Bryn Bostad
Midterm Essay #2 Groups of settlers migrated from various countries such as France, Spain, England, Holland, and Sweden all seeking to inhabit the mysterious and desired lands of the New World. The English began the struggle for prime land in North America, arriving in the early 1600’s. Over the years, multiple colonies would form and become classified into three regions: The Southern Colonies, The Middle Colonies, and The New England Colonies. The Chesapeake Colonies (Virginia and Maryland) and the New England Colonies (Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut) can be analyzed by reasons for immigration, economy, gender roles, demographics, religion, and relations with nearby Indians. To showcase the beginnings of Colonial America, an emphasis is placed upon the differences between the Chesapeake colonies and the New England colonies in an attempt to prove that the pattern of settlement in the New England …show more content…
Family life in the New England Colonies was very different from that in the Chesapeake. Men were the heads of the family, working all day, dealing with important decisions, and controlling the government. The inferior women stayed home and sewed, cooked, tended to small farms and animals, and taught and raised the multiple children couples typically had. The climate was healthy, the death rate was low, and the sex ratio was almost equal. This mirrors the ideal lifestyle of the eighteenth century. Also, indentured servitude and slavery did exist, but unlike the Chesapeake Colonies, the New England Colonies were known as a “society with slaves”. This means that it was a society that did not rely upon slavery to function well. The differing gender roles and demographics of the New England colonies from those in the Chesapeake more accurately represent later American
Midterm Essay #2 Groups of settlers migrated from various countries such as France, Spain, England, Holland, and Sweden all seeking to inhabit the mysterious and desired lands of the New World. The English began the struggle for prime land in North America, arriving in the early 1600’s. Over the years, multiple colonies would form and become classified into three regions: The Southern Colonies, The Middle Colonies, and The New England Colonies. The Chesapeake Colonies (Virginia and Maryland) and the New England Colonies (Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut) can be analyzed by reasons for immigration, economy, gender roles, demographics, religion, and relations with nearby Indians. To showcase the beginnings of Colonial America, an emphasis is placed upon the differences between the Chesapeake colonies and the New England colonies in an attempt to prove that the pattern of settlement in the New England …show more content…
Family life in the New England Colonies was very different from that in the Chesapeake. Men were the heads of the family, working all day, dealing with important decisions, and controlling the government. The inferior women stayed home and sewed, cooked, tended to small farms and animals, and taught and raised the multiple children couples typically had. The climate was healthy, the death rate was low, and the sex ratio was almost equal. This mirrors the ideal lifestyle of the eighteenth century. Also, indentured servitude and slavery did exist, but unlike the Chesapeake Colonies, the New England Colonies were known as a “society with slaves”. This means that it was a society that did not rely upon slavery to function well. The differing gender roles and demographics of the New England colonies from those in the Chesapeake more accurately represent later American