The Chesapeake Region and New England Colonies

The Chesapeake region and New England colonies greatly differed in their development of their two distinct societies. The Chesapeake region was a loosely fitted society with little connection with each plantation while the New England colonies had tightly knitted communities with a sort of town pride. The difference in unity and the reason for this difference best explain the significant disparity between the dissimilar societies.

The New England and Chesapeake region had evolved into two different societies because the world was changing and a lot of people didn't like the change that was taking place so they left. For example, the Church of England was said to be corrupted. That is one of the main reasons for the separatists. They didn't like the rules and regulations of the church and wanted to leave. Many people believed that as a reward for faith god would give the person salvation. This is not what the Church of England thought. Martian Luther contended that the bible recognized only two sacraments, baptism and communism not the seven authorized by the Catholic Church. Other reasons for leaving England was to gain wealth. The way one could do this was to participate in the fur trade, gold mining and even farming and fishing. Although there were separatists there was also puritans as well. The puritans were there to spread the Church of England and to build colonies for the king. There were many people that stayed loyal to the king even when the king was over three thousand miles away. John Winthrop was the puritan leader in 1680. He wanted everyone to live in peace and have everyone work as one. If this happened then everyone would look upon them.

The disparity in social development arises from the type of people sent to each region. Mostly single men were sent to the Chesapeake colonies in search of wealth (Document F). There were a few women; however, not enough to really produce heirs and a great next generation. In New England, in contrast, families of four, five, and six members arrived together (Document B). With families in New England new generations were sure to come and a closer unity among the family would arise. When the families from New England came to their settlements, they made a strong and upholding pact among them (Document D) whereas the Englishmen who settled in Virginia and such were there only to satisfy their infinite greed (Document F). The families in New England resulted in a great sense of unity within each colony by what Winthrop stated in Document A or the colonists being a part of a tightly knit community. The great lack of unity between the colonists in the Chesapeake region is evident the events that occur later in the Chesapeake regions history. Governor Berkeley asking for troops from England revealed the important point that unity was greatly lacking, as they could not fend off the united Dutch assaults with the lack of unity among the rich and the poor (Document G). The hunt for greed in the Chesapeake region led to a strong revolt from Bacon. The lack of doing anything for the safety of the citizens of the Chesapeake region by Governor Berkeley led to a strong revolt by Bacon (Document H). The New England residents were resourceful and unified as shown in Document E as they worked out their problems and therefore set a standard wage for all workers. The very seeds of the first settlers arriving in each area founded all these problems and solutions.

With the different types of people being sent to each settlement, both had different objectives and outcomes. New England from the very beginning was determined to work together for two goals: to preach and to follow the ways of God. The had to become tightly knitted as one and do everything from mourn to dance with one another. The New England colonies or the Massachusetts Bay colony in this case acted as a "city upon a hill" where everyone else especially God was watching their every movement. If they did false against God then they would be cursed. Thus because of this fear of cursedness the colonies of New England acted as one to assure their purity and worthiness for God (Document A).

The first main difference between the New England and the Chesapeake regions are the geographic locations. The New England region has a colder climate, which helps defend against diseases. The Chesapeake region in contrast has a warmer climate, and along with lakes, ponds etc. it actually attracts mosquitoes and other insects which help spread diseases. As you can see from Document B, the New England region had larger families, an average of 6 kids per family eve. Even before coming to the Americas they were already rich, meaning they had servants and everything to help them with chores. They brought their whole families because they came here to stay. Now the Chesapeake region had smaller families because more men than women came at once. They didn't really have any professional jobs as they were coming here to search for gold and then go back to England. Geography determined the fate of the each region as soon as they landed. For the both regions, unfortunately, the first settlers arrived during inopportune time. By the time they arrived, it was too late to crop or gather any food. Life in the Chesapeake region was harsher than life in New England. Since they happened to place around swamps, from malaria, and other contagious disease, within months, half of them died. Later, some of them turned into crucial cannibalism because of unbearable hunger. Although unhealthy for human life, the Chesapeake region was arable to tobacco plantation, luckily. The vast lands attracted many farmers to plant more tobacco each year, producing huge