Foundations Of Colonial Government In America
The founding fathers of America experienced the beginning of the life-changing struggles that built many triumphs and failures for the nation. Starting in the 1400s, groups of all ethnicities started sailing to search for religious freedoms, land, and wealth. A renowned explorer, Christopher Columbus, is best remembered for his ‘discovery of America’ but some may not know that the title is not really factual. Native Americans held residence over the land and many Europeans had knowledge of it beforehand. During this time of change, influential authors, including but not limited to John Winthrop, William Bradford, and John Smith, illustrated the ideals of the New World. These ideals became the basic arguments for the need for colonization and the roles of government – namely Winthrop’s expansion of religion, Smith’s search for wealth socio-economic prosperity and Bradford’s recognition of political and civil liberties.
Throughout the years of history, there is one principle that never seems to fade; religion. All tribes and nations of people begin with forms of similar beliefs. Religious Freedoms were a tidal wave of force in the push for emigrant travels to the New World. The first immigrants in the new colonies were known as the Separatists, or English Puritans, who left England to go to the Netherlands because of the Church of England’s structure of reformation. At the beginning of the immigration, the Puritan views were extremely strict and expressed them using their beliefs of punishment. It was not until years later when religious tolerance was spread in the colonial homes. One man to discuss was John Winthrop. Winthrop, a prominent author and religious leader, delivered an iconic sermon denouncing the wayward ideals of the Separatists and encouraging the harmonious relations of all believers as well as their distinct colonial ties. Similar to John Smith, Winthrop took on the enormous responsibility of governing a colony. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was influenced by his concept of reform the Church of England from the inside, instead of completely separating form it. He sought out the ideal of a “selfless community”, after his split from King Charles I over the many religious issues. Winthrop’s lecture, “A Model of Christian Charity”, that is also referred to as the “City upon a Hill” has no given origin. Although, it was later on found as a manuscript. Winthrop includes biblical questions and objections pertaining to individual obligations of lending, forgiving, and love. He hoped to settle the wars that surrounded his people through his sermon. However, the dream of peaceful relations among early Churches and settlers remained just that, a dream. As such, crossing the Ocean in order to gain religious freedoms also gave way to new political ideals founded on personal belief systems of the varying faiths. The wicked desires of sinful mankind clambered for socio-economic gain rather than the religious and civil rights that initiated the original wave of immigrants to the New World. John Smith, a voyager and activist in the early settlement wars, is most commonly known for his geographical knowledge and vision for the people of the New World to be given equal opportunity to gain wealth and liberty, regardless of the socio-economic position they had prior to their colonial days. As such, his writings, though generally romanticized by modern culture, were influential to the founding fathers of modern day America, namely Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson. However, these ideals created distance and dominance over the indigenous peoples’ mode of life; thus creating a mindset of superiority among the colonists. John Smith’s works also formed a bridge between the first two English colonies; the Virginia Enterprise and New England. Although stringent, his leadership helped the colonists prevent multiple raids by Native Tribes.
The nature of man caused explorers to test limits for their inquisitiveness. “This “New World” contained all the natural wealth for which Europeans longed — and far more. Here were great deposits of the gold which they sought so eagerly”. One can see examples of this curiosity throughout the stories of the Bible. The book of Proverbs added, “Hell and Destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied”. In the colonist’s eagerness to seize land and gain new natural resources to gain wealth, the European invasion of the continent became a “two-edged sword” which caused the suppression of people and promoted the abuse of the territory. For the piece, “A Description of New England”, Smith mentions his views on the voyage for prosperity and territory. For example, “If he have but the taste of virtue and magnanimity, what to such a mind can be more pleasant, than planting and building, a foundation for his prosperity, got from the rude earth, by God’s blessing and his own industry, without prejudice to any?”. His effects on colonial leadership swayed the path for recognition of government roles and civil liberties in the country.
Parallel to the economic issues shown through the works of John Smith, William Bradford forged the first cultural understanding of the original colonist lifestyle to support the topic of political liberties. “Bradford influenced the codification of Plymouth’s laws in 1636, significant as the first such embodiment of statutes in the American colonies and also noteworthy for setting forth basic rights”. His most popular work, “Of Plymouth Plantation” was the earliest manuscript of colonial formations and relations. The two worlds of religion and politics are so intricately knit together in the earliest histories of the Americas, that Bradford had a trying time differentiating between the political agendas of colonies and their belief systems. Reflections of his colonial beliefs for freedom, while bringing peace to the colony, are shown in his text such as, he mentions that “And that their offices and callings, courts and canons, etc. were unlawful and anti-Christian; being such as have no warrant in the word of God; but the same that were used in popery, and still retained”. Then later in the writing, Bradford adds his views of the damage of the prosperity relation to self-freedoms covering the upcoming nation; “For now as their stocks increased, and the increase vendible, there was no longer any holding them together, but now they must of necessity go to their great lots…”. Similarly, the ambiguous emergences of political ideals were narrated through the convoluted lens of religious freedoms that can be found in historical literary evidence. Citizens of the country should be thankful and show respect to the authors like Winthrop’s religious guidance, Smith’s strong leadership, and Bradford’s political beliefs for directing the formation of the present day government. India Stewart claims, “Reading literature is like looking through a window at the culture from which it emerged”. While studying the colonial years, one could confirm that the earliest historical authors supported her statement. For example, it can be seen in the first 150 years of the nation’s history, the government did not have many responsibilities, and likewise; citizens had few expected outlooks of it.
The urge to build a self- sufficient colony brought thousands of England citizens to begin a new religious, cultural, and federal life. Literature makes it easier to learn about the difficulties the colonies experiences whether it is passed down from generation to generations, or facts that have traveled from years ago.
