1,830
28
Essay, 4 pages (900 words)

The native americans economy history essay

Ben WerthanEC 456Spring 2013The Native American’s economy before the European colonization varied by region. The agriculture really determined much of the economy because the products that were grown by the Native American’s were used to trade with others. The indigenous people hunted and gathered and much of their food and used the fur to trade as well. The Native Americans had a high standard of living in their societies as well because of the variety in their diet and their time for cultural activities. The bone length of the Native Americans was used to determine the standard of living amongst the tribes as well because the longer the bone length of a person meant that they could eat healthy and were therefore taller than others. The Iroquois tribe did not differentiate property from individual to individual and saw the land more as communal ownership. Because of this it was impossible to tell the richer from the poorer in terms of just using an individuals property to tell their wealth. The Native American’s impacted the colonial economies in a few ways. The Europeans were influenced by the Native Americans use of trading goods and products as part of the economy and they decided to use it as well. The Native Americans also taught the Europeans how to grow crops in the beginning of their relationship (which later turned sour). Most of the goods in the Europeans economy were products grown (agriculture) such as tobacco. Tobacco was the largest crop grown followed by cotton (after the cotton gin was created). 2)The labor force was split amongst a few groups. There were the landowners who began the crops when they initially arrived after being taught the proper way to grow crops by the Native Americans. In addition to the landowners, there were indentured servants. The indentured servants were people who came to the ” New World” from Britain looking for somewhat of a new start. They were told that if they worked on private properties and helped grow crops that they would then be able to own their own land and crops after they paid off their debt through work in the fields. The arrangement for each indentured servant was different for each gender and also varied depending on the workers age. Land owners assumed they could not get as much good work out of younger men and women so the young men and women would have to work for more months in order to pay off their debt. To show an example of how the workers were ordered to work different lengths of service, men who were illiterate, and 20 years old would have to work for 56 months before they could then go on and own their own land. Now compare the 56 months for the previous person and compare it to a 15 year old who was also illiterate. The 15 year old would have to work for 82 months before they could go on and own land themselves. Women also had different service lengths they were required to work compared to men of the same age. An illiterate, 20 year old woman would have to work in the fields for 54 months before they could own land. In addition to the indentured servants, there were also slaves. The slaves were mostly from Africa and landowners in the southern colonies owned many of the slaves. The southern colonies owned many of the slaves because of the larger areas of land and more crops to take care of. The slaves were very expensive so usually only the extremely wealthy landowners could afford to own slaves. 3)I believe the British prior to the Revolution economically exploited American colonists but I also believe that the American colonists exploited the British in a way as well. The British exploited the colonies by making them only able to trade with the motherland. The colonies were forbidden from trading with other groups of people and all exports were required to go through Britain before being distributed to the rest of Europe. By Britain playing as a middleman caused the colonies to lose money on every transaction because Britain gave less money for the products they received from the colonies. The colonies were not allowed to trade with the French, Spanish, Dutch, or any other group. The British wanted gold and silver mostly but then when the crops started growing they wanted the colonies to start exporting that as well. Britain used the colonies for getting supplies of inputs that were not domestically available to Britain. The colonies also could not import from any place besides their mother country. The colonies were fulfilling their mercantilist role for Britain. They provided products that were not available domestically in Britain, they were able to generate export earnings outside of their land, and they were able to provide more goods for Britain to export and make money off of as well. Not only were the colonies not allowed to purchase goods from ” non-British” people but they were also forbidden from producing some goods. I believe that the exploitation did go both ways (even if it was not equal from both sides). Britain did pay for people to travel to the America’s and start new lives with more opportunity. The colonies took plenty of advantage of not being taxed as heavily from the mother country and when they were taxed on certain goods they argued and refused to pay. The colonists were provided with an opportunity to come to the America’s and even though the trip was deadly for many they still were protected by the British military for wars they were involved with.

Thank's for Your Vote!
The native americans economy history essay. Page 1
The native americans economy history essay. Page 2
The native americans economy history essay. Page 3
The native americans economy history essay. Page 4

This work, titled "The native americans economy history essay" was written and willingly shared by a fellow student. This sample can be utilized as a research and reference resource to aid in the writing of your own work. Any use of the work that does not include an appropriate citation is banned.

If you are the owner of this work and don’t want it to be published on AssignBuster, request its removal.

Request Removal
Cite this Essay

References

AssignBuster. (2022) 'The native americans economy history essay'. 2 October.

Reference

AssignBuster. (2022, October 2). The native americans economy history essay. Retrieved from https://assignbuster.com/the-native-americans-economy-history-essay/

References

AssignBuster. 2022. "The native americans economy history essay." October 2, 2022. https://assignbuster.com/the-native-americans-economy-history-essay/.

1. AssignBuster. "The native americans economy history essay." October 2, 2022. https://assignbuster.com/the-native-americans-economy-history-essay/.


Bibliography


AssignBuster. "The native americans economy history essay." October 2, 2022. https://assignbuster.com/the-native-americans-economy-history-essay/.

Work Cited

"The native americans economy history essay." AssignBuster, 2 Oct. 2022, assignbuster.com/the-native-americans-economy-history-essay/.

Get in Touch

Please, let us know if you have any ideas on improving The native americans economy history essay, or our service. We will be happy to hear what you think: [email protected]