The 14th century marked the beginning of the Commercial Revolution which gave birth to the Age of Exploration. It was during the Age of Exploration that the European nations discovered the Americas. Soon after the discovery, the Spanish began to colonize the southern parts of North America, and the English followed shortly after by colonizing the northeastern coast. The Spanish settlements in the southwest and the northeast New England colonies of the New World were immensely different in terms of the role of religion, the role of government, and the treatment of the indigenous people. The Spanish and New England colonies were significantly different regarding religion because of different religious goals for the settlements and different …show more content…
The government of the Spanish colonies was entirely different from the government of the New England colonies. The Spanish colonies were governed by the viceroyalty system. The viceroyalty system relied on loyalty to the Spanish king. Under this system of government, the king would appoint a governor, the viceroy, to rule over the territory. The Viceroy ruled in place of the Spanish monarch. The Viceroy was expected to up hold the laws and carry out any orders made by the Spanish government. The main responsibility of the Viceroy was to make sure that there was a constant flow of bullion and raw materials sent back to Spain. Viceroys only got to keep their power by staying loyal to the Spanish king. The viceroyalty system allowed the government of the king to rule the colonies via the viceroys who acted as pawns to the king. The people living in the Spanish colonies had no say in the government. Most of the population was made up of Native Americans who had no representation in government, so the Natives had no choice but to follow the Viceroy’s orders. The New England colonies had representative governments. The government for Plymouth was laid out in the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact was the first representative government set up in the New World. The charter used …show more content…
The Spanish and New England colonies were tremendously different because the Spanish enslaved the Natives while the English had a peaceful relationship with the indigenous people. The Spanish enslaved the Native Americans using the encomienda system. Under the encomienda system, the government allowed land owners to control the native people because the Spanish believed the natives needed their protection. The encomienda system was the main source of profit for the Spanish colonies. The enslaved Native Americans were forced to work in dangerous mines to extract bullion. Spaniards could rent an encomienda for a certain number of years, and the rental price included the land and all of the people on it. The indigenous people were expected to pay tribute to their Spanish landlords in the form of bullion and other raw materials. If the natives could not pay the Spanish landlord, then the natives could be tortured or killed. The encomienda system did not allow the native people to be bought or sold. The Native Americans could only be worked under the encomienda system, and the landlords often worked them to death. The New England colonies had a completely opposite relationship with the local Native Americans. The Puritans did not enslave the indigenous people. The relationship
The role of religion in the colonies of New England and the Spanish were incredibly different. Both the Spanish that fled and the New England colonists that fled from England fled from the church, but the English that fled wanted to change the Church completely and the Spaniards were fleeing from the religious conflict between the Catholics and the Muslims. In the New England colonies, the colonists had Anglican beliefs. The colonists were split into mainly two groups, the Separatists and the Puritans. The Separatists wanted to split from the Roman Catholic Church (Anglican
This was different from the Spanish colonies occurred because the Spanish were not friends with the the Indians and did not treat them like people, but rather as slaves.
The Spanish and New England colonies from 1492 to 1700 were significantly similar in terms of treatment of indigenous people. Admittedly, there was a difference in the treatment of indigenous people. The Spanish conquistadors used forced labor through the encomienda system, while the New England colonists did not have forced labor systems. This difference between the treatment happend because the Spanish ran large plantations and needed manual labor, while the New England colonists survived on subsistence farming and had no need for extra labor from the Indians. On the other hand there was a similarity in the forced conversions of the Indians to a Christian faith. This similarity occurred because The Roman Catholic Church saw the Indians as people who were in need of saving and insisted that the Indians
Another major difference between the two colonies was their religious views. The New England colony did not agree with The Church and decided to start their own more pure way of religion in the New World, hence the name Puritans, this was one of the main reasons they embarked on a journey to America (DOC D). The freedom of religion was a promised attribute that England used as part of their propaganda to lure people over to America. The Chesapeake Bay settlers still followed the way of The Church and did not intend to purify themselves in any way. As shown in the documents God was more important to the New England colonists than he was to the Chesapeake Bay colonists. The New England colonists mention how they will incorporate God into their lives in almost every document that they have written. Contrary to that the Chesapeake Bay colonists are not forming their lives around religion they are trying to make a life in the New World for the sole purpose of becoming wealthy and could care less about their religion.
In the seventeenth century both Spanish and English immigrants came to America and settled into new lands. While they both sailed across the sea to a new world they were sailing for different reasons. The Spanish came to America in hope for riches and gold and the English came for religious freedom. Both groups of immigrants established their own separate colonies when they arrived in the Americas with their own economy, religion and politics. The institution that has created the greatest differences between the Spanish Southwest and the English colonies of New England is Religion.
In early American history, North American colonies were very strict with the religion of Christianity.
During the 17th century, many nations started settling all throughout North America. Spanish conquistadors claimed much of the Southwest, while England began to occupy the Northeast. The Spanish and English colonies varied in terms of the impact of religion and control of the economy.
The two countries also contrasted politically. The political system in the Spanish settlements was exclusively aristocratic. Spanish rulers controlled what went on in the New World and the settlements had little self-government. The people actually living in the settlements had to be the elite to be able to have any influence at all. The pureblood Spaniards were on the top of the social ladder and they had the most authority. The “half-breeds” who were a mix of Spanish and Native American were on the lowest rung of the ladder and had little or even no say in what went on. Though the New England colonies were still under the British crown and it’s rule, they had self-government to a large extent. Most of the colonies had a governor and some sort of representative assembly that were chosen by popular vote. Though the only people that could vote were
The Spanish came to the New World with the idea that they were going to practically enslave, convert, or kill the natives. Because of this the Spanish’s treatment for the natives was terrible and very early on. They would use natives to help them find gold and do other manual labor activities. The missionaries would attempt to convert them to Christianity and because a lot would not comply they would end up killing them. Early on the British settlers’ relationship with the native Americans is very different. At first, they were friendly. The first British settlers in a way to live on the Native Americans. North America them was very different from Great Britain, and the Native Americans had lived there for very long time. So, the British settlers took advantage of that and began to trade with the Native Americans and use them in order to help their new settlement survive. Although the Spanish and British relationship with the natives differed at first eventually they both ended up doing the same exact thing. They both killed the Native Americans and cause their societies to be displaced. Even though there and goals were different they both used the exploitation of Native Americans in order to achieve these goals.
During the European age of expansion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, various European nations were colonizing the newly discovered Americas. Spain and France would become prominent players in the Western Hemisphere, both conquering and colonizing new territories. However, each country had different methods of developing their colonies in the New World. Spanish and French settlements contrasted greatly with one another in terms of economic development and Native American relations.
Religious beliefs had its role in making the colonies different from one another. The Anglican religion, which included the Baptists and Presbyterians faiths, didn't have an everyday effect on the way the southerners lived there
England and Spain had very different views on how to rule their colonies. England was not very involved in their colonies, and seemed to let them do whatever they wanted. This led to many of the colonies having small assemblies that held town meetings, and often made supervised the making of laws. These practices differ almost completely from the ones of the Spanish. In most of Spain's colonies the King had appointed viceroys to oversee, and basically rule them. In Spain’s Colonies their monarch held complete control of them, whereas in New England they were mostly self-sufficient. All the small governments in the colonies marked the start of democracy, while in Spain they were still practicing the same ways of the Old World.
During the 15th through 17th centuries, advancements in technology and the desire for new resources spurred the exploration of the New World for both Spain and England. Spain's interest in exploration soon surpassed the rest of the countries in the Old World and the nation began to claim the majority of territory in Central and South America. Spain sent conquistadores to assert their dominance in the New World through violent conquest which resulted in difficult relations with native populations. Although the English did not settle in North America until the early 17th century, well past the period of the Spanish conquest, their methods of colonization were more successful in the long term. The English were able to find economic success
The approaches Britain and Spain had towards colonization were reflected in their treatment of Native Americans. Ultimately, both countries were primarily interested in the expansion of their empires, the enrichment of their economies and their own political power, and their treatment of the natives is indicative of these aims. As Spain’s only purpose for colonization was to conquer land for their empire, the
Colonies of colonial America had different views when it came to religion, but they all had one thing in common. All of the colonies had to some extent,