In 1680, most European settlers were English. By 1770, the colonies had become a "polyglot" society. Waves of Scots, Germans, Dutch, Swiss, and French Huguenots joined a landscape already inhabited by Native Americans and a rapidly growing population of enslaved Africans. This "unprecedented jumble of peoples" created a unique ethnic and racial diversity that we still recognize as fundamentally American today. 2. The Birth of Global Consumerism
Forget the image of the simple, self-sufficient pioneer. Butler reveals a colonial economy that was aggressive, profit-driven, and tied to international markets. Becoming America: The Revolution before 1776 fr...
When we think of the American Revolution, we usually think of 1776—muskets, tea parties, and the Declaration of Independence. But according to historian Jon Butler in his book , the real revolution started nearly a century earlier. In 1680, most European settlers were English
