William Bradford Research Paper

First off, Jamestown was mostly made up of men who had traveled for business, while Plymouth was populated by women, men, and children who pilgrimaged for religious security. Because of their reasons for travel Jamestown colonist were self seeking, and self serving, but the Puritans never hesitated to help their fellow Puritans. The leaders of these colonies were also abundantly different. Smith was boastful and made himself out to be a hero of some sort, Meanwhile, Bradford was humble and gave God credit for his and the colony’s accomplishments.

William Bradford wrote Of Plymouth Plantation to inform readers about his journey to the new world. Bradford joined the Puritans when he was a young boy, which he later on separated from. Bradford came to the new world in search of religious freedom. The Puritans

“The General History of Virginia” and “Of Plymouth Plantation” are similar and different in many ways. They are the first settlers of America and came for different reasons, different goals, and different ways of life. Although they were different they both risked their lives for a new life in return. John Smith and William Bradford were two different people. John Smith was an Adventurer and William Bradford was a Puritan. Their differences and similarities personified through two works of writing.

In Of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford writes of multiple acts of God’s divine providence acting on the Pilgrims during their journey to Virginia and the subsequent founding of Plymouth Plantation. Bradford’s portrayal of events he labels providence, such as the death of the lusty seaman, the finding of the corn seeds by the exploring party, and the repulse of the Native American attack, shows his belief that God acted through natural events and reveals aspects of Puritan theology and thinking.

The Plymouth colony was originally intended to be in Virginia but the Mayflower veered off course and landed in Cape Cod, modern day Massachusetts. The Plymouth colony was founded by the radical Puritan sect called the Separatists (also known as the Pilgrims). This colony was founded to escape the persecution of the British crown. Conveniently, the location of their colony placed them outside the jurisdiction of British rule which allowed them to form their own government based on the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact allowed them to create their own laws and made them no longer subjects of British

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.

In comparison Virginia and Plymouth had a reason for colonizing in the Americas. It natural that any foreigner would want more money and especially in a placed where no one has touched it. They both had a purpose of being here in the Americas, the colonist had good soil for the plantations and for growing new different groups in the field, and the pilgrims had a very rocky soil and it limited their farming skills, so the colonists had an advantage. The pilgrims were more involved in conflicts with the native Americans that the colonists, they were both were associated with them but numerous times the pilgrims had conflicts with them.The colonists from Virginia and Plymouth both came for the British monarchy of England. Complemnetary to this the colonies had some starvation rapidly going on in their civilizations and also a numerous titanic load of people died. When they arrived in the Americas the native Americans helped them by supplying food because they were not used to the different soils and plantations that they had back in England. The people of Virginia wanted to be wealthy and the puritans from Plymouth came because of religious freedom and because they had religious persecution in their native homelands. Bradford stays as governor in the colonies until the rest of his life and John Smith does not stay, he leaves after an accidental incident happened and he leaves the Americas and goes back to

William Bradford and John Smith were both early American writers; however, their writing styles were very different. They began writing around the same time with Smith starting in 1608 and Bradford starting in 1630. Smith wrote three books: A Description of New England, The General History, and A True Relation. However, Bradford wrote only one book called Of Plymouth Plantation. Bradford’s writing style is easy to read but still well written. Smith’s writing, on the other hand, is difficult to follow. In Smith’s The General History, he expresses that he has a low regard for the Native Americans in the way he frequently refers to them as savages. On the other hand, Bradford demonstrates a high regard for them when he wrote about them helping the Plymouth settlement. Just as their writing styles are different, so are their motives for writing. Bradford wrote because he did not want the Plymouth Plantation settlement to be forgotten, whereas Smith wrote for money and to promote exploration of the New World. The theme of Smith’s writing was very secular, even

Well both Virginia and Plymouth had a reason for colonizing in the americas. It natural that any foreigner would want more money and especially in a placed where no one has touched it. They both had a purpose of being here in the americas, the colonist had good soil for the plantations and for growing new different groups in the field, and the pilgrims had a very rocky soil and it limited their farming skills, so the colonists had an advantage. The pilgrims were more involved in conflicts with the native americans that the colonists, they were both were but more them. The colonists from Virginia and plymouth both came for the british monarchy of England. Both colonies had some starvation rapidly going on in their civilizations and also a numerous titanic load of people died. When they arrived in the americas the native americans helped them by supplying food because they were not used to the different soils and plantations that they had back in england. The people of Virginia wanted to be wealthy and the puritans from plymouth came because of religious freedom and because they had religious persecution in their native homelands. Bradford stays as governor in the colonies until the rest of his life and John Smith does not stay, he leaves after an accidental incident happened and he leaves the americas and goes back to england. Both of their journey were not that of easy, they both suffered from

William Bradford’s writing displays his Puritan faith by including many of their ideals throughout Of Plymouth Plantation. Bradford’s beliefs give his writing a simple and unembellished style, like that of Puritan dress. Furthermore, He demonstrates his faith by including the Puritan concept of election. Foremost, Bradford displays his faith by incorporating providence into his writing. For example, he infers that their trip across the Atlantic ended safely only through God’s intervention. Throughout Of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford exhibits these aspects of his Puritan faith and lifestyle through his simplistic writing style.

Throughout William Bradford’s “Of Plymouth Plantation”, his attachment to his religion was very strong and very verbally shown throughout his work. Bradford was between the age of twelve and thirteen when he had first heard his first sermon by a minister named Richard Clyfton and he later joined with Clyfton in the year 1606. Bradford begins with “…some godly and zealous preachers, and God’s blessings on their labors…” God is already being praised in the first few sentences of this work to bless the labor of their works and throughout the land. The goal of this paper is to bring into light three different sections throughout the work, where Bradford uses his religion to prove a point and to show how his religious faith is freely expressed by leaving England.

In comparison, these two groups came to this land for different reasons. To begin with the only thing Captain John Smith and his men were looking for was gold so that they could be financially prosperous in this new land. While Captain Smith was looking for riches Mr. Bradford searched for something completely different. Him and his fellow Puritans came in search of religious

Leader of the surviving Pilgrims, he settled them at Plymouth. Bradford considered natives "savage", thus conflict soon erupted with the neighboring tribes. Then they were overwhelmed with an influx of non-Pilgrims into the area.

Separatists and Puritans, people who wanted to leave or purify the Church of England, were the main Pilgrims who left on the Mayflower. It would later be called the Great Migration.They wanted to make a new colony in Virginia but were set off course by a huge storm and landed on Cape Cod. They then made the first governing document known as the Mayflower Compact. It stated that they all must listen and obey the laws of the colony. John Winthrop was a major effect on the 13 colonies and on Plymouth. He brought over immigrants and played a role as Plymouths leader for a

William Bradford wrote, ‘Of Plymouth Plantation’ written sometime between the years 1630-1651 serves as an historical account of the Pilgrims’ voyage and colonization in America. Bradford was born in England but became a separatist, and in 1620, sailed with his wife for America aboard the Mayflower in search of religious freedom. Bradford was a prominent member of the colony, even becoming governor for many years. His written account is still largely considered one the most important historical documents of the Colonization period. However, although viewed as an established historical piece, Bradford exhibits some bias in his historical accounts. His main purpose in writing the book was to convey his world-view/ideology of the Puritan lifestyle and to demonstrate his belief that the establishment of the colony was directly carried out according to God’s divine will. His religious beliefs were demonstrated in the language of the text through the use of a plain-style, third person narrative writing along with his use of biblical illustrations.