The Place of New Habitation

The Place of New Habitation

Many will say that England's rise to become a world power started in 1606, this as King James of England pondered on how to establish the country's first colony. In contrast to Spain and Portugal, he made the wise choice of leaving the initiative in private hands. The King gave a charter for land the same year, and the now famous colony of Jamestown, Virginia, was founded the year after. Yet, the first colonists were soon to discover that the New World was far from being anything like the Promised Land of milk and honey, and almost half the population was not to survive the first harsh years.

While Jamestown initially turned out to be a failure, other colonies quickly prospered and grew at an astonishing rate. The Puritan settlements in New England are examples of colonies that were successful practically from day one. By comparing the English colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts, founded by lower class English males and Puritan families respectively, we will soon see that different ways of satisfying the need for labour were important factors in determining the success rate of a colony. The settlements also applied different regulations for land distribution, and this does without doubt provide some of the explanation why Massachusetts turned out the be the most successful of the two states. Yet, it will also be made clear that the successful system implemented by the Massachusetts settlers not necessarily would have suited the earlier settlers of Virginia. This paper will discuss the major differences between two groups of settlers, and discuss how these and other factors affected land distribution and the demand for labour. Even though the New England settlers will present themselves as the most successful of the two groups, this does not mean the colonists in Virginia simply could have copied their northern countrymen. The background information for the two colonies explains why.

The very first English colonists leaving for Jamestown were by no means a diverse group demographically speaking. As most explorers looking for adventure, they did not bring their families with them, and an obsession for gold left little time for agriculture. In addition to the poor location chosen for Jamestown, their shortsighted dedication to gold and hunger for wealth must take much of the blame for the earlier mentioned high death rate. The Puritan settlers in New England were on the other hand aware of the importance of agriculture, and their success in building a thriving society would ultimately contribute immensely to the shaping of America. It has been said "No group has played a more pivotal role in shaping American values than the New England Puritans" (Winthrop, 63). The around twenty thousand immigrants Puritans consisted of entire families searching for a place to practice their religion in peace, and they did not believe that contentment could be achieved through material means. It was thus not only the religious faith that separated the two demographically distinct groups of colonists, but essentially their reasons for leaving England and their future goals were different. While the Puritans sought to build a new life on the new continent, the adventurers arriving in Virginia rather hoped to get rich before returning to the old. We will see how this had major implications for the division of land and the need for labour.

John Winthrop, the famous Puritan minister, wrote on his way to New England "God Almighty in His most holy and wise providence hath so disposed of the Condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in subjection". Yet, he goes on to emphasise that "we must knit together in this work as one man" (Winthrop, 65), meaning that the gap between the classes should not widen beyond the point where village unity gets threatened. Dedham was one of the first towns to get settled in the Massachusetts Bay area in the years 1630-1635. The goals that governed the distribution of land in this village illustrate Winthrop's teaching. There were two main standards determining an individual's share of land, the first being the number of people in a household. Any individual did consequently have a right to land. While this certainly is a characteristic of social fairness, the second standard shows how the English system of hierarchy partly transferred itself to the New World. It was namely "usefulness either in Church or Commonwealth" (Lockridge, 10). In addition to language and religion, rank was obviously part of the cultural baggage brought over from England. People with stature and land in the Old World thus usually became part of the upper class in the New World as well. Since generally only the distinguished members of the community were eligible of offering service to the local community, the second standard for the distribution of land obviously helped more affluent immigrants from England maintain their social and economic status. Many will also argue that this contributed to laying the foundation for the social stability that was to become such an important characteristic of the Puritan communities.

Because of the effective and fair policies for land distribution generally upheld in New England, there was plenty of land available for arriving immigrants, and this left little room for conflicts of the kind experienced in Virginia. The colonies in New England are partly for this reason today known by historians as the Christian Utopian Closed Corporate Communities, and they were indeed closed to people who could threaten the Puritan harmony. There are several reasons why the Puritans preferred to limit the immigration. One was obviously religious, and as Puritan values and ideas acted as cornerstones for the New England colonies, it is not difficult to comprehend why the Puritans were anxious to protect what they considered to be the moral fundament of their communities. Another reason for the closure is simply that the demand for labour largely was satisfied through internal population growth. The New England birth rate was notably higher than that of contemporary Europe, but the long life expectancy enjoyed in New England was an even more important factor in determining the population growth. Additionally, the northern colonies suffered less serious plagues than even England, and most of the immigrants arrived with family members (Boroughs, 4). This, in addition to the prosperous division of land, can be credited for much of the growth of the New England colonies.

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Charles C. Mann

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