In the early stages of North American colonization by the English, the colony of Jamestown, Virginia was founded in 1607 (Mailer Handout 1 (6)). Soon after the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in 1629 (Mailer Handout 2 (1)). These two colonies, although close in the time they were founded, have many differences in aspects of their lives and the way they were settled. The colonies have a different religious system, economic system, political system, and they have a different way of doing things; whether that be pertaining to making money, practicing religion, or electing governors. Along with the differences, there are also a sameness between these two colonies. Each colony has been derived from England and has been founded by companies
Often when looking at American history, people tend to lump all the characters and actors involved as similar. This is especially the case in regards to Early American Colonial history. Because the Puritan communities that grew rapidly after John Winthrop’s arrival in 1630 often overshadow the earlier colony at Plymouth, many are lead to assume that all settlers acted in similar ways with regard to land use, religion, and law. By analyzing the writings of William Bradford and John Winthrop, one begins to see differing pictures of colonization in New England.
As the regions began to expand and develop, their motivations for settlement helped to mold their societies. New England was a place where men sought refuge from religious persecution and was established as a haven for religious refugees. Despite this reason for settling, the New Englanders still attempted to spread their own beliefs of religion. As illustrated by John Winthrop in his Model of a Christian Charity, he preached to his fellow colonists that “we shall be a city upon a hill” (Doc A) exemplifying the Puritans’ aspirations of a Holy Utopia. He and countless other New Englanders practiced the belief that they must all work together. They were determined to “mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work.” The Articles of Agreement plainly laid out the basis for the New England region. These articles made New England a cosmopolitan mix of rich and poor families, all being in possession of land and resolute in doing God’s work (Doc D). However, while the New Englanders settled to create a Holy Utopia, the people of the Chesapeake were concerned not only with their religious freedom, but also ...
"Family Structure - US Colonial 1899." The Factbook. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
The colony, Massachusetts Bay was settled under God’s law in the Americas by puritans that decided to leave the church of England as a result of King Charles I’s persecution. The Puritans believed that they need to purify from the mixed doctrines between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic. Inspired by the opportunity that the Americas can offer to them, they decided to establish a community called “Massachusetts Bay” after a name of their puritan corporation “the Massachusetts Bay Company, which settled their first colony in Salem in 1629. They created a Puritan self-governing by developing a government which includes a governor and a representative assembly called the General
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. Hope Leslie; or, Early Times in the Massachusetts. Ed. Mary Kelley. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987.
In the 1600s the land of Massachusetts Bay and Virginia were the first two regions to be colonized in the New World. Both colonies, New England and Chesapeake, had each of their own separate failures and of course, their successes. Virginia’s colony focused immensely on labor and profit which took the attention away from forming community infrastructure and stability which is what allowed Massachusetts Bay to start their settlement on the right foot. Massachusetts Bay, or New England, Puritans were looking for a community wholly or at least predominantly based on religion causing conflict with the church of England. Chesapeake’s uncharitable and irrational behaviors kept them from forming the rather more important characteristics of a community. These perspectives and actual flourishing accomplishments of these two colonies, the Massachusetts Bay colony thrived in all the relevant places: Labor, economy, and community.
It seems important to understand the similarities of the colonial regions in order to comprehend the implications they had. By comparing the Middle Colonies and New England, and by contrasting the future North to the South, it becomes relatively easy to draw patterns.
... Antinomianism in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1636-1638. Boston: John Wilson and Son, 1894.
...t;Notes on Plymouth Colony," William and Mary Quarterly 22 (1965): 264-86. A "localist" focusing on the popular culture of New England, he revised the "high culture" focus of previous historians, preferring to study court records of family documents, land distribution records, tax rolls, estate inventories, and museum artifacts. Demos pursues Pilgrims' perceptions, ideals, and hopes by studying non-narrative data such as vital statistics, property deeds, and settlement records. Demos "has combined this data with his remarkable ability to listen to post and sieves and to evoke the living conditions in thosw crowded Puritan households." He applied Erik Erikson's "life cycles" model to his study of the Puritan family, which he found to display "essential continuity." Demos' most original contribution is his discussion of Puritan child-rearing practices and the traumatic character formation commencing during the second year and culminating in a "tight cluster of anxieties about aggression" (134-37). This study still requires "explication of the political, religious, and socio-economic provincial connections."
Secondly, political backgrounds varied between the colonists. A lot of people came to get away from England and their bureaucratic and insufficient way of governing. In the colonies there was no aristocracy. No nobles, no lords enforcing the King’s laws were p...
Abrams, Rochonne. "The Colonial Childhood of Meriwether Lewis." Abrams, Rochonne. The Colonial Childhood of Meriwether Lewis. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1978. 218-327.
How were the seeds for self-government sown in the early colonies? Why was this important when England started to enforce rules (such as the Intolerable Acts)? Please give specific examples.
...ve in Virginia did not mean immigrants were free from its rule. Upon departing England, those leaving would take an “oath of allegiance and supremacy” (Virginia Ship’s List). This meant that the people owed their loyalty to the monarch of England, not to Virginia itself. The colonists of Virginia could have been frustrated that their head official was chosen by a single person, a person who had no place within their community. In fact, Berkeley, the governor the monarch of England elected, “brought high taxes on the people, increased his power at the expense of local officials and created a monopoly on Indian trade” (Divine, 85). This abuse of power is possibly one of the causes of rebellions, specifically Bacon’s rebellion. This republic government leading the Virginia Colony was an increasingly stark contrast to the Massachusetts’ Colony’s democratic government.
Horn, James. "Roanoke's Lost Colony Found?." American Heritage 60.1 (2010): 60-65. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.