Essay Compare And Contrast Jamestown Vs Plymouth Colony

Improved Essays
“ We did not come to fear the future. We came to shape it”(said by Barack Obama). This quote could not fit any better for these two colonies. Both, Jamestown and Plymouth, came to the ‘new world’ to create a better future for themselves as individuals and a society. Of course, both were very different in many ways, from where they landed to who came. What was truly was different, but similar at the same time, was the their encounters in the ‘new world’. The Jamestown colony came over from England to take the riches here. The British people heard about the sights of gold and silver in this land. When they got here they saw vast, mineral rich land here and thought of all the tobacco they could grow and the fortune that would come in the industry. The colony was mostly of men were to preoccupied with their hopes and dreams of riches that they drove straight into starvation. “...considered the cause and reason which was this: While the ships stayed, our allowance was somewhat bettered by a daily proportion of biscuits which the sailors would pilfer to sell, give, or exchange with us for money, sassafras, furs, or love. But when they …show more content…
These two colonies had a lot of differences and the same amount of similarities that made them survive the ‘new world’. They shaped the way our country is today, Jamestown showed us the agricultural growth and massive amount of trade goods we have here to the religious freedom, among other rights, we have from the Plymouth’s reason to come over from England. If I had to choose which colony I would want to stay with it would be Plymouth. For the way they worked through the tough times, from starvation to Indians attacking and the harsh winter, and the reason as to why they came over is something I admire. These are the colonies that helped create the nation, we have today, and without them this may not have become the United States of

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Traveling aboard the Susan Constant 104 men landed in Virginia in 1607 in a region that they decided to name Jamestown after one of the kings of Britain, known as King James I. Thirteen years later, 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower which landed in Massachusetts at a place they named Plymouth. Jamestown and Plymouth were the two original colonies that settled in America, although these two colonies came to America about the same point of time they didn’t have the similar reasons for why to head out to the new land. Both these colonies had many similarities as well as many differences. Despite the regional settlement of both colonies were around the same place as Virginia was the only South of Massachusetts, yet the conductions for both colonies…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Native Americans, specifically Massasoit and the Pokanoket tribe, played a huge role in the survival of the Plymouth Colony, as they helped the Pilgrims adjust to their new land and learn farming so that they could sustain themselves in America, and in the process, an alliance was formed between the two groups that lasted for years. Even though the alliance did eventually fade and new alliances were formed, each side had benefitted from the other’s help, and in the case of the Pilgrims, this greatly helped their ability to survive in the harsh and unforgiving conditions of early America. As I read this book, I tried to visualize what was going on in order to help myself understand the points that Nathaniel Philbrick was trying to get across throughout Mayflower. I would advise any other reader of this book to utilize this strategy in reading the novel, as not only did it help me understand what was happening, but it also allowed me to comprehend to the best of my ability why it was happening. In telling the story of Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick teaches the reader information that the reader would potentially not have known before, and in doing so, educates the reader in an interesting and engaging way about some of the earliest history of civilized…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Great response. I agree that Jamestown did allowed more chances for individual freedom than the Massachusetts Bay colony, and I believed that the freedom that you are referring to was not like the freedom that we have today in the US. You did mentioned that you wouldn't want to risk your individual freedom to live in a puritan society with a strict structure, but how about your family? Let's say that you actually did earn your freedom after years of harsh working conditions or you caught a disease and die from it. You wouldn't be able to received what you actually earned and your family wouldn't be able to receive a single penny from your earnings either.…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jamestown Sanitary Habits

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Why were the Jamestown settlers unable to feed themselves for such a long period? How and why did they obtain corn? Why did tobacco replace corn as the crop of choice? The Jamestown colonist were unable to feed themselves for a long period due to disease, inadequate sanitary conditions, and morale principles.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The differences in motivations for coming to the New World greatly affected the way these two settlements functioned and developed. There were two central reasons for England’s drive to create colonies in the…

    • 1368 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Comparing and Contrasting Jamestown and Plymouth Jamestown and Plymouth were two English colonies established in 17th century new world. Jamestown and Plymouth had some sort of Government, an economy, and some relations with Native Americans. Jamestown had a more formal government and freer economy than Plymouth, while Plymouth had better relations with the Native Americans. Jamestown and Plymouth both had some form of government. Jamestown had written permission from the King to form a colony and government.…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the other hand, Jamestown and Plymouth had quite a bit of things that were different from each other for example, their reason to leave England, and the amount of people who came on each voyage. Nevertheless both contributed greatly to present American heritage of law, custom, government, religion, and heritage. Therefore Jamestown and Plymouth were very important to modern America, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without these two…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the beginning of the 17th century, England colonized an area of land on the Chesapeake River that was called Jamestown. Jamestown was founded by the Virginia Company in 1607 and within nine months a large portion of the original settlers had died. The conditions were hard as many people did not know how to farm and so food was scarce. According to a letter written by Richard Frethorne, an indentured servant at Jamestown, there was much sickness such as “the scurvy and the bloody flux and diverse other diseases” that plagued the settlers (19). This was caused by the location of a swamp by Jamestown and a warmer climate.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These men wanted to go to the new world in search of better opportunity. These men imagined they were going to find gold and other precious commodities that they could become rich from. But when they arrived after the 4 month journey and settled, they found no gold, they found nothing but hardships and difficulties. They then named their settlement Jamestown in honor of their King who had given them the opportunity to come to the new world. After nine months of harsh living conditions of bad water, and soil only thirty eight of the one hundred twenty men lived.…

    • 1796 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Captain John Smith and Governor William Bradford may have had similar problems to face on there journey to the ‘New World’ but there are many things that set them apart. Captain John Smith and William Bradford both came from England to the “New World’ for there own reasons. Captain John Smith leading the Jamestown colony came to ‘New World’ searching for wealth. William Bradford leading the Plymouth Plantation had come only to the ‘New World’ looking for religious freedom.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Early Jamestown Dbq Essay

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In early 1607, Englishmen had colonized in the New World, unknowing the difficult life ahead of them. The people were unaware the harsh winters, severe droughts, salt-fresh water transition, and Natives living beside them. Due to their ignorance, it resulted in many colonists to drop dead. In the colony of Jamestown, numerous settlers had died from the starvation and lack of fresh water, disease, and their relations with the Powhatans.…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Directly following the start of the Commercial Revolution in the 1400s, Spain and England began to colonize the Americas, which was often referred to as the New World. The Spanish and English colonies were both similar and different in several ways. The Spanish and English colonies were slightly alike in the poor and unfair treatment of indigenous people and substantially different in religion and economic base. The Spanish and English were slightly comparable in terms of treatment of indigenous people because of enslavement of native people and taking their land.…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jamestown and Massachusetts Bay Colony both had great impacts for the thirteen colonies. Jamestown was the first surviving settlement for the English in the Americas. Jamestown’s survival caused more settlers to come to the Americas in the belief that they too could survive. The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay colony believed only Puritans should have a “voice” over the colony. Non-puritans left Massachusetts to start a new colony because they didn’t want to be pressured to follow the beliefs of the Puritans.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The first being the different backgrounds the groups of people who colonized them had. Virginia was colonized much before all of the New England colonies were which means that those who colonized New England had seen more of the “original” England and therefore had different views and perspectives. The second main reason behind the differences between the colonies is their climatic and geographical features. With one area being mountainous and infertile in terms of soil and the other being very flat and fertile. This impacted the way the colonists were able to make a living, stay alive, and enjoy themselves.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They each had very different governing styles that led to different outcomes. While each motive for the settlement was different, they both suffered hardships. Due to there leadership styles and there personalities, this led to a different outcome and ultimately led to there survival. John Smith was a hard worker who didn’t care much for the Native Americans; While William Bradford used them to his advantage. The Plymouth Plantation settlement proved to be more successful, as they went through fewer hardships after creating a treaty with the local Native American Tribe.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays