The two colonies also had economic differences. The Chesapeake economy revolved around the tobacco industry, which eventually paved the way for other industries as well. Slave trade relied fully on the tobacco plantation owners
The people of Virginia couldn’t grow enough of it, but didn’t resort to slavery right away. Slaves were few in the area, only a few that were bought there from the Caribbean, where they were often used for sugar cane. With the increasing demand for tobacco, the southern colonies needed a bigger labor force. Farmers and indentured servants couldn’t keep up with the demand for tobacco. Slaves were very successful for growing sugar cane, so eventually the southern colonies called for them to be bought over.
The Massachusetts Bay colony and Virginia colony had an economic structure that differed in several ways. First, how the slaves were used in contrasting ways in the Massachusetts Bay and Virginia to benefit the revenue of recourses, and the differences in time of abolishment of slavery over the proceeding centuries. With the use of indentured servants in Virginia dwindling, slaves became the priority choice for labor work on plantations, toiling in fields with exhausting work and extremely high mortality rates; while on the other hand, slaves in the North and Massachusetts Bay had a much easier lifestyle consisting of house work and light farming. Secondly, because of the rocky and more or less inhospitable landscape for large scale farming in the Massachusetts Bay area, the main sources of income revolved around fishing, furs, and shipbuilding, small crop farming was viable as
They had different religious views, governments, and economies. Intro is too short. More background information on the time period is needed. While the Chesapeake was mainly based on land and slave ownership, the New England colonies were based on religion. They were primarily Puritan, or Non Separatists, and were radical, or intolerant to other religions.
The 17th century Chesapeake and New England established themselves as hard working religious colonies that provided structure still seen in the States today. They both share many similarities regarding economy, and relationships with Native Americans, however they differ significantly in their societal structure, motives for settlement, and religion. Both the Chesapeake and New England colonies depended on trade as the basis of their economy. The Chesapeake economy was based on the tobacco industry; by 1680 it was exporting over 30 million pounds of the plant to overseas markets. Tobacco production not only helped the colony grow prosperous, it also created new opportunities for over 90,000 immigrants who moved to the colony as indentured servants.
The Colony’s only source of revenue came from selling land. But colonists soon turned toward agriculture for revenue. They discovered growing tobacco would be highly profitable. In the early 17th century, smoking tobacco became popular in Europe, giving the Virginia Colony a lucrative trade with Europeans. But big planters owned much of the plantations, with the majority of people working for them, keeping most of the wealth made from the tobacco trade with these elite planters.
The majority of the Jamestown settlers were of Catholic or Protestant religion. The increased need for tobacco resulted in the increased need for labor workers. Three quarters of the colony's population consisted of indentured servants. In comparison, the three-quarters of the New England settlers' population consisted of White families, with a quarter being indentured servants. Many of the men
Unlike Virginia Colony the only way you could become a freeman in Massachusetts Bay Colony was membership in the Church, not land ownership like The Virginia Colony. Agriculture played a dominant role in Virginia Colonies development. Massachusetts Bay Colony was by the water which was great for trading but their land was not suitable like Virginia Colonies land was to grow their crops. Developing Crops created a huge demand for slaves in the Virginia Colonies. Slave trade was significant in the Massachusetts Bay Colonies as well.
While the New England colonies and the Chesapeake colonies were both settled by Englishmen the purposes and results of the settlements greatly varied. Differences between these colonies were mainly caused by the people who settled the regions and where they settled, and as their colonies progressed they grew to be very different despite the fact they shared a common English origin. The people who settled the two colonies were very different from each other and their purposes for settling the areas were very different as well. The people who settled to New England colonies were primarily families who came with many children. On a ship manifest twenty four of the forty three people listed were 18 years old or younger (Document B).
Masters would even read the Bible with their slaves because most slaves were illiterate or not allowed to read and write based upon laws. By reading the Bible together, the masters were providing the slaves with religion which served as a means to connect the slave populations. Black children and white children were even allowed to play together on the plantations, so there was a great deal of interaction between the races. During the time of the American Revolution, the ideology of slavery began to be questioned by not only the North but also in the South. “Relatively few people called for its immediate abolition, but many, including some slave owners, expressed real concern over its morality as its utility.” (Kolchin 65) The people questioning slavery inquired about the morality of using slaves for their labor purposes.