Virginia and Massachusetts varied greatly from many points of view. This is due partly to the groups of people who founded the colonies. Virginia was started by King James I mainly to become rich by finding gold and silver. Massachusetts however, was founded by a group of people who felt that the Church of England was becoming too much like the Catholic religion. They wanted to break away entirely from the church. Another main difference between them would be the geographic places in which they settled. Massachusetts survived in the rocky, cold environment of New England whereas Virginia thrived in the fertile, pleasant climate of the Southeast.
             Religious motivation was the basis for the founding of Massachusetts. The pilgrims belonged to the puritan religion, which believed in predestination. The Puritan government consisted of strict religious practices and democracy. Pilgrims started the Mass Migration in which tens of thousands of people came to the New World. The Puritans denied themselves of earthly pleasures in order to guarantee their salvation. The Massachusetts colony did not tolerate any other religion and was harsh in punishing those who failed to comply. One example of the harsh punishment towards non-Puritan people would be Anne Hutchinson. She was well respected in Massachusetts because of her housekeeping skills. She believed, however, that God could be communicated with personally, therefore making the church unnecessary. She shared her views with people she communicated with on a daily basis. Once the church found out, they expelled her from the colony. This was not the only instance in which Massachusetts's religious society created trouble. In 1635, the Salem Witch Trials took the lives of twenty people. This occurred partly because of people's paranoia of evil. As far as people from Massachusetts were concerned, religion was the center of all aspects of colonial life. Virginia, on t...