Day Seven- New England

Hey

The first thanks giving by Jean Leom Germe Ferris

It´s me. Today we are in New England, which  includes the states Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,Vermont and Rhode Island. New England was populated in the 17th century by Puritans  from England who couldn´t practice their religion there, so they sailed with the "Mayflower" (their ship) to Holland, Amsterdam and tried to live there for a few Years. But they din´t like the way the Dutch lived and decided to live in a free, new world. In 1620 they sailed with 102 men on the ship "Mayflower" to America  TZheir intention was to land in Virginia, but because of autumn storms they landed in today's Plymouth, which they set up after they landed.
  Before they went on land they made the famous "Mayflower contract". The Mayflower contract says that every man can choose their own political beliefs and have rights, the first democracy in America had begun.  The pilgrims were not the first settlers in America, but they are important for the American history because they celebrated the first Thanksgiving in America. And that happened because the Puritans didn´t know how to grow food at first and many of them died in the winter from strange illnesses and starvation. They would have all died if the Native Americans hadn't helped them. They showed the Puritans what they can eat and how to grow food. As a thank you, the Puritans celebrated Thanksgiving with the Native Americans, inviting them to a huge potluck. So you see, the Americans didn't kill the Native Americans from the start, but when in 1626 more Puritans came, the killing stared. The Puritans saw the Native Americans as devils and the townships sold premiums to people who killed Native Americans.
In New England were also the witch-huntings, where women who knew how to use medicine were burned. The most "witches" died in Salem.

Boston Tea Party

Another important event for American history is the " Boston Tea Party". "America" had to follow, at this time still, the British rules and belonged to England. England decided to trade in America too and made very high taxes on tea and other imports, so the "Americans" started to smuggle less expensive tea from Holland. When England sent again expensive tea from England, the Boston people, dressed as Naitve Americans threw 342 boxes of tea into the sea at night. That was the beginning of the War of Independence, that's why New England is sometimes called the birth place of America.

But enough of that, even though it's ( in my opinion) very interesting. Let´s talk about eating again. Specialties from New England are clam chowder, baked beans, thanksgiving turkey, lobster and cakes like pumpkin pie, brownies, American apple pie, and chocolate chip cookies. Because no one of my family (including me) eats clams, and I didn t want to cook baked beans, and it isn't Thanksgiving now, I didn't make any of these things. And lobster is too expensive (around 60 euro=$83), and I don't know where to get it here in Germany, so I made corn soup which they do in  Main.  As a cake I made apple pie, because I LOVE it. Both was very delicious.


Apple Pie