Introduction to American Literature Author:Franklin Verzelius Newton Painter Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: from each other in space. The first of these colonies was founded in.1607 at Jamestown in Virginia; the other in 1620 at Plymouth in New England. Both settlement... more »s, in their subsequent development, were destined to play an important part in the political and literary history of our country. In a measure they represented two different tendencies in politics and religion: the Virginia colonists upholding the Church of England and standing by the king; the New England colonists favoring a change in the English Church, and adhering to the Parliament. The one was thus conservative, the other progressive,—characteristics that are perceptible at the present day. Virginia. 19. Early Hardships—It is beyond the scope of the present work to follow in detail the various trials and vicissitudes of the young settlement at Jamestown. The story is well known. Nearly the whole century was consumed in getting the colony firmly on its feet. For a time disease carried off a large number of the colonists and discouraged the rest. The Indians frequently became unfriendly, and made repeated attempts to massacre the colonists. Many of the governors were incompetent and selfish; and the energies of the people were at times wasted by dissension and strife. One man alone, during this early period, was able to plan and execute wisely; and that was Captain John Smith. 20. Cavalier Tone—At various times during the century the colony received new accessions of immigrants. After the Civil War in England, and the establishmentof the Protectorate under Cromwell, many of the Royalists, adherents of Charles I., sought a home in the New World, and gave a distinct Cavalier tone to Virginia society. The manners of the mother country were in a measure reproduced. " The Virginian planter was essentially a transpl...« less