Compare And Contrast Jamestown And New England

How Jamestown found success and developed through 1720 was much different than that of the north. Jamestown was located on the Chesapeake Bay. The requirements for the colony were very strict. Settlements had to be located on a panicle, the idea being if the colony was surrounded by three sides of water it would help prevent sneak attacks. In order to see the Spaniards from attacking the settlement needed to be built 150 miles inland, and the colonies ships needed to be able to sail 100 miles up the James river. The Virginia colonies first few years were wrought with death and plagued by laziness. The colonials, most of whom were soldiers, spent most of these years searching for gold, drinking, and bowling in the streets. Things looked bleak

While New England wasn’t an English colony in the beginning, they still needed to import goods and export raw materials back to the Virginia Company. Massachusetts Bay colonials exported beaver furs used for hat making, timber for shipbuilding, and cured fish. The forests in and around New England had never been logged and the streams and river systems were still packed with beaver. At first contact Cape Cod was the world's finest fishing grounds. This allowed for a rich fishing industry that helped the Massachusetts Bay colony create commerce. The Yankee traders would become the leaders of the trade market on the Atlantic Rim. As ships sailed across the Atlantic, hulls filled with trade goods, the return voyage would have a hull just as packed as when it left New England with items needed to benefit the colony. The trading route was known as the trade triangle. Ships would leave England packed with clothes and guns headed for the African coast. From there sailors would pack the hull with African slaves for trade in Barbados. From Barbados the Yankee traders would load up on molasses for making rum, bread, and baked beans. As things got better in New England, as well as in Virginia, the colonies would see a rise in people wishing to make the journey to the New World. This time period was known as the Great Migration. During this period the New England colony would see

In the Puritan family, the family managed all things. The towns were seen as part of a greater family, all were invited to weddings and baptisms. Doors were never locked because the idea was that Puritans should have nothing to hide from each other. Even on the honeymoon it was common for an aunt, uncle, or parent to watch the new couple make love for the first time to insure everything was done right. Church was a large part of the Puritan experience and the Meeting was a time when the people of the town would gather in the church with the minister to discuss religion, voting, or anything else of importance. The minister of the church was a well respected man and was the only person in the town that made his money as an intellectual. The practiced a covenant government. In this government 60% of all men in the households of the town could vote. These men elected officials and these officials took their orders from God. The puritans believed in what the called the Three-way covenant. It represented the relationship between man and the state, his relationship with the church, and their relationship between man and God. So, the Puritan view was that if they were kind to each other and if they kept a relationship with the church, while practicing their religion. If they could accomplish these first two it would lead them to having a conversion experience, which would make them one with God. By accomplishing these