Compare And Contrast New England And Chesapeake Colonies

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In the 1600’s, America was the new world, and the land of opportunity, which spurred settlers to travel to the region seeking religious freedom or economic success. However, as the colonies of New England and Chesapeake were settled, they had contrasting viewpoints on how they should live, and manage their newly occupied settlements. These viewpoints correlated to specific problems arising in each area. For example, the New England colonies experienced the witchcraft scare, and the Chesapeake colonies experienced civil uprisings like Bacon’s rebellion. To better understand why these colonies experienced contrastingly different problems, a closer look is required of the two colonies social, economic, and religious viewpoints, which contributed …show more content…

The Chesapeake colonist came to the new world searching for economic success, and discovery. Subsequently, they developed large farming communities, exporting commodities like, tobacco back to England for profit. However, the majority of the Chesapeake colonies consisted of a male workforce, and according to the pursuit of happiness, males outnumbered females three to one (14). The economic situation in the Chesapeake region contributed to civil strife like, Bacons rebellion, but because the society was based on economics it prevented a witchcraft scare. However, the New England colonist economic system was religious based, therefor they relied on fishing, and farming on a small scale to sustain their local communities. Thus, they never developed a true economic system that would expand their region of control. The small independent structure of the New England colonies highlighted the engrained local strife within their communities, culminating into the witchcraft …show more content…

First, Bacon’s rebellion was a confrontation between Governor Berkeley and Nathaniel Bacon over the Native Americans attack on the frontier settlements, and the desire of the colonist to expand westward (book 51). After Governor Berkley refused to retaliate against the Native American’s, an internal conflict ensued and this culminated into Bacon’s rebels attacking Native Americans and subsequently Jamestown (Book 51). However, the questions arises why did this event occur? First, evidence indicates Bacon’s rebellion occurred because the Chesapeake colonists desired to expand their territory, gain further economic success, which was based on the social and economic structures of the Chesapeake colonies. However, upon the colonies increasing their borders, Native American’s attacked the new colonial settlements to protect their ancestral lands, which spurred deep seated hatred between the two parties. Afterwards, without a proper colonial government in place to quell the unrest, the feud between the Governor Berkeley, and Nathanial Bacon broke out into a revolt, which saw the capital burned, and lives ended. Second, evidence indicates that the witchcraft scare occurred in New England because of New England’s religious based society, and economic structure. The colonist believed that

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