America’s Colonizing

In contrast to the well-defined and hereditary classes of England, the colonies developed a fluid class structure which enabled the industrious individual to rise on the social ladder. In the Middle Colonies the people were blessed with an unusual degree of religious toleration and democratic control. The local government lay somewhere between the personalized town meeting of New England and the diffused county government of the South, which allowed certain privileges for the people. This was because these Middle Colonies had fertile soil, river trading, and a greatly ethnically mixed settlement. Considerable amount of economic and social democracy prevailed, though less so in aristocratic New York. America’s social ladder was open for anyone. An ambitious colonist, even a former indentured servant could rise from a lower rung to a higher one. This gave opportunity for anyone who came to America. Prominent individuals came to be seated in churches and schools according to their social rank. After being beaten and mocked for being a Quaker, William Penn set his thoughts on the New World. William Penn wanted to establish an asylum for his people and also experiment with liberal ideas in government and at the same time make a profit. His did this to make a better place for his fellow Quakers back in England, so that they may begin a new life in America. This movement caused many Quakers to move to America from England and the King gave an immense grant to Penn and called the area Pennsylvania in his name. The social along with the economic and political structures helped to colonists establish their own society.

Changes in economics, politics, and social structure illustrate their Americanization of transplanted Europeans. America economically became a main export of goods to different countries besides England. It also politically established a base of self-government to represent the people. Also it socially gave Americans opportunity to rise up in the social ladder. By becoming their own society, the colonists were able to break away from British rule, and create a government suited to represent the people of the country as well as becoming an example of a unified country to the rest of the world.