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Colonization

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To my best friend,
I hope everything is well with you back home. I miss you and regret not taking your advice for adventuring into the New World without you. It has been five years since I have last spoken with you before I have gotten on the three ships with 105 others to come across the ocean to the New World. Sad to say only 38 out of the 105 colonists who have settled in Jamestown have managed to survive. I have many things I have to share with you about the New World I am living in.
I am currently in the Virginia Colony located by the Chesapeake River. This is one of the two main colonies that have been established under England’s rule. The other colony is the New England colony located up North of here. I have managed to travel there several times with my master and have been exposed to an environment that is much different from my Virginia colony. It shocks me greatly that another colony under the same rule of our mother country can be so different. I would like to tell you about the great differences I have come to observe between our two settlements in terms of settler’s reasoning for immigrating to the new world, the development of settlement’s societal structure, and the settler’s relationship with the Native Americans.
Unlike many of us (Virginians) who have come to the new world to make large sums of profits, the settlers in New England have come for a different purpose. The New England settler’s have come to the New World for religious purposes.The New Englanders are Puritans who have made the journey here to escape Church of England’s strong catholic views and forms of corruption. It is hard for me to believe that such large groups of people will have taken this large risk just for religious purpose of establishing a new colony where they can freely practice their religion. However, I do respect their ways. At least they have some state of religious accomplishment. I have not been so lucky and seem I have lost more than I wanted.
The first several months here have been hell. We were under the leadership of John Smith and were no close to being prepared to take on the challenges that lay in front of us. First of all, I was stuck with snobbish townsmen, aristocrats, soldiers of fortune and gentlemen who have never laid hands on farming and hunting. We were not accustomed to survive in this new environment. Not being able to produce our own food and running low on our supplies, it was common for us to go days without food and starve. Unfortunately, many of us did not make it due to starvation and disease. One of them was a close friend I have made here. During the worst time of it all, he wrote to his parents “A mouthful of bread for a penny loaf must serve four men which is most pitfall…For we live in fear of the enemy every hour.” 2 He did not make it and it saddened me to see him go. If it was not for John Smith’s leadership in being able to negotiate with the Indians for food, I too would have starved to death. We were also imposed to strict labor rules by John Smith. Anyone that did not work was not allowed to eat. However, this was not the case for all the settlers here in the New World. The Puritan settlers in New England did not go through as much trouble as we suffered from.
I hear the settlers in New England were more successful in the establishment of their colony. Most of the Puritans that immigrated to the New World were from English middle class including small farmers; merchants, seaman, and fisherman who were more suited to take on the new environment they were brought upon. I wish would have been lucky enough to have these types of skillful men when I arrived in Jamestown. Also, the New Englanders were not exposed to infectious disease as their colony was established in a much colder climate. The New Englanders have a much diverse population with many more women than can be found in the Virginia Colony. Many men in Virginia have just become newlyweds as a ship with ninety young maidens arrived. However, I did not have the money or the time to find myself a wife.
I do have some good news for you though. It is said that a man by the name of John Rolfe has managed to develop a smooth-tasting form of tobacco which has become a valuable export. This could bring great profits for our colony. From what I hear, New England has not been fortunate enough with a cash crop as successful as ours. I have witnessed this as many planters have brought increased numbers of indentured servants to work the tobacco fields. Maybe one day you could immigrate here when things stabilize. London has also initiated a reform known as the “headright” policy to help our struggling colony. The system states that anyone who bought a share in the Virginia Company will be given fifty acres and fifty more for any servants he brings. This seems like an unimaginable dream, but one day I hope to purchase a share and start my own plantation. But instead of indentured servants, I will hope to be able to purchase slaves from Africa as I can keep them working for their entire life. I will pray that one day that day will come and you could join me in our pursuit of happiness.
The political system here in the Virginia Colony did not take much to understand as it closely resembles the political system we followed back in England. All of the Englishmen living in the Virginia Colony have the same rights as Englishmen including a representative assembly. The Virginia Colony is under the Anglican Church Hierarchy which is ruled by elite planters. I have heard of a news that a General Assembly of Virginia has met in Jamestown to discuss the future of our colonies between the House of Bourgeois. The Plymouth colony of New England practices a much different form of political structure which took me a while to understand. Because of their religious ties in New England, the civil government was developed from a church government in which the Church leaders govern each individual city in New England. An agreement known as the Mayflower Compact is said to have great influence in the political structure of New England as members of religious groups believe that God have a covenant with them to provide a way of salvation. This must all seem strange to you.
What may seem much stranger to you are the Native Americans. Even though, we have received much aid from the Natives in our earlier settlements, our relationship with them is quickly diminishing. They are barbarians who impose great threat to our colonies. The colonies exploit the Natives resources and knowledge and keep our distance from them. Large numbers of Natives have died out both within regions of the Virginia Colony and New England Colony as the new settlers have brought a new form of disease the Natives were not exposed to. The religious settlers see this as a sign that we were meant to be here in the New World. It sounds cruel, but at this point I am willing to take any signs that will help me get through the tough times here.
I hope this letter reaches you safely. I will wait patiently to hear from you. Please let my folks know that I am doing well. I hope in the future I can see you here in the New World.

--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, America: A Native History (New York: Norton & Company Ltd, 2010), 27-31
[ 2 ]. Raymond M. Hyser and J. Chris Arndt, Voices of the American Past, volume 1: 8
[ 3 ]. 1 George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, America: A Native History (New York: Norton & Company Ltd, 2010), 27-31
[ 4 ]. 1 George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, America: A Native History (New York: Norton & Company Ltd, 2010), 27-31

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