DBQ on Differences Between New England and Chesapeake Area Essay

The New England and Chesapeake colonists settled in the new world for different reasons like religious freedoms in the North and quick profits in the South.

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.

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.

Colonists came primarily to the Chesapeake region to increase their wealth. The vast variety of immigrants to the Chesapeake region was young men seeking economic opportunity (Doc C). The differences in the New England and Chesapeake’s primary motivations for settlement led to the divergent societies.

Contrary to the pilgrims of New England, those who settled in the Chesapeake area colonized the region for more economic purposes. Many people who settled in the Chesapeake were down-on-their-luck English citizens living in swamps and slums hoping to stake it out in the New World, because it couldn’t be much worse than the conditions they faced back in England. Most received their tickets to America through indentured servitude, paying for their trip with a few years of free labor for a wealthy master. Document C is a roster of indentured servants bound for Virginia who are all set to work for the same master. Indentured servitude had long lasting effects on the colonies, the most impactful being Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 (Document H). This uprising was caused former indentured servants who had no land or property of their own once their work contracts expired. Because the land westward was populated by Natives and therefore almost impossible to acquire, the dissenters focused against the rich and powerful members of the colonies. The successful uprising led to reforms such as work regulations explained in Document E, as well a shift away from indentured servitude and towards slavery of blacks. Other settlers besides indentured servants were aspiring traders and gold-hunters mentioned in Document F. While traders had little success early on and treasure hunters definitely didn’t find their fields of

Today, the United States of America is a very racially and religiously diverse society. We saw the seeds of diversity being sown in the early days of colonization when the Chesapeake and New England colonies grew into distinctive societies. Even though both regions were primarily English, they had similarities as well as striking differences. The differentiating characteristics among the Chesapeake and New England colonies developed due to geography, religion, and motives for colonial expansion.

Although the settlements of Chesapeake Bay and New England came from the same mother country their social structure was very different and as a result, affected the prosperity of the new born colonies. The New England colony’s population was very

The colonies in the New World appeared completely different and the prospect of any unity between them seemed impossible. The colonies in New England and the Chesapeake exemplify the many differences in the culture and lifestyles of the settlers, created mainly because of the fact that their founding fathers had held separate intentions when they came to the New World.

Document F states, "The worst [among us were the gold seekers who] with their golden promises made all men their slaves in hope of recompenses." This quote displays the major motive of emigrants to the Chesapeake region as gold seekers, or monetary prosperity. Documents G and H show that there were many indentured servants in the Chesapeake area. These indentured servants were often used for the tobacco farms. Since the soil was infertile in New England, the colonists there often focused on trade, small scale manufacturing, fishing, and other sea industries. The economy of each region impacted its social structure, which many indentured servants and slaves in the Chesapeake region while there was much more equality in New England.

Although the English settled into both the Chesapeake and New England regions, they had formed into two completely opposite communities. Both regions came to America for different purposes. Whether the founders of this land was to make a profit, farm more land, or seek religious freedom, they did it to please their own intentions. There were many differences between the two regions, however two main places where they were opposites, were their lifestyle and their religion.

Since the early 17th century, the English migrated to America for a variety of reasons. The promise of treasure, religious tolerance, and plentiful lands, lured gold-seekers, Puritans, Protestants, unemployed farmers, indentured servants, and younger sons (who had fallen victim to laws of primogeniture), to the land mistakenly named the Indies. English migration to the Chesapeake region spread over nearly a century, whereas voyagers to New England arrived within a single decade. One would think that since the English settled both of these regions, both of their societies would develop quite similarly, but one could not be more wrong. The variations of the societies that developed in the Chesapeake region and the New England region

In 1607 after England defeated the Spanish Armada and peace was declared, England began colonizing  the New World.  The promising prospects of religious freedom, money and long term settlement  enticed many English people to emigrate to the New World. The varied reasons that the people came to the New World created the differences in how the New England and Chesapeake Region colonies developed and functioned. Not only did it change how the colonies developed and functioned, but it also had an effect that created differing cultures which caused the creation of two completely different societies.

Amid the 1700's, individuals in the American provinces lived in exceptionally unmistakable social orders. While a few homesteaders drove hard lives, others were solid and prosperous. The two gatherings who demonstrated these distinctions were the pilgrims of the New England and Chesapeake Bay zones. The separating qualities among the Chesapeake and New England settlements created because of economy, religion, and thought processes in frontier extension. The pilgrims of the New England territory had an exceptionally glad and sound life. This high method for living was expected to some extent to better cultivating, a healthier situation, and a high rate of generation in light of more

Although I am a hardworking, literate, and intellectual woman, employment opportunities remain severely limited within England’s feudal society. The Massachusetts Bay colonies appeal to educated ministers and encourages English puritan families with young kids to join. Their labor system entails all members within large families, including kids will execute the majority of work within homes, farms, and businesses. Therefore, the Massachusetts Bay colonies offer no economic gains for young un-wed women and eliminate the need for laborers or indentured servants. The Chesapeake colonies, are established with a decidedly commercial orientation, focused on reaping profits from their cash crops. This colony has a large demand for a workforce to labor the tobacco fields involving implementation of young male and female indentured servants. However, once the labor contract is fulfilled, the individual receives “freedom dues” consisting of food, other provisions, and only in some cases is land provided. The Chesapeake colonies have developed an increased dependence on a slave workforce, further limiting my possibilities of work. On the other hand, William Penn promises fifty acres of land to those who migrate to Pennsylvania as indentured servants, once their terms of service are fulfilled. Pennsylvania also heavily relies on indentured servants more than any other colony in turn offering

By 1763, white Americans were united in their expectations that the Anglo-American defeat of the French forces had opened the door to unlimited expansion and boundless prosperity. Dufour wrote how a majority shared a moral vision of a future utopia shaped by the religious and civic dictates of republicanism and British Protestantism. American society has gradually become more modern, its social institutions are more complex and stable. Americans were divided by conflicts of every kind-between rich, poor, cities and countryside’s, east and west, north and south, and popular and elite culture. The scholarly article by T.H Breen states, “colonial American historians have understandably overlooked such trifling transactions. They have concentrated instead on the structure of specific communities, they have generally ignored the social an economic ties that counted colonist men and women who happened to dwell in other places” (Breen).