques Cartier claimed new France for France. They established a fur trading post at Quebec and traded mink, otter, and beaver with the native American. French also attempted to and succeed to convert the native Hurons who became the first focus of French Catholic missionary activity. Many Indian peoples initially welcomed French missionaries because they thought of them as spiritually powerful beings. However, when prayers to the Christian god did not protect them from disease, the Indians grew skeptical.

Puritans who were Protestants that did not separate from the Church of England but hoped to purify it of its ceremony and hierarchy also fled to America following the pilgrims. They created a representative political institution that was locally based by transforming the initial joint stock corporation that Winthrop and his associates had utilized to organize and found the colony.

The right to vote and hold office was limited to men who were church members, and the Bible was the legal as well as a spiritual guide for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritans eliminated bishops and placed power in the hands of the laity. Influenced by John Calvin, the Puritans also believed in predestination: a belief that God has already destined of what will happen. In the yeoman society, puritans distributed land-based on which male had the highest social status. most adult men could also vote in the town meeting, the main institution of local government which could levy taxes and enacts laws.

The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay felt that they must purge their society of religious dissidents to maintain God’s favor. That why they targeted Roger Williams who was accused of heresy because he advocated toleration and separation of church and state. In 1636 he was banished from Massachusetts. Williams and his followers settled 50 miles away in Rhode Island, where there was no legally-established church and had full authority to self-government.

I found it really interesting to read about Sarah Good and her trial. Looking at the grammar of the texts it is not hard to guess that the people conducting the trials and the people making the accusations were very uneducated. The trials were pointless since everyone had already set their minds on who was guilty of practicing witchcraft. In Sarah Good’s trial, I noticed that she kept denying to have ever hurt the children but the judges weren’t believing her.

Instead, they asked her who she had employed to hurt the children and when she denied having done this too they came back to the same question of why she had hurt the children. I found the whole trial to be really absurd because the children’s words were held to a higher status than the elders. Children don’t really understand the meaning of what they were doing so they could have been lying just to gain some attention.

In the Declaration of 1676, Nathaniel Bacon cited 8 complaints against Governor William Berkeley. In his first complaint, he explained how governor Berkeley overtaxed the people pretending it was for public works. Berkeley also appointed unworthy and corrupt magistrates and monopolized the beaver trade for his personal benefit.

He also failed and refused to protect English colonist from the attack of native American and forged a commission without the consent of the people. In addition, the governor did not try to bring peace instead preserved civil mischief while ignoring the threat of the enemy. All of this led to bacon and his followers to revolt.