Chesapeake Colonies Vs New England Colonies

The people who came to the New England and Chesapeake colonies shared England as their birthplace, but not much else. The colonies developed into two distinct societies because of the social, economic, political and religious differences among the immigrants. Religion was valued greatly by New Englanders, and not nearly as much by Chesapeake settlers. Physical climate and economic motivations had an impact on why the colonies were formed. Demography was also a key factor in forming the different colonial regions because many young single men went to the Chesapeake colonies, and wealthier families went to the the northern New England colonies.
Strong political beliefs held by the Puritans leaving England helped shape the New England colonies. …show more content…
New England colonies were characterized by subsistence farming, while the south relied on tobacco as a cash crop. Northern colonies had much rockier soil which meant that for the most part settlers had to look elsewhere for economic support. Lumbering and fishing were alternatives to the staple crop farming of the Chesapeake Colonies. In Jamestown 1612, a farmer named John Rolfe learned about tobacco from local Native Americans and began experimenting with it. Tobacco was in such high demand in England that it quickly became a major cash crop in Virginia. However, tobacco heavily exhausts soil which created a need for expansion. This created problems with natives, because the English settlers continued to back into their …show more content…
In 1635 a ship’s list of emigrants to Virginia notes that the people traveling were for the most part young, single men. These men probably had no family ties and were seeking wealth and adventure. (Document C). This was not the case for New England. A similar document details the demographics of the people coming to New England colonies: older men and their families. Many of the families also had servants which signifies wealth. These families were trying to settle and continue the sense of community that characterized New England at the time (Document B). These two lists, of Northern and Southern immigrants, were written in 1635, which gives us a good look at how dissimilar they were down to the year. Governor Berkeley of Virginia commented that many “(of the freemen available for defense) are single freemen (whose labor will hardly maintain them)” and are probably in debt, and so they are very unreliable (Document G). The Governor’s comments emphasize again the differences between the two regions of colonies.
There was no sense of community in the south, which created an “every man for himself” attitude among the settlers. Contrasting to this, the New England colonists seemed to care for the wellbeing of the community as a whole which is shown in a passage about wage regulations in Connecticut calling for equality of pay and using language like, “a great cry of oppression is heard among