New England, Middle, And Southern Colonies

New England consisted of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. While the southern colonies were Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. Even though both of them were in the New World they differ religiously, economically, socially and politically. Both, New England and Southern colonies, made an impact on the development of culture.

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.

The Massachusetts Bay colony and Virginia had a sundry amount of differences as well as similarities. Each of these colonies was founded upon different ways of living. Digging deeper, there are many more differences about these colonies than there are similarities. Although both colonies eventually experienced the help of the natives, each colony set separate rules and laws for themselves. Virginia is more geographically spread out and more focused on obtaining gold for personal profit, whereas Massachusetts is more of a united, small farmed colony that focused more on the efforts for religious freedom.

Although all colonies had religion play some sort of role in their daily lives, the importance of religion differed greatly among the regions. Since Puritans helped establish many of the New England colonies, it is no surprise that the majority of the New England colonists were Puritan. Religion was a major part of daily life, with many attending church and having their children baptized. Religion varied greatly in the Middle colonies. For example, in New Jersey, many different religions from many different European nations were able to coexist, while the Quakers dominated Pennsylvania, both in culture and in government. In the Southern colonies, religion did not seem to be of high importance to the colonists, as farming was of utmost importance to the Southern colonists. However, many were Catholic. In fact, Maryland was founded in order to provide a refuge for persecuted

Socially the three groups of colonies developed differently. The New England Colonies life was dominated by the Puritan religion.

Politically, Virginia and New England differed in the basis of their governing systems. Virginia focused on the desire of its individuals: “(t)hat our governors by reason of the corruption of those times they lived in, laid the foundation of our wealth and industry on the vices of men.” This standard of government was an early precursor to democracy and allowed Virginian’s to feel the rights of being freemen. New England, instead of basing their government on the individual desires of man, governed the colony on the basis of Christianity. The New England settlers strongly believed the spirit of God would deliver them and create greatness in the colony: “the God of Israel is among us, and ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies. The Lord will make our name a praise and glory.” The colony wanted to be set above the rest, or in other words,

During the 18th century differences in life, thought, and interests had developed between the Southern and Northern colonies. The origin of these differences grew from the differences in religion, economics, and social structures between the Southern and Northern Colonies. Slavery, manufacturing, education, and agriculture influenced the everyday way of life for the colonists. This has had everlasting effects on America till this day.

1. There were several main differences among the British colonial regions. The New England colonies being colonized mainly for religion while the Middle colonies found wealth through industry, whereas the Southern colonies sought more trade and wealth opportunities through colonization. Economically, the New England colonies did not have trade as their primary focused, but still were involved in the processes of fishing, lumbering, and trapping, the Middle colonies found their wealth in lumbering and shipbuilding; the Southern colonies sought to grow and trade cash crops for wealth. The Northern colonies composed of [Separatist] Pilgrims, Puritans, and Quakers had more religious reasons for being founded, but not limited to refuge from religious persecution, and a holy society or “city upon a hill.” The Northern colonies were also religiously self-governing; one example being the Mayflower Compact, while the South had regular laws instituted. Demographically, the colonies started with an overwhelming white population over the blacks, but as the tobacco industry grew and slavery became an increasing practice, blacks began to outnumber the white population.

Behind its neighbors, England finally decided to invest in settling in the New World during the 17th century. Many of the expeditions to North America were made by private organizations; stock companies and the rich alike shared a common ideal of having a fresh start from outside their homeland. Two colonies with one common nationality, however, became two diverse establishments in North America. The colonies in New England and the Chesapeake region developed into two substantially contrasting ways of life. The main colony in the New England region was Massachusetts, which included the Puritans, a group of religious settlers who wanted to purify the Protestant Church of England.

Over the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many origins of people arrived in the new world. Whether it had been for religious, economic, or other various reasons, the groups of people all ended up in the same region. The New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies were the two distinct societies that were set up in the new world. The New England and Southern Colonies had many differences and similarities centered on reasons for arrival, slavery, forms of government and economy.

The people of the New England and Chesapeake colonies, although came from the same people, turned into very different cultures. For example, in New England, Puritanism was favored while in the Chesapeake region Christianity was practiced. Often times, religion would dictate a certain peoples way of life. Although both religions were strict, both had different ideas. Also, there were disagreements that occurred between the people within a colony. Many other ways of life were established in each of these areas independent of each other.

In the early 17th century, the thirteen American colonies were already divided into three sections by name. These sections were greatly influenced by the land and resources available to the people. In the north, the New England Colonies developed on poor soil but with a lot of forest and lumber. Their economy revolved around trade, merchants, fishing, and craftsmanship. New England was also mostly made up of Puritans. The Middle Colonies were very diverse and consisted of a lot of Quakers. With their rich and fertile soil, they were called the “breadbasket” of the colonies because of all the wheat they grew. Major economic activities here were farming, growing livestock, mining, and trading. Since the Middle Colonies were so diverse, they also had many religious groups, so they were more tolerant of different religions than the other regions. The South had many English aristocrats who owned big plantations. They would have

Starting off as a single colony, the New England colony eventually expanded to form the Middle colonies, Southern colonies, and the Chesapeake colonies. The Chesapeake and New England colonies both stemmed from England, but developed in a way that made them each very unique in the way that they developed. Developing around different intentions, the New England and Chesapeake colonies were unique due to their different economic and social structures.

By the 1700’s, New England, the Chesapeake region and the Southern Colonies developed into three distinct societies, despite coming from the same mother country, England. The regions of Colonial America each had a distinctive culture and economy entirely different from the other regions. Religion and religious tolerance was completely different in each region, running from being free to complete persecution. Ethnicity and racial composition ranged from almost complete British descent to a wide range of composition. Each region was politically and economically structured different and had its own identity. Each developed differently based on immigration trends, geography and other features. Throughout the colonization of Colonial America,

For the New England colonies like Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, they had the Mayflower Compact. Their political and government structure had a interrelation between politics and religion. It dictated the economic, political, and social lives of colonists. Each town had meetings, elected legislatures, debated, and issued laws. Voting was allowed to white men who went to church. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, or the Middle Colonies, elected representatives to assemblies. The assemblies would then elect government officials which passed laws and did the decision makings. The Middle Colonies had religious tolerance that was founded by William Penn and practiced by the Quakers and it played a minor role in politics and economy. For the Chesapeake colonies, the House of Burgesses was founded in Jamestown where