Early Jamestown Settlement

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Pages: 6

Religion played a major part in the establishment, growth and development of the United States in the early years. In the later years of the United States the establishment, growth and development was more based on economics and politics rather than religion. Though early the United States was mainly being formed by religion the first permanent settlement in the new world, Jamestown, was not as much as a religious settlement but was more of an economical venture. (Tindall and Shi 37) The Virginia Company used bribery such as giving out free land after the settlers worked for seven years. (Tindall and Shi 37) After years of suffering from lack of experience the colony found its cash crop tobacco. (Tindall and Shi 37) Bacon’s Rebellion was …show more content…
“the first Lord Baltimore, converted to Catholicism in 1625 and sought the American colony as a refuge for persecuted English Catholics.” (Tindall and Shi 40) Lord Baltimore’s son, Celcilius Calvert, actually started the colony in Maryland at St. Marys which was made up of recruited catholic men as the land owners and most of the indentured servants were protestant. (Tindall and Shi 40) Next colony to come along was the New England settlement. They were quite different from the Jamestown settlement because rather than being motivated by making a profit they were motivated by religious ideals. (Tindall and Shi 42) They were puritans and their goal was to “create a model Christian society living according to god’s commandments.” (Tindall and Shi 42) They wanted to purify the churches of Catholic and Anglican ways and achieve a code of laws and government based on biblical principles. (Tindall and Shi 42) The next colony was the Plymouth settlement. The Plymouth settlement was settled by pilgrims. (Tindall and Shi 42) These pilgrims were radical puritans also known as separatists. (Tindall and Shi 42) They formed Plymouth to get away from religious prosecution. (Tindall and Shi 42) Following the Plymouth colony was Massachusetts Bay. This settlement was very similar to Plymouth and set out to be a “holy commonwealth bound together in the harmonious worship of God.” (Tindall and Shi 43) The Rhode Island settlement came next. The settlement was …show more content…
Toward the end of the century the Virginia Plan gets brought up. This plan deals with scraping the Articles of Confederation and says to make three separate branches, a national government and that there is to be two houses of congress. (Tindall and Shi 192) Separation of powers is something that America is still using today over two hundred years later. The first political parties came in the late 1700’s. (Boundless) It was the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. (Boundless) This party system eventually ended with the federalist losing support from all but a few and the Democratic-Republican Party split. (Boundless) A major court case, Marbury v. Madison, was a big political court case. It was the first time a federal law was found unconstitutional. (Tindall and Shi 240) The end result of the Missouri Compromise was a political decision by allowing Missouri to be slave state and Maine a free one. (Tindall and Shi 315) In 1854 the Republican Party was formed. (Tindall and Shi 493) The Emancipation Proclamation was a big political move for Lincoln to take. (Tindall and Shi 512) It even sparked for an amendment to be made to the