The works of authors William Bradford and Anne Bradstreet are currently read in high school and college classrooms with the hope of the readers finding a glimpse into colonial American life. While these works do show pieces of colonial American life, both authors dealt heavily with the nature of providence and predestination, which was a huge part of the lifestyle of that time. William Bradford took a more straightforward approach of his thoughts, writing the work entitled "Of Plymouth Plantation," which deals with the Puritans landing in Plymouth and the colonization of the land. Anne Bradstreet, however, took a more artistic approach, creating poetry to describe her thoughts of providence. While both authors are extremely different on the surface, they have the same subject running through the heart of their works; they believe that each person is already selected by God to go to Heaven, and there is no way that works could change God's selection.
             William Bradford was with the first group of Puritans that made the daring voyage from England to America. Though there were many problems getting to America, Bradford believed that every problem arose for a reason. Bradford said that "...these and many other sharper things which afterwards befell them, were no other than they looked for, and therefore were the better prepared to bear them by the assistance of God's grace and Spirit." Bradford strongly believed that whatever troubles befell his group could only be helped by the constant knowledge of God's grace and divinity. Whatever Bradford wrote was written as though he was writing to an audience to show them God's grace. He writes that "...their condition was not ordinary, their ends were good and honorable, their calling lawful and urgent; and therefore they might expect the blessing of God in their proceeding" , trying to create a sense of God's grace in action. Bradford was...