History Project?

Question

I have to do a history report but I don't know who to write about I have to complete a one page essay on a historical personality who influenced American Colonial history during the period from 1607-1763. Does any one have any suggestions on who I should pick??

Answer 1

Here are a few choices

MA: Squanto, Native American who helped Pilgrims
http://www.workersforjesus.com/f25-14.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squanto

MA: John Winthorp, first governor of Massachusetts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Winthrop

RI: Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island
http://www.nps.gov/rowi/historyculture/index.htm

NY: Peter Minuit, founder of Manhattan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Minuit

NY: John Peter Zenger, journalist (tried for sedition, 1735)
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/zenger/zenger.html
http://www.historybuff.com/library/refzenger.html

PA: William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Penn

PA: Benjamin Franklin, journalist (among other things)
http://fi.edu/franklin/
Autobiography: http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/

Good site on Early America:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/

Answer 2

Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) a Puritan dissident thrown out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She went on to found the town of Portsmouth and the colony of Rhode Island, and was a major figure in the development of religious freedom and tolerance in the American Colonies.

Answer 3

Within that time period I'd go for Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, or William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania. Both are great examples of how religious intolerance continued in the colonies, even though the first settlers were themselves "escaping" the same.

Answer 4

George Washington; Ben Franklin; John Smith

Answer 5

William Penn (founder of Pennsylvania).

He actually bought land from native tribes instead of stealing it.

That is why large communities of peaceful Quakers and Amish still live in Pennsylvania today - because Penn was a Quaker, Penn was fair to the tribes and the tribes left the Quakers alone to farm the land bought for and by them.

Answer 6

John Gyles of Pemaquid

Gyles was captured in 1689, and spent the ensuing nine years with the Indians along the Penobscot River and with the French in Canada. The natives soon tired of the too easy amusement of seeing him suffer, and as he managed to avoid death by drowning and frost-bite, he gradually made a place for himself by the humblest usefulness.

Answer 7

Try Eliza Lucas Pinckney.

Answer 8

Check wikipedia.