Paste your essay in here…John Cha
Hodgins
APUSH, Period 2
16 September 2018
The first colonization of the Americas was Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and in 1628, the Massachusetts Bay colony came to existence. Both were from British origins, but they had come to colonize for different motivations. The Massachusett Colonies had strong Puritan influences which greatly influenced their lifestyles and views of the natives and the Jamestown colony had colonized mainly to gain wealth quickly due to the promises of gold. So the New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by people of English origin, but the regions became two distinct society by 1700 due to New England being driven by Christianity and the Chesapeake wanting to economically grow.
The New England colony had strong religious influences and motivations during their colonization. Many Puritans were persecuted back in England, so they were motivated to colonize the Americas. The presence of religious influences is evident in John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity.” Winthrop declares that the church and state must work hand in hand, as they are God’s people, in order to make a “city upon a hill” (Doc 1). City upon a hill is a well known reference from the bible and is used here with the purpose of using biblical lines to prove that God wants them to unite as one and become an example/role model to other churches by becoming a city upon a hill. They clearly felt as though they were superior to other people around them and needed to educate outsiders to be like them. By using Christianity to prove that God relied on them to show others how to live, this probably made people feel responsible in contributing to community often in the name of God. The Articles of Agreement in Springfield Massachusetts, also uses Christianity as a foundation for their town as they promote religious and communal value to their new town such as getting, as fast as possible “some Godly and faithful minister with whom we purpose to join in church covenant to walk in all the ways of Christ” (Doc 3). This shows the emphasis the put on the minister as they believed that they need a pastor in order to be a good christian. The purpose of this document was to not only share their vision for their new town which they expect to have economic diverse people, but to justify the document with God’s approval which is a crucial parallel between the New England regions. In Connecticut, Christianity was also used to boost communal values. In the Wage and Price Regulations in Connecticut, they explain the need to make “moderate profit as may enable them to serve God… they do not enrich themselves suddenly and inordinately (by oppressing prices and wages)” (Doc 5). Connecticut’s philosophy was to only get what you need to survive in order to keep a healthy economy. The purpose of this document was to correct poverty so that the town could keep growing economically without people trying to benefit themselves at the expense of others. This document was built around the wage labor in the North and shows that screwing people over to become wealthy is ungodly. Again, this document uses God to discourage or encourage an action. By saying it’s not favorable in God’s eyes to be getting rich alone and selfishly benefit, people were discouraged in dabbling in worldly desires and it influenced cultural values and morals as well. The Ship’s list of Emigrants Bound for New England (Doc 4) shows a list of people that went to New England and it is evident that many people traveled as a family. Joseph Hull, a minister, traveled with his wife, six daughters, one son and three servants. The purpose of this list was to document the list of people that traveled to New England but many things can be analyzed from this. The fact that many people traveled as families show unity and the overall communal values of the Puritan community. There is diversity in gender and age which show that people in this community will not be only catered toward men but to children and women as well.
On the other hand, the Chesapeake region was more motivated in gaining economic wealth rather than in doing God’s will. The Ship’s List of Emigrants Bound for Virginia, similar to the list for New England, lists people that boarded the ship headed for Virginia.(Doc2) The difference, however, is that everyone is male and the age range is only 14-32. These men were looking to make quick money and were almost always uneducated and poor which meant that their status would be very low and would have to suffer harsh conditions and work hard labor. These men also aren’t traveling with a family which shows that these men are either too young or that family values are high and the need for money is greater. They all came with a greed and a dream to get rich, but these dreams didn’t come true. The greed in wanting to make money is noticeable in Captain John Smith’s History of Virginia when he writes about the gold seekers who “made all men their slaves… There was no talk,… but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold” (Doc 6). The motivation for coming to the Americas is clear for these people who were only interested in getting rich quick from gold. Though many expected to find an abundance of gold, they were instead faced with a cold frost where more than half died. The purpose of this document was to show the harsh conditions of the colony but to also show how the rich vs poor economy was promoted. The distinction between the rich and the poor are clear because after all the tragic death of their comrades, the rich blindly promised the poor to repay all their losses and hardships with gold by making them into slaves. The poor had no choice but to difficult labor under harsh conditions. The promotion of the rich vs poor economy is also seen in Governor Berkeley and His Council on their Inability to Defend Virginia Against a Dutch Attack. The rich are worried of poor whites or slaves rebelling: “Virginia is intersected by so many vast rivers as makes more miles to defend than we have men of trust to defend them… single freemen or men in such debt,… we may reasonably expect upon any small advantage the enemy may gain upon us” (Doc 7). They must’ve been, clearly, a poorly managed economy due to the fact that people who were in debt would be willing to rebel and support the opposing side. Berkeley was more concerned that his people might rebel rather than worrying about the possible Dutch attacks. He didn’t want the poorer class to try to benefit by helping the Dutch and taking some of the riches themselves as well. The purpose of this document is to convince the reader to help before the poor actually rebelled. One can see how big of a gap the rich class was from the poor that the rich were worried of imminent betrayal. In Bacon’s Manifesto, the results of the fear and distrust between the two classes are seen. The limited economic freedom that was given to the poor is evident and the poor felt as though the rich were “unworthy favorites and juggling parasites whose tottering fortunes have been repaired and supported at the public charge” (Doc 8). Bacon and his comrades didn’t have the thoughts of rebelling against the government, but were frustrated by the fact that the rich were too rich and that the margins between the classes were too great.
Though New England and the Chesapeake regions came from English origins and co-existed during the same time in America, the colonies greatly differed mainly due to the fact that New England put value in community and religion whereas the Chesapeake regions put emphasis on making money as fast as possible.