American_History

There are many subjects in American history that should be taught to students. The five main subjects that teach students the most about American history are coming to the new world, early colonization, the revolutionary era, beginning of a new nation, and slavery. The first topic in American history that is best to teach students about is coming to the new world. Before Christopher Columbus, an English explorer, sailed the ocean blue in 1492 to make his trip to America others had discovered the continent before him. The Mayans, Aztecs, and the Incas were three of the cultures in the Americas before Columbus. The Mayan’s had 20000 inhabitants, invented the calendar, and developed a system of writing. The Aztecs and the Incas both came in contact with the Europeans when they arrived in the new world. Also there was native North America in which had Indian inhabitants. They also came in contact with the settlers. Eventually the settlers and the Indians began to conduct trade with each other. There were two main reasons for English people to emigrate. One of the reasons was that the population doubled between 1500 and 1600. Another reason was that there was little social mobility in England. By the end of the seventeenth century there were 10000 English people in the new world. The English coming to the new world was the beginning of American history. The second topic in American history that is best to teach students about is early colonization. England’s model of colonization was the plantation model. The plantation model meant that they were going to establish communities and create permanent settlements in the new world. The settlers wanted to remake the new world in the image of England. The first permanent settlement in the new world was Jamestown. Jamestown was in a swampy area that was surrounded by Indians. This was one of the reasons that Jamestown had a 90% mortality rate. Many people in Jamestown also died from starvation. In this colony the people had to be forced to work in threat of starvation in order to save the colony from extinction. Most of the people in Jamestown farmed tobacco. Another colony that started after Jamestown was Massachusetts Bay. This colony was made of people that were forced out of England. They all wanted to make a fresh start in the new world. All of the colonists worked for one common goal and thought of what was best for the colony and not just themselves. They also organized their colony around the puritan church and that is why they prospered. The third topic in American history that is best to teach students about is the revolutionary era. After the British victory of the French and Indian war, Great Britain had two times as much debt than what they had before the war. Britain needed money in order to get out of the debt they were in. The king thought that the best option would be to tax the colonists and use their money to get out of debt. Britain decided to pass the proclamation of 1763, the sugar act, and the stamp act for these purposes. Eventually Britain would have to get rid of the stamp act due to colonists protesting over it. After the king still felt that he needed more revenue so he made more laws such as the Townshend acts, the tea act, and the Intolerable acts. After this a secret service group made to stop British initiatives called the Sons of Liberty took action and dumped many gallons of tea into the Boston harbor. They called this the Boston Tea Party. Another event that that led to the Revolution was the Boston massacre in which British officials fired at colonists who were taunting them and they killed several people. This led to the American Revolution which was a success for the colonists and America was finally independent. The fourth topic that is best to teach students about is the beginning of a new nation. After the colonies won their independence they made George Washington their first president, Hamilton was their secretary of state, Jefferson was the secretary of treasure, and Knox was the secretary of war. Hamilton and Jefferson were against each other so the Americans had to pick sides. Hamilton’s economic plan was to first pay off the national debt, second to create the first national bank of the U.S., and then make taxes to gain revenue. During this era the French revolution occurred. They were continuing in the legacy of the American Revolution but Washington still stayed neutral in the war. After this Washington got tired of facing ridicule for the decisions he was making so he decided to step down at the age of 63. This was another great era of American history.