Massachusetts Bay Colony Essay

The Chesapeake Bay is a 200-mile-long estuary extending from Norfolk, VA to Havre de grace Maryland. On average this bay contains about 68 trillion liters of water. This bay is the largest estuary in North America. It inhabits more than 3,000 species of plants, animals, and fish. “Since the early twentieth century, the Chesapeake Bay has experienced serious environmental degradation. Problems include large reductions in sea grass, reduced amounts of finfish and shellfish (especially oysters and crab), seasonal depletions in dissolved oxygen, and increases in sedimentation.” (Atkins & Anderson, 2003) These changes are brought on by pollution (Eutrophication and Toxic Contamination), development, deforestation, and agriculture. And according

The New England and Chesapeake colonists settled in the new world for different reasons like religious freedoms in the North and quick profits in the South.

In the very beginning of the British colonies’ rise to importance, a defining factor to its eventual freedom is created, influencing the turn towards a written constitution before the idea of the United States even crossed the minds of revolutionaries. The Mayflower Compact, an important legal document written by colonists waiting to touch land in the Americas in 1620, signifies the importance of written laws and

The government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was simultaneously theocratic, democratic, oligarchic, and authoritarian in different ways. The Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1628 and wanted a well-established government, but they ended up mixing all of these together. This colony was important because it was one of the first provincial and true governments to be introduced into the colonies. It also provided an example to other colonies to base their governments on.

The creation the Mayflower compact was a very significant event in the history of the United States because of its example of a the first type of government in North America. The Mayflower Compact was draw up by a group of people known as Pilgrims in 1620. These people, mostly English, were in search of more religious freedom and better lives in the New World. 100 pilgrims began this journey in September of 1620 (History.com staff). Before, landing in New England, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact. This legal document created “just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices” (History.com staff). This was the first example of a self-government in the New World. The founding fathers would later use many of the ideas in the Mayflower Compact in other governing documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Through these examples, it is clear that the Mayflower Compact is significant to American history because it provided many ideas of self government that are still used in our governing documents today.

The Mayflower Compact, written and signed in 1620 by forty-one white men aboard a ship called the Mayflower, provided basic laws for those who first arrived in America. Eventually the thirteen colonies expanded, which brought an economical benefit and expanded trade for Britain. However, in the mid-1700s, Britain pushed the colonists to their limits, imposing them with unfair taxes. As a result, in 1775, colonists revolted in the American Revolution. When the war ended, colonists gained their freedom, from Britain, with the signing of The Treaty of Paris (1783).

A community is a group of people who work together towards a common goal and share a common interest. Lack of such a quality can and most likely will cause a struggling town or city to fall into the extremes of poverty and wealth. The New England community was so strong and so supportive in comparison to that of the Chesapeake Bay, that it is no wonder they developed into two distinctly different cultures before the year 1700. The Chesapeake region developed into a land of plantations and money-driven owners, with the elite wealthy, almost no middle class, and those in poverty creating the population. New England, on the other hand, had developed into a religion and family based society comprised of mostly middle class families by 1700.

The Mayflower Compact, being the first governing document in the New World, was based on good intentions. William Bradford justifies the Mayflower Compact for the good of the colony and religion. The Mayflower Compact was wrote to combine the people together in the colony. It was to help the colony religiously advance, and to show honor to the King of England by its togetherness. They Mayflower Compact was created for equality in law and in Government. The Mayflower Compact is exactly like a Declaration of Independence for the Colonists. The Mayflower Compact set the outline for the Government in the Virginia colony. This is an example of indepedence because the colonists were self-governing. The colonists were separated from England.

The European migrants of the Chesapeake and the middle colonies viewed the colonies as a source of gold, other minerals as well as land. Many saw colonization as an opportunity to trade with the Indians and for the jobless to seek work. The migrants of the Carolinas and Georgia were mostly farmers and focused on producing commercial crops. The southern colonies were filled with very successful farmers. Three differences that the European migrants who were attracted to the different colonies were geography, religion and trade.

In 1419, Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal began the period of time known as the “Age of Exploration”. Europe’s leading superpowers, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and England, all competed for colonization in unknown territories. Samuel de Champlain colonized along the St. Lawrence River in 1608, Henry Hudson of Holland established Albany in 1609, and Spain established colonies in Mexico and Mesoamerica. In 1607, England established its first colony in North America around the Chesapeake Bay, and nearly a decade later established a second colony in present-day New England. Both New England and the Chesapeake were founded by the British around the same time; however, both colonies developed a different economy, government, and many

This compact was written in 1620, when the colonists wanted to be able to freely live from Great Britain. The colonists wanted self-government. They wanted the King to back off, and let them live freely. The Mayflower Compact says, “for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws,” (The Mayflower Compact 1620). This shows that the colonists wanted the King to let them govern themselves.

For the New England colonies like Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, they had the Mayflower Compact. Their political and government structure had a interrelation between politics and religion. It dictated the economic, political, and social lives of colonists. Each town had meetings, elected legislatures, debated, and issued laws. Voting was allowed to white men who went to church. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, or the Middle Colonies, elected representatives to assemblies. The assemblies would then elect government officials which passed laws and did the decision makings. The Middle Colonies had religious tolerance that was founded by William Penn and practiced by the Quakers and it played a minor role in politics and economy. For the Chesapeake colonies, the House of Burgesses was founded in Jamestown where

The first form of government in the colonies was the Mayflower Compact which inspired political thought leading to the creation of representative bodies such as the House of Burgesses, the first legislative assembly. This started Representative Government where the King appointed governors to specific Royal Colonies. In Virginia, the people felt that their governor abused his power by raising taxes and restricting rights to vote. Their solution was Bacon’s Rebellion, showing that common men could stand up to the wealthy. Years later, the King became less aware of the colonies while they were flourishing as practically independent for this period known as Salutary Neglect. Once they embraced that independence, it continued to escalate through

However, since the voyage was impacted by so many weather and health issues, they had actually ended up settling way further north. This changed the mentality of the passengers, as they sought being outside of Virginia got rid of the validity behind their original contract, and that a new document had to be established in order to maintain peace and order. As result of many intelligent and educated passengers on-board, especially William Brewster being the author of the governing document, the Mayflower Compact was written. The heart and soul of the Mayflower Compacts content is based on the passengers devotion to Christian faith, as well as their sworn loyalty to Lord King James of England. As subjects of King James and followers of God they vowed to work together, create laws, follow the laws they create, and do what is best for the longevity of the colony. On the 11th of November, 1620 the passengers who survived had finally landed in Massachusetts, where they officially witnessed the signing of The Mayflower compact at Cape

John Quincy Adams detailed the compact as, “The only instance in human history of the positive, original, social compact.” This compact seemed to have influenced the Declaration of Independence and the United Sates Constitution. Although the original document does not live, it appears in Mourt’s Relation, a pamphlet on the first year of settlement on Plymouth. For what we know, the text of the Mayflower compact said something like: In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc. Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November [New Style, November 21], in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Dom.