Compare and contrast the way economic development affected politics in Mass. And Virginia in the period from 1607 to 1750.

Virginia and Massachusetts were the first two colonies settled by England in the New World. However, these colonies were very different from each other. Virginia’s economy, based heavily on slaves and other low-class workers, resulted in a very small, rich class having all influence and power. Massachusetts, in contrast, had an economy with a large middle class of “equals,” resulting in a more democratic government than that of Virginia. Overall, the first two English colonies in the Americas had extremely separate ways of creating economic and Economic development usually has a lasting influence on the political structure of any up-and-coming area. This certainly was the case for Virginia and Massachusetts. The Southern economy was based on the production of cash crops, predominantly tobacco, rice, and indigo. Crops were grown on large plantations that, by the mid 1600’s, had begun to use African slaves and lowly whites as the labor source. This meant that a lot of people worked for only a few people. Thus, the plantation owners tended to be wealthy, and they acted like it too. Many landowners hired a person in England to ship them goods that would fit the lifestyle. As a result, the South was cash poor, but the land and products owned had great potential value. The Massachusetts economy could not have been more different. Although the use of slaves and other servants did exist, it was miniscule compared to what was occurring in Virginia. Also, while plantation success depended on one system that could fail at any time, the Northern economy was more stable and diverse. In part because of the landscape, the Massachusetts colony was dependent on anything from shipbuilding, fishing, and whaling to farming, store-owning, and other types of artisan work. This allowed for a flexible economy with a large middle class that likely would survive if one market crashed. Meanwhile, if there had been a drought or drop in demand for tobacco, the whole Southern economy would have