Motivations for English Colonies (Dbq)

Motivations for the English Colonies

Growth of English colonial settlements in North America, between 1607 and 1630 was greatly influenced by the then current state of English society. This being the need for economic means increased starting in 1607, in rivalry to the growth of the Spanish colonies in South America. Similarly, religious freedom was a much sought after commodity by the Puritans and Separatists of England, and would lead colonization of Massachusetts. Colonization of North America by inhabitants of England between 1607 and 1630 was influenced greatly by the search for religious freedom and the search for economic growth.
Beginning in 1607, the Virginia Company of London, a joint-stock company, sent over approximately a hundred men to what would later become the state of Virginia, under a charter given by King James I of England. Jamestown, named for the king, was established in the hope of finding gold in the New World, and possibly finding a route to the East Indies. After little success with finding gold, and having most of the men die, twelve-hundred men out of eight-thousand who had sailed, the Virginia Company was at a loss as to what to do with the men. In 1612, a man named John Rolfe came to Virginia with a revolutionary idea for tobacco. Rolfe had discovered a way to perfect crop, by curing and thus eliminating the bitter tang. Tobacco would then become the yellow-leaved cash crop, appearing all throughout the Jamestown area. Europeans had a high demand for the product, and despite it torturous affects on the soil, the New World was the perfect planters pot. With this increase in economy, immigration would rise high throughout Virginia, enough so that in 1619 the Virginia Company would permit a self government, known as the House of Burgesses. As a result of this, King James would eventually revoke the charter, thus making a Virginia a royal colony.   Yet, it cannot be denied that the stems of the future of the United States of America...