Difference Between Chesapeake and New England Colonies Essay Example
The colonies in the New World appeared completely different and the prospect of any unity between them seemed impossible. The colonies in New England and the Chesapeake exemplify the many differences in the culture and lifestyles of the settlers, created mainly because of the fact that their founding fathers had held separate intentions when they came to the New World.
The New England and Chesapeake colonies were both settled by immigrants from England.Though this was an area thriving with small towns that they had generally liked, they decided to escape England due to religious persecution. Hundreds of families, men, women, and their children, came in search of a New World where they could practice their beliefs freely. They founded colonies such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island as model Christian societies. Their, “cities
...upon the hills,” were guides, for those lost in humanity, as John Winthrop meant by his famous statement.
They formed a society of strict religious participation, actually very much resembling their homeland. In the beginning, many called themselves Puritans, and kept things very simple and plain, concentrating on what was important to them. An issue that really defined a difference between the societies was the slavery issue. The northerners in New England held true to their belief that every man shall be equal and no one should be enslaved, while the southerners in the Chesapeake area strongly believed in the use of slavery.The New Englanders worked to help end slavery by preaching to others about their injustices, they worked diligently to make education in their society strong. Most people in the towns were literate so that they could read their Bibles
and study them in detail with their friends and family.
The northern colonies were known for having a lot of furs, timber, and fish. They were especially noted for developing into a very successful trading region. The New England colonies made up the middle class society whose focal points were family, education and religion.On the other hand, the Chesapeake region had a, “cash crop,” get rich quickly.
Their lives were based more on their material items than on God or family. The Englanders who saw the opportunity to take advantage of the popularity of a brand new crop they had discovered settled the Chesapeake area. These, “gold diggers,” were mainly men of wealthy families wanting to come to the New World for gold in which they traded for a large profit, for themselves. These colonists were not fleeing England seeking religious or social freedom, but clearly only to add more wealth to their names.Tobacco soon became the primary crop seen growing on almost every one of these wealthy men's plantations, which created tremendous amounts of money.
And with these large amounts of money, cam large amounts of land, and with large amounts of land came slaves to run their farms and slavery became a common, yet feared, way of life for many Africans. These two regions of the New England colonies and the Chesapeake colonies did in truth share the common fact that their settlers were all of English origin.But when they first set sail, even before they reached the New World, they began to separate into two distinctly different societies. Both sides each were looking for something different, while one side might be looking
for just trade and wealth while the other side sought religious tolerance.
Both sides rarely talked to each other about the same things due to the fact on how they were different from the beginning, because of this culture barrier, a separated north and south was created, causing two distinctly different societies to evolve.
- Slave Trade essays
- Culture essays
- Social Control essays
- Citizenship essays
- Social Justice essays
- Caste System essays
- Social Responsibility essays
- Socialization essays
- Deviance essays
- Modern Society essays
- Popularity essays
- Civil Society essays
- Community essays
- Female essays
- Filipino People essays
- Igbo People essays
- Indigenous Australians essays
- Indigenous Peoples essays
- Minority Group essays
- Social Institution essays
- Men essays
- The nation essays
- Middle Class essays
- Social Norms essays
- Discourse Community essays
- Popular Culture essays
- Car Culture essays
- American Culture essays
- Mormon essays
- Indian Culture essays
- Mexican Culture essays
- Pop Culture essays
- Cultural Differences essays
- Culture Shock essays
- Different Cultures essays
- Abolitionism essays
- Adam Smith essays
- American History essays
- American Revolution essays
- Ancient Egypt essays
- Articles Of Confederation essays
- Atlantic Slave Trade essays
- Aztec essays
- Benjamin Franklin essays
- Civil Rights Act of 1964 essays
- Civil Rights Movement essays
- Civil war essays
- Cleopatra essays
- French And Indian War essays
- Gettysburg essays