Jamestown

The movie began with Jametown, Virginia. This became the first permanent British settlement in the New World. There were 500 settlers in the beginning. When John Rolfe arrived there were only 60 of the original. This is called the starving time. People resorted to cannibalism and other means to survive the rough winter. However, Rolfe had a plan. He decided to plant tobacco. His farms flourished, and he started a new cash crop. Rolfe later married Pocahontas. Jamestown became America’s first ‘boom town’, meaning that it flourished and grew. After 2 years thousands of settlers arrived. About 450 miles up the coast settlers moved onto Plymouth rock. Unlike their neighbors down south, these settlers made friends with the Indians. They even helped one tribe attack a different Indian tribe. They moved to the New World to escape religious oppression in England. Their winter was rough. They had no food due to poor soil, and after three months over half of them had died. Eventually, the Indians helped them by showing them tips to survive. They had a feast in late fall; this became Thanksgiving. Tens of thousands soon started making the journey to the New World after the success with the first few colonies. The Dutch settled in New York.

Seven generations later, the colonies and Britain started to have differences. This all started in Boston. The colonists seized Hancock’s ship that stored 100s of casks of wine because the British had put a tax on it. Britain then started putting more strain on the colonies, taxing them more and more. They also started the Navigation Acts, which restricted the colonies importing and exporting. During this time they also started bring slaves over. 10% of the Boston population owned slaves. Then came the Boston Massacre. This began open rebellion from the patriots.

It began with the Boston Tea Party. Then the port is shut down and Massachusetts colonist lose their jobs. On September 4, 1774 the first...