Pilgrims Progress

In 1620 another group of people were en route to North America. These people were known as Pilgrims, they worse shoes with buckles on them.

These people came from England for the pursuit of religious freedom, and of course to make some money for the people that financed their trip.

They made their trip on the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth Rock in modern day Massachusetts. Then they became really close friends with the Native Americans in that area. They had a huge feast called Thanksgiving where they gave thanks, ate food, and watched football.

Scratch that...
the Indians did teach them how to farm and they did have a feast but they weren’t exactly BFF[4]. But all these years later we still celebrate the “friendship” by eating too much, drinking too much, and those recreations at Elementary schools of the first thanksgiving when children are dressed in paper grocery bags and make turkeys by tracing their hands. Its an American tradition, and we love it.

4. Best Friends Forever…duh.

Many other groups traveled to North America to make their new homes.
There were Puritans and Separatists, Quakers[5], French Fur trappers, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, many people from all different walks of life.
[5]Yes, like the oatmeal guy



Colonies were popping up everywhere, well not really everywhere, mostly just on the Eastern Seaboard. Eventually though the British had control over these colonies. They existed to serve
the motherland, the mighty crown. These colonies were; South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia[6], Virginia[7], Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

These 13 colonies would go on to be famously called, The 13 Colonies.

[6]Was for debtors.

[7]Is for lovers.

More setteling down

In 1565 Something exciting happened. Saint Augustine Florida was settled by the Spanish. This event made it the first permanent European colony in North America. This city still exists, I'm sure it would be a lovely vacation destination and probably sells T shirts that say " Saint Augustine is Old School" or something clever like that. >

If I were to ask you why America was founded, you might want to say for freedom of religion. You could say this, but you would be wrong. I know its what we've been taught, it seems so noble..a safe haven for a variety of religions. Well, the real reason so many countries wanted a steak on North America was for the money. It was all about the Benjamin’s[3] way before there was a Benjamin for it to be all about.

Enter 1607. The place Jamestown Virginia. The people were British, from the London Company. They were there to find gold. What they found were natives, a beautiful Indian Princess named Pocahontas, a tree that sang, and a crazy fun loving raccoon named Meeko, and the handsome John Smith. Oh, I've just been informed that the Disney film is not historically accurate. Damn.

Well, there really was a John Smith and a Pocahontas, and I'm sure there were also raccoon, but I'm not sure I an make a case for the singing tree. Also, Pocahontas was not an amazing beauty and she did not marry John Smith. She married John Rolfe. She then went back to England with him and they lived happily ever after. Errrr...no, as we talked about earlier, Native Americans and European diseases do not mix. Pocahontas died, but I guess that was too heavy of material for birds and squirrels to sing about.

So was gold found in Jamestown?!?!? NO! But something else was found there, it was corn. Corn is sort of like gold..similar color...corn is edible, gold isn't, but, well its sort of the same.

Well anyway, Jamestown was working out pretty well so of course others will also come.

---

[3] This term refers to Benjamin Franklin, he is on the $100 bill, Puff Daddy once sang a song about this.

America: A History in Stick Figures

Ahh, America! A country founded through Revolution. A history of greatness along with a history of shadiness. I invite you to come on this journey through American history, there will be triumphs and tragedy, highs and lows, but most importantly there will be stick figures!!

Chapter One

A very long time ago it was believed the world was flat. No one questioned what was beyond the horizon because there was nothing beyond. If a brave soul were to travel to the horizon, they would simply fall off the edge of the world.




As it would turn out, the world was not flat, but it was indeed round! There was a whole world out there, even as Cat Stevens would say, " A wild world". This was probably a shock to the Europeans that yes, indeed, there were other people. What these people saw as a great opportunity would end up being pretty terrible for the people living in the "Americas".

The first explorer to set foot in America was a Viking named Leif Ericsson[1]. This occurred around 1000 A.D. and he and his men landed at what is now Newfoundland which they called Vinland. There were many voyage made there, but there was no permanent settlement. So when people say Christopher Columbus discovered America, this is wrong in so many ways, but Leif Ericsson was there before him.

---

[1] Not to be confused with 1970s teen sensation Leif Garret.

Of course there were a whole slew of exploeres who came to the "New World". There were Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch..Oh My!!

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sale to find the Indies. Of course the three ships should be mentioned: The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria[2]. Well eventually Columbus and his crew reached land. He was pumped, he had found the Indies, Spain would be so proud of him!

---

[2] As rumor would have it, these were names of 3 ladies of the night..or women of ill repute, or hussies.

So he met the locals and dubbed them "Indians", however, he was totally wrong. He was nowhere near the Indies, he was actually in the Caribbean Islands, but old Chris could make this work.



To make a long story short, Columbus enslaved the people and exploited them. Many died from diseases that they had never encountered, so they did not have the antibodies to fight the sickness.

So, Columbus is often times cited as discovering America. But well...there were people already there so it was already discovered. But school children across America do get a day off because of him.