Chesapeake Colonies and New England

        In North America, Englishmen of the same ethnicity had settled on the east coast for a variety of reasons. By 1700, they had developed into very distinct societies. These societies had developed through various economic, social, religious, and political reasons. Both New England and the Chesapeake colonies had been founded on different causes.

        Because the Chesapeake colonies and New England had been founded on separate causes, differences between the societies had occured. New England had been founded on religious reasons. They wanted to create a “New England” due to the persecution of Puritans in England. Although not everyone agreed with that, others like the separatist had moved elsewhere. The separatists had founded Plymouth, though they had broken from the Anglican church. The Anglican church was too slow to reform, and as John Winthrop said, “we shall be as a city upon a hill” (Doc A). John Winthrop says this because it means that they’re going to stay the same and are too slow to change. Although New England was founded on religious reasons, the Chesapeake colonies were founded on Economic reasons. In Jamestown, the settlers there had searched high and low for gold. “The worst [among us were the gold seekers who] with their golden promises made all men their slaves in hope of recompenses” (Doc F). Those who wanted gold were clearly money crazy and wanted to profit from something that wasn’t guaranteed to be there. People around that time had faced “starving time” because they didn’t plant crops, therefore they were unable to eat. The cultivation of tobacco, the most profitable plant they had, had begun, indentured servants had came to look for a new start in their economic life, and there were no Puritans in the Chesapeake colonies. Maryland was a Catholic haven in the chesapeake colonies. Due to these reasons, the Chesapeake colonies and New England had gone their separate ways as different societies formed.

        In addition to this, New England and the Chesapeake colonies had both political and economic differences. New England had become more democratic than the Chesapeake. They had more compact towns with town meetings, they had small farms which had no slavery, creating a less defined hierarchy and no aristocratic dominated assembly, and because of their cold climate, there were small farms and no plantation owners. Economically, they had less agriculture and more industry. Because of the long winters and poor soil, they had small scale farming, which meant less crops. They focused more on Fishing, lumber, shipping, shipbuilding, and whaling. Since there was no plantation colonies, they manufactured more cities, like Boston, and had the most industrious colonies in America at the time. Though New England was more industrious, the Chesapeake colonies were primarily based on agriculture. Politically, the legislative was owned by aristocrats, they were more spread out and only had county governments which meant the backcountry farmers were underrepresented, and the only notable big city was Charleston, North Carolina. Economically, since they primarily were based on agriculture, they had large plantations and very little industry. They also had fertile land, which meant they could plant staple crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo. Through this, New England and the Chesapeake colonies had been different both economically and politically.