How and under what social and economic conditions did the colonists of the new world evolve into a uniquely American Nation by the eve of the American Revolution?
             I feel that it is the very conflicts that plagued and on multiple occasions threatened to kill the Colonist's dreams of a new free nation that enabled them to develop this "uniquely American Nation" and in effect win their freedom. The great trials that this new society faced molded the colonist's into a group of people that above all other desires had a passion for freedom.
             From its earliest beginnings exploration of the Americas proved to be a dangerous and daunting task. The complete and utter failure of the settlement on Roanoke Island showed that trying to settle in the America's would certainly be no walk in the park. It took a group of people who were completely consumed with their conquest of freedom to produce the first permanent colony in the America's, Jamestown.
             The Pilgrims who settled Jamestown were essentially a desperate crowd who felt that they had no choice but to pursue a new life on a new continent. The political and religious climate in England prior to 1600 left this group of reformists "in the cold" so to speak in relation to their religious freedom at home. Despite Henry the Eighth's defiance of the Roman Catholic Church in the early 1500s the tide in England again began to shift back toward it's roots in Catholicism nearing the end of the century. Along with Queen Mary's accession to power came the reuniting of formal ties between the government and Catholicism which left the Pilgrim's with no other choice in their minds but to find a new home.
             The first settlement at Jamestown was plagued with all sorts of trouble, among these poor housing and inadequate food. To make matters worse, the settlement was located in a marshy area where salt water mixed with the colonist&ap...