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American Colonies

Jamestown & John Smith

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        When we read John Smith's "The New World," we need to remember that his purpose is to encourage more Englishmen and women to come and settle the New World.  This is vital in the interpretation of this historical narrative.
        In order to fully appreciate Smith's sales pitch, let's review the historical beginnings of Jamestown. Jamestown is the first permanent settlement in North America.  The colony of Roanoke was attempted, but nobody knows how or why they disappeared.  The men who founded Jamestown were statesmen and adventurers who where interested in the riches of gold, not in manual labor.  These men found no gold.  Instead, they found themselves intruding on a Native American empire, with no crops, no food, and very little protection from the elements or the Indians.  Out of 500, 60 survived.  But settlers kept coming.  These brought cattle and tools for farming, and eventually, the tobacco seed.  This revolutionized the colony, turning it into the agricultural epicenter of non-Spanish tobacco. 
        When Smith writes, notice the type of people his arguments appeal to: skilled tradesmen, young couples, entrepreneurs, and  freedom seekers.  These are the people that the colony would need in order to expand and grow.  They need the skilled tradesmen to make tools, build, and manufacture items in the New World.  They need men with wives to populate the colony. The arguments he uses are aimed at convincing these types of people to take the risk and come to the New World.
    John Smith's Arguments:
    - Get Rich: Less work for more profit.
    - Own your own Land
    - Be your own Boss
    - Found a colony
    - Exploration & Adventure
    - Hunting, Fishing, work here is easy & enjoyable
    - Freedom

Plymouth

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We all remember dressing up like pilgrims and Indians right before Thanksgiving; but there is more to the Pilgrims that just founding a holiday.  The Pilgrims came to the New World seeking refuge and freedom from religious persecution. 
        The Pilgrims landed 450 miles North of Jamestown, and a storm threw them so off course that they landed on the Massachusetts cape instead of on what we now know as Manhattan.  They came in the fall, after a grueling 65 day trans-Atlantic trip in a single roomed middle deck of the Mayflower.  During that winter, many died of starvation and disease; both of which they had almost no resources to combat it.  Yet these people had come prepared to survive.  They made allies with the Indians, who taught them how to grow crops in the poor soil.  They built their community around the church, then continued to expand it as more puritans continued to come and join them. 

        Winthrop recorded their passage and years at Plymouth in a regularly kept diary.  His diary records the steadfast faith and determination of these people as God gave them the grace to persevere amidst heartache, hunger, and disease.  Soon other religious sects, like the Puritans joined them in populating the New England area.

"The Puritan Way," from The Light and the Glory

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The Pilgrims now have a pretty bad reputation as a bunch of repressed, legalistic, and self-righteous fanatics.  But historically, this was never so.  They created a community based on the Christian values that they believed would best honor God.  They were compassionate, forgiving, and caring people who laid down their lives in order to survive in the New World. 

The Pilgrims and Puritans strongly identified with the Old Testament Israelites, and they viewed the New World as a modern promised land.  It was the land of milk and honey that God had given them as an escape from the captivity of religious persecution.  The New Israel that they tried to create was a religious commonwealth, and a community that was governed only by the law of the Bible.  Their Bible was the only law book they needed.  If they were going to create a heaven on earth, they were responsible to root out sin to avoid the wrath of God.  Just like God allowed the Isrealites to be taken into captivity, the Puritans believed that their new found religious freedom could also be forfeited if they became a sinful people. 

This then made the Puritans intolerant of sin in their own life or in any other's life in their community.  Just like God allowed the Isrealites to loose in the battle of Ai because of one man's sin, they believed that one individual's sin affected the entire community.  They held each other accountable to a very high moral standard.  They also understood that those who are forgiven much, love much.  They understood themselves to be sinners forgiven by God, which allowed them to offer forgiveness and loving rebuke to others. 

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," by Jonathan Edwards

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Unlike some earlier prominent Puritans, Jonathan Edwards uses the “fire and brimstone” approach to confront his congregations with what he feels to be the rage of God. The sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was meant to make Edward’s listeners aware of the fact that their behavior and conduct on earth was far more important than anything else and that certain punishment in hell awaited those who did not adhere to proper religious values as expressed in the Bible. While he clearly wished to have an impact on the increasingly different behavior of the colonists, Edwards considered it most effective to discuss God’s wrath with rampant sin rather than offer gentle protestations about sinful behavior. To achieve his end of making his congregants aware of their precarious position on earth (as they could be cast into hell at any time) he reminded them of the power of God and his capacity for doing away with sinners.

Unlike some earlier prominent Puritans, Jonathan Edwards uses the “fire and brimstone” approach to confront his congregations with what he feels to be the rage of God. The sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was meant to make Edward’s listeners aware of the fact that their behavior and conduct on earth was far more important than anything else and that certain punishment in hell awaited those who did not adhere to proper religious values as expressed in the Bible. While he clearly wished to have an impact on the increasingly different behavior of the colonists, Edwards considered it most effective to discuss God’s wrath with rampant sin rather than offer gentle protestations about sinful behavior. To achieve his end of making his congregants aware of their precarious position on earth (as they could be cast into hell at any time) he reminded them of the power of God and his capacity for doing away with sinners.

Metaphors Used:
"The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course when once it is let loose" (Jonathan Edwards, 59).

"The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at our heart and strains the bow, and it s nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of and angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood" (Jonathan Edwards, 59). 

"The God that holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath toward you burns like fire" (Jonathan Edwards, 59).  

Emotional Intention:

"The Trial of Martha Carrier" by Cotton Mather

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        Cotton Mather, a patriarch and a well respected man of the community, attempted to write a factual account of the events that took place during the trial of Martha Carrier.  She was accused of being a with during the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1962.

So how much of the "evidence" and accusations brought against Martha Carrier is circumstantial evidence?

what is meant by the words "circumstantial evidence?"
It is when indirect evidence and information is used to deduct a probable conclusion from the facts that are known.  
    Unfortunately, very little of the facts can be explained.  This leaves a problem for the court.  No other conclusion can be reached about these events because they cannot scientifically explain them. With their limited knowledge of medicine and the seemingly supernatural observations, witchcraft is the only conclusion that they can deduct. 

Consider the relationship or the context under which these unexplainable events occurred:
    - Land disputes
    - Brawls
    - Arguments

"The Witch Trial at Mount Holly"

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