The Virginia Colony vs. The Massachusetts Bay Colony Throughout the 17th century, England sent many colonists to settle in the New World. Later on, the two colonies formed the nation America. This doesn’t mean they began with the same ideals and motives. The motivations and reasons for the founding of the Virginia and Massachusetts Bay colonies varied greatly. The main reasons being between the economic, religious, political, and social reasons. Many European nations, especially England, wished to expand its territory, wealth, and power. For them, it was a competition to gain land and a wealth of precious metals, such as silver and gold, in the New World. Another source of profit was in raw goods. They planned to find raw materials …show more content…
It was the central part of everyone’s lives. The settlers were made to take an oath before they leaved acknowledging the supremacy of the King and the church. The first building constructed was the church and a crossl. As time went on, it was obvious that religion was not a motive in the Jamestown colonists’ minds. Their church soon fell into disrepair and was abandoned altogether. The Massachusetts Bay colonists were Puritans seeking religious freedom and purity. After being persecuted for their beliefs in England, they moved to Holland. Before long, parents felt their children were being influenced by the more liberal beliefs of Holland. The next option was to move to the New World where they could raise their children in a private community surrounded by like-minded families. As Puritan lawyer John Winthrop envisioned the new colony he said, “Wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us.” They wanted to be a model to other settlements and lead the lives they desired in a world were being persecuted for believing what they did was behind …show more content…
Only men who possessed great amounts of land and held a title were allowed to have a place in the government. This raised issues for young sons of aristocrats who had not inherited the land of their father. This meant for them that they did not hold a high title, only that of gentry. To move to the New World meant they could own much land and possibly have a place in the new government established there. For poorer men, they could only speak to their representatives who would then advocate for them in the Assembly. The government established there was a Representative Government based on a model of the government of England. The government of The Massachusetts Bay colony had a different type of government where all “freemen” could vote. This meant any man who owned land and was not an indentured servant or slave. The fact that average men was also a motive for men who felt oppressed not only religiously but as well as
Religion played an enormous role in forming early New England society. The Puritans. who migrated to the United Kingdom in 1630, wanted to attain independence from the church and local executives, who had prohibited them from pursuing their religion (Winship 72). This paper describes the challenges posed to the Puritan orthodoxy by Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams. However, why the Massachusetts Bay colony leaders were unable to tolerate such disputes?
Bths Emily Liu Pd 1 9/28/15 Essay 1 Why was Maryland founded? How did it differ from Virginia colony? Maryland was one of the thirteen colonies owned by the British along the east coast of North America. In 1632, King Charles I of England established a charter, certificate of ownership, to George Calvert also known as Lord Baltimore.
The Massachusetts Bay colony was formed on the idea of having religious freedom and when the colony was already settled the founding governor, John Winthrop, envisioned the colony as a “city upon a hill” that would practice Christian unity and order. Everyone in the colony was to follow
The Pilgrims were interested in gaining wealth once they established their new colony. Years later, the Puritan started a colony in Massachusetts. The Puritans believed that everyone should study Christianity. The Pilgrims believe that everyone has a right to choose what religion that they want to and no one should be forced.
Early American colonies were the base of what it is now known the United States of America. Although almost all of the colonies were from the same time period each colony differed from each other. Some of the colonies differed by their economic system and also by their way of running their colony, their government. Also, the colonies differed from their culture and their way they lived. In addition, the New England and the Chesapeake colonies were not the exception they also differed from each other.
The New England colonies were first founded in the last 16th to 17th century as a sanctuary for differing religious groups. New England was made up of the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. New Hampshire, however, was formed for economic reasons instead of religious ones. The Chesapeake region, which is made up of the colonies of Maryland and Virginia, was founded by the British colonies for the purpose of farming. However, by the 1700’s, despite both being settled by Englishmen, New England and the Chesapeake region had developed differently.
The colonies of Massachusetts and Virginia were a start of the new world for England. These were founded by similar people but, with their strikingly differences, grew into separate political, economic and social structures. Both settlements arose from over-crowdedness in England: people wanted a better life. Virginia was settled by men who were single and looking for opportunities and wealth. They were part of the Anglican religion.
The British colonies in the Chesapeake region and those of the New England region were both similar yet different in certain ways. One because both the colonist that settled there were looking for new opportunities. However, it was mostly second son aristocrats, which means the first born usually inherits the better half of the father’s riches. Their lives in England had either been mistreated or they were unable to flourish economically. Regardless of whether they were searching the land for expansive homesteads, religious freedom, or exchanging and merchant opportunities, the colonist in both regions were searching for another land in the New World.
Massachusetts was one of the most successful colonies, founded by John Winthrop, as the Puritan religion allowed a strict regime of tight government rules and ideals. These colonies also differ
The 13 Colonies are broken down into 3 parts, Middle, Southern, and New England Colonies. There were many similarities and differences between all of the 13 Colonies. Many of them ranging from their climate and geography to the role women and African Americans played. A variety of people came from all around the world to the 13 Colonies for many different reasons. In the Middle Colonies, there was a very diverse population.
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.
There were many differences between the two colonies when it came down to their political systems. First, both colonies were greatly influenced by Governors. This influence can be seen by Sir William Berkeley when he describes that the, “Governors…laid the Foundation of our wealth and industry on the vices of men”. This statement shows that the governors that were in the Jamestown colony had a profound influence during the beginning of their colony. Another thing to note about the Jamestown colony was in Frethorne’s letter when he stated that, “we took two alive and made slaves of them… it was by policy”.
It is very hard to be able to say which factor had a greater impact because to an extent both factors had a huge impact as they coincided with one and other. And basically if you removed one or the other you wouldn’t end up with the same colonies and there is no way of knowing which colonies we would have gotten either. In my opinion I think that the economic factors outweighed the religious factors in colonization. I feel this way because a large number of immigrants migrated to the new colonies in search of a better life as the economy was stronger and possible living standards were better than their previous ones. Let’s not discredit those people who moved to the new colonies to be able to practice their own religion and have their own religious
The European countries founded colonies in the Americas because they could buy cheap resources from their colonies, the colonies would serve as captive markets, and they could collect taxes from the colonists. Colonies were only allowed to trade resources with their mother country and their mother country wanted to buy resources as cheaply as possible. This meant that the colonists had to sell resources to their mother country at low prices even if they could sell their resources for more elsewhere. After buying resources from their colonies, the mother country would make refined goods to sell back to their colonies at a high price with a large profit. The colony would have to buy the goods from their mother country because they could not buy from anyone else, thus creating captive markets.
The two colonies differed politically. “God Almighty in his most holy and wise providence hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, [that]in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, other mean and in subjection” (Doc. A).The New England colony was a representative democracy; they held town meetings. It placed emphasize on having poor and rich families because of the importance of an equal society with representation from all sectors of life. “We intend by God's grace, as soon as we can, with all convenient speed, to procure some Godly and faithful minister with whom we purpose to join in church covenant to walk in all the ways of Christ” (Doc. D).