Compare And Contrast New England And Massachusetts Bay Colonies

Around the 1600’s, New England started to develop a drastic population growth. This growth caused several problems for the occupants including, high prices on food, land, and a shortage of work for many because of the aggressive competition. Immigrants from New England began to prepare for a voyage that would be beneficial for some travelling to Massachusetts and not so much those who were travelling to Virginia. Although the settlers from the Chesapeake Bay and New England came from the same country, these colonies established different societies because of varying elements such as religious freedoms, economy, government’s role in society and unity.

During the mid 17th century two regions carved roots for England in North America. Coming from the same homeland one would assume their inner workings would closely mirror each other but this was not the case for the New England and Chesapeake colonies. Though faced with similar hardships, the ways they handled the difficulties starkly contrast one another.

How were the colonies and the colonists that lived in Maryland and Massachusetts similar and different? The similarities and differences between the Maryland and Massachusetts colony are clear.

Although the Chesapeake and New England colonies were the earliest English colonies to flourish in the New World, they were both extremely different in the ways that they developed. Similarities between the colonies can be found, but the colonies were mostly different. The colonies differed most in religion, society, culture, economy, and their relationships with the American Indians of the region. The reasons for such differences can be understood by realizing that the colonies were settled by incredibly different people who possessed different cultures, religious beliefs, and motivations for settling in their respective colonies in the first place. The Chesapeake and New England colonies had similarities and differences in their development, including how each colony affected nearby American Indians. Their differences and similarities can be understood by analyzing each colony’s geography, economy, religions, and cultures.

During the 17th and 18th century, English residents felt that England was over-crowded and intolerable. They wanted to lessen these problems that rose up because of the large population increase and to establish more religious freedom (Horn). The English believed that the best way to go about this was to colonize the New World. Subsequently, many colonies began to develop, and of these colonies, Massachusetts Bay and Virginia were the most well-known. The early settlements of Massachusetts and Virginia were both established by similar groups of people at the same time; furthermore, their contrasting beginnings as a colony, views on religion, and method of economic stability all contributed to our American heritage today.

The settlement of Virginia represent an English colon in the New World of North America. These colonist land in the location of Jamestown. The settlers were the first English settlers. These colonist settled there from 1607 to 1707, during the American Revolution .The Colony of Virginia was nicknamed “ Old Dominion” for it loyalty to the English by King Charles. Add the info for other one. The settlement for Massachusetts were the Puritan later known as pilgrims. Theses settlers were also colonist from England. Jamestown landed on Virginia along the James River. Plymouth landed along t what is now Massachusetts Bay. These were the second to settle in the New World, in 1620.Both were charter originally by the Virginia Company. The five sources of information for this paper are: The Perils of Emigration, A German Migrant in Philadelphia, Increases Mather on Indian Wars, Roger Clap Mass Bay Lean Years, and Iroquois Chiefs Address the Governors of New York and Virginia.

When comparing and contrasting the Chesapeake and New England colonies you find that there are many differences and a few similarities. These differences and similarities revolve around the colonies geography, economic characteristics, religious characteristics, and why they were founded. These differences developed in the colonies based off where they are, how they were ran, and how wealthy they were. The development of these colonies also affected the American Indians in a few different ways. Let start by comparing major difference of the geography between Chesapeake and New England colonies. New England colonies had cold weather and poor dry soil which made for a short growing season. This made it harder to grow food so most families just had a small farm for personal gain, there weren’t plantations. The New England colonies also had natural harbors and a lot of the land was covered in forests. In contrast to the New England colonies the Chesapeake colonies has hot humid weather, with long growing seasons, and excellent soil that was great for plantation and along with rivers that flowed throughout the colonies. Now let’s take a look at the differences in the economical characteristics between the colonies. In New England because of their geographical conditions they couldn’t grow crops in large plantation to make profits so they had to rely on other means to make income. Since the land was covered in forests they use the timber to expand the shipbuilding industries. They

Jamestown presented more prospects to colonists than Massachusetts Bay Colony by allowing more than one religion, workers rights, and freedom of speech. Jamestown settlers had a bond from England guarantees the rights of settlers, as they would have had it in England. The Puritans formed the Massachusetts Bay Colony and they established a charter also. Both colonies had their have and have not in them. Massachusetts Bay Colony encourage the church greatly and Jamestown boost working over religion. The starting of a democracy, equality was from Jamestown.

During colonial times, European nations quickly colonized the New World years after Columbus’ so called discovery. England in particular sent out a number of groups to the east coast of the New World to two regions. These areas were the New England and the Chesapeake regions. Later in the late 1700s, these two regions would go though many conflicts to come together as one nation. Yet, way before that would occur; these two areas developed into two distinct societies. These differences affected the colonies socially, economically, and politically.

Both the original Puritans and Puritan Separatists escaped their home country for religious reasons. The Puritans who came from Anglia, England to ultimately settle in Massachusetts Bay left because they felt that the Church of England had not separated itself enough from its Catholic roots. One of the Chesapeake colonies, ironically enough, was mainly founded on the religious persecution the people of Massachusetts Bay had imposed upon them. Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams and later became home to Anne Hutchinson, both showing motions of antinomianism. Maryland was another colony in the Chesapeake region that was founded on religious purposes.

The colonies of Jamestown, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay each were different by nature, goals, successes, and failures. There were numerous similarities as well as differences. However, each colony was looking for something better that was missing in their main land. Members of each colony had a vision of what they expected the New World to look like. When they arrived, they were given a sense of reality. Each colony had challenges that it would have to overcome to thrive as a new establishment in the New World. The three colonies succeeded at different levels in the New World.

Although they were unable to completely avoid many of the problems that Jamestown encountered, the colony was able to survive. Learning from the mistakes of their predecessors, the non-separating Puritans of New England were very successful in creating a colony that was able to deal with the issues and grow. In 1630, this colony, known as Massachusetts Bay, was founded. Before their arrival, John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, spent time writing a template for the way of life that colonists should follow in the new community. This work, called A Model of Christian Charity, was very similar to the Laws of Virginia with respect to the fact that they are both heavily inspired by religion and aim at fulfilling the religious duties of the colonies. However, this document served only as a template, not a law code. Problems arose when colonists started to see that government officials were beginning to abuse their power in a way that was in conflict with the covenant that the Puritans held with God. As a result, a law code that was proposed by Nathaniel Ward was approved in 1641. These "Capital Laws" laid out specific crimes and punishments and, much like the Laws of Virginia and A Model of Christian Charity, were religious in nature. In fact, all of the laws listed in this document contain specific citation from the scripture where they originated meaning that

While the Chesapeake and New England colonies were similarly the earliest successful English colonies in North America, the colonies developed quite independently of each other. When looking at the differences and similarities in the development of these colonies, it seems as though the differences far outweigh the similarities. These colonies varied in regards to their religious beliefs, their societal organization, culture, economy, and relationships with local American Indians. The differences and similarities between the colonies can be further understood by analyzing the individual colonies’ geography, economy, religious beliefs, and cultural practices.

Comparatively Jamestown and the Chesapeake colonies were very different from the New England colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. The Plymouth Massachusetts Bay colonies were founded by Puritans to flee religious persecution by the Church of England and were very religious colonies. The Virginia colonies were founded for the king, and with the objective of finding gold and glory in hopes of bringing wealth to Britain. The joint stock company, The Virginia Company, is what funded the exploration into Virginia. The settlement they were to find needed a good port for their three heavy ships.

The New England, Middle, and Southern colonies differed from each other in a variety of ways. The colonies varied in natural resources, climate, religion domination, and unique major events. First, the colonies had unique natural resources. For example, the New England colonies had plentiful fish, timber, and furs. In addition, the Middle colonies had excellent farmland, natural harbors, timber, furs, and coal. Meanwhile, the Southern colonies had plantations mainly of tobacco, rice, cotton, sugarcane, and indigo. Second, the colonies had different climates. The New England colonies had the coldest weather, resulting in the hardest winter and little spread of disease. The Middle colonies had warm summers and cold winters, and the Southern colonies