America’s Earliest Foundations and Their Impacts Essay

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America’s Earliest Foundations and Their Impacts

As every kindergartener in the United States is well aware of, the Pilgrims sailed from England on the Mayflower to America, then an unclaimed land mass. Plymouth was where the settlers landed- hoping for Jamestown, Virginia- but getting thrown off course throughout their journey across the Atlantic. What these five year olds, and certainly most teenagers, do not know is that England wasn’t the only nation that people voyaged from to settle on the east coast. The Island at the Center of the World is a book that delightfully explains that the English were not the Native American’s only company. The Dutch, fresh from Amsterdam, managed to reach modern day New York City thanks to Henry Hudson, a desperate Dutchman yearning for a path to Asia. The British “New England area” and the Dutch Manhattan were alike in location and time period, but had some drastic differences laid in their beliefs, tolerances, and ways of life. The religious structures of these colonies could not be more different. The English came to America to gain religious freedom from their overbearing king. The Dutch came over by means of curiosity and adventure. As a result, the religious structure of the Dutch colony was more relaxed than those of New England. As Russel Shorto said, the Dutch simply “put up” with the religious differences that they encountered in their melting pot of a settlement. Jews, Puritans, Catholics, Muslims, Jesuits- all different types resided in Manhattan (Shorto). The New England colonies on the other hand were almost completely Puritan. The “Pilgrims” were separatists, dedicated Puritans that wished to break away from the Church of England. Some may call them extremists, but they were merely seeking a safe haven to live and raise their families. Just like the English, Americans today enjoy and celebrate their sense of independence and religious freedom. Unfortunately, the Puritans’ hope of purifying the English Church ended when the Charles II ascended the throne in 1660. Charles was more focused on the colonies and took control of them, throwing away the Puritans small sense of power (American Pageant). The political structures of the English and Dutch settlements also had some large distinctions. The main difference is that England still had a king ruling over them and the Dutch did not. However, the distance between these colonies and their homelands gave the colonists room to breath and set up their own form of government. This particular area is where the similarities turn up the most. The Dutch had no judicial system, only a head director to start. Willem Keift1 was able to overpower any disputes and make any decision possible for Manhattan Island. The mainland had no real interest in who was in charge of the colony, just that it worked out. Keift eventually created a counsel of advisors to help him in running the town, but it was not very effective in creating a more democratic way of management (Shorto).2 The way the New England colonies worked was completely parallel. The settlers elected governors for each colony, (Most notably William Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts who was chosen over thirty times) and made group decisions among themselves3. As shown by the Fundamental Orders in Connecticut, these English colonists were quite democratic, more so than the Dutch. This set up is seemingly familiar to the governors that we have for each of our fifty states. Even today the vast majority of the New England states are for the Democratic Party. The social structure of these colonies is by far the most interesting aspect. A few things that the English and Dutch founded we even see in modern day America. The structure of Manhattan was very unique like it is now. It was a melting pot with people from all around the world. At one point when there were just four hundred inhabitants, eighteen different languages were being spoken! This was an extraordinary example of
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