colonist essays

colonist essays At the time of the sixteen hundreds Virginia and New England became the first regions to be settled by the English. It was the birth of America as a whole, but it was also the beginning of two very distinct ways of life. Separate motives for coming, their ideas on a basis of community, and their geography were all factors that made up these different colonies. They were founded on Independence, but from the start there were two completely different ideas of what that independence was and what it would mean over time. The settlements of Virginia started as an economic venture to reap the land of its resources. People came from England to acquire land so they could harvest tobacco with the intent of getting rich quick. It started very slowly due to the lack of preparedness and sickness of the colonist. ... the river became contaminated around Jamestown and sent out killing waves of dysentery and typhoid fever. Before long malaria also set in.(1) It took some time before the colony took off. The Early settlers of Virginia usually consisted as individuals, usually poor, single young men, looking for a place to start making money. Slowly the settlements were widely dispersed valuing more land and space than neighbors. From this lack of community and excessive individualism caused many problems. For example, because they were so far apart the natives could easily attack them. Virginias vulnerability revealed to some men the need to transform the privatisic culture into a more tightly knit, cooperative venture. (2) At this point their consensus perspective changed from an individualist gain to a need for community for the sake of protection. Some did not see how giving up a chance to harvest and make money to go fight and possibly die could be a good idea at all. ...each day one man chased the Indians through the wilderness or helped build a fortification, another man grew richer."...