Turning Points in American History
summarized and arranged by  W. Antoniotti  from audio course of Professor E. T. O'Donnell

Part 1 The Early Colonial Period

1. The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1617   

2. 1619 Began Representative Democracy and Slavery

3. Freedom of Religion Began in 1636  

4. All Immigrates Welcomed By 1654 New Amsterdam

5. 1676 King Philip's War Began Centuries of Indian Removal  

6. Freedom of the Press Began with the 1735 Zenger Trial

A turning point
 is when a society takes a new historically significant trajectory
creating a new historical reality.

It may be marked by the emergence of a new technology
and the establishment of a new ideal.

The impact may be immediate or develop over time.

Part 2 Growing a Democratic Republic
Part 3 Growing a Nation

Appendix: 1. One Nation or Eleven
2. Trumpisms a Turning Point?

2/18/24  Please link to, use to educate and share.

#2  1619 Began
Representative Democracy and Slavery

The Jamestown colony had floundered until 1611 when tobacco was introduced to meet growing European demand.  Crops were worked by indentured servants who served for about seven years and then receives free frontier land.

In 1619 Jamestown decided to be governed by a representative democracy. Also two groups of slaves arrived and they were quickly integrated into the economy.  The number of slaves grew very slowly and their treatment was much like that of local indentured servants. By the 1660's freed and existing slaves were becoming numerous enough to be competition for non-slave poor workers. They were also creating other domestic problems making large planters unhappy. This anxiety resulted in laws which removed freedoms from both existing and new slaves.

In 1662 a Virginia law made the child of an enslaved women and  white father a slave whereas they had been free.  Bacon's Rebellion of 1766 resulted when a number of poor landowning recently freed indentured servants and freed slaves were tired of paying taxes to faraway Jamestown. They also formed an army to solve Indian problems.  Issues between Bacon's army and Jamestown developed. Eventually about 1,000 rebels chased the Governor out of the capital. "Government forces from England arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to one more directly under royal control." from The Burning of Jamestown by Howard Pyle 1905. Click to enlarge and view a slide show. Click on Most Pictures to Enlarge

Slaves had once been more expensive but fear of rebellions by indentured servants added to the cost of hiring white and slaves thus became a cheaper source of farm labor. See Why Jamestown Failed

Editor's Note: We have been building our Democracy for almost 400 years and still have a way to go. US criticizing today's fledgling democracy seems a bit hypercritical See The Maryland Toleration Act 1649

#3  Freedom of Religion Got Started in 1636
After Massachusetts Expelled Roger Williams

Roger Williams immigrated from England to Boston in 1631. He refused preaching/teacher work because as a Separatist he did not agree with Boston's less radical Puritans. He left for more Separatist oriented Salem caused Boston's Puritans unhappiness. He soon moved to Separatist Plymouth where he got along with the people and studied the Indians. Eventually he preached ideas too unconventional for Plymouth and by 1633 he was back in Salem. 

Roger Williams preached separatism, denounce as blasphemous the King's claim to Indian land, denounced the Bay Colony's loyalty oath as sacrilegious and he denied the right of civil authority to punish violation of the first five commandments. They related to idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, profanity, dishonoring your parents, and blasphemy. Eventually he was convicted of sedition and heresy. Order to leave Williams took his time but fear of imprisonment forced a quick winter departure where the cold didn't get him because he was helped by his Indian knowledge.

In 1836 he and his followers founded Providence where they signed a pact allowing government that could only deal with civil matters. Anne Hutchinson a Puritan spiritual advisor was also doing her best to upset Puritan Boston and she also ended up in Rhode Island. 

Together they would uphold liberty of conscious. Providence grew rapidly and in 1640 Williams returned to England where his received a charter that allowed relegiouse freedom. Later he would get a more definitive charter specifically granting relegiouse freedom. He felt tolerance was not enough, only freedom would suffice. Other colonies followed and in 1861 even Quaker established Pennsylvania allowed religious freedom. His ideas would travel back to England and in 1869 John Lock would write on limiting government.

Over time the U.S has fostered faith by leaving it alone. This did not eliminate the negative attitude of some toward 19th century arriving Roman Catholics or 21st century Muslims from being looked upon poorly. But we have narrowed disputes. We do not argue over a person's freedom to exercise their religion. Instead we argue about  the public expression of religion such as prayer in public schools and public display of the ten commandments.

See A Concise History of Christianity
Luther's American Legacy
Growth of Religious Toleration

#4  All Immigrates Welcomed
By 1654 New Amsterdam

The Dutch West Easiest Company settlement of New Amsterdam grew rapidly and soon had 500 diverse inhabitants. They spoke eighteen languages. It was established for profit so anyone who worked was welcome. In 1643 twenty-three Jewish people arrived looking for work . They had been expelled from their Portuguese controlled South American Dutch Colony.

Anti-Semitic Governor Peter Stuyvesant wrote Holland asking to exclude them because they were poor and too dependent. The Jews wrote their successful business friends in Holland asking for support with the Dutch West Indies Company. The company decided they could stay as long as they were not a burden. This was a symbolic turning point because most countries restricted immigrants to maintain their cultural, ethnic, and religious identity. There would be four great foreign immigrants waves and while assimilation was not easy, immigrant culture eventual became an important part of our culture. Assimilation is one of many contentious questions that began when during the Colonial period and continues today. Pizza anyone? Click to enlarge and watch a slide show. See Bacon's Declaration in the Name of the People 30 July 1676 and The Failure of West India Company Farming on the Island of Manhattan - Jan Folkerts

#5  The 1676 King Philip's War Began Two Centuries of Indian Removal

many towns and livestock. Many soldiers and noncombatants were killed. The colonies were just as ruthless. Eventually the more numerous, better armed, and more cutthroat united colonists who got help from neutral Indian tribes won the war. King Phillip was beheaded. His body was separated into four parts with his head mounted on a pole and displayed in Plymouth. The per capita civilian losses and savagery of The King Philip's War (1675–1676) were the highest in U.S. History. The process of marginalizing the Indians had begun as had the colony unification process.

One hundred years later writers changed the story from one of a brutal war to one that was more like their current battle against oppressive King George. By middle of the 19th century the story changed again. King Phillips was not like the western savages then stopping America's progress but a noble savage to be admired for his uncorrupted free lifestyle. Rendition of Attacking Native Click!

See Governor William Berkely on Bacon's Rebellion 19 May 1676

# 6  Freedom of the Press Began
with the 1735  Zenger Trial

In late 1733 The New York Weekly Journal  publisher Peter Zenger began printing opinions critical of the corrupt British colonial governor William Cosby. A late 1734 arrest order was executed.  An inappropriately large bale was set. Zenger's lawyers did not pay as they wanted to stir up publicity against the Governor and his friendly judge. Eventually Zenger was charged with seditious liability. The law required the jury only determine if the defendant had perpetrated the material and the judge would decide if it was libelous. Things didn't look good as when the judge dismissed Peter's two lawyers and replaced them with a  governor friendly lawyer. The short trial was about to end when a star Philadelphia defense lawyer took over.

He agreed that his client had published the material but he told  the jury they should acquit because true statements could not be libellee. The jury acquitted.

While no precedent was set what did begin was a belief that liberty required freedom of the press and speech. The trial would be publicized and soon state governors began acting more responsibly.

It would take decades to determine the exact legalities of freedom of the press and speech. President Adams would  pass Alien and Sedition Acts to stop an adversarial press. Only a few were  prosecuted though some were jailed. The law  was repealed under President Jefferson. Leaders of every following generation have had freedom of the press and speech issues during difficult periods. Click to enlarge.                 See 21st Century Fake News
 

Appendix . One Nation or Eleven

Source

1. The First Nations American natives worked well with French in Northern areas until broken promises and English beliefs about their own superiority soured them.

2. El Norte – These outposts of Spain's Colonial Empire consisted of independent minded Spanish frontiersman ranchers coming up from Mexico.

3. New France – Expanding the French colonies, these furs trading explorers wanted to take care of the lands they settled in Canada and upper New England. They were explorers, not terribly ideological, who wanted to trade. They integrated peacefully with Native Americans and wanted to take care of the land.

4. Yankeedom – Founders wanted to create a Puritanical fundamentalist Utopia with mandated education, justice, rights for all humans. They hated the English and most wanted freedom of Relegion as long as it was their own.

6. The Midlands – Quaker William Penn wanted a tolerant isolated Quaker anti-slavery society. They loathed the Yankee religious theocracies.

7. Tidewater – English gentry created estates in Virginia using indentured servitude but they switched to slavery when the indentured servitude system degraded.

8. Deep South – English traders from Barbados where they acquired resources using violence and slavery. In Charleston they grew cotton in a society designed to benefit a wealthy few.

9. Greater Appalachia –Mostly  lowland  contrarians from Scotland and Ireland came to  escaped English domination. They settled in poorer Appalachians lands. These hearty people valued individual liberty.

10. The Left Coast – Ingenious people who moved West to preserve the land's natural beauty. Wanted a  utopian planned educated community.

The Far West – Explorers, hunters and. adventures were joined by East Coast anti-government capitalists. They  railroads and river transport to create wealth from mining, lumber and oil.

Part 2 Growing a Democratic Republic
7. Instigators Finally Hit a Nerve With The 1773 Boston Tea Party  
8. A Hesitant Reluctant 1776 Nation Seeks Freedom   9. The French Save the Day   10. Shays 1786 Tax Rebellion Leads to a Constitution
12. 1800 Sees First Peaceful Democratic Power Transfer  13. Marshal's 1803 Power Grab Creates a Third Separate Power   
15._Who Are the People of We the People?   23 Who Protects the Unalienable 1866 Rights of Whom   
25 The 1870's Take Away Unalienable Rights  33. 1930s Safety Net Deficits, Like War Deficits, Prove Attractive

Part 3 Growing a Nation
11. A 1789 Brain Drain Begins US Industrial Revolution   14. A Transportation Revolution for a Growing Nation
20. Mexican War and Western Expansion Becomes Manifest Destiny   28. War With Spain Means Manifest Destiny Rides Again
21) 1862 Go West, Young Man! The Homestead Act   24) 1872 Open Spaces—The National Parks    31) 1903 Second Transportation Revolution
32) 1909 The Scourge of the South Expands Government   33) Vote for Women

Part 4 Protecting a Divided Nation
1862 Terrible Reality—The Battle of Antietam at why it is important    1873 Bloody Sunday—Ending Reconstruction
1886 The First Red Scare—Haymarket    1919 Strikes and Bombs—The Year of Upheaval
Part 4 A Changing Culture4
1845 The Ultimate American Game—Baseball    1821 The Second Great Awakening- people are reborn   1831 Abolition, a Righteous Crusade
1873 Colfax Massacre ends reconstruction    1876 How the West Was Won and Lost—Custer   1900 The Great Migration to the Promised Land
1901 That Damned Cowboy! Theodore Roosevelt   1945 The Land of Lawns   1950 Birth of TV   1960 Power to Choose the Pill
1975 Personal Computers Bring a Digital Age