History Paper

DBQ 1

September 15, 2006

Unit 1

The Differences of the New England and Chesapeake Bay Colonies

The New England and Chesapeake Bay regions became different even though they were founded by large numbers of people from England. This occurred because of three different reasons. One being social, in New England the settlers came over in families. In the Chesapeake Bay area they came as single young men and women. Two, was legislative purposes, in New England things were strict and by the bible, while in the Chesapeake Bay region, things were loose and democratic. The final reason was because religious beliefs; the New Englanders came here to escape persecution, while the Virginians came here to continue the religion they had.

The social differences of the two areas can be seen by the age of the people and by the types of groups they came here. In New England it was mostly families and their servants searching for a permanent home. For example, "John Hull brought over sixteen people, including his servant's families. Most of the people coming over were skilled workers who had money to pay their and their family's trip over here."(Doc. B) In the Chesapeake Bay area it was different, with the primogeniture laws in place many younger men came over, "On a ship called the Merchant's Hope that was embarked for Virginia. Many of the men were in their mid 20's and some being in their teens and forties. Most of the men listed were probably younger brothers and couldn't inherit their father's estate. These men hoped to be here for only temporarily, looking for gold and other riches. A small portion of the ship's members were women who were coming here to look for husbands."(Doc. C) The final reason I think the young men were going to Virginia to look for gold was the supplies they brought over, "There was no talk... but did gold, wash gold, refine gold, and load gold. (Doc. F) Meaning they just wanted to dig for gold and they didn't expect to be here by the time winter came because they did not grow crops or make clothing.

The colonist were also had different legislative beliefs. In New England, they were strict and based their laws off of the Bible. The preachers held the highest position in government. A prime and often used example is William Bradford who was governor for thirty years. "This court... in the interim recommends that all tradesmen and laborers consider the religious end of their callings, which is that receiving such moderate profit as may enable them to serve God and their neighbors," (Doc. E). The Chesapeake Bay colonists laws though were less strict and the colonist voted on their representatives, creating one of the first democratic societies with the creation of the House of Burgesses. This doesn't mean Virginia was better than New England because it was democratic, because the Virginians could have used some stricter laws because fights and brawls were started and people lost their lives. "Smith had the plot discovered to him. Much trouble he had to prevent