Compare And Contrast The Chesapeake And New England

The Chesapeake vs. New England In the late 16th century, America was rapidly becoming colonized by the European nations. In fact, two of the major colonies in America both came from England under very different circumstances. These colonies are the Chesapeake, consisting of current day Virginia and Maryland, and New England, consisting of current day Massachusetts and Connecticut. Although these colonies both came from England, they significantly grew independent of each other. Also, both colonies developed different factors that became crucial to each society. The Chesapeake and New England colonies share many similarities and differences in terms of economic organization, women’s issues, and slavery. The economies in the Chesapeake and …show more content…
In the Chesapeake, because the majority of immigrants were single men and many died from disease, all the men who survived competed for a wife from the very few amount of women that were there. There was no family life, and any families that were there were fragile. All the women there were expected to get married, and didn’t have much of a choice. Many women became pregnant before marriage because of the desperate need to start a family life, and this created weak family ties. In New England, there was a surplus of families because the colony was started by Puritans who came over with their families. Women were expected to give birth to as many children as possible, and the ceaseless pregnancies made women very ill and weak. Women came to fear death in childbirth which was very common. These were the women’s issues as a result of family life, but women also had issues in both colonies because they didn’t have many rights. In the Chesapeake and New England, women were believed to be morally weaker, so they weren’t allowed to vote, and most were expected to cook, clean, and care for their children. In the Chesapeake, women had a few more rights because they were allowed to inherit property. This was only allowed because there was so much disease and many women’s husbands would die, leaving the widow with children to support. This gave women the …show more content…
Both economies were similar because they both relied on one trade or staple crop, but different because the Chesapeake’s economy relied on tobacco plantations and New England’s economy relied on fishing and commerce. Women’s issues were similar because for both colonies, they were a result of the difference in family life in the colonies. The women in the Chesapeake had more rights than those in New England. The colonies were both involved with slaves, but New England only sold slaves while the Chesapeake actually relied on slavery. Both the Chesapeake colony and the New England colony came from England, and they were able to retain similarities when differences appeared simultaneously as the colonies