This week there are two sets of Discussion Board prompts - one set for Chapter 2 and one set for Chapter 3. You are to post an original response to one of the prompts ineither Chapter 2 or 3 (not both

This week there are two sets of Discussion Board prompts - one set for Chapter 2 and one set for Chapter 3. You are to post an original response to one of the prompts ineither Chapter 2 or 3 (not both). You are then to reply to another student's response in the other chapter's Discussion Board. In other words, if your original response is to a prompt in Chapter 3, then your reply must be to a student's post in Chapter 2.

Each of your posts must be a minimum of one paragraph in length and follow the stated guidelines in the Discussion Board rubric found in the syllabus. Creative and original thinking are always appreciated, as is going outside of the required reading to find information pertaining to your posts. The intent of the discussion board prompt/post exercise is to stimulate critical thinking and intellectual discourse. Threads for each prompt have already been created. Please address the student by name whose post you are replying to.

1. Why were the French more successful in building trading forts than in establishing farms or towns in Canada or along the Mississippi drainage?

2.  Discuss the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 in relation to the political, religious, and cultural climate of New England during that period.

3. Examine the impact of European wars in America on the frontier, as well as in significant coastal cities

!!!!!Response: Whether or not Spain or France was more successful in their dealings with the native Americans and accumulation of wealth depends on your definitions of “success” and “wealth.” One would need to also ask “Across what time span?”  In other words, it depends.  Additionally to answer this question comprehensively would be a rather large undertaking in accounting.

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With the example of wealth (for convenience sake) it could be narrowed down more specifically to two main factors.  It could be measured in land acquired or consistent level of trade goods shipped back-and-forth to Europe.  Based purely on land, the Spanish win in this comparison with claims on most of South America, all of Central America, what is now Mexico, the western third of the USA, Texas, and Florida.  Compare that to the areas around Louisiana, the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes, and the eastern portion of Canada.  One of the main reasons for this difference was the difference in approaches to the natives of the new world.  The Spanish were violent, conquering, slave labor capturing, and territorial to the extreme, while the French were more interested in trading the vast quantities of furs that could be sold in the old world.  In order to obtain and ship those furs trading alliances with Native Americans had to be established. 

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On the question of successful dealings with the natives, if you consider capturing slaves for labor a successful interaction, then the Spanish were more successful.  Yet due to native losses, they still had to import replacement slave labor from Africa in order effectively cultivate the land.  If you think that having peaceful alliances while still making great economic gains is a superior mode, then the French were more successful in their dealings with natives (Jones 27-33).