Both the colonial Americans of the south and those of the north embraced the concept of a Providential view of history. The Providential view of history is a filter through which presents the concept that God intervenes directly in the lives of men. Captain John Smith, a leading figure in the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, and William Bradford, the governor of the colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts, use several examples of the Providential view of history in their literature.

Captain John Smith's The General History contains many instances in which God intervenes in the lives of the southern colonists. For example, when the Virginian settlers had no food left and had abandoned all hope of survival, the Native Americans brought them food and provisions. Smith, embracing the Providential view of history, explains that "God...so changed the hearts of the savages that they brought such plenty of their fruits...