Compare Massachusetts And Virginia Colony Paper
An essay comparing and contrasting the Massachusetts Colony (including the Plymouth Colony) and the Virginia Colony. Include the reasons why they settled, problems faced by the colonists in the New World, how the problems were overcome, and the major leaders and legislation involved in forming each colony.
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Just like their religions, Massachusetts gave more power to the people and Virginia gave power to England. In the New England Handout, Mailer describes the difference further, “Unlike in Virginia where a governor is elected from a faraway company in London, and after 1624, by the Crown itself, the ‘freemen’ of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire elect their own governors.” (1) This information describes the contrast in the way a governor gets elected. In Massachusetts, the “freemen”, men who own land, get to vote for their governor, while Virginia’s governor gets appointed by the crown. Virginia’s government also consisted of the Governing Council, rich elites controlling everything, and the House of Burgesses, upper middle-class landowners. The main reason the governments of these colonies differ is the fact that the charter of Virginia created by the Virginia Company resides in England, or in other words it is controlled by the crown. On the other hand, Massachusetts’s charter, created by the Massachusetts Bay Company, resides in the colony, so the colony self-governs itself. This brings forth another comparison of the two colonies; the reason why they were founded.
Both the colony of Massachusetts and Virginia were founded by companies looking to make money off the New World, but the founding of Massachusetts was motivated more by religious goals and family dynamics. Erin Bonuso, author of “Colliding Cultures”,
In 1616 John Rolfe imported tobacco seeds to Virginia, as the plants needed long and hot humid seasons. The first people who were granted the right of possessing land authorized the people to cultivate worn out land and grow better crops, as tobacco depletes minerals and nutrients from the ground. The tobacco was sold for 5 to 10 times more in the 1620s, which was a major advantage for the sellers. Compare Massachusetts And Virginia Colony Paper. The Massachusetts’ economy depended on shipbuilding, fishing and trading. This made it very stable. Chesapeake’s population has split 74% men and 10% women. “It’s suffered from stable foundations of little Commonwealth and so expanding the social volatility” stated in the Alan Taylor book. The right to trade was granted by the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629, as the farming soil was of low quality and so only
John Rolfe was an English settler who based the voyage to America simply on the growth of tobacco. Rolfe’s crew, along with many other young men, traveled to Virginia in 1609 to search for gold. When the ship reached on the shore, all that was seen was sandy beaches and swampy marshes. Neither of which helped with the growth of the major cash crop. Even after the valiant attempts to scrounge for gold, there was no success.With the large amount of crops that Virginia grew, the colony needed to expand west into new land for more room to grow crops. At this time Virginia was an underdeveloped colony that needed settlers to come live and work. Virginia introduced the ever growing indentured servitude. Most of the indentured servants were possibly single men of the lower class.
Compare Massachusetts And Virginia Colony Paper.
