How Did The Massachusetts Bay Colony Influence The Growth Of The Thirteen Colonies

The development of Jamestown Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony influenced the growth of the Thirteen Colonies. To form a settlement in North America in search for gold and silver, as well as, expansion of Britain’s territory and investment in the New World, King James funded the Virginia Company in1606~1609. Many of the investors were strict Puritans. The Mayflower ship was sailing to Jamestown until a storm caused them to go off course, and land in Plymouth. This new territory became another area of growth and expansion of the Thirteen Colonies.

King James granted a charter to a new venture with the Virginia Company. The Virginia Company was a joint stock company created to establish settlements in the New World. About 100 colonists left England in late December 1606 on three ships and reached Chesapeake Bay. Christopher Newport, leader, and John Smith, landed on a peninsula on May 14, 1607 in the James River, where they would begin their lives in the Jamestown. Most colonists that came to Jamestown wanted religious freedom and escape persecution, or find gold. The first legislature anywhere in the English colonies in America was the House of Burgesses. It first met on July 30, 1619, at a church in Jamestown. Its first order of business was to set a minimum price for the sale of tobacco which was brought over by John Rolfe.

The company, which was strongly Puritan, had been conducting business in the New World for a few years as the New England Company. The company then renamed itself the Massachusetts Bay Company and was granted a charter by Charles I on March 4, 1629. John Winthrop was strictly a Puritan. There was great migration of all race and religion including separatists and puritans who escaped religious persecution. The Mayflower Compact was made by Pilgrims to keep things in