Chesapeake Colonies Dbq

DBQ ESSAY: DIFFERENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW ENGLAND REGION AND THE CHESAPEAKE REGION OF THE NEW WORLD

When the first colony of Virginia was established in the year 1607, there had been many theories as to what the New World could bring and offer to different people of the time, looking for a new and hopefully better life than in the past. But this new and better life did not come easily for many people. It is known, however, that primarily Englishmen, locating themselves from the New England regions of the north, to the Chesapeake regions of the south, first settled the majority of the east coast of the New World. But although the New England region and the Chesapeake region were largely colonized and populated by Englishmen, by
the year 1700, these two societies had developed into two completely different sections of the New World. These differences in development can be shown through two areas. The first, being a difference in economic goals of the immigrating people, and the second, being the role that religion played on the development of the colonies.
As for the first reason of the economic goals of the different people immigrating to the colonies, the primary difference that really separates the New England region from the Chesapeake region is that in the Chesapeake region, the primary goal of everyone who immigrated to these colonies was to get rich quickly. Many of the southern colonies were first developed by entrepreneurs from England who's primary goal was to come to the New World, find a quick method of making a lot of money, and coming back to England a wealthy man capable of living out the rest of his life in luxury. As seen in document C, a ships list of immigrants bound for Virginia, the majority of the people on this list are all single men looking to start up their own business in order to make a large profit. To do this, seeing as though nearly all of the land in the southern colonies was able to be farmed, many, if not all of the men who landed in the south, set up estates with plots of land to be farmed for the primary staple crops. In the southern colonies the primary cash crop was tobacco, with rice and indigo following closely behind. Before becoming royal colonies, the majority of the colonies began as chartered colonies. This means that the colonies were set up by joint-stock companies in an effort to produce a massive profit.
Through the chartering of these colonies and the ability to produce tobacco, the southern colonies became one of the leading economic suppliers of the mother country of England. The first of the navigation acts in 1951 had a large effect on the development of the Chesapeake region of the New World. The navigation acts prevented English merchant ships from trading with any other country, forcing it to dock in British Ports to trade their goods. These acts, seeming a little strict, were actually barely enforced at all. Even though these acts were put in place, smuggling of different goods from different regions of the world, (primarily the west Indies), in fact helped everyone out in the end. It was all linked to the triangular trade system in which the English economy relied upon for their success. An economic difference, which was noted through the development of the two regions, was the use of indentured servants which eventually were replaced by African slaves. Through the beginning development stages of the Chesapeake colonies, many indentured servants were used to tend to the land of the wealthy estate owners, in return, after due timing
(usually about 7 years), were usually given a small plot of land as well as a small amount of token goods which could be used to get these new hopefuls up and running in the New World and on their way to their original goal of starting a new and better life. After a few years worth of use out of indentured servants, many of these servants were replaced by African slaves. The main reason behind using slaves instead of servants was because they were forced to work for you for life and due to their being no time limit of their service, there was no requirement to give any of these slaves a plot of land if, by slim chance, you had let them go free. Besides the Southern colonies however, the economy of the Northern colonies caused this region to form differently than the Chesapeake region. Free-roaming merchants looking to make profits off of buying, selling and trading different goods occupied many of the occupations of the New England colonies. It is well noted however, that approximately 90% of all people in the colonies were involved in some way with the agricultural business. This agricultural society is more prominent in the southern colonies than in the northern colonies which helps to support the way in which the two different regions developed differently.
The religious side of things also created an important role in the differences in the development between the Chesapeake and New England regions.
Unlike the Chesapeake region, the New England region was mainly inhabited by families with sons, daughters, husbands, and wives, who were, in most cases, looking to escape religious persecution from the English in England. As shown in document B, many of the immigrants coming into New England, were part of families. The New England region of colonies was mainly an area where families came to escape the hardships of England. During this time period, many puritans from England, who were being persecuted just because of their religious views, traveled to colonies such as Plymouth, Mass Bay, and eventually extend out to Rhode Island and Connecticut. The majority of the Puritans who came over from England chose to live in the Mass Bay area. The Mass Bay area was considered an area which was a safe haven for all puritan peoples looking to live by and support the laws set down by god, (document D). The Mass Bay area was quoted to be named "the city on the hill". This name, given by the puritans, had a symbolic meaning which represented the fact that the puritans thought that the city of Boston was to be looked up to as a role model society in which everyone should pay attention to its religious followings of god and the roles in which god plays in their society. They thought that because they were above everyone else, every other area
around them should follow by their examples, (shown through document A). Due to the Mass Bay area not being very religiously tolerant, many of those who decided to not follow the puritan ideals to the fullest, were forced to move into an area known as Rhode Island where they used that area as a safe haven for freedom of religion. Roger Williams originally developed this idea of religious freedom in Rhode Island as well as founding the current capital of the state today, Providence. Due to there being much religious persecution and a vast amount of land which had little population, The New England region developed and expanded very quickly.
To conclude, both the regions of Chesapeake and New England developed very differently due to economic and religious differences of the time. Many of the people in the New England colonies came to that region to find religious freedom, while others in the Chesapeake region came to find wealth. Due to the religious persecutions in New England and the very strong agricultural economy in the Chesapeake region, as well as a vast amount of land available in both regions, both regions were able to adapt and expand quickly in their own unique fashion into two very different societies before the year 1700. The Northern colonial society looking to be a place for religious freedom, and the Southern Colonial society looking to be a place for economic growth.