Compare And Contrast American Colonies

In the 16th and 17th centuries many colonies were starting to appear all over the Eastern Cost of America. All of Europe countries were interested in colonies, from Spain to England and even France. To the naked eye these colonies may have seemed very similar, but they were very different. Most of the population of these colonies arrived on boats that sailed from various European countries. Many colonies suffered through the early years from famine and death, and also poor planning. If we were to investigate these colonies we would find many differences; many of these differences are what made these colonies the country that we live in today, The United Stated of America. The two colonies that we will be investigating are the New England Puritan
Colonies and The Chesapeake colonies in Virginia. Each colony was founded differently and under different terms. Some came to seek religious freedom while others just simply escape from the English Monarch. Also, some settlers came just simply explore the west. These colonies didn't just sit there, these settlers developed these colonies, and some went through hardships, while others succeeded in further developing into a nation. In this essay it will investigate the early New England and Chesapeake colonies and their settlement and transformations over the years.
The first colony to be settled in America was the Chesapeake colony. Once the joint stock company, The London Company, received its charter from James I in 1606 they sent 144 men, only 104 made it to America. The colonists sailed over to America, up a river that they later named the James River and settled on a peninsula they later named Jamestown. Upon, their arrival they immediately ran into serious problems. Many colonists were highly vulnerable to local diseases, mostly Malaria. The main reason the colonists were there was to find gold, lumber, tar, pitch, and iron. They were hoping to find these resources and use them for export to raise funds for the country. They were wrong and their efforts would have been best directed towards growing food for the colony. The London company many more mistakes. They sent no women, so therefore they could not establish households, and women skills were in high demand. Another major flaw was that they could not reproduce. After the first year on 38 settlers were left from the 104 men that arrived in 1607, fortunately shortly after additional men arrived. They early years of the Jamestown colony were
not very comfortable, but thanks to a large part of Captain John Smith the colony was starting to get into great shape. The following winter only a dozen men died. John smith prepared and led the colony of Jamestown to its best years of it existence. Unfortunately in 1609, Smith was replaced by the colonies first governor Lord De La Warr who was appointed by the Virginia Company(formerly London Company). The colony went through what was known as the "starving time" which it was exactly as it sounds, but something good came out of this. The colony discovered the crop tobacco. This crop immediately became a cash crop and to push the demand to grow tobacco, the Virginia Company started what was known as the "Headright System" which basically means that if u served time on a farm growing tobacco for a set number of years then you would be rewarded by getting acres of land. This could also be known as the start of slavery, because it was "slave" labor that was used on these farms, but at least they were rewarded. The ability to grow crops also raised the demand for increases in technology. This colony was settled specifically for the purpose to find resources and grow a cash crop, basically used to make money. They hoped to use it to gain a western vantage point with money and their military power as you would see later in the colonies. The New England colonies were established at the same time the Chesapeake colonies were in 1606. The development of this colony had its problems, much like those of the Chesapeake colonies. The first colony to be colonized was the colony of Plymouth, known as the Plymouth Plantation. They left England looking for freedom of worship, unlike those of the Chesapeake colony seeing resources and money. John Smith, after leaving Jamestown, arrived up north to help the Plymouth colony develop. The settlers called themselves "The Pilgrims". They suffered many hardships and due to the poor planning for the harsh and cold winter months many people died and there were many instances of famine. It was until then that they met the Indians and were shown way of growing crops such as corn, and also provided colonists with furs and other means to keep warm. This colony was a different one as it resisted many of England's attempts to keep control of the colony. Expansion soon followed at Rhode Island and Connecticut was settled; shortly after Maine and New Hampshire were also settled. These expansions and rebellious behavior led to many tax acts that were laid on these colonies. This eventually led to the revolution to follow. England was not very pleased with the colonies that eventually sent military control over the colonies in the 18th century. Religious freedom and freedom from England were the reason for colonization for the New England colonies. The New England and Chesapeake Colonies were different in their reasons for colonization but both made similar mistakes that if were not corrected could have possibly meant the end of the existence of the colony. These colonies both originated form England in attempts for expansion but their reasons for leaving England were different. Religious freedom drove the Northern colonies while the Southern colonies were driven by Tobacco and other cash crops. These colonies were critical players that led to the American Revolution and even further down the line to the Civil War. By studying these colonies we can analyze its differences and its similarities an learn an extreme amount of information about the formation of our current nation.