Chesapeake Colonies VS New England Colonies
New adventures awaited as many left England, to sail across the Atlantic, in search of land and wealth, like Spain had done before them. Two groups settled in the new world, one in the south, the other in the north. Although, they were both of English descent, they had some vast differences socially, economically, and politically, that helped to establish two separate societies.To begin, these two colonies may have been of the same descent, but they came to the new world for different reasons. The Chesapeake colonists came in search of profit, while the New England colonists came in search of religious freedom.
The first settlers, arrived at Jamestown in 1607. For the first year, they struggled with starvation and disease, and a majority of the settlers died. Although mortality rates were high, new settlers continued to come to Jamestown, but spread of disease did not help the struggling population. Meanwhile, in the New England colonies, the settlers were “puritans who emigrated to North America aspired to escape the turmoil and persecution they suffered in England”. Though, just like the south, the first year was difficult. Likewise, they both survived, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the support they got from the Indians. New England colonists migrated to the new world as families, which helped to form a community, while the Chesapeake colonists were dominantly Englishmen in search of gold.
Additionally, the two colonies had vastly different economic backgrounds. In 1700, the Chesapeake colonists discovered they could make a fortune growing tobacco, and “they [had] exported more than 35 million pounds of tobacco [to England]”. They became a dedicated society of tobacco planters. However, the New England colonies due to “rocky soil and [a] short growing season ruled out cultivating the southern colonies’ crops of tobacco and rice”, and instead exported fish and timber and became a society of sailors and fishermen.
Finally, the two groups had different ideas of running a government. In the Chesapeake, they created the House of Burgesses, which resembled the Parliament in England. However, in New England “the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company empowered the company’s stockholders, known as freemen, to meet as a body known as the General Court and make the laws needed to govern the company’s affairs. The colonists transformed this arrangement for running a joint-stock company into a structure for governing the colony”.
To conclude, both groups made a long journey across the Atlantic, one seeking profit, the other seeking freedom. The first year provided many hardships, but both groups, with support from the Indians were able to survive and expand their settlement in years to come.
