Thus, there was no question about establishing ties with the newcomers arriving from Europe. No North American society was cut off from the world or completely autonomous. They forged alliances and exchange networks, accepted political refugees, and permitted people in need of land and protection to settle in territories that they controlled but could share. Since time immemorial, the original inhabitants of the Americas were accustomed to dealing with strangers. The result was greater freedom for some and unprecedented slavery and dispossession for others, making colonial America a society of greater diversity-for better and for worse-than Europe.Īmerica's indigenous traditions of immigration and freedom created the context that made European colonization possible. Although European ideas of liberty set the tone for what was possible, those liberties looked somewhat different in colonial North America, where indigenous and African peoples and cultures also had some influence.
From the beginning, however, Americans' freedoms were tied to a mixture of religious and ethnic affiliations that privileged some inhabitants of North America over others. The United States of America has a reputation as a beacon of freedom and diversity from the colonial period of its history.
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