Jamestown Economic Development

Throughout 1607 to 1750 colonies in Massachusetts and Virginia were being settled and growing. These two states grew up very different from each other in aspects such as their economic development and it's affect on their politics. In 1607, Jamestown in Virginia was the first permanent English settlement. It was in the Chesapeake Bay area. The people abroad the ships had ideas in their heads of digging and mining to find ways of obtaining gold, silver, and copper. It was their incentive to coming to the New World, to earn money. This turned out to be bad for them. They did not gain what they had hoped to get, instead they couldn't grow crop and faced wilderness problems. The people were not experienced with manual labor to be able …show more content…
Jamestown hardly proved an economic benefit. Many of the colonists had died. The only profit there had been was the transport of women to be wives. Then the colonists eventually realized that they needed to produce their own food and keep cattle. They also learned to cultivate tobacco, which they could profitably sell. The government soon followed. The merchants chose one governor and gave him enough power to control the colonists, at first. Then in 1619, A House of Burgesses, a form of self government was formed. It had chosen delegates from each district that came to Jamestown to inform the governor of local problems. From this came representative government. And by 1624 Virginia began to prosper. In 1620, Separatists from the Anglican Church called Pilgrims set out for the New World on the Mayflower. It was a move to get away from religious intolerance in England and the bad living style in Holland. Once they landed, having landed in the wrong place they made the Mayflower Compact. It was a document saying there would equal laws and make decisions for the good of the colony. And William Bradford was chosen to be the first …show more content…
The Puritans were trying to find peace of mind, where they could freely practice their religion. King Charles I favored Anglicanism and Puritans faced religious intolerance in England. The Puritans did not have as hard a time as the Pilgrims or Jamestown, this had to do with their careful planning of transplantation and all the new recruits that came. The Great Migration in the 1630s into the 1640s there were over 10,000 people that arrived. These people were industrious and well educated and made a complex and distinct society. John Winthrop was elected as governor. He was proud of the colony he referred to being "a Citty upon a Hill." The government was that of and elected legislature which was the general court. It was exactly a democratic government because only male church members could vote and hold office. Clergymen could not hold office. Men who were not part of the church could still elect representatives to the General Court and choose governor. It became practically