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1 A New World
2 Beginnings of English America, 1607–1660
3 Creating Anglo-America, 1660–1750
4 Slavery, Freedom, and the Struggle for Empire, to 1763
5 The American Revolution, 1763–1783
6 The Revolution Within
7 Founding a Nation, 1783–1789
8 Securing the Republic, 1790–1815
9 The Market Revolution, 1800–1840
10 Democracy in America, 1815–1840
11 The Peculiar Institution
12 An Age of Reform, 1820–1840
13 A House Divided, 1840–1861
14 A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, 1861–1865
15 “What Is Freedom?”: Reconstruction, 1865–1877
16 America’s Gilded Age, 1870–1890
17 Freedom’s Boundaries, at Home and Abroad, 1890–1900
18 The Progressive Era, 1900–1916
19 Safe for Democracy: The United States and World War I, 1916–1920
20 From Business Culture to Great Depression: The Twenties, 1920–1932
21 The New Deal, 1932–1940
22 Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941–1945
23 The United States and the Cold War, 1945–1953
24 An Affluent Society, 1953–1960
25 The Sixties, 1960–1968
26 The Triumph of Conservatism, 1969–1988
27 Globalization and Its Discontents, 1989–2000
28 September 11 and the Next American Century

Chapter 3: Creating Anglo-America, 1660–1750

Sources of Freedom

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This chapter concentrates on the reasons behind a colonial crisis and the resulting expansion of liberty. The chapter begins with a description of the growing North American colonies by the Dutch and French. Liberty plays a central role in the New Netherlands and offers a unique comparison to British America. The French empire is also different from British America, particularly in its relationships with the Indians.

The chapter moves on to explore the growth of the English commercial empire through mercantilism, slavery, and the establishment of colonies in New York, Carolina, and Pennsylvania. William Penn, the proprietor of Pennsylvania, is highlighted in the Voices of Freedom box, as his "holy experiment" held many liberties for all of its inhabitants.

A colonial crisis is described through a series of local conflicts such as Bacon's Rebellion, King Philip's War, and the Salem Witch Trials. After the Glorious Revolution, American colonists began to believe that they were entitled to certain liberties. The chapter concludes with a broad look at eighteenth-century colonial society, which was becoming increasingly diverse and consumer driven.


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