History of America from 1492 to 1877

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American History
Everything that takes place today becomes history once done. Future events will also
become part of history as soon as they unfold. It only the current time and the future that cannot
be regarded as being part of history. In light of this, history leaves marks that are indelible. It is
impossible for one to change what has already happened. Nations also have their histories of
where they have come from and their originalities. Long ago, land was open to any occupant and
some people spread all over the world to acquire land which they wished to dominate and rule.
America has its history too. We can trace back its history back in the colonial period when it was
being colonized. There are people from different nations who came to America to acquire land
and rule the people that they met there. These events tool place in 15th century and were geared
by the industrial revolution (Brubacher, 14). America did not have any organized government in
those years and this made it possible for their colonizers (the British) to settle in their land.
America is composed of people of different origin. It has Asians, Blacks white men and this is a
result of slave trade that was taking place in the land. As we all know America has had a long
history. This assignment is going to focus on the history of America from 1492 to 1877.
The history of America between 1492 and 1877 was greatly characterized by slave trade
(Coupland, 14). It is imperative to have a brief background of the slave trade in order to lay a
good foundation for this assignment. Slave trade was common in Africa and most other parts of

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the world even before the 15th century. However, most of the slaves were captured from
prisoners of from people who were considered to be low caste in the society. Muslim traders of
North America particularly practiced slave trade. The British started the process of colonization
in 1492.
After establishing colonial rule in America, Britons did not have enough people to work
on plantations. Earlier, the Portuguese had starter importing slaves form North America to
provide cheap labor on their plantations. Soon, the British joined the slave trade. In fact, the
joining of Britain intensified the slave trade (Swaminathan, 21). Slave could be transported from
Africa to America to work on Britain’s new colony. It is important to note that slaves were often
mistreated. This was both during transport and when working in the plantations. Slaves would be
transported for almost 3 centuries in what came to be known as the transatlantic slave trade.
Slaves would be transported by sea. What ensued as a result of the trade has been regarded as
some of the greatest form of human rights abuses. It is due to the transported slaves that America
has African Americans. It is sad to note that discrimination against the black people is far from
ending many centuries after the slave trade.
When Columbus went to occupy a territory in North America in 1492 it made America a
center of attraction to many European nations (Campbell, James, Matthew and Robert, 7). Many
European nations came and did all they could to make sure that they outshine the other nations to
occupy the land of America and establish their rule there. This led to slave trade where the
human beings were trafficked from Africa to work in newly established plantations. Due to many
European nations wanting to dominate the land, there were a lot of political struggle that was
experienced for a long period of time. This struggle went on for more than two centuries
(Jenkins, 28). When British saw that there were European nations that had a lot of interest in

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America, they also came in the land and their main objective was to make America their colony.
The British came to America as missionaries and set up churches (Schlozman, 21). This was a
way that many people were drawn by the British. As time went on America became a colony of
British. The British did not get it easily as they were engaged in war with France which lasted for
seven years. This forced the France out of the land as the British took control of almost all of
American land. The Britons were engaged in large scale farming because they had slaves to work
and cultivate in their farms. There is a unique thing that all the European settlers had in common.
This was the Magna Carta which was renewed by the glorious revolution that took place in 1688
(Lindert, Peter and Jeffrey, 277). The revolution was against the British monarchy and sort to
limit the Magna Carta so that indigenous American people could be given the right to choose the
one to represent them. During this time, America was occupied by three main European nations:
France, Spain and British.
After the seven years of war in the land of America, the British won and took control they
evicted France out of the land and Spain were only left with half of North America. The rule of
the Britain did not last for a long period of time as the America led by George Washington
started to demand for their freedom. The British had suffered a lot of expenses due to the war
that lasted for seven years and now having more territories to look after than before they decided
to introduce tax which could be paid by the Americans. When the tax was introduced, it did
receive a lot of opposition. This stirred up the people of America where they now started
demanding for a representation in the government. There was a king who refused to hear the
Americans appeal and this forced them to come together and in one accord in July 1776 when
the British declared the independence of America. George Washington was given the role of
General by the second continental congress (Blomberg, 28). Thomas Paine was a great politician