New England vs Chesapeake Colonies

Essay by mhoffHigh School, 11th grade September 2014

download word file, 2 pages 0.0

Downloaded 2 times

Matthew Hoffer

Mr. Lapitsky

AP US History


Although Englishmen of similar ethnicity settled the North American East Coast, two distinct societies had emerged by 1700.

One of the main reasons that two different societies emerged was the fact that they were founded for different reasons. New England, founded by puritans persecuted in England, they sought freedom to practice their religion. Document A shows that people were willing to come together for God in this new land to make something of it. Document D provides evidence to that fact that the people that were settling New England were there to serve God. For example, their first order of business was to find a minister to lead them in worship. On the other hand, New England was founded for religious reasons, but settlements in the Chesapeake region were founded more for economic reasons. The people who settled there were, as opposed to the religious separatists that settled the north, looking to farm the fertile lands of the Chesapeake region.

Documents B and C show two ship manifests of people immigrating to the new world. Document B is the manifest of a ship headed for New England, and C is a manifest of a ship headed to Virginia. The ship going to New England is full of families, complete with servants and their families, traveling to serve their employers. The ship headed to Virginia was full of individuals. No families, just people looking for a new life due to population pressures in England. This evidences the differences in people settling the two areas.

Not only were New England and the Chesapeake colonies founded on different principals, but they also developed with different political and economic systems. New England, due to its colder climate, and the fact that larger farms...