I have to write an essay for a US History class.  I'm *not* asking for
anyone to write this essay for me (although I'll give you a really
good rating if you do ;-D ); just help me with it.  Give me some
facts to base the essay on, etc.

"The geographic condition of the three major areas of settlement - New
England, Mid-Atlantic, and the South - were the primary factors in
determining the difference in the colonial way of life in these three
areas."
- Evaluate this statement.
- Judge the validity of this statement
- Weigh pros and cons; accept or reject the truth of the statement after analysis.
- Decide your opinion - your evaluation.
- Begin paper with a thesis then support your evaluation.

Any suggestions for my thesis statement would help.  Or suggestions for what "my
opinion" should be...since I don't really have one.  Basically the
time range of this essay should be anything between the first European
settlements in America, up until the Declaration of Independence -
nothing after that.

Wasn't sure what the best category was for this question.  Should I
have posted it in Science > Agriculture and Farming?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 15 Sep 2005 20:22 PDT

I think you should go with a thesis that rejects -- in part -- the
given statement.  Something along the lines of:  'geography was an
important -- but not the primary -- factor in determining blah,
blah....'


It pays to remember that the areas in question were already settled
before the Europeans arrived.  If geography were the sole determinant,
then the native Americans would have diverged in much the same ways as
the European settlers.

Why didn't they?  The key influences are probably cultural heritage,
and technological sophistication.  The European settlers certainly
differed from each other in these areas, though certainly not as much
as they differed from the Indians.  Even so, these factors played a
large role in how they settled the new land.

One would hardly expect Spaniards settling in Florida to govern
themselves in the same manner as Puritans settling in Massachusetts,
geography notwithstanding.

so there's a bit to get started with.  Perhaps another researcher will
fill in a few more details to provide you with a complete answer to
your question.

Good luck.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by yomamadj1-ga on 16 Sep 2005 04:31 PDT

Thanks for the help.  It says I have to respond.

Hi,
You will need to define the differences in the colonial way of life in
each area, whereby, I expect, it will come out that the southern
Atlantic coastal region was more favorable to specialized agricultural
exploitation  - and slavery - from its geography and climate. 
(Personally, I doubt that if the Pilgrims and Puritans had first
settled there, that they would have been able to avoid this
development in the early 18th century.)
The early settlers in the Mid-Atlantic area  - Swedes, Dutch and
Germans -  found a climate and geography favorable to their
agricultural experience, allowing them to prosper from their own
efforts.
The Indians were in an entirely different situation, being subsistance
farmers (hunters and gatherers), whereas the Europeans had the
opportunity to export surplus production.

Just a bit more to complement Pafalafa's posting.
Good luck, Myoarin

I'm not so sure about this
- the immigration was not entirely random
- the vast majority of the settlers had a pretty good idea where they were going

In effect they were presented with a smorgasbord
- one would expect cultural differentiation in who eats what from a
smorgasbord in a restaurant filled with people from very different
areas.

Also, until quite late on, the cash crops that were exported needed to
be pretty high value to merit the cost of transportation.

My guess is that there was a fair bit of Darwinian Natural Selection