Essay Sample about Americans in The Colonial Period

Americans living in the colonial life period lived a hard life. Americans had to work together and help each other for all of them to survive. They did many of the things we did today without all the equipment and resources we have today. Not only did they not have the equipment and resources we have today, but they also did not have much education teaching them the ways of life.

I believe that to survive in the colonial period you had to be a hard worker and you had to understand how to help people out. People during this period relied on their neighbors and younger generations to help them out. Most people living during this time owned large farms, and it took a lot of people to run those farms. Before they started shipping Africans to help with all the manual labor, they were doing everything themselves. Once people who owned large farms and plantations started buying slaves, some of the weight was lifted from their shoulders.

In the brief discourse, A Model of Christian Charity, Winthrop says the same phrase, “brotherly affection,” repeatedly. I think this just demonstrates how much helping people in that era meant to everyone. Everyone that came to the New World was looking for opportunities, so they were all willing to help each other out in any way possible. In A Model of Christian Charity, Winthrop was constantly talking about God. This just shows me how spiritual and holy the people in this era were. Winthrop tells us how they did not look at how rich or poor someone was at that time, they just helped each other. He quotes The Holy Bible many times, each one dealing with how Jesus did not judge you on your wealth or status, he just helped you out. Even though He was more worthy than everyone else, He showed them that it was okay to help someone who was not as rich or privileged as you were. Winthrop continues to tell us how God blessed them with all these things to share with other people. Winthrop expresses how people during that time were willing to do anything for one another, especially after they suffered the tough times in England.

The colonist lived an extremely harsh life before sailing to America. Before the American colonist sailed to America, they got in a big fight with Powhatan, their leader at the time. Powhatan tried to starve them, but they refused to starve and decided to start doing stuff for their selves. From 1609 to 1610, living conditions were rough, and this period became known as the “starving time.” After that period, colonists began to gain strong work ethics. They ended up sailing on the Mayflower to the New World. They established the Plymouth settlement and established the first thirteen colonies. They quickly learned to farm and produce in the New World. Soon after they learned how to survive in the new world, they began to build towns and houses. The types of houses they built during that time were either log cabins, farmhouses, townhouses, or colonial mansions. Windows during this time were expensive and had to be imported in, so if a house had windows, you could assume they were wealthy.

Their education system was not the best, but they had a strong faith and learned the majority of the stuff they needed to know at the time. The girls learned all the household chores while the boy's education differed on how wealthy the family was. The wealthy boys went to school and then furthered their education at colleges and universities to become lawyers, tavern keepers, apothecaries, and printers. While some of the ordinary boys went to school, most stayed at home and learned how to read, write, and work on the farm. Not only did women not get any education at the time, but they also didn't have very many rights. For example, women, at the time, could not vote. Wealthy men could vote and hold office, and middle-class men could vote but few held office. Lower-class men, slaves, and servants could not vote nor hold office. Many of the styles of houses you hear about today were still used during the colonial period. Women during this time worked as a servant to men. Since they did not hold very many rights, they married early and worked for the man she married. They were expected to marry before the age of twenty to a man that was around the same age as them. Women would normally have around eight kids, but it was quite common for at least five of the kids to die before they reached maturity. During this time they had not developed any cures for disease, so most people, especially children, who got sick would die. People in this time didn't believe in divorce. The only way for someone to remarry was if their spouse died, and they normally remarried within a year.

The colonials during this time encouraged and helped each other survive. If each person during that time just worried about themselves, they would not have survived those challenging times. America would have never become what it is today without our ancestors working long, hard hours. They established the standard for future generations and pushed our country to become what it is today.