Essay, Research Paper: New England Vs. Virginia Colonies

The origin of the original thirteen colonies by English settlers was the result of many
different motives on the parts of both the settlers and of the British government. For different
reasons, both looked favorably upon the "New World" as a place to colonize. The British
government's motives were to gain the money and prestige to rival Catholic Spain. The settlers'
main motives were religious freedom and amass personal wealth. With these goals in sight, the
British government granted charters and English settlers set out for the "New World."
Two motives of the British government to encourage the colonization of America were
economics and prestige(1). The British government looked at its colonies from a strictly
economical stand point. As can be seen by its mercantilistic policies and its use of triangular
trade, it cared little for the colonists so long as the treasury grew. By using triangular trade, it
was able to capitalize on every aspect of colonial economics. First, raw materials such as wood,
ore, and crops, were raised in the new world. Next, it was shipped to England, where it was
bought very cheap by English companies. It was then made into finished goods and sent back to
the colonies where it was sold at many times the value of the raw material(9). Also, a tax had to
be paid to export the raw materials and import the finished goods. Taxes were the Crown's best
way to make money off the colonies. Once this was figured out, many new taxes were voted into
effect by parliament, of which colonists were not part of. When the British East India company
was going bankrupt, the British government interfered with the colonies by forcing them to buy
their tea from the British East India Company, whose prices were higher than the other sources
for tea, and added a special tax to it(1). This proved to be one of the significant reasons for the
Boston Tea Party and later the American.
Spain was the richest and most respected country in Europe because of the gold and silver
being shipped from its colonies in Central and South America. The hacienda system was
producing sugar and other exports that could be sold in Europe as well. Spain also won prestige
for its efforts to bring Christianity to the heathen Indians(1). England and France were forced to
compete for what was left of the "New World," (and the prestige that it bought), the land north of
Spanish Florida. English pioneers settled on the Atlantic Seaboard, the French set up trading
posts in the Great Lakes regions. The British victory in the French and Indian War brought
England not only territory, but prestige. Spain, after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, was in
decline as a world power(1). England was then beginning to be viewed as Spain's successor. The
saying, "The sun never sets on the Union Jack" refers to England having so many colonies in all
different parts of the world that the sun always shone on her flag in at least one of her colonies.
While these motives were enough for the British government to fund settlements and
expeditions, settlers came for their own reasons. Religious freedom has long been searched for by
many Europeans of minority faiths. Be it the Catholics in England, the Jews in Spain, or the
Protestants in Southern Europe, no country had total religious freedom. In England, not only
were Catholics persecuted, but certain sects of Protestants, such as Quakers and Puritans, were
harassed as well. These groups viewed the "New World" as a place to set up their own
communities to worship in peace. For the above-mentioned reasons, these groups were granted
charters to found their own settlements. Mostly in the northern most colonies, New England,
Pennsylvania, and Connecticut were set up as places of refuge for various religious groups.
Plymouth was the haven for Puritans fleeing persecution(6). Pennsylvania was founded as a
refuge by the son of a prominent admiral who the king owed money to. To repay his debt, the
king granted William Penn, a Quaker, the territory that has now become Pennsylvania, or Penn's
Woods, for the Quakers to settle(1).
Wealth has, throughout history, been the most common reason for the migration of
people. This is again the case for the southern colonies. With reports of the riches being shipped
home by Spanish conquistadors, Englishmen began to believe that if they went to the "New
World" it would be easy for them to find great wealth. This is best seen in the case of Jamestown,
the first English settlement in the "New World." One hundred and forty-four men and boys were
dispatched by the Virginia Company, one of the first joint stock companies to found a settlement.
Of these, 103 were alive when the ship arrived in North America(1). They quickly set up a town
in the first place they landed (the hostile environment in the swampland of what is now the James
River) and immediately went searching for gold, ignoring such vital tasks as farming, smithing
tools, and building additional houses and barns. Only through the help of the Powhatan Indians
was the colony able to survive. By the time the colony regained strength, only 38 of the original
144 who set out were still alive(1).
In conclusion, with the interests of both the British government and the English settler
looking toward the settlement of colonies in the "New World," such settlements as Jamestown
and Plymouth soon began to thrive. It is because of the above motives that the British
government sanctioned and the English colonist endured the hardships of the unfamiliar
landscape. Had the interest of either side waned in favor of something else, it is quite possible
that the early English settlements in the "New World" could have been complete failures, one and
all.