Similarities And Differences In The Two Colonies: The Plymouth Colony

The New England colonies were founded by English Puritans, and a small group of Puritans, called Separatist, sailed to Plymouth on the May Flower in 1620. Next, John Winthrop founded the Massachusetts Bay in 1630. Nonetheless, all of this didn’t come easy to them. In the winter of 1620 – 1621, only forty – four Plymouth pilgrims survived out of 102. The Massachusetts Bay was not a democracy because Winthrop believed common people couldn’t rule. Also, people who challenged the church

In the fall of 1620, nearly 100 religious separatists known as Pilgrims left England to settle an American colony free from the constraints of the Anglican Church of England. The group had received a patent from the King of England to settle near the mouth of the Hudson River in New York. Due to storms during the voyage, they landed further north, near Plymouth Massachusetts, in November 1620. They agreed to settle in Massachusetts and apply for a new patent from the King. While the Pilgrims waited on the new patent, they needed a new structure to maintain order and establish a civil society. Therefore, all of the male Pilgrims developed the Mayflower Compact, to provide a basic governance structure. In this short document, there is a key passages with foundational ideas which were important to the survival of the Plymouth colony, and shaped the future democratic governance structures of America.

In the New World, various resources, climates, and considerable amounts of land allowed numerous opportunities for settlers. Those who once yearned to climb the social ladder or gain the freedoms bestowed from land ownership flocked toward the newfound settlements. Colonization proved to be a grueling task; however, success was found after adapting to the new environment and facing many hardships. Two colonies established early in the seventeenth century included Virginia and New England. Both Virginia and New England were forerunning settlements that differed in the following senses: political, social, and economical.

Leaders of Plymouth and Jamestown are both compare because they both came from England, Native Americans aided the newly incorporated groups by supplying them for food, and both empires resulted in the starvation and death. However, in Jamestown, John Smith set a goal to make money and get rich, developed the idea of everyone for themselves, men were the dominant gender, and Smith abandoned the colony and never decided to return. As for Plymouth, William Bradford 's’ goal was to have religious freedom, the group helped one another, families were unity of the empire, and Bradford was more caring and considerate of his people and remained this way for the rest of his life.

This colony was quite different from Virginia. In Plymouth, everyone was each others backbone, meaning everyone helped each other out. Whether it was crops or building etc. Everybody was entitled to religious freedom, their rights. One difference though is that Bradford was more caring of his people and he remained there the rest of his life.

After the passing of King James I, King Charles II became king. Since the kings changed the colonists were able to create The Virginia House of Burgess which was the first legislative branch of government in America and it gave the colonists the opportunity to control their government ( “Government Structure in Jamestown” n.d.) William Berkeley becomes govern in 1660, elected by the Virgina Assembly. While under Berkeley he created a slavery law. The colonists also created taxes to help pay for governmental expenses and projects. Charles II gave proprietary rights of the land he had and Virginia was one of them and it later on created tension in Jamestown and it followed while under Berkeley control. The Native Americans were attacking the white man and Berkeley was criticized for it. Nathaniel Bacon he apart of the Virginia Council he disobeyed Berkeley and made a small army later defeating the Native American. Berkeley marked Bacon as a traitor. Bacon came back to Jamestown with an army and burned it to the ground. The English sent a royal commission to investigate the matter. With Berkeley and Bacon’s Rebellion it shows us political tension between the govor and an advisory from the Virginia Council ( “Government Structure in Jamestown” n.d.) Plymouth was not seen as a royal colony so it couldn’t really have a government, but they did. Some man on the Mayflower on November 11th established a

The success of colonial unity depended on the scale and causes of that unity. The inhabitants of the different English colonies came from widely different backgrounds, traditions, and histories. A Virginian colonist would have a much different worldview than a colonist from Massachusetts; these differences led to disagreements and disunity. However, most colonies were exceptionally unified within themselves and most colonists did see themselves as part of a greater colonial population. Therefore, the colonists excelled at intra-colonial unity, demonstrated by the creation of numerous colonial constitutions, but struggled with inter-colonial unity, unless faced with a common enemy, due to strong cultural differences between the colonies.

Meaning it pertains to a colony specifically which is expected because at this point in time, colonies were still in their stage of self-protecting. The Mayflower Compact of 1620 was the governing set of laws for Plymouth Colony written by the Separatists/Congregationalists who wanted to separate from the Anglican church in England. The reason for these laws was very simple and straightforward because after “observing some not well affected unity and concord but some appearance of faction” the officials thought it best for all to come together and for a central governing body to be enacted that would maintain order and enact the laws in the name of God as religion at this time played a heavy role in governmental policies to a certain extent (Document 1). This is similar to the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut enacted in 1639. According to their religious beliefs, God required that peace, order, and union be established and maintained which is what they did. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut states that the “Word of God requires that, to maintain the peace and union of such a people, there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people” (Document 2). Both these approaches share many similarities in the fact that unity was created via a centralized internal government with a single ruling body. In addition, religious beliefs heavily dictated the form of

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.

“We must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill,” (Document A) John Winthrop wrote. New England's colonies set high goals for their governments and intertwined them with their Christian faiths. “1. 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,” (Document D) this article shows that they even valued God and Christianity principles in their official government. This created unity and security among the colony. The same could not be said for Virginia, where there was more chaos than government. “We thought it our duty . . . to set forth in this our Declaration, the true state and condition of this country in general and our particular . . . disabilit[y] to . . . [engage in] war at the time of this invasion [by the Dutch. . .. [We] therefore do most humbly beseech your majesty and your most honorable council to consider that Virginia is intersected by so many vast rivers as makes more miles to defend than we have men of trust to defend them,” (Document G) this letter shows that the Virginian government was weak and unable to defend its citizens. This letter, written by Governor Berkeley, would likely be the cause for the colony’s rebellion against him. “Let us trace . . .[the] men in authority and favor to whose hands the dispensation of the countr[y's]

The Chesapeake region had developed a different society partly due to their location. Jamestown was swarming with mosquitos that caused many colonists to obtain a disease. There was a high mortality rate. Many died during the first years in the settlement. Jamestown had many colonists who were in the upper class back in England. Most of them were “gentlemen” and refused to work when settled. The colonists heavily relied on the Natives to give them food. They were very aggressive towards the Natives and often attacked and killed them. Most of the colonists were more focused/motivated on finding gold and were in it for themselves. There were no sense of unity in the communities. New England colonies were completely different from colonies of the Chesapeake region. Colonists in New England were more religious and family orientated. The separatists (Pilgrims) had left England to seek religious freedom and the Puritans sought to reform the church. Although, the Puritans suffered through the first winter, they soon prospered after that. The Pilgrims had been generally kind towards the Natives. They had a peace treaty that lasted for more then 50 years. The New England colonist arrived to the New World with their families, rather than by themselves. They were more focused on family values and had a

The New England colonies originated for religious freedom, therefore forcing a new governing system. Prior to the creation of the colony on land, written contracts and agreements set up a unity before conflicts could arise. The Pilgrims’ set up the Mayflower Compact in 1620, aboard the Mayflower describing a list of compromises and agreements based on religious views that all passengers signed. This compact was the first set of self-governing guidelines in America. John Winthrop drafted A Model of Christian Charity, for his colony outlining the brotherly affection and unity the colony should uphold as an upstanding Christian in 1630 (Document 1).

In the New England Colonies, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were all charter colonies. However, New Hampshire was ruled with a royal government. The government in these regions were influenced by religion. For example, the Massachusetts bay colony was formed by the Puritans and only male church members could be in the government and vote. The Mayflower compact was an important document or agreement within the Massachusetts colony.

Because Virginia and specifically Jamestown came for profit, the people who came reflected that. Most of the colonizers in Jamestown were businessmen and/or gentlemen with no background of hard work, and certainly no useful skills that may benefit the colony. Their manservants also could not provide the labor force they needed, and they came to the New World with the idea they could subvert the natives to do their work for them. They were grievously mistaken, and a result of their folly many of the colonists died from starvation and disease. Poor leadership also contributed to the deaths of the Virginia colony. On the other hand, the settlers in Massachusetts, being that they tended to be craftsmen or farmers in their previous lives, came armed with knowledge that allowed them to build their colonies. Albeit, when they arrived to America, it was winter, and being that they landed in the North, many of them died. However, a strong leader, such like John Winthrop enabled the colonists to establish peaceful relations with the natives and survive through the winter and thrive later on and establish

The colonies were set up by the people’s intention for them as well as the region they so happened to hand at. Almost all of them did not reach their intended purpose for their set up. This however led to many slightly similar and completely different ways of life. The southern and northern colonies both developed because of their specific circumstances as well as the people who live there.