Hudson Hulme Coach Davis U.S. History-5th Period September 27, 2015 Free-Response Colonization Essay (Revised) Englishmen were granted charters, official permission from the English government, in order to start a new colony. Once their charters were granted, they began their travels to what is now known as America. These settlers were in search of religious freedom and economic opportunities in the New World. Their experiences and successes, however, varied greatly from colony to colony. From Jamestown to Georgia, the settlers had varying skill sets, social status, religions, interests, and leaders, but each learned from the ones before them and ultimately formed the original 13 colonies. They were determined, excited, probably a little full …show more content…
The Native Americans on the other hand, thought the land belonged to them because they were there first. It took the involvement of John Rolfe to make the colony stable and profitable. John Rolfe befriended the Natives and even fell in love with one of them, a female Powhatan named Pocahontas. Together the two of them helped the Jamestown colony plant and grow tobacco that became a plentiful cash crop and steady source of income for the colony. Eventually, a legislative assembly of elected representatives, the House of Burgesses, was also created to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America and make conditions better for current inhabitants as well. Massachusetts was founded by two groups of settlers: the pilgrims lead by William Bradford and the Puritans lead by John Winthrop. The pilgrims, or separatists, also in search of economic opportunities in the New World and freedom from religious persecution from the Anglican church, settled in Plymouth. The Puritans, under John Winthrop, wanted religious freedom for themselves and settled in Massachusetts Bay. They were often referred to …show more content…
This snobby attitude made it difficult for his colony to thrive. The Pilgrims, however, worked with the Native Americans to understand the resources of their new land and ended up sharing ideas, tools and, of course, meals. These two groups were granted their own charters from the King before heading to America. The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, a document that outlined religious freedom and said that no one can tell them what to believe or force them to believe in a certain religion (it was first official contract regarding self government), on the ship before they even landed in the New World. The migration of this period of English settlers, primarily the Puritans, is now called the Great Migration. The 13 colonies, with the exception of Georgia, were founded by Englishmen in search of economic opportunities and some form of religious freedom. Their religions varied from Anglican to Puritan to Catholicism and Judaism, and ranged from total control by a certain religion to the complete separation of church and government, but the need for religious freedom was wanted by each group. Their successes were a direct result of the colonies that came before them with Jamestown and Massachusetts Bay being the key colonies to model themselves