How Did Captain John Smith Make Decisions
Name : Indriana Dewi Lestari
N.I.M. : 08.11.106.101301.0565
Class : Evening
Subject : English Prose II
Idea of Captain John Smith:
His books and maps may have been as important as his deeds, as they encouraged more Englishmen and women to follow the trail he had blazed and to colonize the New World. He gave the name New England to that region, and encouraged people with the comment, "Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land...If he have nothing but his hands, he may...by industrie quickly grow rich."
In Smith’s publication, A Description of New England (1616), he goes so far as to compare the colonists to Adam and Eve; just as Adam and Eve spread productivity throughout the world, the colonists created life in the Virginia colony. Smith essentially sympathized with gentlemen; he knew it was not their fault they were useless and that this trait was merely a product of the imposed standards of English society. He recognized that “they were imprisoned by their own self-imposed limitations. What they could and could not do was decided by their awareness of traditional roles and by the shame that they would feel if others saw them engaged in physical work.” Lemay speculates that as a result of Smith’s strict rules and the emigration to America, these men could shed these roles and create new …show more content…
lives for themselves in which they could celebrate the products of their labors and not feel humiliated.
One of John Smith’s main incentives in writing about his New World experiences and observances was to promote the colonization of The New World by England. Many promotional writers sugar-coated their depictions of America in order to heighten its appeal, but Smith was not one to exaggerate the facts. He was very straightforward with his readers about both the dangers and the possibilities of colonization: instead of proclaiming that there was an abundance of gold in the New World—as many writers did—Smith illustrated that what was truly abundant within America was monetary opportunity in the form of industry. Smith was realistic about his proposition for colonization and the benefits that it could yield. He recognized that no “other motive [besides] wealth…would draw [potential colonists] from their ease and humours at home.” Therefore, he presented in his writings actual industries that could yield significant capital within the New World: fishing, farming, shipbuilding, and fur trading.” In A Description of New England, Smith illustrates America as an ideal environment for such trades and enumerates the monetary benefits that they would bring. Rather than making false promises of abounding gold to his readers, Smith attempted to attract interest for colonization by depicting the opportunities that fertile soil and abundant resources would bring. He insists, however, that only hard workers will be able to reap such benefits. Just as Smith did not exaggerate the possibilities for wealth within America, he did not understate the dangers and toil associated with colonization. He declared that only those with a strong work ethic would be able to “live and succeed in America” in the face of such dangers. Colonists would have to risk their lives in order to benefit from the “phenomenal possibilities” that the New World offered. As a promoter of American colonization, Smith did not placate his readers: he wished for potential colonists to be aware of the dangers that they faced, the work that colonization would require, and the benefits that they stood to gain.
Reference:
Title
A Description of New England (1616): An Online Electronic Text Edition
Authors
John Smith , Captain & Admiral
Paul Royster , editor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
1616
Abstract
John Smith (1580-1631) made one voyage to the coast of Massachusetts and Maine in 1614, and attempted a second one the following year, only to be captured by French pirates and detained for several months near the Azores before escaping and making his way back to England. This book is the story of these two voyages.
Smith went the coast of America north of Virginia to explore the opportunities for fisheries, fur trading, and settlement.
Smith was a veteran soldier, sailor, traveller, explorer, cartographer, and colonist: he had fought the Spanish in France and Italy, the Turks in Hungary and Transylvania, and the Algonkians in Virginia; he had sailed the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and the Caribbean; he had been a prisoner of the Ottomans and a slave in Constantinople, had journeyed through Russia, Europe, and North Africa; he had been both a president and a prisoner in the Jamestown colony, and had explored the Potomac River and mapped the Chesapeake
Bay.
His Description of New England describes the fishing, soils, inhabitants, fauna, flora, and climate of the coastal region from Cape Cod to Penobscot. This work is the first to apply the term “New England” to that portion of the North America from Long Island Sound to Newfoundland. At that time it held a few trading and fishing stations, and French traders from the north and Dutch from the south carried on commerce in furs with the natives. There was a prosperous fishery to the north, where cod were taken by ships from Portugal, Holland, and Spain. To Smith, these were evidence of the richness of commodities to be had, and signs of the strategic importance to England of securing permanent settlements in the region. Smith had departed Virginia in 1609 under a cloud of accusations and had quarrelled with the leaders of the privately-held Virginia Company. Seeking a new arena for colonial opportunities in the new world, Smith saw New England as a place where English life could be transplanted to America, and this work is an extended advertisement and prospectus for investors and settlers, with Smith to provide the expertise and leadership
This open-access online electronic text edition is based on the London edition of 1616, and preserves the spelling and punctuation of that original. Some explanatory notes have been added, along with a discussion of the text and a list of typographical errors corrected.
A PDF version of Smith’s map is included as a supplemental file
N.I.M. : 08.11.106.101301.0565
Class : Evening
Subject : English Prose II
Idea of Captain John Smith:
His books and maps may have been as important as his deeds, as they encouraged more Englishmen and women to follow the trail he had blazed and to colonize the New World. He gave the name New England to that region, and encouraged people with the comment, "Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land...If he have nothing but his hands, he may...by industrie quickly grow rich."
In Smith’s publication, A Description of New England (1616), he goes so far as to compare the colonists to Adam and Eve; just as Adam and Eve spread productivity throughout the world, the colonists created life in the Virginia colony. Smith essentially sympathized with gentlemen; he knew it was not their fault they were useless and that this trait was merely a product of the imposed standards of English society. He recognized that “they were imprisoned by their own self-imposed limitations. What they could and could not do was decided by their awareness of traditional roles and by the shame that they would feel if others saw them engaged in physical work.” Lemay speculates that as a result of Smith’s strict rules and the emigration to America, these men could shed these roles and create new …show more content…
lives for themselves in which they could celebrate the products of their labors and not feel humiliated.
One of John Smith’s main incentives in writing about his New World experiences and observances was to promote the colonization of The New World by England. Many promotional writers sugar-coated their depictions of America in order to heighten its appeal, but Smith was not one to exaggerate the facts. He was very straightforward with his readers about both the dangers and the possibilities of colonization: instead of proclaiming that there was an abundance of gold in the New World—as many writers did—Smith illustrated that what was truly abundant within America was monetary opportunity in the form of industry. Smith was realistic about his proposition for colonization and the benefits that it could yield. He recognized that no “other motive [besides] wealth…would draw [potential colonists] from their ease and humours at home.” Therefore, he presented in his writings actual industries that could yield significant capital within the New World: fishing, farming, shipbuilding, and fur trading.” In A Description of New England, Smith illustrates America as an ideal environment for such trades and enumerates the monetary benefits that they would bring. Rather than making false promises of abounding gold to his readers, Smith attempted to attract interest for colonization by depicting the opportunities that fertile soil and abundant resources would bring. He insists, however, that only hard workers will be able to reap such benefits. Just as Smith did not exaggerate the possibilities for wealth within America, he did not understate the dangers and toil associated with colonization. He declared that only those with a strong work ethic would be able to “live and succeed in America” in the face of such dangers. Colonists would have to risk their lives in order to benefit from the “phenomenal possibilities” that the New World offered. As a promoter of American colonization, Smith did not placate his readers: he wished for potential colonists to be aware of the dangers that they faced, the work that colonization would require, and the benefits that they stood to gain.
Reference:
Title
A Description of New England (1616): An Online Electronic Text Edition
Authors
John Smith , Captain & Admiral
Paul Royster , editor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
1616
Abstract
John Smith (1580-1631) made one voyage to the coast of Massachusetts and Maine in 1614, and attempted a second one the following year, only to be captured by French pirates and detained for several months near the Azores before escaping and making his way back to England. This book is the story of these two voyages.
Smith went the coast of America north of Virginia to explore the opportunities for fisheries, fur trading, and settlement.
Smith was a veteran soldier, sailor, traveller, explorer, cartographer, and colonist: he had fought the Spanish in France and Italy, the Turks in Hungary and Transylvania, and the Algonkians in Virginia; he had sailed the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and the Caribbean; he had been a prisoner of the Ottomans and a slave in Constantinople, had journeyed through Russia, Europe, and North Africa; he had been both a president and a prisoner in the Jamestown colony, and had explored the Potomac River and mapped the Chesapeake
Bay.
His Description of New England describes the fishing, soils, inhabitants, fauna, flora, and climate of the coastal region from Cape Cod to Penobscot. This work is the first to apply the term “New England” to that portion of the North America from Long Island Sound to Newfoundland. At that time it held a few trading and fishing stations, and French traders from the north and Dutch from the south carried on commerce in furs with the natives. There was a prosperous fishery to the north, where cod were taken by ships from Portugal, Holland, and Spain. To Smith, these were evidence of the richness of commodities to be had, and signs of the strategic importance to England of securing permanent settlements in the region. Smith had departed Virginia in 1609 under a cloud of accusations and had quarrelled with the leaders of the privately-held Virginia Company. Seeking a new arena for colonial opportunities in the new world, Smith saw New England as a place where English life could be transplanted to America, and this work is an extended advertisement and prospectus for investors and settlers, with Smith to provide the expertise and leadership
This open-access online electronic text edition is based on the London edition of 1616, and preserves the spelling and punctuation of that original. Some explanatory notes have been added, along with a discussion of the text and a list of typographical errors corrected.
A PDF version of Smith’s map is included as a supplemental file