Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Elizabethan period essay
Introduction to the Elizabethan Age
Introduction to the Elizabethan Age
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In “A Description of New England,” John Smith documents his time in New England while trying to persuade several audiences to travel or to fund a third expedition to the New World with him as a leader. More specifically, Smith uses certain details to entice readers of two vastly different audiences: the poor and idle, the rich and generous, and evangelists. Smith’s main motive for writing “A Description of New England” is to persuade others to allow him to have a chance to go back to the New World as a leader, since he was previously unsuccessful. Smith’s use of exaggeration further convinces his various audiences that he can easily help them gain fortune from the New World. Smith begins this piece by addressing his first audience: those
When writing William Cooper's Town, Alan Taylor connects local history with widespread political, economic, and cultural patterns in the early republic, appraises the balance of the American Revolution as demonstrated by a protrusive family's background, and merge the history of the frontier settlement with the visualizing and reconstituting of that experience in literature. Taylor achieves these goals through a vivid and dramatic coalescing of narrative and analytical history. His book will authoritatively mandate and regale readers in many ways, especially for its convincing and memorable representation of two principles subjects- William Cooper, the frontier entrepreneur and town builder, and his youngest son, the theoretical James Fenimore Cooper, who molded his own novelistic portrayal of family history through accounts such as The Pioneers (1823).
During the 1700's, people in the American colonies lived in very distinctive societies. While some colonists led hard lives, others were healthy and prosperous. The two groups who showed these differences were the colonists of the New England and Chesapeake Bay areas. The differentiating characteristics among the Chesapeake and New England colonies developed due to economy, religion, and motives for colonial expansion. The colonists of the New England area possessed a very happy and healthy life. This high way of living was due in part to better farming, a healthier environment, and a high rate of production because of more factories. The colonists of the Chesapeake Bay region, on the other hand, led harder lives compared to that of the colonists of New England. The Chesapeake Bay had an unhealthy environment, bad eating diets, and intolerable labor.
During the 1600's, many people in the American colonies led very many different lives, some better than others. While life was hard for some groups, other colonists were healthy and happy. Two groups that display such a difference are the colonists of New England and Chesapeake Bay. New Englanders enjoyed a much higher standard of living. This high standard of New England's was due to many factors, including a healthier environment, better family situation, and a high rate of reproduction.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Willoughby’s writing is that so much change has occurred in the past hundred years. His setting, though the very Everglades we travel through today, is an Everglades where saw grass was ten feet tall, and trails were no where to be found. His Florida, though located exactly where he left it, now has too many hotels, tourists, and residents to count. The change that has taken place in Florida was one that Willoughby foreshadowed, and one that we would not be able to fully comprehend without the writings of people like Willoughby. He captured the moment on paper for the future to see and gave us a means of comparison. He wrote about change in Florida over the course of a year since his previous visit. He mentioned that a big hotel and bustling tourists destroyed the picturesque and that Florida’s “wilderness has been rudely marred by the hand of civilization” (62). I wonder what he would say today. The mere two thousand individuals he wrote about was a number no where near to the number of people who have since marred Florida. Like Willoughby, I regret change. An...
Mankind can be conceived in interesting ways by analyzing the writings of John Smith and John Winthrop. As I read through John Smith‘s “A Description of New England” and John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity,” it became evident to me that the two readings had similar and different viewpoints of the essential nature of man. Throughout my paper, I will compare their similar beliefs of community and diversity of people and completely contrast their ideas of emphasis on religion and relationships with enemies.
In the 17th Century, over 700,000 people traversed the Atlantic to reach the English colonies located in North America as well as the Caribbean. England in particular sent out various groups to the eastern coast of North America to two regions of Chesapeake and New England. Even though the two would, later on, be bonded into one nation in the 1700s, it was apparent that the two had separate and unique identities from the start. These differences can be explained by one major factor - the motivation or reason why the settlers traversed into the New World.
Like La Relacion, in "The Generall Historie of Virginia,” John Smith narrates about his own experience in the New World, but as a settler to grab the attention of readers in England during the early 1600s. In this adventure, he describes the difficulties
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a representation of the new prospect of upward mobility in colonial America during the 18th century and the development of the Age of Reason, which assisted in the conception of the idea of the “American Dream”; a dream that includes fundamentally social ideals such as democracy, equality, and material prosperity. Furthermore, Franklin’s autobiography exemplifies a significant shift in focus from religion to enlightenment and reason. Additionally, there were forces specific to Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia, that played an important role in his perspectives and the changes that occurred within colonial America during the 18th century.
In 1725, John Jones writes to one of his relatives about his father’s arrival in America and the difficulty settling in early Pennsylvania. John’s father was originally from Wales and enjoyed a simple and charming life. However, in just three weeks’ time his father hears about
Born in Austerfield England in 1590, William Bradford, orphaned at an early age, raised by several relatives, and with no formal education, became one of the most influential men of the original American Colonists, and is credited as the “Father of American history,” with his diaries of the Pilgrims’ journey and struggles to America. “Of Plymouth Plantation” the journals of William Bradford are still one of the major resources used for historians for this time in history. (Schoenberg, 2001)
Taylor, Alan American Colonies: The Settling of North America, New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2001. pg. 1685-1730
During the late 16th century and into the 17th century, European nations rapidly colonized the newly discovered Americas. England in particular sent out numerous groups to the eastern coast of North America to two regions. These two regions were known as the Chesapeake and the New England areas. Later, in the late 1700's, these two areas would bond to become one nation. Yet from the very beginnings, both had very separate and unique identities. These differences, though very numerous, spurred from one major factor: the very reason the settlers came to the New World. This affected the colonies in literally every way, including economically, socially, and politically.
"North America Review." Rev. of Uncle Tom's Cabin. North American Review [Boston] Oct. 1853: 467-93. Stephen Railton, 1998. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.
The Dutch colony of New Netherland became the English colonies of New York and New Jersey through military conquest and treaties. It was created as a Dutch colony in the 1610’s. During this time, there was very little, if any, British presence in the United States. Over the next fifty years, the British presence of course grew. When the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy occurred in 1660, the British became more aggressive about colonial expansion and consolidation in North America. An expedition in 1664 by the Duke of York seized the Hudson Valley and Manhattan Island from the Dutch. New Amsterdam was then renamed New York. The already present Dutch settlers were treated equally and were allowed freedom of worship. From 1664, these territories remained British almost continually. They were retaken by the Dutch, but the colony was returned to Britain by treaty. The reason for the seizure of the colony was the British monarchy wanted to close the gap between their property along the Chesapeake and in New England.
Throughout the course of the 18th century, New England had undergone a series of political, social, economic, and religious changes that began to shape a new way of life. Those who lived during this time of rapid growth and development succumbed to changes in all aspects of every day life. Through the readings of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin reiterates such changes in New England society throughout his own personal experiences.