Differences Between New England And Chesapeake Bay Colonies

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During the times of colonial migration, most who settled in the American colonies were English. Many immigrants came for the desire of a new beginning, an escape from conflicts of religion and politics, and/or new economic opportunities. Despite the similarity of descending from England, many people had different philosophies as to how they wanted to live in the New World. The different ideologies between settlers resulted in a huge divide between the regions of Chesapeake Bay and New England with distinctly different societies by 1700, formed due to religious, geographic, and economic differences.
Not only did religion vary greatly between New England and the Chesapeake Bay; it was also practiced differently amongst Maryland and Virginia. …show more content…

But the factor of having different philosophies, as it pertained to earning money, caused a significant divide between New England and Chesapeake Bay. Many of the settlers in Chesapeake had a money/labor-focused mindset. This mentality dated back to the very first settlers in the region: the migrants of Jamestown. “These settlers hoped to find gold, silver, a northwest passage to Asia, a cure for syphilis, or any other valuables they might take back to Europe and make a profit” (The Chesapeake and New England Colonies: A Comparison, p. 2). The people of Maryland and Virginia tended to pursue whatever potential profit they could find. With religious conflicts attracting less people to Chesapeake, few female immigrants, and disease, there was an abundance of land, and few people to populate it (about six people per square mile). Isolation and lack of community resulted in families and individuals having to fend for themselves economically, and the most efficient way to do so was through tobacco. Since tobacco grew best on level ground with good internal drainage, primarily found beside rivers, approximately 80 percent of early Chesapeake homes were located within half a mile of a riverbank, and most were only 600 feet before the shoreline. The easy access to the rivers also minimized transportation costs for trade, as tobacco could be shipped off conveniently. After the downfall of the tobacco industry, wealthy planters began to rely on their servants for profit, marking the beginning of urbanization and slavery. Between tobacco and slavery, Chesapeake Bay became a region of labor and

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