Colonial+America


 * Colonial America**

Be the Critic: Me: I think the students got most of these facts correct. This is because the students had some different information compared to what I learned in class. This might even mean that the book may be wrong too. Not everyone has all the accurate facts, unless you have the primary artifacts. I think the students can improve their work by including some opinions of some colonies during the Navigation Acts. This way we can understand their point of wiew and how they felt about it.

Louisa Tse: I believe that the navigation acts had accurate facts. They explained what mercantilism is and how England earned its wealth. In the video, they included many facts, but no point-of-view.

__9/21/10- CCQ's on Colonial America:__ Mr. Hurley: I think that the Navigation Acts were ill-conceived because of salutary neglect. Do you agree or disagree...explain why...extra points for disagreeing!!! !! Me: __Comment__: I disagree. This is because it was not all ill-conceived. It depended on whose point of view you were to read or listen to. If you were Britain, you would think that it was ill-conceived because of the effects of salutary neglect on the navigation acts. Now, if you were a colonist, you would not think it was ill-conceived because you actually were left alone, which meant you benefited from salutary neglect. Britain wanted to control all of their colonies, including what they bought or sold. Thanks to salutary neglect, the navigation acts were not as useful because the colonists got more freedom. __Comment__: I think if Britain were not as greedy and were more fair, they could have avoided the colonists' money and rights. Then, salutary neglect would have never happened. __Question:__ Did any British people actually side with the colonists?

__Southern Colonial Economies:__



Main Idea: For colonies in the south, money was made by planting cash crops and working on the plantations, since products from the south were important to colonial trade. __Comment:__ This seems unfair to the slaves because they work very hard for nothing, since the owners get all the money. __Connection:__ I remember watching many movies on colonies where there were slaves working all day in plantation, and if they tried to run away, they would get punished. The owners of the plantations were very strict to the slaves and earned lots of money from growing tobacco or other cash crops. __Question:__ What if the owners of the plantation did not have a slave or worker, how would he get the work done? __Question:__ Did the owners of the plantation gain much wealth from the plantation? Or was this only part of their wealth?

Billy/Calum: Northern Colonies - Farmers in N.E. were not able the grow crops all year, because the weather was unpredictable. -Coastal cities were the center of shipbuilding because of the navigation acts. - You need crops for money.

HW: Response- 9/22/10 Mr.Hurley: Eumie, in her brilliance today, exclaimed "why didn't they just pay them???" in reference to the use of slaves. Tonight...make a guess and give a possible explanation to why white colonists used slaves, instead of hiring paid laborers.

Me: I think the white colonists didn't just pay the slaves since they wanted money to themselves. They controlled the slaves and if the slave were to run away, the colonists, would threaten their lives and punish them. Since slaves were cheap, the colonists could afford the slaves, which meant the colonists had workers in their plantation. With slaves working in the plantation, the colonists were able to earn great wealth from the cash crops grown. This is how the white colonists got most of their wealth from. If the colonists were to pay the slaves, then the slaves would be able to find a way to buy their way out of working. So i guess, since they were greedy, they wanted all the money to themselves and did not want the slaves to run away. This is why they didn't pay the slaves.

Triangular Trade- 9/23/10 media type="custom" key="6997729" Music: media type="custom" key="6998195"

I chose these images for my slideshow because they show the idea of slavery. The slave owners, otherwise known as masters, bought slaves to do the work in the plantations since workers refused to work in the sun. Since the slaves had no rights, they were forced to work. So I chose images that showed the hardships of being a slave and what they had to go through. It's very tough for them and they just have to work to live.

9/23/10 I didn't get a chance to upload the Olaudah Equiano document with my CCQ's on them at school so i decided to mark it up again and add new CCQ's so i can upload it from my home, but my laptop is not allowing it... so i just decided to copy and paste the whole document onto this page. Hopefully, you will be able to grade it this way too.


 * Olaudah Equiano Describes the Horrors of a Slave Ship**

workforce in their American colonies in the early 1500s. English colonists in North America followed in the early 1600s. A profitable transatlantic slave trade developed. By 1860 Europeans had enslaved more than eleven million Africans. The journey across the ocean was horrifying for the captives. Many did not survive the voyage. Slave traders captured Olaudah Equiano when he was eleven years old. He later wrote about his experiences as a captive. Some scholars doubt that Equiano actually made the Middle Passage himself. Still his account provides an important description of the journey.
 * ABOUT THE SOURCE** The Spanish began using African slaves as a

//words may be new to you:// **countenances**, **windlass**, **pestilent**
 * //As you read//** //note how the crew members treated the Africans. The following//

The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I was carried on board. I was immediately handled, and tossed up to see if I were sound, by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. . . When I looked round the ship too, and saw a large furnace of copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their **countenances** expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate. . . I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as friendly. . . I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me ; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across, I think the **windlass**, and tied my feet, while the other flogged [whipped] me severely. I had never experienced any thing of this kind before, and although not being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet, nevertheless, could I have got over the nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water; and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut, for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating. This indeed was often the case with myself. . . The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced **copious** perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died—thus falling victims to the improvident **avarice**, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now became insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. . . Every circumstance I met with. . . heightened my apprehensions, and my opinion of the cruelty of the whites. . . One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together. . . <span style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">preferring death to <span style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">such a life of misery, somehow made though the nettings and jumped into the sea: immediately, another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ship’s crew, who were instantly alarmed.
 * pestilential**. This closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added

Source: //The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the// //African, Written by Himself//

1. What did crew members do to Africans who refused to eat? Why do you think they did this? 1) The crew members whipped the Africans for an hour when they refused to eat. I think they did this because they wanted the African slaves to at least look healthy so that the slaves could be sold at a high price. 2. Why did so many Africans on the ship die? 2) Many Africans died because there was no proper toileting and so people could get sick from both seasickness and the germs. Also they sometimes would not eat, so they got sick this way too. 3. How were the Africans treated? Why do you think they were treated this way? 3) The Africans were treated like animals. They were being sold for money so I think the crew members didn’t care for them except for how they looked so that they could get more money. ___ C: I think the atmosphere must be really sickening. Even though I wasn’t there, reading it already makes me sick to the stomach. Q: Why couldn’t people just treat them like human beings for once? Louisa: Q: What do they mean by Equiano not actually making it through the Middle Passage?
 * WHAT DID YOU LEARN?**

Main idea/Summary: Olaudah Equiano was able to provide a lot of evidence and facts of what happened to African slaves on ships that were shipping them to a place where others would participate in the slave trade. He showed the emotion, drama, life, and so much more of what would happen in a ship. The journey seemed very sickening and torturous as many slaves were forced onto the ship. After buying his own freedom, he participated in the Abolitionist Movement and was a key factor in abolishing slavery. Some people provided evidence that proved that Equiano was not on that ship and did not make it through the Middle Passage. This may mean that the whole story was a lie, but we can all agree that he helped abolish freedom.

//Does it matter if his story was a lie?// It doesn't matter if Olaudah Equinao's story was a lie or not because it shows that he understood what slaves had to go through and the idea of slavery and the torture behind it. He wanted to be considererd a human being, so he taught himself how to read and write. At least some facts were true. This way, he can inform others of the journey of an African slave, lie or no lie.

//Does my answer change?// Yes. This is because now that I know more information on him, my opinion changes. You should know everything about someone before you can judge him. He bought and sold his own kind to free himself.

//Should my answer change?// No, because he still provided accurate information on slave and the torture they went through. Though he sold and bought his own kind, his goal was to end slavery.

Olaudah Equiano Wordle- 9/24/10

I chose these words because they mostly represented Olaudah Equiano. When Mr. Hurley told us about who Equiano was and what he did, i thought of these words and included them in my wordle.After researching him a bit, the words actually matched him appropriately.

9/24/210- Olaudah Equiano- extra facts -wrote that he was born in the Eboe province (area that's near southern Nigeria) -involved in the abolishionist movement -got wealthy from selling other slaves -was renamed "Gustavus Vassa" -after buying his own freedom, he spent most of the next 20 years travelling the world -his book was one of the earliest books published by a black African writer -married Susanna Cullen, an Englishwomen -had two daughters -died in the year 1792 info from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/equiano_olaudah.shtml