Short Analysis of the Driving Factor Behind Early American Colonists, History


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Short Analysis of the Driving Factor Behind Early American Colonists

Short Analysis of the Driving Factor Behind Early American Colonists Analysis of the Driving Factor Behind Early Colonists Colonists began coming to the new world for a number of reasons. As numerous as the reasons may be they can be separated into two divisions, spiritual and material. In this course we have studied two sets of colonists in depth, the Puritans and the Chesapeake/Virginia colonists. The Puritans made the journey across the Atlantic for spiritual reasons while the settlers of the Chesapeake Bay colony came solely for material reasons. I will attempt to prove this by using “A Modell of Christian Charity” by John Winthrop and “Looking Out for Number One: Conflicting Cultural Values in Early Seventeenth-Century Virginia” by T.H. Breen. I will speak first on the Puritans. There is a famous line in John Winthrop’s 1630 essay about building a “city on a hill.” He says this because “The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and by word throughout the world; we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all believers for God's sake... For this end we must be knit together.” This excerpt shows beyond a shadow of doubt that he saw the Massachusetts Bay Company as an important mission and the fate of the world relied on it’s success. There was further evidence of the driving spiritual aspect in their theological democratic government. There government was very simple. There was a governor elected every year by the town’s citizens. The only people allowed to be a citizen of the town were members of the church. Every aspect of their life revolved around their religion. The main reason they fled to America was to filter “popish idolatry” out of the Church of England and only by extraction from the corruption of Europe. America was their proverbial “clean slate.” Chesapeake Bay Colony settlers had a changing intent. The first settlers in the area were strongly driven by spiritual aspects, though not to the extent of the Puritans. With the discovery of tobacco the potency of religion in colonists lives dwindled. In 1622 Peter Arundle said “any laborious honest man may in a short time become rich in this Country.” Accounts say that the Virginia Colony drew “street toughs and roughnecks fresh from the wars in Ireland.” This subculture of the Jacobean society was a violent one and they would employ this violence at a moments notice. This is where T.H. Breen’s essay received its name; the colonists were “Looking Out for Number One.” In this article Breen suggests that if the original settlers (the religious ones) were to have found a rocky area devoid of marketable goods they would have returned and not began the venture. They came and built large plantations and used large tracks of land. This extraneous use of land is further evidence that the colonists were there for material reasons. There were more indentured servants going to the Chesapeake colony because they were usually lower class citizens looking for a quick fortune. To an extent both colonies were driven by material reasons because the charter for the Massachusetts Colony was funded by profit seeking aristocrats. Both colonies are also alike in the fact that they were seen as the clean slate for their inhabitants. The Puritans clean slate to reform the Church of England was discussed above. There was also a clean slate feel to the Chesapeake colony. As previously stated many Virginia colonists needed a fresh start as far as monetarily. They could come to America as an indentured servant and in a matter of a few years be well on their way to having an insurmountable amount of money. Both of these colonies have had an impact on things today. New England is still a place of religious seriousness and reverence. The ideas have not been as steadfast as John Winthrop or Jonathan Edwards would have liked but their main ideas are still prevalent. As for the Chesapeake colony, plantations are thing of the past being destroyed in the American civil war. Tobacco still remains a main cash crop through out the area. The idea that brought these groups to America also still holds true. America is the land of opportunity. Bibliography:

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