Plymouth Plantation: A Story of Religious Intent, or Monetary Gain?

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Plymouth Plantation: A Story of Religious Intent, or Monetary Gain?
It is not a stretch to say that if one is to study the history of Europe, or in fact the world, religion is likely one of the most important aspects of nearly any incident or movement in the past 2000 years. What of the colonies that Europe created overseas, however? Are those areas also just as bound to religion as well, or is there something more, something which hold a higher sway that religion? Is Religion the reason behind the colonization that the Europeans did, or was the entire purpose of the colonies to create a source of income, and for economic reasons in general? It is this essay's purpose to state that while economics were a large reason for the colonies, the reason for the creation of the colonies were for a religious purpose for the puritan settlers, but for those that backed them it was a venture in which they hoped would reap them profits.
The new world is something of which much ink has been used to write about it. To make the topic far less broad than simply all of the religious aspects of each colony, it is necessary in this essay to state that the scope of this Essay will be limited to the colonies established in the new world by the puritans from England. This is not meant to reduce the topic but only keep it stream lined and manageable, after all there is so much to write on the topic that there must be limitations placed on what will and what will not, be included. This is largely due to the source material being Of Plymouth Plantation, which focused on the forming of a puritan colony in the new world and had very little to do with any of the other European Empires in any way at all. So, the question of religion versus economics will be l...

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...ligion in their own way without the baleful glares and the harsh penalties that they face back home. While there was no doubt a large monetary interest in building up these colonies for profit, the root cause for them to have existed at all was to create a religious community. Even though there was a economic factor in the creation of the colony, the true first goal was to create a religious colony for the puritan people, however that religious goal was superseded by the goal for the investors who backed the venture to make money.

Works Cited

Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation. New York: Dover Publications Inc., 2006.

Burnham, Michelle. "Merchants, Money, and the Economics of "Plain Style" in William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation." American Literature. no. 4 (2000).

Ward, Harry M. Colonial America: 1607-1763. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1991.

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