DBQ - Chesapeake Essay

As the early 1600s began, a great deal of settlers and pilgrims migrated to the New World from England to start colonization. During this period two regions were formed: New England; including the colonies of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and Chesapeake Bay; which included the colonies of Maryland and Virginia. Although both of these regions were both settled by people of English origin, by 1700 these two regions had evolved into two distinct societies due to contrasting reasons for development/differences in development, each region’s geography upon arrival to the new land, and also each region’s demographics differed greatly.

The two regions were led by completely different men, each longing to escape England for a different purpose. The men who landed in New England wanted to escape the economic depression of England, yet were more interested in religious freedom. Maryland was even established to serve as a place for Catholic refuge. Although these Englishmen held God in high esteem, they also recognized that there must be differentiated classes of people, so that some were poor, and others were high in power and rich [Doc A]. According to John Winthrop, the men even longed for a “brotherly affection,” among the new land, and longed to create their “city upon a hill” [Doc A]. The
men of New England established their new land for religion based reasons, in order to create a strong knit group of men, working together as one [Doc A]. They agreed to serve God, without concerns of profit, and eventually even called on the government to establish price fixing so that wealth wouldn’t interfere with their religion based lives [Doc E]. On the other hand, The men of the Chesapeake Bay region came to their new land with completely different ideals in mind. These people were greedy, and anxious to make quick money in the new land that they hoped to find loads of gold in. When coming into the land, organizations such as the...