Essay about The Success of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

The immigrants that settled the colonies of Chesapeake Bay and New England came to the New World for two different reasons. These differences were noticeable in social structure, economic outlook, and religious background. As the colonies were organized the differences were becoming more and more obvious and affected the way the communities prospered. These differences are evident from both written documents from the colonists and the historical knowledge of this particular period in time.

Jamestown and the Massachusetts Bay Colony had many similarities and differences. Many of these differences were due to their physical location and climatic conditions. The success of both colonies can be contributed to strong leadership and the characteristics of the personalities of the settlers that inhabited each settlement. Many of the early problems in both settlements can be contributed to a lack of knowledge on the parts of the settlers along with attacks from neighboring Native American tribes.

During the early colonization of the East coast of North America, many groups of people of Europe came to the New World such as the Puritans and Quakers. Both the Puritans, led by John Winthrop, and the Quakers, led by William Penn, were escaping persecution from England but each they had their own views and goals in religion, politics, and ethnic relations. Being on the native land of the local Indians, both Penn and Winthrop had to face issues and negotiations with the Indians. Penn and Winthrop had their own separate approaches to politics but they both sought a more just system than the one in England. After being persecuted, both Penn and Winthrop wanted their people to be free worship, but Penn and Winthrop each had their own

In the 1630's and the 1640's, the Puritans traveled to the colonies to detach from their opinion of a convoluted Church of England. They set up towns and started new lives that were all based on their idea of a pure religion. The Puritan's definition of a pure religion did not include many of the ideas of the Church of England. They built the colonies and made a system based upon the idea that God was the most important aspect of life. Puritan ideas and values influenced the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from 1630 through the 1660’s by spreading their beliefs into every facet of daily life. Politically their ideas regarding what was considered sinful behavior and how power was separated among the

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.

One reason for the Colonial Americans’ growth in faith is the fact the era was abundant with religious figures who strove to lead people to God and created guidelines for them to live by. The people of Colonial America were blessed to abide in an “enchanted world of wonders.” These wonders were no doubt brought on by the hand of God, and the recognition of this fact caused new religious leaders to rise up and help people focus on living Godly lives despite the secular distractions that they were presented with. One Puritan leader, John Winthrop, stated, “That which the most in their Churches maintain as a truth in profession only, we must bring into familiar and constant practice, as in this duty of love we must love brotherly without dissimulation, we must love one another with a pure heart fervently we must bear one another’s burdens…” Winthrop not only wanted each individual person to maintain a stronger focus on faith in daily life, he also wanted them to use their faith to unite together, and his Model of Christian Charity showed the people how to accomplish that. Many people tried to abide by these teachings and pass them onto their children before they made their own way in the changing, confusing world because many parents feared their children would “Fall un’wares in Fowler’s snare.”

Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of

John Winthrop's dream was for the Massachusetts colony to be respected by the world for how its people give to others in need and for the relationships people in the community had with each other. The Pilgrims and Puritans came to america to practice their own religion. When the Pilgrims arrived in America; they were supposed to be in Virginia. A storm set them off course and they ended up in Cape Cod. The Pilgrims decided to call the area Plymouth, and because there was no government there; they created a new government known as the Mayflower Compact. When the Puritans came 10 years later with John Winthrop. He wanted to make a government that was based around God and one that would be a good example for other colonies to follow in the future.

Jamestown presented more prospects to colonists than Massachusetts Bay Colony by allowing more than one religion, workers rights, and freedom of speech. Jamestown settlers had a bond from England guarantees the rights of settlers, as they would have had it in England. The Puritans formed the Massachusetts Bay Colony and they established a charter also. Both colonies had their have and have not in them. Massachusetts Bay Colony encourage the church greatly and Jamestown boost working over religion. The starting of a democracy, equality was from Jamestown.

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.

In Edmund S. Morgan’s, The Puritan Dilemma, it was evident that John Winthrop focused his entire life around glorifying God, in turn creating a government that did the same. This ideology translated into the way he shaped and structured Puritan society. Winthrop first focused on the formation of a community of unity and harmony, then built a government that fostered it. All of the governmental structures in place were supporting one main focus of the Puritan society being “a city on a hill.” Citation Further, Puritan society was to act as an example for the surrounding colonies of godly living. Harmony was backed by their ideals of

In the trial of Anne Hutchinson, we meet a well intentioned yet lost people described and labelled as the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Company. These self governing Puritans, once a people who sought God to set them on their way, settled only to be found as a people who simply lost their way. This journey to lost began when first motivated by a desire for religious reform and separation from the liturgy, ceremonies and practices of the Church of England. Once they banned together, they set on their way and traveled in groups to the New World. With the Word of God as their ultimate authority and the desire for a personal relationship with God, these people landed in Boston in 1630 united to self govern the newly founded Massachussets Bay Colony. Unfortunatly, this self rule resulted in a government of intolerance, fear and a liturgy not much different from what was once found in the Church of England. A system designed to set apart outward morality, or sanctification, to strengthen the authority of the Church only worked to neglect the place of true piety purposed to strengthen the spiritual lives of the people it served.

The Puritans came to America in hopes of finding a religious haven. They were trying to separate from the thought to be corrupt Church of England in the seventeenth century. Although the Puritans agreed with some of the that views the Church of England had, most were too liberal for the them and they needed to start a more conservative church. The best place to start was a blank slate, the New World. Developing a new colony was a challenge for the Puritans, but they persevered in their endeavors.

The Puritans came to the America’s, in 1630 from England, didn’t come to spread their religious interest, but to escape from the England law, which prevented the Puritans from pursuing their faiths. Once the Puritans settled, in Massachusetts, they were to believe that God had given them another chance. John Winthrop, Massachusetts governor, and other Puritans believed that they were unworthy of God, where as other felt that God had blessed them. There were multiple discussions over religious views, which lead “ to a willingness to accept difference.” (paragraph 3). Roger Williams, just like the other Puritans, stayed for a bit at Boston before moving to plymouth Colony, with his fellow Pilgrims. Elder William Brewster and Governor William Bradford were disappointed William’s choice in his beliefs, which lead to Roger Williams leaving Plymouth and heading

The Puritans regarded religion so highly that they went as far as making it the focal point of their society. The New England colonies were directly impacted by Puritan philosophy because this is where the ideas of the religion formed and also where they stayed. John Winthrop, a leader of colonial New England, clearly stated that all Puritans must come together to form a beacon of righteousness