Herbert Aptheker in his book, “The Colonial Era” published by International Publishers, in
1959, illustrates the history of the American people recounting the beginning of the United
States of America, which was the colonization era. Aptheker was an American historian
and political activist and wrote many books, especially in the fields of African American
history. “The Colonial Era” covers many aspects of how life was in the colonies, from the
arrival of European explorers to the religious movement of the Great Awakening. Some of
the topics that Aptheker analyzes in his book are the immigration of Europeans (European
capitalism), the Atlantic slave trade, relationship between colonists and Indians, colonial
political struggles, and religious events. Additionally, this book also counts with a small
critic assessment by Page Smith, who is a Professor in the University of California.
First of all, “The Colonial Era” begins talking about the factors that led foreign European
countries to explore the new world. According to Aptheker, capitalism was one of the main
reasons why European countries, especially Great Britain, decided to come here. The text
also implies that colonies that belonged to Portugal and Spain, had their market economies
controlled directly under the patronage of the King, whereas in colonies that belonged to
Great Britain were made by mixed forms and with various sponsorship (pg.10). This
means that the colonies developed a source of European capitalism were the King of
England was present, and some people were granted permission to have economic and
political rights by the Kingdom (pg.10). One of the first types of companies in the colonies
was the joint-stock industry, where groups of people and manufacturers invested lots of
money and shared ownership. This was an important transition from feudalism to
capitalism according to Aptheker (pg.11). Not only did the colonies opened opportunities
for capitalism, but European explorers saw this place to have a great quantity of resources
and vast land areas, and recognize this as an opportunity to send people. For example, the
author quotes Sir Walter Raleigh, “We might inhabit some part of these Countries and
settle there such needy people of our country which now trouble the commonwealth and
through want here at home are enforced to commit outrageous offenses, whereby they are
daily consumed by the gallows” meaning that the British will send working class people to
the new world (pg.12). I think that one of the goals of the Europeans was to get rid of the
