Compare And Contrast Virginia And Massachusetts Colonies

The non-Separatist Puritans secured a royal charter from King Charles I to form the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629. The Massachusetts Bay Company was planned to be a business venture, but was also used as a refuge for Puritans. The Bay Colony quickly became the biggest and most influential of all of the New England colonies. For many years, the charter was used as a constitution for the Company. Governmental power rested with the General Court, who then elected the governor and his assistants.

The new English Chesapeake colonies consisted of Virginia and Maryland and went through quite a lot to colonize. Virginia, the first successful English colony, belonged to the London Company, soon to be called the Virginia Company of London. They originally sent 144 men to explore the land for precious gems, but only 105 made it. These men consisted of gentlemen adventurers, jewelers, and artisans. They brought along no women or farmers as they were not looking to colonize, but to gather gems and explore the land in Jamestown.

Although New England and Virginia both bordered the Atlantic and established in the early 1600s, New Englanders lived thirty years longer (30/60 vs. 40/70), and Virginia had a prevalent presence of indentured slaves and servants. America was first settled by English aristocrats, peasants, goldsmiths, jewelers, barbers, and glassblowers who were unfit to hunt game in forests and rivers and died from typhoid, dysentery, and salt poisoning. Under John Smith’s Virginia/London Company-given rule, he established connections with Powhatan, who traded corn (that kept colonists alive) for iron and guns. His departure made some settlers turn to cannibalism. When tobacco was found profitable, the only other activities men engaged in were sleep and drink.

The Chesapeake and New England colonies are some of the most important English colonies of today. Both have very unique characteristics. The settlers traveled to america as individuals to start a life of their own by creating their own society. The imigrants who colonoized New england where more religious and devout while the Chesapeake settlers came for financial reasons.

England's relationship with the American colonies changed throughout the seventeenth century, ranging from carelessness and neglect to overbearing and controlling. In the mid-1600s, England was overlooking the colonies because back home the crown was fighting to keep its power during a struggle with parliamentarians. Therefore, the ignorance allowed the new colonies to become partly self-governing territories depending on each other with common interests. Also, the English civil war was so distracting that it allowed the New England Confederation to form in America. This collaboration among four colonies was created to ensure safety against potential enemies, such as the Natives, French, or Dutch, and to handle problems inside of the colonies,

In 1607, the first permanent British colony was established in Jamestown in Chesapeake Bay region by the Virginia Company, a joint stock company that received a charter from King James I and sold shares to raise funds. The colonist, led by Captain John Smith, settled at the mouth of the James River. Early years were difficult, the colonists faced conflicts with natives, starvation, and difficulties finding stable sources of food and support. Experiments with tobacco proved successful and the exportable commodity became Virginia’s main source of revenue, providing many of its landowning gentry a comfortable lifestyle throughout the next century and beyond. Half of the settlers in the southern colonies came to America as indentured servants-labors

The Chesapeake people were looking for fortune, and they were looking for it independently for the most part. A map of New England, differed drastically from a map of Chesapeake. Unlike New England, Chesapeake was very spread out with people trying to protect their land (Doc E). It was almost impossible to have a set government with people being so scattered. The families that came to New England were able to settle and govern like “a city upon a hill”, as an example to John Winthrop's ideas in 1630 (Doc C), even though they were not expected to be capable of creating a governing system.

The Jamestown settlement is located in Virginia, it was the first permanent english settlement. They decided to settle there because it was hard for enemies to reach them through the narrow channel, and the thick forest around them provided plenty of lumber and the water surrounding them provided fish. The first colony was founded by a group of investors by the name of the london company. They fell because of lack of preparation, sickness during the winter spread rapidly and many died. In the year of 1624 Virginia fell under the rule of a royal colony and existed under the authority of a governor chosen by the king of England.

As colonies developed in the Americas, various similarities emerged between them. In New England, this included a tendency to oppose control in religious and political aspects. Many colonies formed in the search for religious freedom; however, this was often seen as a threat to the king’s authority. Religious differences often created conflict between the colonies and royal control.

Both the Chesapeake colonies and the New England colonies were vital to Britain’s atlantic trade. They both had large populations and booming economies. However, they both eventually established their own cultures that were different from each other. The colonies’ differing beliefs, environments, and labor lead to the contrasting cultures. The New England Colonies were a Puritanical society, who preached against excess.

Jamestown brought along the promise of economic fortune with it and drew many settlers there in order to grown cash crops such as tobacco and cotton, which cause for those settlers to become part of joint stock companies such as the Virginia Company. 2. In the royal colony of Virginia, early government was established and maintained by a head right system for land distribution to settlers and a representative group that related back to England called the House of Burgesses, while the other neighboring colonies faced threats such as King Opechancanough’s army of Native Americans. 3.

Colonial Virginia and New England had some similarities but many differences. They both developed their own form of government around the same time. First to develop some form of elected assembly was The Virginia Company with The House of Burgesses in 1619. Around that same time in 1620, Pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower had created and agreed to the Mayflower Compact upon arrival at Plymouth Rock, developing their first form of governing body and selecting their own representatives. The purpose of the House of Burgesses was more for profit and wealth and for the Pilgrims it was more for religious freedom and settling on a permanent basis.

Jamestown and the Massachusetts bay colonies influenced the growth of the thirteen colonies. These two colonies opened the doors for additional colonies. In 1607 the London Charter company sent 104 men on a boat to explore the new world and get financial profit from their investments in shares of company stock (gold). When they landed they were in what is now present day Virginia they called their colony Jamestown. Jamestown was a perfect place to settle it had fertile soil and the climate was warm.

Massachusetts was founded by Puritans, Plymouth by separatists and Massachusetts Bay by non-separatists, and it began as a corporate colony, like Virginia. In Plymouth, they had a governor to be led by, which repeatedly was William Bradford. On the other hand, Massachusetts Bay was more of a theocracy, where the church was not officially part of their, politics, but there was not a fine line between the two. The ministers of Massachusetts Bay would be protected by the government and they also had a strong influence on members of the church, so nearly everyone. Massachusetts economy consisted mainly of agriculture such as fishing, corn, and livestock, and manufacturing involving lumber and shipbuilding.

Massachusetts searched for religious freedom, and lumbered and fish because of their geography and climate and their reasons for their economy. However, the Virginia colony farmed for geography and climate reasons, and for their economy. They also enslaved Africans for crop production on plantations. Due to their differences in development, each colony had evolved in separate