Unlike New England, the Chesapeake region developed a society that was not primarily dependent on religion; most of these people came to America to seek economic prosperity. From the beginning, New England and the Chesapeake region were deviating, which was caused mostly by the fact that settlers developed a society around different goals– that is developing a religious, communal society in New England and seeking gold or cultivating crops for economic prosperity in Chesapeake; in addition, different climate and response to economic gap also contributed to the regions’ differences. New England maintained a strong, communal identity while the Chesapeake remained widely scattered. When New England settlers first arrived, they had strong ties to religion. John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, emphasized in his sermon that they were to be “a city upon a hill”, where everyone can see them and can be represented as a model Christian community (Doc A), which would also shame England into truly reforming the Church of England.
If they did not, God would turn from them and they would have an example made of them. Religion was to also be kept in mind during the setting of wages and price regulations (doc. E). Religion was important in the Chesapeake, as well, but not as important as it was in the New England colonies. While New England was Puritan, the Chesapeake colonies were primarily Anglican.
Colonists were provided with even more reason to practice their religion and continue their work in America for a better, more liberated life. England's success at colonizing, what would become the United States, was due in large part to its use of charter companies. Charter companies were groups of stockholders, usually merchants and wealthy land owners, who sought personal economic gain. While the private sector financed the companies, the King provided each project with a charter conferring economic rights as well as political authority. The colonies generally did not show quick profits.
The statement "Throughout the Colonial period, economic concerns had more to do with the settling of British North America than did religious concerns" is true in that the settling of the British was important but the religious concerns during the colonial period was very adamant as well. The settling of British North America reflected and equal amount of economic and religious concerns. The colonies that were founded mainly based on religious concerns were also founded with thoughts of making money and becoming a greater threat to the world. The colonies of New England, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were all founded mainly for religious reasons. Plymouth was founded but the Separatist Puritans who wanted to begin their own Church without the interference of the British government.
First, there is the main theme of both colonies, religion. The summer of 1607 the first colonists stepped foot onto Virginian soil. Observing the settlement of New Spain, the Virginia Company of England also wanted to reap the benefits of the New World “The Virginia Company investors hoped to found an empire that would strengthen England both overseas and at home" . While the colony was run under the pretext of Christianity, the settlers of Jamestown were guided more by their productivity than religion. “…on the whole, religion did not awaken the zeal of Chesapeake settlers…What quickened the pulse of most…folk was a close horse race, a bloody cockfight, or –most of all-an exceptionally fine tobacco crop” On the other hand, the Plymouth colony, settled in 1620, had very different grounds for emigrating from England.
The New England area was more religious than the Chesapeake causing differences to develop in the two societies. John Winthrop, a Massachusetts settler, wrote in his A Model of Christian Charity, that God has made distinctions in man, for example, one man being poor and another rich, but they should all rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, and so on. (Doc A) This created very close knit religious communities in New England focused on togetherness. Being unified under God created bigger unities and they were able to all live peaceful in larger towns rather than spread out on their own in the Chesapeake. The Articles of Agreement of Springfield Massachusetts (1636) focused mainly on God and that all men and families that have come deserve equal opportunity.
The purpose of the voyage to New England was to start a new church together following Calvin’s model without having the risk of being persecuted. Throughout Bradford’s writings, he referenced how God is looking out for them and making sure that they are safe because they are doing what God wants them to do and doing what pleases him. After being attacked by Indians Bradford gave credit to God for their safety. “Thus it pleased God to vanquish their enemies, and not give them deliverance; and by His special providence so to dispose tat not any one of them were either hurt, or hit.” After the people of Plymouth become successful they start to disperse which made it difficult for them to bring their family into Plymouth for church services. Members of the church began to form their own churches to make it possible for them to attend regularly.
European nations colonized the New World for three reasons: its resources, and the wealth and power that they could gain from those resources. England's colonization efforts were delayed due to civil wars at home. France and Spain took advantage of England's relative absence, and explored the New World tirelessly. England had colonies, however neglected, in New England and Virginia, though by the 1700s, they had grown apart in very different ways. The Massachusetts settlers were first and foremost interested in religion: they had come to America for the religious freedom to follow their ideals and wished to extend religious tolerance to all in their new colony (Doc A).
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. 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).To New England, religion was considered to be most important thing while the colonists that landed at Jamestown in 1607 were not as religiously inclined as the Puritans. The History of Virginia, written by the leader of the colony John Smith in 1624, describes how hard it was in the first few years at Jamestown (Document F). There was little food, new diseases, lots of quarreling between the settlers and they had many problems with the Indians (Document H).
The City Upon the Hill theme has been used in American history, they relied on religion to guide them, they believed in American exceptionalism, and a democracy. One reason the City Upon the Hill is used in American history is because of religion. “The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with.” (Doc A) This quote shows they believed that the Lord would protect them and they could rely on the Lord to help them through hardships they might encounter during their settlement. The people believed if their “ hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it