Smith-A Description of New Englandhandout
...s with some of the colonizers, especially members of the gentry who were not used to hard labor. Although his courageous and resourceful leadership is credited with having carried the colony through its first two years, his treatment of the local Native Americans was harsh. Smith was president of the Jamestown colony from 1608 to 1609, when he returned to England after being badly burned in an accident. In 1614 he returned to America and led an expedition that explored and mapped the coast of New England, which he named. He returned to England with valuable furs and fish. Once back in England, Smith was a prolific writer and an ardent supporter of English colonization in America. America – a Promised Land John Smith describes New England as being: - a land where you can find ”fruits, birds, crabs and muskles” in abundance - a place where if you work you can earn your living “worthy is that person to starue that heere cannot live; if he have sense, strength, and health” - Also he states that with 30 or 40 men you can easily subject the local natives He c...