American push for Independence, Puritan Work Ethic

A detailed Summary of American push for Independence, Puritan Work Ethic

The British colonies of North America took their beginnings in the early part of the sixteen hundreds. At that time Virginia and New England became the first regions to be settled by the English. It was the birth of America as a whole, but it also was the beginnings of two distinct ways of life. The colonies were founded on Independence, but from the start there were two completely different ideas of what that Independence was and what it would mean over time.

This paper will examine the two conceptions of Independence to the Virginian and to the New Englander. Using primary documents of the time it will explain how each idea changed over time from settlement to the American Revolution. It will show how the two distinct societies divided so much since settlement came together under a common American theme. It will finally explain why the theme of independence played such a great role in the development of Colonial America and how is a central idea of their culture.

The settlements of Virginia started as an economic venture to reap the land of its resources for the mother nation. It started very slowly due to the lack of preparedness of the colonists and investors. It took sometime

There are two rules whereby we are to walk one towards another: justice and mercy...as sometimes there may be an occasion of showing mercy to a rich man in some sudden danger of distress, and also doing of mere justice to poor man in regard of some particular contrast, etc.

"They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans and Swedes. From this promiscuous breed, that race now called Americans have arisen...In this great American asylum, the poor of Europe have by some means met together, and in consequence of various causes; to what purpose should they ask one another what countrymen they are? Alas, two thirds of them had no country. Can a wretch who wanders about, who works and starves, whose life is a continual scene of sore affliction or pinching penury, can that man call England or any other kingdom his country? A country that had no bread for him, whose fields procured him no harvest, who met nothing but the frowns of the rich, the severity of laws, with jails and punishments; who owned not a single foot of the extensive surface of this planet? No! Urged by a variety of motives, here they came...they receive ample rewards for their labors; these accumulated rewards procure them lands; those lands confer on them the title of freemen, and to that title ever benefit is affixed which men can possible require."

This passage is a perfect example of what a Virginian would want in independence. To live a life of status, spend a day not doing work, but reading, socializing, and briefly looking over his business affairs. It was what Virginians believed in. To be independent in Virginia was to be an aristocratic land and slave owner. This view would last up to and through the American Revolution.

As time progressed the New England idea of independence had changed somewhat. After a few generations, the religious theme that was so central gave way to the freeholder/yeomen concept. Religion was still very important to their lifestyle, and would be revived in the first Great Awakening of the 1730's, but time was changing and with it was the central ideal of New England Independence.

The rich lived a life based on status and socializing. They owned land and had slaves to work their property. That was the attainable sought after lifestyle of Virginia colonists. The poor farmers hoped to one day reach that kind of lifestyle. It would become the Southern way. William Byrd wrote in his secret diary,

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Approximate Word count = 2573
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History