Compare and contrast the society of Jamestown to the Puritan communities with regard to philosophy or religion, economic structures, labor systems,...

Jamestown was founded for economic motives by the Virginia Company of London in 1607, and there was no religious motivation for its founding. Shortly after the "Starving Time" of 1609-1610, Jamestown turned to planting tobacco and other crops to make money, and, by 1619, they began to use slave labor. They also used indentured servants as part of their labor system. Elders did not exert as much social control or social welfare systems in Jamestown, as there was a high death rate and many people did not emigrate in families. As a result, women had more power than they did in other colonies.

The Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, on the other hand, founded their colony for religious motives so that they could establish a theocracy, or government founded on religion. Economic motives, while important, were secondary to religious motives in their colony. They settled as family-based farmers and artisans and relied less on indentured servants (and there were few slaves). Finally, the Puritans settled in tight-knit families with a great deal of social control and a social welfare system provided by the church. Women had far less power than they did in Jamestown, as the Puritan communities were established on patriarchies with a great deal of parental and male control.