New England And The Chesapeake Region In The 1700s

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By the 1700s, the New England and the Chesapeake regions developed into two different colonies due to each colony’s reason for settlement, consisting of religious and economic reasons, their personal beliefs, and their growth in their society. While the settlers of New England immigrated to the Americas to escape religious persecution, the settlers of the Chesapeake region immigrated for more economic reasons—the search of gold. Each colony’s way of life contrasted from one another in the way they lived in their societal systems. The impacts of these differences evolved the colonies uniquely.
Documents A and D reveal the religious motivations behind the New England settlers’ settlements. These Separatist Pilgrims disagreed with the corrupt
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Document G mentions the large amounts of slaves used to protect their frontiers and fight against the Dutch through the accounts of Governor Berkeley and His Council. The settlement and immigration of these slaves and indentured servants display the type of society the Chesapeake region had. The colony was created to support the foundations of an economic based economy. Document C also lists the emigrants coming to Virginia under the Church of England. The long list of male workers within the same age range contrasts with the New England colonies, as the reasoning was not for religion or creating an entirely new society. Because these settlers came to find gold, the society’s mindset was toward the evolution of their economy, as seen with the colony heavily creating plantations alongside rivers for the tobacco …show more content…
Building upon John Winthrop’s description of an united, new colony in Document A, Document B contributes to how different the New England colony is compared to the Chesapeake colonies by displaying a list of emigrants bound for New England. The list consists of numerous families instead of just workers, focusing on how these Puritans wanted to create a whole new life for themselves on their own terms. Because these colonies were meant to be a new home for the Puritans, they built their own churches and schools, like Harvard, to spread education amongst the people. This perspective of life supported the evolution of a colony differing from Chesapeake. Written by John Smith, Document F describes the rough trials of the settlers where they were exploited by the commanders or suffered death from the cold. Unlike New England, many people died due to the diseases in areas like Virginia. Christian-like values were not always present as the settlers “vile” commanders demanded more money in exchange for food and water. Document E discusses the low wages in Connecticut and how the people came together to modify and regulate the prices. This shows how New England societies had a strong sense of unity by working out proper wages that all Puritans can live comfortably with to serve under God. This method of solving problems contrasted greatly with the Virginian colonies as shown in Document H where

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