75
votes
Accepted
Why did a young George Washington sign a document admitting to assassinating a French military officer?
Short answer
George Washington relied on the translation of a mercenary he knew well and who had previously acted as his translator, Jacob Van Braam, and did not think he was signing a document in ...
- 108k
58
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Portugal found universities in its colonies like Spain?
SHORT ANSWER
Spanish policy was rooted in the tradition of setting up universities in conquered territories, accompanied by the aim of converting the local people to Catholicism in order to bind them ...
- 108k
46
votes
Accepted
Would colonial Maryland have been tolerant to all religions?
No. You can read some on the Maryland Toleration Act in the wiki article, but it basically was for Christians, whether Protestant or Catholic, Anglican, Puritan or Quaker.
The Maryland Toleration ...
- 38.7k
40
votes
Accepted
Why was the Spanish kingdom in America called New Spain if Spain didn't exist as a country back then?
‘Spain’ in the sense of ‘Hispania’, alluding to the Roman province, certainly existed as a concept at the time, even if the Kingdom didn’t (yet). Indeed, there’s several medieval Kings in the Iberian ...
- 1,256
35
votes
Accepted
Is the scarlet letter 'A' a real historical thing?
tl; dr
There were certainly laws requiring that adulterers had to wear the
letter 'A' stitched upon their garments in the late seventeenth
century.
The letter was not required to be scarlet - just a ...
- 77.3k
35
votes
Accepted
How did slavery become permissible in the French West Indies when it was forbidden in France?
Louis X's decree in 1315 did not abolish slavery. That's a historical myth.
First, the ordonnance did not say anything about slaves, and explicitly mentioned that it was applicable to persons "...
- 97.4k
33
votes
Accepted
What's the rationale for shipping coins back to Spain from its colonies?
According to Manuel Moreyra Paz Soldán, El Virreinato de Perú, 1980, p. 79, the coinage embarked on ships corresponded to:
Taxes obtained from the provinces and citizens in America: "recaudación para ...
- 1,900
28
votes
Accepted
Was the Somerset Decision in 1772 in England the real underlying cause of the American Revolutionary war?
He's not 100% wrong that the desire of slaveholders in the States to protect their "property" and the institution itself has been drastically underplayed by Americans in talking about their own ...
- 118k
28
votes
Accepted
Why did it take over 100 years for Britain to begin seriously colonising America?
Here is a list with the major factors. This list focuses on the period Oct 1492 to April 1607 and is extracted from this Timeline of Colonial America. The timeline already contains links to sources ...
- 2,487
26
votes
What's the rationale for shipping coins back to Spain from its colonies?
I'm hoping that this answer will resonate with your "theory of colonial economy", although it is not based on historical sources.
Coins shouldn't be viewed as end products manufactured from a raw ...
- 363
22
votes
Accepted
How densely populated were the Americas prior to European colonization?
Disease plays a significant role. Estimates vary wildly, but there were probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 million people living in the Americas before Columbus. The vast majority of those ...
- 118k
18
votes
Were beaches red with lobsters upon arrival of Columbus?
Adding to what @Alex said "typical" lobsters (i.e., the lobsters that humans eat and the ones that turn red when you cook them) don't even extend as far south as Hispaniola. They are a cold-...
- 387
18
votes
Were there any well-established land trade routes in the US colonies around 1700? What did they look like?
In 1700, the population of the British North American colonies was concentrated mainly along the coast. Roads were terrible and dangerous, and most people would have used the natural highways, the ...
- 5,275
17
votes
What's the rationale for shipping coins back to Spain from its colonies?
Many of the coins shipped to Europe were quickly and crudely minted. These were called cobs. According to a page at Notre Dame University,
The intention in minting these crude but accurately ...
- 269
17
votes
Accepted
Did any Moors accompany Hernando de Soto in his exploration of Mississippi?
I understand that there are four surviving accounts of de Soto's expedition.
Three of those accounts were written by survivors:
Rodrigo Rangel or Ranjel, who was de Soto’s personal secretary;
Luys ...
- 77.3k
17
votes
Accepted
What happened to the British convicts transported to America after the American Revolution?
Transported convicts weren't imprisoned in the North American colonies. Much like the convicts transported to Australia after the loss of Britain's American colonies they were set to work. American ...
- 77.3k
17
votes
Accepted
What was an "alower of Society debts" in colonial America?
Presumably you are referring to an extract from the Essex Historical Records on Richard French, born 1675:
Richard French, born in Topsfield, Aug. 18,
1676, called husbandman and yeoman in deeds, ...
- 72.3k
16
votes
Accepted
Why was slavery profitable in the Southern colonies and not New England?
One important factor was the warmer weather in most parts of the south. That led to two important effects: 1) the cultivability of cash crops such as cotton and sugar, and 2) relatively short winters. ...
- 104k
15
votes
How did Britain govern the thirteen colonies?
Britain governed the 13 colonies through trading companies that were much like the East India Company. The one for Virginia was called the Virginia Company. The one for Massachusetts was the ...
- 104k
15
votes
Accepted
Did Continental Army officers wear wigs or keep their hair white like their British Army counterparts?
It's important to note here a key distinction between British (army) officers and Continental officers.
The former, overwhelmingly, had purchased their commissions into a specific regiment; and were ...
- 72.3k
14
votes
Accepted
What was the price of going from England to New England as a passenger in the 1600s?
It seems that the Massachusetts Bay company had a rule setting out some costs and the limits on the number of passengers that ships could carry.
A ship of two hundred tons should not carry more than ...
- 77.3k
14
votes
Why did the colonies fight Cresap's War?
The colonies had governors/owners but all of their governing rights came from the king. Officially, colonies were not permitted to go to war but the governors/owners still occasionally participated in ...
- 2,795
13
votes
What's the rationale for shipping coins back to Spain from its colonies?
Gold and Silver are worth so much that their "bulk" is very rarely a problem.
Coins make it easier to count them. Their bulk is increased slightly; say by a factor of 2.
This makes gold 10 g/cm^3 ...
- 360
12
votes
Who were the chief executives of the United States in the thirteen years before George Washington?
George Washington was _not the “first president of the United States”; he was the first president under the Constitution. Before Washington took office in 1789, the United States had sixteen “...
- 6,269
12
votes
Was the Somerset Decision in 1772 in England the real underlying cause of the American Revolutionary war?
I think that there were probably a great many factors that led to the American Revolution. Concerns about the growing anti-slavery movement in the UK were undoubtedly among them.
Although it is true ...
- 77.3k
12
votes
Accepted
How did the education system in Colonial North America work?
(There are quite a number of sources on the internet concerning colonial education, some of which are provided at the end for those who want more than the 'highlights' below.)
The education available ...
- 108k
12
votes
Accepted
How did the Boston Tea Party protest affect the British?
They prevented the tax from being paid, since it was paid on the sale. This paralleled the earlier boycotts on the much large number of items that Parliament attempted to tax.
To make it clear that ...
- 2,077
11
votes
Accepted
Why did the colonies fight Cresap's War?
@ClintEastwood is correct, but I think understates the problem. The fundamental problem is that the Crown relies on colonial Governors for all executive functions. At one point (sorry - cannot ...
MCW♦
- 32.3k
11
votes
Accepted
What is the origin of straight municipal boundary line in NJ?
The Keith Line was the result of the East Jersey Surveyor-General's attempt to settle disputes "resulting from the 1676 Quintipartite Deed, which created the two territories". This was ...
- 108k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible