background preloader

Early American History

Facebook Twitter

Buttolph-Williams House. Buttolph-Williams House, built in 1711, is one of the oldest surviving homes in Wethersfield, Connecticut.

Buttolph-Williams House

This early 18th-century house is built in the traditional style of the Puritan settlers. The house has diamond-paned casement windows and weathered and blackened clapboards. The house plays a role in the Newbery Medal-winning book The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare.[3] It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1968.[2][4][5] In 1941 the house was acquired by the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society (now Connecticut Landmarks), and was opened to the public in 1951.[6] Currently the house is operated by the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum and has been furnished to appear as late 17th century.

The house is open for tours by the nearby Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, and is used to teach groups the period and about the book The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Connecticut Landmark other museums[edit] Connecticut Landmarks also operates other historic house museums, including: Teachers - Procedure - The Declaration of Independence: Created Equal? - Lesson Plan. Primary Documents - U.S. Declaration of Neutrality, 19 August 1914. With Britain's entry declaration of war with Germany on 4 August 1914, a general European war - soon to become a world war - was underway.

Primary Documents - U.S. Declaration of Neutrality, 19 August 1914

On 19 August 1914 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress and made public the U.S. policy of neutrality. During his address he warned U.S. citizens against taking sides in the war for fear of endangering the wider U.S. policy. President Wilson's Address to Congress The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what American citizens say and do. The spirit of the nation in this critical matter will be determined largely by what individuals and society and those gathered in public meetings do and say, upon what newspapers and magazines contain, upon what ministers utter in their pulpits, and men proclaim as their opinions upon the street. The people of the United States are drawn from many nations, and chiefly from the nations now at war. Some will wish one nation, others another, to succeed in the momentous struggle. American Memory from the Library of Congress - Home Page.

The Puritans were a group of people who grew discontent in the Church of England and worked towards religious, moral and societal reforms.

The writings and ideas of John Calvin, a leader in the Reformation, gave rise to Protestantism and were pivotal to the Christian revolt. They contended that The Church of England had become a product of political struggles and man-made doctrines. The Puritans were one branch of dissenters who decided that the Church of England was beyond reform. Escaping persecution from church leadership and the King, they came to America. The Puritans believed that the Bible was God's true law, and that it provided a plan for living. Colonial Love and Marriage. Colonial Love & Marriage By MYRA VANDERPOOL GORMLEY, CG Scarcity breeds demand and women were scare in early America.

Colonial Love and Marriage

No women accompanied the settlers who established Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. And when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620, only 28 women numbered among the 100 or so passengers on the Mayflower. In a rich new world, marriageable white women remained rare — and eagerly sought. Between 1620 and 1622, about 150 “pure and spotless” women arrived in Virginia and were auctioned for about 80 pounds of tobacco to future husbands.

Many other women came as indentured servants, especially to the Southern colonies. Marriage and the customs surrounding it took various forms in early America. The Dutch and Germans performed the wedding ceremony in their native languages, employing customs from their homelands. A Southern wedding differed greatly from a New England wedding.

Places

Mayflower. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond (1958) is a classic work of young adult historical fiction.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The novel tells the story of Katherine “Kit” Tyler, a young orphan who, in 1687, travels from the tropical island of Barbados to the stark Puritan colony of Connecticut. With her flashy clothes and aristocratic roots, Kit doesn’t fit in with the piety or plainness of her new extended family. Feeling out of place, Kit befriends another outsider, the Quaker Hannah Tupper.

When a fever strikes the children of Wethersfield, the residents accuse Hannah of bringing the plague upon the town. Kit too faces accusations of witchcraft, simply for befriending the woman no one else would touch. History nerds will love The Witch of Blackbird Pond for its richly detailed depiction of day-to-day life in late 17th-century New England. The novel really is a historical treasure trove with fascinating descriptions of corn husking, wool carding, and good old-fashioned courtship.