1993 New England and Chesapeake Bay

Ashna Bhatia Mr. Rogers AP American History I 10/24/10 DBQ- New England and Chesapeake region Question- Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by people of English origin by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. Why did this difference in development occur?

As the first colonies were being discovered and settled in the eastern coast of North America, a few of them grew to have very distinct characteristics and ways of life even though all the settlers came from Europe. The New England and Chesapeake region were both largely populated by people of English origin, but still managed to expand into two very diverse societies before 1700. New England, located in the northern region of all the colonies was more prosperous than the southern Chesapeake Bay region. The reason for this difference is dated to the beginning of the two colonies. Because the settlement of New England and the Chesapeake Bay region was so diverse, the colonies developed into two distinct societies.

The starting point of a settlement is very important for its success and with the Chesapeake Bay region, the reason for all its dismay was due to the fact that the type of settlers differed from the ones that reached New England. As listed in Ultimo's List of Emigrants Bound for Virginia, there was about eighty percent of men and just twenty percent of women boarding the ship in July of 1635 (Doc. C). The names were written in a singular form clearly indicating that family members didn't have an importance. The Ship's List of Emigrants Bound for New England included whole families, listing relations to the dominant male and even the servants that boarded the Weymouth with the family (Doc. B). Comparative to the list going to Virginia, New England was receiving steady whole families rather than Bhatia 2

young frustrated men. The difference of age, and family size made a huge impact on the future of the colonies. The men of Virginia were always in a need for more females and because of the shortage of women, most of them were pregnant before marriage. The families that reached New England had a better chance of surviving because they were already built up with servants and helpers. Since the men had wives and the children had siblings, there was less need to be so selfish like the settlers in the south.

Besides the different settlers, the attitudes and attributions that the groups of settlers bought to the colonies and lived with were very different. As John Winthrop wrote in 1630 as he sailed to New England, ºWe must knit together in this work as one manª(Doc. A). The northern colony is shown to be very compassionate and united where as the Chesapeake Bay region focused more on personal gain. Captain John Smith wrote, ºThere was no talkË but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, and load gold.ª (Doc. F). The young frustrated men searched for extravagant ºgolden promisesª that they could never find(Doc. F). Their sole mindset on finding gold put them into trouble as they were not ready for the cruelties of nature. The families in New England were living and surviving rather differently. Because the family men had different priorities than the young males, they were forced to set up a healthy community. In an agreement for Springfield Massachusetts, the government intends to have towns consists of forty families signifying that the goal of New England was to have families that kept the town successful (Doc.D). The persistent selfish motives of the young men in Chesapeake Bay kept them away from the actual riches of a successful colony, where as the family men realized they needed to develop a good community.

Besides the fact that the settlers had diverse work ethics, another thing that differed between them was the distinction in wealth distribution. Bacon stated in his Manifesto when he was justifying in his rebellion that in Virginia, the men need to see what ºspongesª pick up the public treasure and used it for their own good (Doc. H). The Wage and Price Regulations from 1676 in Connecticut state a different Bhatia 3

type of distribution