Thirteen Colonies of America: Overview of Virginia and Massachusetts

The United States of America, the land of the free. Many people know this vast land for being made up of its fifty states, from Alaska to Wyoming, but how this land came to be is not as well known. Originally there were thirteen colonies, including Virginia and Massachusetts. These two states both had their share of religious events, wars and struggles to receive the freedom to worship or lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

As one of the first thirteen colonies of America and one of the six New England states (or commonwealths), Massachusetts was discovered approximately in the year 1620 under the authority of William Bradford, the leader of the pilgrims. This colony had harsh winters and mild summers. This colony during its first few years had a wide variety of jobs, ranging from both crop and livestock farming to lumbering, working at shops, and mailing (or shipping). During this time the king presided over the Anglican Church, Nevertheless, not everyone agreed with the church's practices, so a group of Puritans wanted to help restore the church’s spirit by simplifying the church’s services and abolishing the ranks of authority. On the contrary, another group of puritans called separatists wanted to be completely “separated” from the English church and wanted to be able to create their own gatherings. Since the king found out about this, when he began to jail (even execute) the separatists, the rest of them moved to Holland, able to partake in their religious affairs with freedom. During the years of 1621, a group of separatists took a tedious venture across the Atlantic, landing at Plymouth. When the separatists landed, they were welcomed by the Wampanoag, who taught them how to plant crops, trap animals, and catch fish. Without the help of these American Indians, the Pilgrims may not have survived their first winter and would’ve perished from the blizzards, hurricanes, and sicknesses. As a form of gratitude to the Wampanoag, the separatists invited the Wampanoag to share their first harvest in a three-day feast known as Thanksgiving. Present-day, Americans still celebrate this holiday every November.

Another one of the original thirteen colonies, Virginia was one of the southern colonies, similar to both Maryland and Georgia. This colony had winters to a mild extent, while on the contrary to those winters, the summers were both hot and humid. While people know Georgia as where we get most of our peaches and how Maryland is known for Krabs, but some people don't know that Virginia's settlement, Jamestown, was the first successful English settlement of North America. Soon enough after a tremulous start, Virginia boomed with progression and prospered financially and brought an enlarged amount of new citizens to this colony. Since Virginia is in the southern colonies, the fertile land and hot climate helped the state created “Cash crops” such as tobacco. The whole economy of Virginia was based on tobacco, and since tobacco requires a vast array of both land and workers, the people soon turned the Indians into slaves and made their tobacco business off of them. Not only were they not used to farming, but they also received great sickness and disease from the colonists. Around the eighty-fifth percentile did the Indians die from sickness, forcing the colonists to find a separate alternative to help the colonists of Virginia continue to raise such cash crops like tobacco. Virginia elected an assembly, called the House of Burgesses, in 1619. In 1661, the House of Burgesses passed a law that made African workers slaves for life. By 1700, Virginia had more than sixteen-thousand enslaved Africans, more than a quarter of the colony's population. For the people of Africa, these colonists of Virginia brought them suffering, but for Virginia, slavery had become a way of life.

In conclusion, as stated before, both the states of Virginia and Massachusets had their fair share of moving to America and settling in a land that would be the future home of fifty-states, and a range of three hundred twenty-nine million six hundred ninety-three thousand seven hundred twenty-eight residents. Between the two of these colonies, Virginia and Massachusetts, they both helped develop the beginning of the United States of America, from having the American revolutionary war, the Boston tea party, the thanksgiving feast with the Wampanoag, and the house of burgesses (the law that made slavery legal).