During the 16th and 17th century, European countries were colonizing the recently discovered Americas. England colonized two areas, but these two regions had unique cultures and different economies. New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by people of English origins, but by the 1700s the regions evolved into two distinct societies because of their different economies and cultures but also have a similarity in how they treated Native Americans. Chesapeake and New England colonies first differed throughout their economy. The Chesapeake colonies economy came mostly from cultivating tobacco. While New England’s economy was much more diverse as most people’s occupations were fishing, shipbuilding, and cutting down trees. Chesapeake first seemed to be an economic failure but the settlers soon came to realize that the Chesapeake region was an excellent area to grow tobacco because of the hot climate. Since tobacco required a large amount of labor, colonists used Native Americans and slaves to cultivate the tobacco. Later, African Americans were used as the main labor force because slaves had no cost and had no rights, so the English could punish them more. Tobacco …show more content…
The majority of people who migrated to the Chesapeake colony were single men and indentured servants. Since there were very few women there, the population growth rate was very slow. While the people who migrated to New England were mostly families. In New England, the population grew much more rapidly where most people married young. New England had a theocracy where their government was ran by religious clergyman. While the English crown appointed governors. The New England colony held annual elections and gave the right to vote to all “freedmen.” The Chesapeake colony had a House of Burgesses which was an assembly which met regularly to talk about raising
The differences in the two regions are not only seen in their religion, but can also be found in their economies. The economy of New England was far more inferior to that of the Chesapeake economy. This was because the New England society was family-oriented and primarily owned only small family farms just large enough to feed their families. Their economy was mainly based on small farming and fishing. This shows that New England was not focusing on economic growth and expansion. The Chesapeake Bay, on the other hand, had a vast economy. The population of Chesapeake Bay outnumbered New England's population nearly three to one. Their economy was mainly based on the tobacco and slave trading industries. These businesses contributed greatly to the Chesapeake Bay's economic and colonial expansion. This explains why people who came to the New World looking to make money chose to go to Chesapeake Bay rather than the New England area.
While both the people of the New England region and of the Chesapeake region descended from the same English origin, by 1700 both regions had traveled in two diverse directions. Since both of these groups were beset with issues that were unique to their regions and due to their exposure to different circumstances, each was forced to rethink and reconstruct their societies. As a result, the differences in the motivation, geography, and government in the New England and Chesapeake regions caused great divergence in the development of each.
To cultivate these tobacco crops the Chesapeake Bay colonist utilized slave labor, and the use of indentured servants. The use of indentured servants soon died out when Virginia, forbid the whipping of white servants. In the Chesapeake colonies, religion was not as strict as in New England. In these colonies there were a number of small optional religions, this was very different than the ways of the New England colonies.
Stated in the Articles of Agreement, in Springfield, Massachusetts "do mutually agree to certain articles and order to be observed and kept by us and by our successor" (Doc D.) The New England Colonies created and obeyed by their laws and orders. The Chesapeake colonies economically was very stable once they were settled. They focused on large scale plantations such a tobacco, rice and indigo. Therefore, The Chesapeake had slaves to work their plantations. In Governor Berkeley and His Council on Their Inability to Defend Virginia Against a Dutch Attack, states "(Besides Negroes) as there are freemen to defend the shores and all out frontiers." (Doc G.) This Document shows that they had many slave in the Chesapeake colonies. The New England colonies had more focus on small scale farming and manufacturing goods such as lumber, Shipbuilding and whaling. They did not have many plantation colonies. The New England colonies did not use any slave labor.
Now for the economic reasons. The Chesapeake region developed a tobacco economy, everything they did was to grow or sell tobacco. Document H states that the poor were unhappy. In a society the poor are sometimes unhappy, but in this case the rich did nothing to make the poor feel any better. In New England the economy was not extremely important, but the average person here was wealthier than the average person in England.
Both the Chesapeake colonies and the New England colonies had different social structure and development. Because the colony was founded for gold the Chesapeake colony was primarily men that could work. (Doc C.)The colonists of the Chesapeake even had to sign oaths of allegiances to the Church of England. (Doc C.) The colony was under the rule of England and was to help support England finically. When they arrived they even sign their own contracts such as the Articles of Agreement, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1636. (Doc D.) This caused England to have a foothold in their colonies, and then under them were Clergy, free white men, the few women, servants, and slaves. The Chesapeake colonies had servants and slaves, servants could work their way of servant hood, for example they might work seven years and then become free. The Chesapeake colony also had slaves because its economy was based on cash crop plantations, most of these slaves came from Africa and was the beginning of the Slave Trade. These types of people were primarily dominant in this colony because it was founded as a working colony and had no need for families, just men that could work. This was very
New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by people of English origin, but by the 1700’s they were two distinct societies. They differed politically, economically, and socially, and these differences stemmed from when people first arrived in the colonies to how the colonies grew over time.
The Chesapeake and New England colonies had many differences when it came to development; however, similarities can still be found. Some of the main similarities between the colonies were the time period in which they developed and their early demographics. Both colonies were founded in the early 1600s and started off with a demographic of mostly young white European males. In contrast, many differences between the New England and Chesapeake colonies can be found in their distinct geographies, economies, religions, and governments. In terms of
Some of the most populous colonies were the ones situated in the Chesapeake and New England areas. Although these colonies were both settled by the English and had other key similarities, there were also many differences between them. The New England and Chesapeake colonies both had an aristocracy that governed over them, and had frequent issues concerning the Native Americans that previously inhabited the lands. However, their political and economic systems were considerably different. Chesapeake had an oligarchy whose main export was tobacco, while New England had a theocracy whose exports included timber, fur, and fish. Therefore, although the colonies had similarities their differences outweighed the resemblances.
Thesis Statement: When talking about New England and the Chesapeake region, you have to consider the differences in motives and geography. Consider economic situations (reasons for settling where they did, reasons why they came to New England in the first place). One has to think about the family development and demographics, as well as the government structure.
During the late 16th century and into the 17th century, two colonies emerged from England in the New World. The two colonies were called the Chesapeake and New England colonies. Even though the two areas were formed and governed by the English, the colonies had similarities as well as differences. Differences in geography, religion, politics, economic, and nationalities, were responsible for molding the colonies. These differences came from one major factor: the very reason the English settlers came to the New World. The Chesapeake colonies were primarily created by companies interested in profiting from the natural resources of the New World such as gold or silver to bring back to England. The New England colonies were primarily created
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
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.
When the English settled into the New World, they were split up into two sections, the Chesapeake region and the New England region. Although the English settled both, the two regions were severely different from each other when they were brought about. The New England and Chesapeake colonies differed in three ways: their reason for venturing over, economy, and population. These major differences were what shaped our nation today and what will continue shaping our nation in the future.
The major differences among the colonists in the Chesapeake, Middle Colonies, and New England were there governance, economy, social structure, and the American Indians. In the Chesapeake, Virginia was governed by a royal charter until 1624 and Maryland was a proprietary colony which gave the Calvert all the right to appoint governors and also control the government. Economically, Virginia and Maryland big cash crop between the two states were tobacco. Social structure minority consisted of mostly free men and women, as the majority consisted of laborers and servants, which they became free after a certain period of time. Around the 1700s slaves had become a wide proportion of the southern population. The social and political was very much similar to England. The American Indians in the 1640, being a native population in Virginia decreased from 20,000 to 10,000. By 1670s only about a dozen tribes and 2,000 Native American remained in the colony.