Colonial Massachusetts and Colonial Virginia

Throughout 1607 to 1750 colonies in Massachusetts and Virginia were being settled and growing. These two states grew up very different from each other in aspects such as their economic development and it’s affect on their politics.

In 1607, Jamestown in Virginia was the first permanent English settlement. It was in the Chesapeake Bay area. The people abroad the ships had ideas in their heads of digging and mining to find ways of obtaining gold, silver, and copper. It was their incentive to coming to the New World, to earn money. This turned out to be bad for them. They did not gain what they had hoped to get, instead they couldn’t grow crop and faced wilderness problems. The people were not experienced with manual labor to be able to build up this town. They needed people with skills in agriculture and could work.

The London Company who owned the land did not focus their attention on telling people to farm and better improve the life there. The London Company knew very little about Virginia and used get rich quick schemes. Such as finding gold, glassblowing, silk raising, winemaking, and exploring rivers trying to find a way to China.

It seemed as though Jamestown was never going to get anywhere. Jamestown hardly proved an economic benefit. Many of the colonists had died. The only profit there had been was the transport of women to be wives. Then the colonists eventually realized that they needed to produce their own food and keep cattle. They also learned to cultivate tobacco, which they could profitably sell.

The government soon followed. The merchants chose one governor and gave him enough power to control the colonists, at first. Then in 1619, A House of Burgesses, a form of self government was formed. It had chosen delegates from each district that came to Jamestown to inform the governor of local problems. From this came representative government. And by 1624 Virginia began to prosper.

In 1620, Separatists from the Anglican Church called Pilgrims set out for the New World on the Mayflower. It was a move to get away from religious intolerance in England and the bad living style in Holland. Once they landed, having landed in the wrong place they made the Mayflower Compact. It was a document saying there would equal laws and make decisions for the good of the colony. And William Bradford was chosen to be the first governor.

They too had difficulties and many perished due to hunger. But they befriended an Indian, Squanto whom of which could speak English. He taught them where to fish, what to plant, and how to cultivate it. The Pilgrims of Plymouth worked hard getting their crops in the ground at a good time and had plenty of food soon enough. This was the first Thanksgiving feast. However the Pilgrims did not grow in number nor in profits.

In 1629 Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritans were trying to find peace of mind, where they could freely practice their religion.