The People of New England and the Chesapeake Colonies

Throughout history, many people from the same country have immigrated to different lands where their new lifestyles had very little in common. This was obvious in the settlement of the New England and Chesapeake colonies before 1700 which caused the development of dissimilar societies. The people of New England and the Chesapeake colonies formed different governments upon arrival to North America.

They had different motives and incentives for immigrating to America. The composition of the colonists of New England and the Chesapeake area were nothing like one another during the settlement of the colonies.The people of the northern New England colonies and the southern Chesapeake colonies formed separate and different governments upon arrival in the New World. In New England, a town hall style of direct democracy was created. This created fair rule by the people, and property owning men could vote. Towns were set up for the common welfare of the people and for the glory of God not upon socio-economic standing. (Doc.

D). People were not to be greedy but were allowed to make a living for their families. The people of New England set out to take care of one another and not to take advantage of their fellow man in pursuit of wealth (Doc.E). In the southern colonies of the Chesapeake, representative democracies were set up. The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first legislative body in the New World. The representative democracy was really more like an aristocracy in which the wealthy citizens controlled the government.

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Southern society was based upon economic status. There was a distinct upper and lower class (Doc. G). These aristocracies took money from the lower class and used it for the personal gains of the upper class which caused dissatisfaction in the lower class (Doc. H).These acts included the repossession of farms and other medial assets of the poor in the South. The dissatisfaction of the poor lead to Bacon’s Rebellion and many others that further separated the socio-economic division so evident in the Chesapeake colonies.

Because of the distinct differences in governing their colonies, the Chesapeake and New England colonies developed separate societies in the New World despite coming from the same mother England. The colonists of New England and the Chesapeake regions had different motives and incentives for settlement of the New World.New Englanders came to America in search of religious freedom. Their religious practices were a major aspect in colonization. The Puritans, who settled in present day Massachusetts, wanted to be an example to the rest of the world by governing their colony by their faith (Doc. A). The colonists of New England were prepared for a permanent settlement of their colony, so they brought with them the necessary provisions for the survival of their colony.

Because the New Englanders had a plan for colonization, they prepared to survive the wilderness and freezing cold of the present day northeastern United States.The Chesapeake colonies were not so well prepared for life in the New World. The first Virginians were not intending on staying long. They had heard stories of gold in North America and were determined to get rich quick and return to England. The basis of the exploration of the Chesapeake Bay was a gold rush. Unfortunately, there was never much gold in the region. While the citizens of the colony were searching for gold, they did not worry about provisions.

A harsh winter came upon the colony and brought Virginia into what historians call the Starving Time (Doc.F). Because the foundation of the Chesapeake colony was based on a search for wealth, necessary provisions were not thought of, so the southern colonies had a slow start on being a successful settlement. Because of differing interests and motives in colonization, the New Englanders had a head start in colonization and settlement on the Chesapeake colonists, thus developing a social divide in the colonists of the two regions. The demographical makeup and composition of the northern and southern colonists were different during the colonization of their settlements.The northern colonies were built to be permanent. They looked to the future, so the colonist brought their families over with them.

This caused a healthy distribution of men and women as well as rich and poor (Doc. B). Socio-economic classes were not an issue as the people of New England were willing to work with one another for the good of the colony. Among these people were artisans and merchants that could contribute to society. These people became the base of their colony and helped their region to thrive for years to come.The southern colonies were composed of mostly treasure-seeking young men with no intrinsic value (Doc. C).

They were not craftsmen or merchants; they were just young men in search of gold. Their lack of skills necessary for survival in the New World caused early southerners to depend on farming to survive. Only the rich could afford the land needed to become successful plantation owners in the South, but they relied on indentured servants and later slaves to maintain their lives in the colonies. This caused a natural divide between rich and poor in the South that became routine in southern life.The early set backs in colonization and lack of unity challenged the southerners for many generations to come. The supremacy of the northern colonies in economics and civilization in general caused the northerners to look down upon the southern colonies despite the fact that they too were Englishmen. Many people of the same nation have come to different lands and drifted apart in social divides.

This was evident in the colonization of the northern and southern colonies before 1700, the cause of which was the development of separate societies.The people of the northern and southern colonies formed different governing bodies during the colonization of North America. These groups had different motives and incentives for coming to the New World. The demographical and social makeup of the colonists of New England and the Chesapeake area were different from one another during the colonization of the settlements. The Chesapeake and New England colonies became two separate societies despite the fact that both emigrated from England.

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