American History

Arnold Toynbee once argued that nations are born from the blood of immigrants  a satirical reference to Nietzsches concept of nation-state. The United States seems to suit this description. Before the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th century, the United States was essentially a wilderness inhabited by a large number of Indian tribes. The first English colonial settlements were crude, poorly built, and exposed to the elements of nature. Provision of commodities was very minimal. There were constant raids from the Indians. The French harassed the English from the North. Indeed, in the 17th century English colony, life was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short, as Hobbes would put it.

But, after the critical period of the 1730s, the Thirteen Colonies began to experience economic prosperity. Immigrant Puritans increased the population of low-density settlements. The Puritans brought with them capital and money for building religious communities. Trade increased rapidly as North American products were sold at high prices in the markets of Europe. The British parliament increased military funding to protect English colonies in North America from both the French and the Spanish. Military security propelled economic development. In less than 20 years, the Thirteen colonies became an economic powerhouse in the New World, rivaling New Spain in the West.

This relative prosperity led to population boom in 1750. Hofstadter argued that this population boom was due primarily to a realigning of the colonies needs and priorities. English goods were now allowed to enter the colonies without restrictions or quota. The colonists enjoyed the sensation of an English lifestyle.

In Europe, the New World was becoming more and more popular both to the merchants and members of the middle class. The merchants saw the New World as a source of opportunity and wealth. The middle class saw it as a relief to economic hardships. After the Puritan surge in the 1640s came immigrants from Western Europe. French, German, and Dutch migrants settled in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New Amsterdam. There was also a considerable number of Catholics residing in South Carolina and Georgia. After the Thirty Years War in Europe, immigrants from Eastern Europe first appeared in the ports of New Amsterdam. Most came from Hungary, Austria, and Poland.

Irish immigrants came in the 1750s, followed by Italian, Greek, and Spanish immigrants. In 1750, immigrants constituted about 22 of the total population, according to Hofstadter. The figure was continuously increasing by 5 yearly. America was becoming a continent of immigrants or as Hodstadter would put it, a council of nations with common law.

Hofstadters account is far from complete. He apparently failed to discuss relevant political and economic topics in the book. Some of the relevant topics which should have been discussed are as follows 1) colonial rivalry, 2) territorial divisions, 3) royal charters, 4) the establishment of the plantation system, and 5) taxes on import and export goods. The book though offers a creative account of the Thirteen colonies at the close of the 18th century.