Harrison Lee Period 1 CTW Chapter 2

When the English first set foot on the land of America, they came for many different reasons. These reasons may differ a little bit from one to the other; however it is clear that the majority of the people colonized America either for money, or for religion. In the early 1600s, colonists who settled in the Chesapeake area and founded Jamestown mainly came for the purpose of benefitting the mother country economically, whereas those who settled in the New England area and founded Plimouth had the goal of religious freedom in mind. As a result, there were many ways in which the English colonies in Chesapeake and New England differed and were alike, although there are many similarities as well. For the New England colonies, colonists settled mainly for religious freedom. Back in the mother country, Britain, the majority of the population was Roman Catholic. The colonists were Protestant, and wanted to be able to practice their form of Christianity without control by the King of England. A notable group of Protestants were the Puritans, who wanted to get rid of anything Catholic in the religion practice. In addition, groups such as the Pilgrims who landed in Plimouth on the Mayflower in 1620 came up with the Mayflower Contract, which set up a community wrapped around the Bible. This was very different from the settlers in the Chesapeake area, who settled for the quest of hopefully providing the mother country with a new valuable source of goods. In other words, the initial purpose of the settlements such as Jamestown was to secure a foothold of the British Empire on North American lands and to exploit the natural resources from the area. Despite the differences between the Chesapeake and New England colonies, they are not without similarities. For example, at one point in time both of the first settlements faced numerous threatening issues pertaining to survival. In Jamestown, if it had not been John Rulfe who introduced the tobacco cash crop, the settlement might have perished before anyone could leave a permanent foothold on the land. In Plimouth, conditions were harsh as well and many people resorted to cannibalism; without the help of the Native Americans, the colonists would never have survived. Besides dilemmas faces with surviving on the new land, both colonies spread numerous things to the North American continent from government to disease. Over time, the colonists found ways to properly govern themselves without the constant attention of the King or Queen. Also, along with the settlers came new types of diseases brought across the sea. As a result of the introduction to new types of disease, a substantial percentage of Natives were wiped out by the ensuing plague. There were many reasons why people settled in America. While the colonists of the south went for economic purposes, those of the north went for religious freedom. However, both types of settlers saw the newly discovered land of North America a land of opportunity to prosper and hopefully find a better way of life. Therefore, colonies of the Chesapeake area and New England were created for different purposes but also had many similar effects on their environment.