Analyzing

Documents to Compare English Colonies

When analyzing primary documents, you act as the historian who is attempting to answer a
question based on information you gather from primary sources. You need to use any
background information you might know/be given as well as everything you can gather from
the documents themselves in order to fully answer the question. No doubt, there will be
questions you have about the documents that cant be answered; dont get hung up on this
and try to move on. This is part of the historical process.

Question/Prompt: How did the New England colonies differ from the Southern colonies in the
seventeenth century?


Background Information: Beginning in the early seventeenth century, the English king (King
James I) began granting charters to groups of people who were interested in settling in the New
World. These charters were the official permission needed to start a colony in North America.

The first permanent English colony was established in 1607 and named Jamestown, in honor of
the current English king. The charter was granted to the Virginia Company, a joint stock
company, whose members invested money in the new settlement in hopes that it would
become profitable in the future. In other words, the primary goal of Jamestowns founding was
to make money. Although Jamestown had a very difficult first few years (even enduring what
was called the starving time in 1609-10), it eventually became a very profitable colony thanks
to the cash crop of tobacco.

In 1620, about the time that Jamestown was beginning to experience success, another group of
English men and women were granted a charter to settle in the New World. These people,
known as Pilgrims, eventually created the colony of Plymouth in what is now Massachusetts.
The Pilgrims were not hoping to get rich off of their new settlement; instead, they were
members of the Puritan religious sect, a group whose members were looking to escape the
Church of England. By 1629, additional Puritans had immigrated to the New World and
established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was intended to be a city upon a hill that would
stand as a model of Christian living to the rest of the world.

Both of these colonial regions attracted a large number of average English citizens many of
whom had lost farmland in England, were in need of jobs, or were seeking religious freedom.
As a result, historians estimate that close to 75% of the Virginia colonists came as indentured
servants people who agreed to work for a given number of years in the colonies in exchange
for a free ticket to the colony and that close to 35% of the New England colonists came as
indentured servants.

Documents 1 and 2: Passenger Lists from Ships

Virginia
Date of Passage

Total # of Passengers

Total # of adult men (age 15

and up) and percentage of
total passengers
Total # of adult women (age
15 and up) and percentage of
total passengers
Total # of infants (age 0 4)
and percentage of total
passengers
Total # of children (ages 5
14) and percentage of total
passengers
Total # of married couples

Total # of family units

New England

Describe the typical passenger to Virginia. Based on what you know about the economic
activity of that colonial region, what do you predict most of the passengers bound for Virginia
will do upon arrival?





What are some of the occupations listed for the passengers going to New England? Based on
this information and what you know about the economic activity of that colonial region, what
do you predict most of the passengers bound for New England will do upon arrival?





Before boarding the ship to Virginia, passengers had to swear their allegiance to the Church of
England and to the King. However, no such oaths were made by the passengers going to New
England. Why?





Based on the passenger lists, which group of emigrants seemed to be wealthier at the time of
their journey to the New World? Explain.

Document 3: Village Layout

1. For which colony and in what year was this plan made?


2. What do the long skinny plots represent? What do the smaller plots at the bottom of the
plan represent?


3. How close was the typical New England family to its neighbors? How might this have
affected community development?





Document #4: Letter from John Clayton
1. What colony did this letter describe? In what year was the letter written?


2. How did Mr. Clayton describe the plantations in this colony? What type of farming (cash
crop or subsistence farming) is this layout best suited for?




3. Why might Mr. Clayton have said that living in Virginia was solitary and unsociable?
What did he mean when he said trade was confused and dispersed?





Document #5: A Modell of Christian Charity
1. What colony did this document describe? In what year was the document written?


2. Based on this document, what were two goals that the Puritans had for their new
settlements in New England?



3. Based on this document, describe the type of interactions that Puritan New Englanders
had with each other within their communities.


Document #6: History of Virginia
1. For what colony and in what year was this document written?


2. Based on this document, what was the goal of many men involved in establishing the
Virginia colony?




3. Based on this document, describe the type of interactions that the early settlers of
Virginia had with each other.


Document #1: Partial Passenger List for Ship Bound for New England (1635)

Weymouth [England], the 20th of March 1635

1. Joseph Hull, of Somerset, a minister, aged 40 years
2. Agnes Hull, his wife, aged 25 years
3. Joan Hull, his daughter, aged 15 years
4. Joseph Hull, his son, aged 13 years
5. Tristram, his son, aged 11 years
6. Elizabeth Hull, his daughter, aged 7 years
7. Temperance, his daughter, aged 9 years
8. Grissell Hull, his daughter, aged 5 years
9. Dorothy Hull, his daughter, aged 3 years
10. Judith French, his servant, aged 20 years
11. John Wood, his servant, aged 20 years
12. Robert Dabyn, his servant, aged 28 years
13. Musachiell Bernard, of Batcombe, clothier in the county of Somerset, 24 years
14. Mary Bernard, his wife, aged 28 years
15. John Bernard, his son, aged 3 years
16. Nathaniel, his son, aged 1 year
17. Rich. Persons, salter and his servant, aged 30 years
18. Francis Baber, chandler, aged 36 years
19. Walter Jesop, weaver, aged 21 years
20. Timothy Tabor, in Somerset of Batcombe, tailor, aged 35 years
21. Jane Tabor, his wife, aged 35 years
22. Jane Tabor, his daughter, aged 10 years
23. Anne Tabor, his daughter, aged 8 years
24. Sarah Tabor, his daughter, aged 5 years
25. William Fever, his servant, aged 20 years
26. John Whitmarke, aged 39 years
27. Alice Whitmarke, his wife, aged 35 years
28. James Whitmarke, his son, aged 11 years
29. Jane, his daughter, aged 7 years
30. Onseph Whitmarke, his son, aged 5 years
31. Richard Whitmarke, his son, aged 2 years
32. William Read, of Batcombe, taylor in Somerset, aged 28 years
33. Susan Read, his wife, aged 29 years
34. Hannah Read, his daughter, aged 3 years
35. Susan Read, his daughter, aged 1 year
36. Richard Adams, his servant, 29 years
37. Mary, his wife, aged 26 years
38. Mary Cheame, his daughter, aged 1 year
39. Dorset Richard Wade, of Simstyly, cooper, aged 60
40. Elizabeth Wade, his wife, aged 6[?]
41. Dinah, his daughter, aged 22
42. Henry Lush, his servant, aged 17
43. Andrew Hallett, his servant, aged 28

Document #2: Passenger List for Ship Bound for Virginia (1635)

Ultimo July, 1635

These underwritten names are to be transported to Virginia, embarked in the Merchants Hope,
Hugh Weston, Master, per examination by the minster of Gravesend [confirming] their conformity
to the Church of England and have taken the oaths of allegiance and supremacy [to the King of
England].

Edward Towers, 26
Lewes Miles, 19
Henry Woodman, 22
Jo. Kennedy, 20
Richard Seems, 26
Sam Jackson, 24
Vyncent Whatter, 17
Jo Vygnall, 20
James Whithedd, 14
Edward Smith, 20
Allin King, 19
Jo. Rowlidge, 19
Rowland Sadler, 19
William Westlie, 40
Jo. Phillips, 28
Jo. Smith, 18
Daniel Endlick, 16
Jo. Saunders, 22
Jo. Chalk, 25
Thomas Bartcherd, 16
Jonas Watts, 21
Thomas Dodderidge, 19
Peter Loe, 22
Richard Williams, 18
George Brocker, 17
Jo. Ballace, 19
Henry Eeles, 26
William Baldin, 21
Jo. Dennis, 22
William Pen, 25
Thomas Swayne, 23
Jo. Gerie, 24
Charles Rinsden, 27
Henry Baylie, 18
Jo. Exston, 17
Richard Anderson, 50
William Luck, 14
Robert Kelum, 51
Jo. Thomas, 19
Richard Farnshaw, 22
Jo. Archer, 21
Thomas Bradford, 40
Richard Williams, 25
William Spencer, 16
Francis Hutton, 20
Marmaduke Ella, 22
Savill Gascoyne, 29

Richard Bulfell, 29
Women
Richard Jones, 26
Ann Swayne, 22
Thomas Wynes, 30
Elizabeth Cote, 22
Humphrey Williams, 22
Ann Rice, 23
Edward Roberts, 21
Katherine Wilson, 23
Martin Atkinson, 32
Maudlin Lloyd, 24
William Edwards, 30
Mabell Busher, 14
Nathan Braddock, 31
Annis Hopkins, 24
Jeffrey Gurrish, 23
Ann Mason, 24
Henry Carrell, 16
Bridget Crompe, 18
Thomas Ryle, 24
Mary Hawkes, 19
Gamaliel White, 24
Ellin Hawkes, 18
Richard Marks, 19

Thomas Clever, 16

Jo. Kitchin, 16

Edmond Edwards, 20

Document #3: Plan of Deerfield, Massachusetts (1671)

An old plan of Deerfield, Massachusetts shows the typical pattern of community development
and use of space in the New England colonies. The numbers at the lower right specify
homelots (where settlers built their homes). The much larger plots, above and to the left, are
field strips in the meadow and pasture lands outside the village center. Each town proprietor
(land-owner) would have a share in these.

Document #4: Letter from the Reverend John Clayton to the Royal Society of London
(Virginia, 1688)

Sir:
Virginia is a sandy land with a shallow soil. So that after they [the colonists] have cleared a
fresh piece of ground out of the woods, it will not [produce] tobacco past two or three years
Therefore, every three or four years they [the colonists] must be ready for clearing a new piece
of ground out of woods, which requires much labor and toil, it being so thick grown over with
massy timber. Thus, their plantations run over vast tracts of ground, each ambitioning to
engross as much as they can[so] that plantations of 1000, 2000, and 3000 acres are common,
whereby the country is thinly inhabited, their living is solitary and unsociable, trading is
confused and dispersed, besides other inconveniences


Document #5: A Modell of Christian Charity, by John Winthrop

John Winthrop was an influential leader of the Puritan colony at Massachusetts Bay. The following
is an excerpt of a speech he gave prior to the Puritans landing at Massachusetts Bay in 1630.

The end [goal] is to improve our lives to do more service to the Lord, the comfort and increase
of the body of Christ whereof preserved from the common corruptions of this evil world, to
serve the Lord and work out our salvation under the power and purity of his holy ordinances

We must love one another with a pure heart, fervently; we must bear on anothers burdens; we
must look not only [to] our own things, but also on the things of our brethren. Neither must we
think that the Lord will bear with such failings at our hands as he doth from those among whom
we have lived

For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so
that if we 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 a byword through the world.

Document #6: A History of Virginia, by Captain John Smith (1624)
When the [large ship] departed, . . . those of us that had money, spare clothes, credit to give bills
of payment, gold rings, fur, or any such commodities, were ever welcome to [purchase supplies.
The rest of us patiently obeyed our] vile commanders and [bought] our provisions at fifteen
times the values. . . Our ordinary [food] was but cornmeal and water so that this . . . little
relieved our wants, whereby with the extremely bitter cold frost . . . more than half of us died.
The worst [among us were the gold seekers who] with their golden promises made all men
their slaves in hope of [profit]. There was no talk . . . but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load
gold. . . . Smith perceiving [we lived] from hand to mouth, caused the pinnace [small ship] to be
provided with things fitting to get provision for the year following

QuickWrite: Comparing the English Colonies

Part I: Complete the T-Chart below with at least four characteristics/differences for each
region. It might make Part II easier if you tried to match the differences so that there were
opposite pairs.
NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
CHARACTERISTICS

SOUTHERN COLONIES CHARACTERISTICS

Part II: Write a well-developed thesis statement to the following prompt: How did the British
New England colonies differ from the British Southern colonies in the seventeenth century?
Remember, a thesis statement must do the following:
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-
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Be no more than 2 sentences long

Directly and clearly address/answer the prompt
Provide a roadmap for the essay by identifying categories
Be a historical argument that you can prove using facts and evidence

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