For several different reasons, the Chesapeake colonies and the New England colonies are working towards a main goal. In order to establish a type of freedom, independence, tradition, and profit, these colonies must be formed and settled in by colonists. The main goal in the settlement of the Chesapeake colonies is driven by a motivation for profit, whereas the main goal for the settlement of the New England Colonies is more for religion and education purposes.
Although both the Chesapeake colonies and the New England colonies had different reasons for their goal …show more content…
to settle in America, the main motive for both stemmed from economic, social, and political reasons. As for the Chesapeake colonies, the main motive for settlement is to gain profit. Economically, agriculture also can be viewed as a way for the colonists to make profit. For example, the colonists here solely relied on tobacco, which was the main cash crop exported and grown in these colonies. In order to get more settlers, the Headright system was soon created, which encouraged more immigrants to settle in these colonies by giving out 50 acres of land to anyone that was able to pay for their fare, and 50 more acres for each immigrant brought with him or her. This system helped attract settlers, which will improve the colonies from an economic and social standpoint. In hopes of finding a new world, many colonists chose to settle in the New England colonies.
Economic and social motives for this settlement include the town structure, their focus on education and religious reasons, and their communal norms and beliefs that they hoped to put in place. Religion was an important factor in their decision to settle in these colonies. The pilgrims, known as the Separatists due to their desire to remove themselves and separate from the Anglican church, as well as the Puritans, believed that the new world is the only place they would be able to practice their individual beliefs and gain religious freedom. They wanted to form beliefs and worship as a community, which their location allowed to be possible.
The political motives for settling in the Chesapeake colonies include the location of settlement. The location is secure from spanish attack, and is still accessible to sea. Since the main drive is profit and obtaining wealth, as well as finding fertile lands and access to sea, the location of settlement consists varied accordingly. In contrast with the location of the settlements in the New England colonies, the settlers in the Chesapeake colonies spread out from one another and settled outward, with the goal of settling near a location that has sea access nearby for their cash crops, as well as good
land.
The colonists settling in the New England colonies had several political motives driving them. The Puritan towns all surrounded one meetinghouse, which was the main place of worship, as well as the political center for the community. By establishing houses all nearby the meetinghouse, the Puritans were able to better control the government in hopes of maintaining their religious mission. Additionally, once the settlers arrived, they chose to put the Mayflower compact in place, which is a political document that will help control and govern their society.
Overall, the settlement of the Chesapeake colonies and New England colonies by colonists is motivated by their individual economic, social, and political reasons. Colonists that are settling in the Chesapeake colonies have separate motives than those settling in the New England colonies. New England colonists were mainly driven by a spiritual need, whereas those settling in the Chesapeake colonies were driven by profit. Therefore, although settlers moving to both colonies had a similar main goal of forming a social, economic, and political government within the colonies, their individual motives took over to help them fully accomplish their hopes and goals.