William Bradford Speech Summary

However remarkable or pathetic the two government systems were, it is unlikely either colony would have survived without their leaders. In Plymouth, William Bradford was elected as the first governor. He also provided firm leadership, but still very few colonists complained that he was too controlling. Bradford even wrote a history of the first thirty years of the colony, which was later published in a book titled Of Plymouth Plantation. John Smith did not write a history of Jamestown but he did encourage colonists to work at tasks that were required to live instead of hunting for gold. He even became an expert at trading with the Indians to acquire much needed food.

When Patrick Henry gave his famous Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death speech he proved that pens are indeed mightier than swords. That speech undoubtedly lead to the formation of the great nation that we now live in today.

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.

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.

In William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation he articulates that living in young America was a tough life that included dangerous living, starvation and disease. Bradford sailed from Holland with the Pilgrims and when their first governor died in 1621 Bradford was elected. Bradford’s opinion was well respected in the community and he was reelected to his position thirty times. This position gave him the ability to have many of his works published and read by many. An example of him describing the new world as dangerous is when he painted the picture of a wicked forest across “the whole country” . He went on to describe this forest as having a “wild and savage hue”. Another problem addressed in William Bradford’s piece is starvation. He described that once winter arrived many people began to die and by February “half [the] company died”. Finally Bradford described the new world as a haven for disease. As the starvation began to set in in the early winter so did the

The Massachusetts Bay colony was originally founded by a group of Puritans who were led by John Winthrop. John Winthrop was a wealthy and educated Puritan who helped fund the colony on its voyage to the new world and for supplies. He would eventually serve four terms as the governor of the colony. For their efforts King Charles I granted the Massachusetts Bay company a royal charter.A royal charter was a signed order by the King which granted special privileges and powers to either a single person or in this case to the company. This officially made the colony part of the empire and encouraged migration to the settlement.

William Bradford, like Smith, was born in England and became an orphan young in his life. In his youth he lived with several different family members but never stayed anywhere too long. When he was 12 years old he began attending a separatist church the neighboring town of Scrooby. By the time he was 17 he was a full member of the church and considered separating from the official Church of England. Seeking religious freedom Bradford and other members of the church fled to the Netherlands. English influence eventually forced the Separatist out of the Netherlands and they fled to the New World. When they

The language Bradford uses in his excerpt is very effective towards his audience as in the use of pathos and different point of views. The main reason and purpose for his whole writing is to tell the history of the plymouth plantation, and the daily struggles of the pilgrims. With this said it could be concluded that the point of view of Bradford could be affected or altered. The point of view in this excerpt is first person which is told on the view of Bradford himself. He himself sees what is happening from his perspective which would make his writing more thorough and accurate. Since his writing would be more detailed it affects the audience differently as his point of view is now broader and give the audience a sense of current situation.

According to Patrick Henry, “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” (Henry 7). Patrick Henry was able to give an outstanding speech at the Virginia Convention, regarding the actions needing to be taken by the colonists. This speech included the criticizing and denouncing of Great Britain, along with the urging of the colonists to fight for independence. This including that the colonists need to become prepared because the unjust actions of the British were not simply going to go away. Henry urges the colonists to fight for the freedom that they rightfully deserve, and he does it extremely well. In Patrick Henry’s ‘Speech to the Virginia Congress’, he demonstrates passionate pathos appeals and rhetorical questioning to persuade the colonists to stand up for themselves and join the fight for their freedom.

Religion plays a major part in many societies, especially the first 13 colonies. Some colonies were even settled solely to have freedom of religion and escape from religious persecution. Massachusetts was one example, as the Puritans first went to Plymouth in 1620 seeking religious freedom. In terms of the New England colonies overall, they remained Puritan. The idea of religious toleration was restricted to only the Puritan religion. A goal of theirs was to establish a “city on a hill”, which they succeeded at by having an atmosphere of “watchfulness” and helping each other. John Winthrop, a Puritan, served as the first Massachusetts Bay Colony governor. Anyone who did not follow this religion were known as

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

The New England society had a government that used the wrath of religion much more frequently verses the Chesapeake region. John Winthrop leads about 900 settlers to Massachusetts bay colony where just the year before, he was elected governor of the area. As the beginnings of the colony concurs, Winthrop gives

In of Plymouth Plantation William Bradford talks about how the Puritans left England to relish in their own religion beliefs and how things should be handled. While doing so they went through tough

The refuges lived in the Netherlands, first in Amsterdam and then in Leiden, and for a short time, were able to worship in the way they believed in without government harassment. However, life Leiden became extremely difficult, many of the refuges, including Bradford barley made enough of a living as textile workers to support their families. Also during this time, The Netherlands are on the brink of war with Catholic Spain. Pressured by the English King James I, the Dutch government began to harass the refuges to the point of damaging their presses that printed the Separatists literature, to stoning them. The Separatists had finally had enough, deciding to make a new life and a new home overseas, in a new country where they could make their own rules and have the freedom of their religion without prejudice or persecution. This decision is how and when William Bradford first started to show his skills as a leader.