Colonial Period Essay, MLA
Mikisha Gilmore
Liberty University
ENGL- 201
John Smith, William Bradford, and John Winthrop are the most recognizable historian and
authors from the colonial period. They were pioneers in the search for the “New World”. They
were in search of freedom and they saw America as a chance to start fresh and build
communities. They were different men with different writing styles. John Smith, was an English
explorer and author, who gave high praise of the glory, riches, and to promote successful living
that would make other people come to America. William Bradford, who became Governor of
Plymouth Colony, wrote about the experiences that were going on in his writings such as “ Of
Plymouth Plantation”. John Winthrop just like Smith wanted to promote a successful “New
World”, but the difference with his writing was that he was more religious based than the other
historians. While the three did influence the colonial period with their historic writings, they
were different in their way. John Smith, William Bradford, and John Winthrop were writers with
different styles and different ways they wanted to communicate what was going on in the “New
.”World
John Smith is the most known author from the early colonial period. His work is what
inspired multiple movies. He is more known for his work that was published, but before his
work, he was a successful explorer. He was an adventurer, who played an important role in the
establishment of the Virginia colony at Jamestown. This was England’s first colony in North
America. What I always heard about John Smith was that he married Pocahontas and helped
her go to the new world. But in reality he never was married or fathered in children. Smith did
meet her when was a preteen, but was never married. His most famous work was “The General
Historie of Virginia” in 1624. John Smith wrote this book to educate readers on how the English
.settlers and the Native Americans related to each other’s
It was easy to see how William Bradford was so important to the colony of Plymouth and to the
.upcoming writers to this day
William Bradford was a notable historian and literacy writer during the early Colonial Period.
His most influential work was called “of Plymouth Plantation”. “It vividly documents the
pilgrims adventures during the Colonial Period. His devotion to the pilgrims is what helped him
become elected for governor and held that position for 30 years. and that helped him during his
time at Plymouth colony. The growth of the Colony was based on his wisdom and courage that
he presented while being the governor of the Plymouth Colony. He was an Pilgrim leader that
helped write the “Mayflower Compact”. The Mayflower Compact was a set of rules invented by
the English Settlers who traveled to the “New World”. This ship helped carry pilgrims from
England into Plymouth, Massachusetts. According pilgrimhall.org
John Winthrop, was a English Puritan lawyer and was the founder of the second major settlement
”.
all great & honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both enterprised and overcome with “
answerable courages. It was granted ye dangers were great, but not desperate; the difficulties were many, but not invincible. For
though their were many of them likely, yet they were not cartaine; it might be sundrie of ye things feared might never befale;
others by providente care & ye use of good means, might in a great measure be prevented; and all of them, through ye help of
God, by fortitude and patience, might either be borne, or overcome. True it was, that such atempts were not to be made and
undertaken without good ground & reason; not rashly or lightly as many have done for curiositie or hope of gaine, &c. But their
condition was not ordinarie; their ends were good & honourable; their calling lawfull, & urgente; and therfore they might
expecte ye blessing of god in their proceding. Yea, though they should loose their lives in this action, yet might they have
comforte in the same, and their endeavors would be honourable
John Smith, William Bradford, and John Winthrop were very important during the
Colonial Period. They were extraordinary adventurers and founders of the “ New World”. They
were each founders of the Colony, but they had different writing styles. Even though their
writing styles were different , they all spoke about the events that were occurring during the
.Colonial Period. Their impact is something that is talked about till this day
called the “ Massachusetts Bay Colony”. He lead a large group of colonist from England and also
served as Governor of the Colony for 12 years. His work just as John Smith, was about getting
people to relocate to the new colony of hope of freedom from England. He was a wealthy and
educated man who wanted to encourage people to come to the Colony. Winthrop, was also a
historian writer that wrote many journals that he used to write down the important things that
.(were happening in New England soon as they were occurring( masshist.org
References
Osborn, Nicola, and Tina McLeod. "John Smith." BMJ : British Medical Journal (Online), vol.
368, 2020. ProQuest, https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?
url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/john-smith/docview/2366076095/se-2,
doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m700.
Of Plymouth Plantation: The Journal of William Bradford. N.d. Retrieved from
pilgrimhall.org/pdf/Bradford_Journal_Intro_Of_Plymouth_Plantation.pdf
John Smith: A Literary Pioneer. N.d. Retrieved from docsouth.unc.edu/highlights/smith.html
John Winthrop journal, History of New England. N.d. Retrieved from
masshist.org
