English Colonies Dbq

In the 17th and early 18th centuries, America was struggling to unite. Many attempts of a union were made, but each for different reasons. In the beginning, colonists created governments that ran by the rules of God, not the people. Most settlers in America were religious, especially the ones who settled in the northern colonies, so they had theocratic governments. Also, these governments were much more simpler and basic. Later, however, there were more democratic governments because Americans focused more on people’s rights. There were a few similarities and differences in the various influences and approaches toward unity in the English colonies during the 17th and early 18th centuries, such as how complex the government was, who would run …show more content…
However, these Christians, or Puritans, were frustrated with the slow progress of the Protestant Reformation. Some Puritans believed only the “visible saints” were allowed to be members of the church, and they were extremely upset when the king allowed both the saints and the “damned” to be in the church. A few Puritans, finally having enough with the Protestant Reformation, decided to break away from the Church of England entirely, so starting in 1608, these few groups of Puritans, or Separatists, began heading to the new world. Before departing from their ship in 1620, the pilgrims created the Mayflower Compact (Doc 1). It was an agreement to create a simple and crude government for the colony in the beginning, and it wouldn’t last very long. In addition, Fifteen years later, Hartford, Connecticut was founded, and not soon after the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was formed (Doc 2). Unlike the Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders was more democratic than theocratic. In fact, it is one of the first constitutions that was democratic. However, it was made to create a simple government for Connecticut settlers, similarly to how the Mayflower was made for the Plymouth settlers. Also, although it is more democratic, settlers did think that God wanted them to create a …show more content…
He believed a union between these colonies would help America greatly with protection against outside enemies. He proposed the colonies to meet every couple years to discuss and better understand each other to come up with plans to protect, and two people from each colony would be appointed to be the representatives. Similarly, the Albany Plan of Union in 1754 was proposed to unite the colonies and bring them together with Britain to fight France. This was in the very beginning of the French and Indian War, but it was also the beginning of huge improvements with colonial