Impact on Development: New England and Middle Colonies

New England and Middle Colonies developed differently because the Anglican Church was persecuting Protestants and Catholics. Therefore these groups settled in New England and not Virginia/Middle Colonies. This impacted political development because the Middle Colonies were for profit, and as a result they developed different politically. All of the Middle Colonies came to the new world for religious freedom. The separatists came to the new world to get away from the English Church. They wanted to be able to worship however they wanted to without being told what to do by the King, who is also the head of the Church. They believed God is ruler of the Church. This is called theocracy; it is the belief that God is the head of state and not the King. The New England colonies came to the new world for economic development. Such as trading and making relations with the natives and claiming land for England. The Colony of Virginia was founded by an English stock company, the Virginia Company, as a private venture, though under a royal charter. The first legislative group of representatives in the Virginia colony made up The House of Burgesses. Since Virginia was a part of the New England colonies, The House of Burgesses oversaw all of the New England colonies. The middle colonies had something similar to the House of Burgesses, they had the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact was an agreement by the people of the laws and ways in which they were to be governed. The only similarity between the way all of the colonies are governed is that they are governed by an all-white male body. The Protestants and Separatists came to the new world for religious freedom and to start a new, and hopefully successful, life. They wanted to get away from the persecution in England by settling across a vast ocean.