paper Essays - English Colonization Of The Americas,

Abby Therrien APUSH Unit 1 Test-Essay #2 During the 1700?s, many European nations colonized in the newly discovered America?s. England sent out many explorers and groups to the Eastern coast of North American to two regions in particular. These two regions were known as the Chesapeake region and New England. Both regions had very separate and unique ideas and identities. These differences which came from one major factor, affected the colonies in many ways, including economically, socially, and politically. The Chesapeake region included Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The first English colony to be successful in the New World was Jamestown, founded by a group of 104 settlers. These settlers were in search for gold silver, and a northwest passageway to Asia. Only a few members of the original voyage survived, including John Smith. These survivors looked to the Powhatan Indians who taught them how to grow corn and tobacco. These crops became the most profitable in the colonies. New England was north of the Chesapeake, and included Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Most New England people were Puritan Separatists, who were looking for religious freedom. After the separation of the church under King Henry VIII, Protestantism became popular in England. Some protestants however, wanted complete separation from the Church of England. These Separatists came to New England looking to find religious freedom where they would be free to practice what they wished. The motives of these people were mainly of religious nature, and not economic. Most New England settlers had a similar economy to England, they relied less on crops and more on carpentry and building. The Chesapeake and New England regions attracted different types of settlers, by 1700, the populations differed greatly. In New England, the population was almost entirely English and white, with a Church established. Many religious families made up the population, including Puritans, Quakers, and Catholics. Religious Freedom played a large part in why these people came. In the Chesapeake, the population was made up of mostly black-slaves. With a rise in the tobacco industry, plantation owners relied heavily on cheap labor slaves. Slave trade became a major industry as well. The Chesapeake economy revolved around the tobacco industry, resulting in slave trade that relied fully on tobacco plantation owners as a market to sell the slaves too. This became a cycle that caused a never ending increasing production and sale of tobacco. New England?s economy was based on fishing, shipbuilding, and farming. The farming in New England was done on a much lesser scale, usually farms were only ju st large enough to feed one family, with a small surplus, because New England?s main focus was not on economic gain. The religion of the two areas differed greatly as well. Because the New England people came to escape religious persecution, tolerance was thought to have been gained towards these colonies. This was not the case, New Englanders were very strict with their religion and thought they were superior to every other colony. In the Chesapeake region, religion was much less severe, the established church was the Anglican Church, but the religious tone was low-key, not to let the slaves learn too much of equality and freedom. Clearly the Chesapeake and the New England region did differ in numerous ways. These differences included population, religion, and economy. But these differences also involved the initial difference: why the colonist came to the New World. This was due to the contrasting societies of each group. Ultimately these significant contrasts contributed to the differences in the Chesapeake and New England regions of the New World by 1700.