The Pilgrims and Puritans, whose migration to the New World marks
the beginning of permanent settlement in New England, were children
of the same age as the enterprising and adventurous pioneers of
England in Virginia, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. It was the age in
which the foundations of the British Empire were being laid in the Western
Continent. The "spacious times of great Elizabeth" had passed, but the
new national spirit born of those times stirred within the English people.
The Kingdom had enjoyed sixty years of domestic peace and prosperity,
and Englishmen were eager to enter the lists for a share in the advantages
which the New World offered to those who would venture therein. Both
landowning and landholding classes, gentry and tenant farmers alike,
were clamoring, the one for an increase of their landed estates, the
other for freedom from the feudal restraints which still legally bound
them. The land-hunger of neither class could be satisfied in a narrow
island where the law and the lawgivers were in favor of the maintenance
of feudal rights. The expectations of all were aroused by visions of wealth
from the El Dorados of the West, or of profit from commercial enterprises
which appealed to the cupidity of capitalists and led to investments that
promised speedy and ample returns. A desire to improve social conditions
and to solve the problem of the poor and the vagrant, which had become
acute since the dissolution of the monasteries, was arousing the authorities to
deal with the pauper and to dispose of the criminal in such a way as to yield
a profitable service to the kingdom. England was full of resolute men, sea-dogs
and soldiers of fortune, captains on the land as well as the sea, who in times o
f peace were seeking employment and profit and who needed an outlet for their
energies. Some of these continued in the service of kings and princes in Europe;
others conducted enterprises against the Spaniards in the West Indies and along
the Spanish Main; while still others, such as John Smith and Miles Standish, became
pioneers in the work of English colonization.
the beginning of permanent settlement in New England, were children
of the same age as the enterprising and adventurous pioneers of
England in Virginia, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. It was the age in
which the foundations of the British Empire were being laid in the Western
Continent. The "spacious times of great Elizabeth" had passed, but the
new national spirit born of those times stirred within the English people.
The Kingdom had enjoyed sixty years of domestic peace and prosperity,
and Englishmen were eager to enter the lists for a share in the advantages
which the New World offered to those who would venture therein. Both
landowning and landholding classes, gentry and tenant farmers alike,
were clamoring, the one for an increase of their landed estates, the
other for freedom from the feudal restraints which still legally bound
them. The land-hunger of neither class could be satisfied in a narrow
island where the law and the lawgivers were in favor of the maintenance
of feudal rights. The expectations of all were aroused by visions of wealth
from the El Dorados of the West, or of profit from commercial enterprises
which appealed to the cupidity of capitalists and led to investments that
promised speedy and ample returns. A desire to improve social conditions
and to solve the problem of the poor and the vagrant, which had become
acute since the dissolution of the monasteries, was arousing the authorities to
deal with the pauper and to dispose of the criminal in such a way as to yield
a profitable service to the kingdom. England was full of resolute men, sea-dogs
and soldiers of fortune, captains on the land as well as the sea, who in times o
f peace were seeking employment and profit and who needed an outlet for their
energies. Some of these continued in the service of kings and princes in Europe;
others conducted enterprises against the Spaniards in the West Indies and along
the Spanish Main; while still others, such as John Smith and Miles Standish, became
pioneers in the work of English colonization.
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