Black Matter's Essay

The New England and Chesapeake colonies evolved into two separate entities following the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Jamestown. Since it's inception the colonies have had distinct motivations, economic strategies, political systems and social lives. The Puritans dominated the New England area, socially they were extremely intolerant, and economically they depended on fur trade, shipbuilding, fishing and lumbering. The Chesapeake area economically relied on slaves, tobacco, and rice; socially they were underdeveloped and had a good degree of toleration. Several factors influenced the distinct economic, social and political systems. Economically the northern colonies could not rely on farming too heavily because their soil was depraved; politically they were far more religious and democratic. The south had "perfect" conditions for farming and the plantation systems.

The founding's of New England and the Chesapeake Bay greatly differed. The New England colonies were founded and primarily settled by families with 2 to 7 children encouraging family ties. John Porter (Doc. B), states that emigrant families moving to America were extremely diverse when it came to age and size. John Winthrop (Doc. A) outlined the various types of people coming over to the new world; Winthrop outlines something similar to the Mayflower Compact. Winthrop placed an emphasis on building a city upon a hill, which was meant to be coveted and modeled by others around the world. The Articles of Agreement (Doc. D) states the agreement that the Puritans followed while settled in the new world. Financially Puritans ranged from lower class to upper class although they were generally middle class. All Puritan families possessed land and lived a "well-off" life. A communal life was encouraged and individualism was shunned. In the Chesapeake colonies, the settlers were struck by famines, diseases and war; an altogether un-welcoming experience. These settlers intended to find gold and convert Indians to Christians, neither happened. In the Chesapeake colonies, men came over by themselves without their families and there was an eventual inadequacy in the amount of women to men ratio. Socially, there was under-development of societies in the southern colonies thus causing there to be a high reliance on plantations and slaves.

Both Virginia and Massachusetts had the same goal of colonial success and stability but their ways about securing the stability and gaining economic prosperity reflected their previous established "morals and ideals." The establishment of estates and plantations show the different ways in which the colonies used their land. Virginia began to establish plantations for tobacco and Massachusetts was a seaport so shipping was their main source of income. Virginia made its money through tobacco, and with that came an increase in slavery; Massachusetts did not have as great of a demand for slavery,