dbqatly differed in their development of their two distinct societies. The Chesapeake region was a loosely fitted society with little connection with each plantation while the New England colonies had tightly knitted communities with a sort of town pride. The difference in unity and the reason for this difference best explain the significant disparity between the dissimilar societies.
The New England and Chesapeake region had evolved into two different societies because the world was changing and a lot of people didn’t like the change that was taking place so they left. For example, the Church of England was said to be corrupted. That is one of the main reasons for the separatists. They didn’t like the rules and regulations of the church and wanted to leave.
Many people believed that as a reward for faith god would give the person salvation. This is not what the Church of England thought. Martian Luther contended that the bible recognized only two sacraments, baptism and communism not the seven authorized by the Catholic Church. Other reasons for leaving England was to gain wealth. The way one could do this was to participate in the fur trade, gold mining and even farming and fishing.
Although there were separatists there was also puritans as well. The puritans were there to spread the Church of England and to build colonies for the king. There were many people that stayed loyal to the king even when the king was over three thousand miles away. John Winthrop was the puritan leader in 1680. He wanted everyone to live in peace and have everyone work as one. If this happened then everyone would look upon them.
The disparity in social development arises from the type of people sent to each region. Mostly single men were sent to the Chesapeake colonies in search of wealth (Document F). There were a few women; however, not enough to really produce heirs and a great next generation. In New England, in contrast, families of four, five, and six members arrived together (Document B). With families in New England new generations were sure to come and a closer unity among the family would arise.
When the families from New England came to their settlements, they made a strong and upholding pact among them (Document D) whereas the Englishmen who settled in Virginia and such were there only to satisfy their infinite greed (Document F). The families in New England resulted in a great sense of unity within each colony by what Winthrop stated in Document A or the colonists being a part of a tightly knit community. The great lack of unity between the colonists in the Chesapeake region is evident the events that occur later in the Chesapeake regions history. Governor Berkeley asking for troops from England revealed the important point that unity was greatly lacking, as they could not fend off the united Dutch assaults with the lack of unity among the rich and the poor (Document G). The hunt for greed in the Chesapeake region led to a strong revolt from Bacon.
The lack of doing anything for the safety of the citizens of the Chesapeake region by Governor Berkeley led to a strong revolt by Bacon (Document H). The New England residents were resourceful and unified as shown in Document E as they worked out their problems and therefore set a standard wage for all workers. The very seeds of the first settlers arriving in each area founded all these problems and solutions. With the different types of people being sent to each settlement, both had different objectives and outcomes. New England from the very beginning was determined to work together for two goals: to preach and to follow the ways of God. The had to become tightly knitted as one and do everything from mourn to dance with one another.
The New England colonies or the Massachusetts Bay colony in this case acted as a “city upon a hill” where everyone else especially God was watching their every movement. If they did false against God then they would be cursed. Thus because of this fear of cursedness the colonies of New England acted as one to assure their purity and worthiness for God (Document A). The first main difference between the New England and the Chesapeake regions are the geographic locations. The New England region has a colder climate, which helps defend against diseases. The Chesapeake region in contrast has a warmer climate, and along with lakes, ponds etc.
it actually attracts mosquitoes and other insects which help spread diseases. As you can see from Document B, the New England region had larger families, an average of 6 kids per family eve. Even before coming to the Americas they were already rich, meaning they had servants and everything to help them with chores. They brought their whole families because they came here to stay. Now the Chesapeake region had smaller families because more men than women came at once. They didn’t really have any professional jobs as they were coming here to search for gold and then go back to England.
Geography determined the fate of the each region as soon as they landed. For the both regions, unfortunately, the first settlers arrived during inopportune time. By the time they arrived, it was too late to crop or gather any food. Life in the Chesapeake region was harsher than life in New England. Since they happened to place around swamps, from malaria, and other contagious disease, within months, half of them died.
Later, some of them turned into crucial cannibalism because of unbearable hunger. Although unhealthy for human life, the Chesapeake region was arable to tobacco plantation, luckily. The vast lands attracted many farmers to plant more tobacco each year, producing huge profits easily. By importing African slaves later, the plantation became easier than ever. On the other hand, in New England, the lands were mostly mountainous.
The mountains ran close to the shore, and the rivers were generally short and rapid. Also due to cold weather, tobacco couldn’t thrive as it did in the Chesapeake. Instead, it was abundant of timber, fur, and fish which produce huge profits for New Englanders, yet under hard-works. Most of New Englanders worked on various jobs- small town farmers, artisans, or merchants. The tough geography of New England made them to have energy, self-reliance, and endurance. Before New England settlers arrived in New England many of them signed agreements.
For instance, people arriving to Springfield Massachusetts agreed upon terms of forming communities, loving and worshiping God, lack of disparity between rich and poor, every settler has an equal amount of inheritance, and that sharing is a must (Document D). These values were also present in document A when Winthrop announced his model of a Christian society. People came to New England not for the money as the soil there is rocky, but for a purpose to work in a society. People wanted to be accepted and loved. They worked out their problems as prices and wages became set amounts in Connecticut in 1676 (Document E). New England grew to be a widely prosperous region with little disputes or rebellion by neighbors.
New England became a society filled with unity, strong generations, and a strong consensus among the numerous towns. The Chesapeake region started out much different from the beginning of its origin. The mostly men who traveled there were in search of gold and wealth rather than starting a real community. Even as early as 1607 there was a large gap between the rich and the poor. The rich took advantage of the poor by inflating prices of food and promising freedom and prosperity for work (Document F). The men and women mentioned in document C were indentured servants.
The Master of these servants would receive 50 acres of land for each servant he paid the passage. These fifty acres only added to tremendous greed already present in the Englishmen in 1607. The motives for settlement are wrong off the bat. As was the case in France, the gap really defers unity elsewhere.
When defending against outer enemies in the Chesapeake region in the 1600’s there really was no unity among the rich (the plantation owners) and the poor (servants and “Negroes”). It was really evident that the Governor of Virginia, Governor Berkeley, was frightened to be subtle in that he asked for troops from Britain to help ward off the Dutch attacks (Document G). People in the Chesapeake colonies were unhappy with the rich aristocrats running the show. Francis Bacon led a revolt in Virginia against Governor Berkeley. He felt that the lack of unity among all citizens was apparent and needed to change.
He felt that the government at the time was doing an inadequate job at public work i. e. safety, defense, advancement of trade (Document H). This problem was not present among the citizens of the New England colonies as the goals of the New England citizens were different (Document A).
The development in the two societies was apparent throughout the start of each colony and through the events occurring throughout its developmental period. New England and the Chesapeake colonies arose as separate states with separate motives and separate resultants with each method having its pros and cons for certain people. The beginning motives, the decisions made throughout each settlements respective history, and the method of forming a better community surrounded the top grounds for different societies arising.
