Although the New England and Chesapeake regions were originally colonized by mainly English settlers, the two regions in time evolved into two distinct societies. By 1700, their religious practices, family relations, and political differences led them in two different directions. New England was a refuge for religious separatists leaving England, while people who immigrated to the Chesapeake region had no religious motives. In Document A, John Winthrop talks a lot about uniting together to basically please God, and spread his word. John Winthrop states that the Puritan goal was to form "a city upon a hill", which would represent a "pure" community, where Christianity could be pursued (Document A).
This led to plantation-based economy in Virginia. On the contrary, freedom from religious harassment motivated people, primarily Puritans, to come to Massachusetts to exercise their religious beliefs. In other words, although both the Virginia and Massachusetts colonies originated in England, colonial Virginia and Suffolk Massachusetts were developed into different societies by the late seventeenth century due to differences in economy and religion. The Virginia and Massachusetts Bay colonies differed in economy. Economic profit was a primary driving force in the colonization of Virginia.
A. Introduction Between 1607 and 1700, differing economic, social, and motives for colonization defined the development of society within New England and the Chesapeake region. New England was centered around fishing, trade, and the labor industry, while the Chesapeake region relied on agriculture to gain wealth. New England was religious, organized, and wanted to come together as a community. The Chesapeake region valued protection and security, and colonists were motivated to colonize in hopes of gaining wealth.
They were able to grow crops such as tobacco, rice, and sugar due their plantations and living quite a distance from other people in the region. The New England settlers were different than the Chesapeake, for they were created in towns, and well organized, while the Chesapeake were spread out through the region due to their plantations, and for the fact that they had fertile soil, while New England had rocky, rough soil. Another factor was that they both believed in different religious beliefs. The New England settlers were made up of puritans, with strong religious
OI: Because of the prosperous soil in the Chesapeake colonies, the economy was agriculturally based. For example, the economy of this region lacked stability because tobacco often exceeded demand. Their economy was strictly dependent on crops. Religion was secondary in the Chesapeake region because most people came to the Chesapeake to farm rather than to escape religious conflicts. Although different in most ways, the colonies both shared a feeling of superiority over the Natives.
One of the bigger differences socially was the people that came to the colonies and the later effect that it evolved to with the future of their colony. In New England, most of the people that came to the colonies were families that wanted to leave England so they could freely practice their religion and focusing on building a well-built society in their colony (A). In the Chesapeake region the colonies were focusing on bringing in money for England, they first were there to find gold like the Spanish did one hundred years earlier (F). Once they found out that there was no gold to bring in a decent enough of a profit, they started to grow tobacco since the price of the product was dropping. Once they started to plant the colonists realized that the plant would just flourish on the new and fertile soil, they then had the production of that plant to feed that economy for their early settlements.
The differences that occurred between the New England and the Chesapeake region that evolved them into two distinct societies were social and economic development based on the geographic factors around the region The social differences between the New England and Chesapeake region were, in the New England region, they came with their families and communities; they had an organic view with their society, and needed each other to survive. They also came for religious freedom and to start a new life in the new world. The population in the New England region was also much larger than the Chesapeake, since they came with their family and not as individuals. Those in the New England region also planned to stay for a long time to build up a society. While in the Chesapeake region, they came for economic gain by setting up plantations to grow a cash crop and had a atomistic view on their society.
In America, all the states came together to create one unified group, but each colony, although originating from the same place “England”, carried different people with different reasons and goals. Going back to the root country of England, Puritans wanted to purify the Anglican Church because they believed that only a selected few who are truly devoted to the religion should be part of it. After being chased out of England by King James I they moved to Holland were they would be free to practice their religion. But out of fear that their children were becoming “Dutchified”, and forgetting their English roots, they approached the Virginia Company and set fourth to Virginia where they would begin to their own colony based on the Puritan belief. But instead of docking in Virginia they ended up landing in New England, and so it marked the beginning of Puritan settlement New England.
John Winthrop reflects this in Doc. A by saying their failure would “open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of…God.” The Chesapeake settlers, however, had similar yet, separate, goals based on the economies. People’s main motives were not religious, but to “dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold,” as per doc. F. This resulted in competition, rather than bonding, over the settlement. Document B reflects that people settled in New England with their families, whereas Doc.
Europeans began the colonization of America in the early 1600's. In the beginning they all came to escape from something in Europe, and while there were many various reasons for leaving, most were fleeing from religious persecution. The other main attraction was economic prosperity in a new world rich with resources, to either be sent back to Europe, or to simply use here and make a new life for themselves, better than that which they had back home. The English colonies of the Chesapeake and New England were similar in terms of who founded them ( English settlers), but the similarities pretty much stopped there when it came to reasons for settling, and once they had established themselves how their economies and societies were set up. They differed greatly in economic structure, religious beliefs, societal structure, and also population make-up.