In the early to mid-17th two of the first charter colonies in America were Jamestown and Plymouth. These colonies were very different, Jamestown was founded to find gold in the James River but when that idea was floundering, John Rolfe brought tobacco seeds to Jamestown and it eventually became the first tobacco producing colony in the English colonies. On the other hand, Plymouth was founded as a safe haven for puritans escaping persecution in England and was one of the few puritan colonies in New England.
Even though these colonies had many differences they also were very similar.They both suffered immensely at the beginning the start of these colonies. (Jamestown colonists were not use to hard labor and they suffered from famine. Plymouth colonists arrived too late in the growing season so they were not able to grow crops or farm. ) If it wasn’t for the Natives helping each set of colonists, both of these colonies might have died out.
Just like how Jamestown and Plymouth had their similarities and differences so did the people who founded them. Even though John Smith and William Bradford had similarities and differences, there is no doubt their respected colony would’ve died out if it wasn’t for them.Though John Smith and William Bradbury both wrote about their times in their colonies, the way they wrote about it was very different. Smith, whose intentions were to bring people from Europe to Jamestown, wrote pamphlets about life in Jamestown and tried to persuade people to come settle here. Bradbury, whose intention was to the future generations, kept a diary about his daily life and hardships that he and his people faced at Plymouth.
Though Smith and Bradbury both wanted to persuade people to come to their colonies, they both had different purposes and different audiences in which they transmitted these ideas.Later after Jamestown was well established and Smith left Jamestown to return to England, John Smiths writings transformed from more of a persuasive genre to autobiographies. Smith’s autobiography was more of a biography mostly because he wrote in 3rd person in it. William Bradbury on the other hand, continued to right about his daily life at the Plymouth colony where he spent the remainder of his life. He continued to educate people about his findings.
John Smith and William Bradford are thought to be pioneers of not onlyAmerica’s upbringing but also early American literature. Thanks to these men, they influenced the outcome of America’s early upbringing and influenced many early American Revolution writers such as Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine, etc. Though these men had different personalities and different ways of thinking they both became great early colonial time leaders whose ideas are still looked at today. Even though John Smith and William Bradford had similarities and differences, there is no doubt their respected colony would’ve died out if it wasn’t for them.
