New England & Chesapeake DBQ

Differences between New England and Chesapeake Colonies – DBQ By the 1700s, Colonial America was a diverse society; the northern colonies of New England and the southern colonies of the Chesapeake region, although mainly made up of British settlers, were already becoming distinct areas unlike any seen before this time. However, they shared little in common, as both regions were drastically different from one another. The differences started with the initial reasons for the founding of each colony and the colony’s geography and climate; New England was founded for religious reasons and had rocky soil and long winters whereas the Chesapeake colonies were founded for economic reasons and had hot summers and fertile soil. New England was originally founded by the Puritans who were escaping England’s persecutions to adopt their own, faster reforming church (Doc A). The Puritans that thought the Anglican Church was too slow broke away from it, causing their name to now be Separatists, and founded Plymouth, Winthrop primarily. Connecticut was founded by energetic Puritans who wanted a more theocratic government, causing the creation of Blue Laws, which dictated colonies behavior (Doc E). The Chesapeake colonies originated with Jamestown, whose settlers were just looking for gold; instead of growing food, they just looked for gold until John Smith told them either gold and starve or grow and eat (Doc F). The Chesapeake colonies also grew Tobacco, primarily James Rolfe, using indentured servants who came looking for a start in an economic life to make money. The differences in the soil also caused distinctions; with New England soil being less fertile than Chesapeake’s, the economy wasn’t shaped as much by tobacco or bread as was Chesapeake’s. This obviously caused the economies and types of farms to be different. The differences continued due to the political and economic differences of the two areas; politically New England was more democratic than Chesapeake,