Massachusetts Bay vs Plymouth and Virginia: Key Concepts for US History to 1877

Massachusetts Bay Colony

  • Large, family-centered Puritan settlement; strong church influence; goal: a holy, unified community under God.

  • Governance tied to religion (local ministers, town governments elected, voting limited to white male landowners).

  • Economy: mixed agriculture, timber, fishing; trade via port towns; less reliance on single-crop cash economies.

  • Population: by 16301630, about 3imes3 imes Plymouth; high fertility, family emphasis.

Plymouth Colony

  • Established by Separatists (Pilgrims) in 16201620; religious separatism.

  • Smaller scale; early contact with Indigenous peoples (Wampanoag, Squanto).

Massachusetts Bay vs Virginia: Settlement origins

  • Massachusetts Bay: Great Puritan Migration; model Christian commonwealth, religious cohesion.

  • Virginia: private enterprise; wealth via tobacco, coerced labor, land seizure; profit-driven.

  • Contrast: communal, religious Mass. Bay vs. plantation economy, private investment Virginia.

fdsecwwProtestant Reformation essentials

  • Martin Luther (1517): critiques Catholic practices; "priesthood of all believers" (Bible in vernacular, increased literacy).

  • Henry VIII (Act of Supremacy in 15341534): forms Church of England, linking church to state.

  • Religious turmoil in 1600s England fuels North American colonization.

Priesthood of all believers in political life

  • Lay interpretation of scripture makes political authority more contestable.

Winthrop and the Arbella sermon

  • Emphasizes social unity, obedience to God, cohesive godly commonwealth.

  • Government and religion intertwined.

Primary sources

  • Arbella sermon: unity under divine purpose.

  • Bradford’s accounts of Plymouth: Native relations, early hardships.

Economic "competency": Massachusetts Bay vs Virginia

  • Massachusetts Bay: competency via land, family labor, diversified small-scale economy.

  • Virginia: tobacco cash crop; plantation system, coerced labor (slavery, indentured servitude); wealth concentrated among elites.

Demographics and political participation

  • Puritan migration: family formation, average woman bore 77 children.

  • Political participation limited to white male landowners; church membership influences political voice.

Native American relations in New England

  • Initial contact with Indigenous groups (Wampanoag); alliances fragile due to disease and military pressure.

  • 1620s Mass. coast: Native communities devastated by epidemic disease before European arrival.

Quick takeaways

  • Massachusetts Bay: Puritan, church-centered, limited suffrage, diversified economy.

  • Plymouth: smaller Separatist settlement, different Native dynamics.

  • Protestant Reformation: "priesthood of all believers" underpins New England motivations.

  • Arbella sermon: Puritan political theology (unity