The Chesapeake region reached such high heights after such an unfamiliar and unfortunate beginning because of various changes in population, the economy, and household composition.
From 1630 to 1800, the demography of the Chesapeake region incessantly changed. One key factor that contributed to the sporadic changes in population was the mortality rates. In the Chesapeake region, the age at which people died became younger as time went by. Document 7 proves the increasing mortality rate by showing that the average of Chesapeake-born men who reached age 20, born between 1670 to 1679, lived longer than those born in later years such as 1720 to 1729. Although people died younger as the years passed, the population continuously grew. For instance, the average population of whites in the Chesapeake region in 1640 was about 3,901, but in 1770 the population grew to an mean of approximately 133,180 whites, around 34 times more than that of 1640. However, the arrival and settling of British migrants largely contributed to the flourishing population of the Chesapeake region. Religious tolerance or religious heterogeneity, especially in Maryland, could have been one element that may have influenced more British migrants to travel to the Chesapeake region. Document 4 shows that in the years 1630 to 1640, approximately 21.9 to 24.6 percent of all British migrants went to the Chesapeake region. By 1690 to 1700, migrants that went to the Chesapeake region increased to about 15,800 to 16,000 out of 44,100, or 35.8 to 33.0 percent. Some migrants became indentured servants to pay for their transportation to the colonies. However, with the rise and growth of plantations, servants gradually became replaced with slaves, as shown on document 10. As th...
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...nd 18.1 years of age. However, through 1740 and 1749, on average, women married at about 22 years of age. Consequently, women bore less children. The average completed family size, as stated in the sixth source, was 9.4 in 1650 to 1700, but it decreased to 6.9 in 1750 to 1800. Some families depended on inherited wealth. Document 18 shows the "division of estates" in Middlesex County, Virginia from 1699 to 1750. While through 1699, 93 percent of all sons received land, only 62 percent received land between 1720 to 1750. As the division of land between sons decreased, so did the population of people with land and wealth.
Although the Chesapeake region faced many obstacles such as the "starving time," fatal diseases, and dire population shortages, it ultimately evolved and grew because of population increases, economic fluctuation, and changes in household composition.
The New England and Chesapeake regions evolved into different societies because of the settler’s purpose for coming to America. In New England, the settlers desired religious freedom because they were unhappy with religion in England. These religious groups were mainly the Puritans and the Pilgrims. Both coming from the protestant sect of Christianity, these groups were very strict. The work ethic and strict moral code of the Puritans has helped to shape society in their region. Since these people came for religious freedom, it was mostly families that came over. This allowed schools to be built so the children could receive an education. As seen in the list of emigrants going to New England (Document B), a husband and wife would come over with their children, which could be in great abundance. Also showing how societies in New England were more based around families can be seen in the Articles of Agreement that were in place in Springfield, Massachusetts (Document D). This document says that the town should be composed of forty families, not a certain num...
When immigrants fled form England due to religious persecution, they sailed to the New World and founded colonies such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New England as model Christian societies. They believed in constructing "cities upon hills," as John Winthrop put it, to guide those lost in the darkness of sin in England. Being founded by strict religious followers led the colony of New England to have very religious values and ethics. Document B displays a list of Emigrants bound for New England, most of which are groups of large families . The arrangement of families in towns created a tight knit community, which allowed a democratic government to form, were each person in the community had input, thus making an effective government. Virginia on the other hand developed distinctly differently. As document C shows, a list of emigrants bound for Virginia displays near to a 3:1 ratio of men to women and now families whatsoever . This difference affected the way the Chesapeake colony evolved. Without a family to invest in, men of the Chesapeake usually returned their proceeds back into the land, which they reaped it from. This created a community separated by vast plantations, which had little unity and no collaboration, thus making it difficult to produce an effective and democratic government. These demographic differences indeed differentiated the New England colony from the Chesapeake colony, but more distinct differences were found in each colony's geographic diversity.
The political characteristics in the Chesapeake resemble much of the mother country. We had the royal governor (somewhat like the king), Virginian Royal Council, and the House of Burgesses (acted like Parliament) which was more of an aristocracy. Now in the New England colony the Americans were able to form the first democracy. Instead of having someone appointed to govern they had an election to appoint people to govern. The political characteristics included a governor, the General Court, and the town meeting which on consisted of selectman.
The most notable political system of the Chesapeake region was the House of Burgesses in the Virginia colony. The House of Burgesses was a representative democracy that was formed in 1619. It favored the rich, as only rich white males were represented in government. It was often called a “planter aristocracy”, as the rich, white planters were the only people that participated in government. As a result of this, there was almost no social mobility, which was also an effect of slavery. This political system emerged largely in part due to the economic system, as farmers were already in power. Even though this system was democratic, it resembled an aristocracy more than a
During the 1700's, people in the American colonies lived in very distinctive societies. While some colonists led hard lives, others were healthy and prosperous. The two groups who showed these differences were the colonists of the New England and Chesapeake Bay areas. The differentiating characteristics among the Chesapeake and New England colonies developed due to economy, religion, and motives for colonial expansion. The colonists of the New England area possessed a very happy and healthy life. This high way of living was due in part to better farming, a healthier environment, and a high rate of production because of more factories. The colonists of the Chesapeake Bay region, on the other hand, led harder lives compared to that of the colonists of New England. The Chesapeake Bay had an unhealthy environment, bad eating diets, and intolerable labor.
Firstly, both regions were founded to serve two completely different purposes. The Chesapeake region was founded for economic purposes. The settlers in Jamestown were on a search for gold. A majority of people were lone men predominantly aging in their 20s (Document C) who’ve set sail to Virginia in hopes of gaining fortune for their country. The New England area was founded for religious purposes. This
The New England Colonies purposes were different than the southern colonies. In the north most of the colonies were settled for religious freedom, whereas in the south they settled for profit. With having different motives for their societies, colonization became very different. The Chesapeake region originally were wasting all their time looking for gold, for money, and didn't come prepared for survival in the unknown, New World. The pilgrims, who were separatist came to the new world and were ready to “set up camp” as they were there in search to create a society where they could live by their faith without the fear of the monarch disapproving. When Maryland was
Because of the way that the New England and Chesapeake regions set up their colonies, they became entirely different societies. One was community based, while the other sought gold and wealth; in one region a poor person had the same opportunities are a wealthy person, while in another place they could not; and one came seeking religious freedom while the other came for gold.
While both the people of the New England region and of the Chesapeake region descended from the same English origin, by 1700 both regions had traveled in two diverse directions. Since both of these groups were beset with issues that were unique to their regions and due to their exposure to different circumstances, each was forced to rethink and reconstruct their societies. As a result, the differences in the motivation, geography, and government in the New England and Chesapeake regions caused great divergence in the development of each.
Finally, partially due to the stable family life of New England, reproduction was much steadier in the north than in the Chesapeake Bay region. New England's women married young, around 20 years of age, and had many children before their child bearing days were over. They could expect to have at least 10 children, with 8 of them surviving. Chesapeake's lack of families-and more importantly-lack of women kept reproduction rates from being up to par. Thus, New England's growth was steady a nd stable, whereas Chesapeake Bay suffered the effects of an extremely low growth rate.
The Chesapeake and New England attracted different types of settlers and, by 1700, the populations differed enormously.
While the Protestant Revolution raged in Europe, Catholics and other radicals were fleeing to the New World to find religious freedom and to escape prosecution. Because of this, the northern colonies became more family and religiously orientated as the families of the pilgrims settled there. From the Ship’s List of Emigrants Bound for New England we see that six families on board made up sixty nine of the ships passengers (B). Not only did families tend to move to New England, but whole congregations made the journey to find a place where they could set up “a city upon a hill”, and become an example to all who follow to live by as John Winthrop put it to his Puritan followers (A). Contrastingly, the Chesapeake colonies only had profit in their mind, which pushed them to become agriculturally advanced. Since Virginia, one of the Chesapeake colonies, was first settled with the intention of becoming an economic power house, it was mainly inhabited by working-class, single men. The average age of a man leaving for the Americas was only twenty two and a half years old according to the Ship’s List of Emigrants bound for Virginia (C). The harsh conditions of the colony did not appeal to those who wished to settle with a family. Added on to that was the fact that the average lifespan in the Chesapeake colonies was a full ten years or more shorter than that in other more desirable living quarters to the north.
Compare and contrast the government, religion, geography, and economy of the three English colonial regions (the Chesapeake area, New England, and Pennsylvania). Be sure to consider the role of race, gender, and ethnicity.
Looking at the early English colonies in the Chesapeake Bay region, it’s clear that the English had not learned any lessons from their experiences at Roanoke. Poor planning, a bad location, unrealistic expectations, flawed leadership, unsuccessful relations with the local Indians, and no hope of finding the mineral wealth the Spanish found in Mexico, all contributed to failure. The first colonists in the Chesapeake region were not only ignorant, lazy and unambitious, but their attempts were hampered before they had begun. However, a solution to these problems was found in a single plant: tobacco. Nevertheless, this cash crop ultimately created numerous problems for the colonists. The ignorance and indolent acts of the Chesapeake colonists to unsuccessfully restore the colony by themselves led to the demise of the colony as a whole especially regarding the planting of agricultural goods for food.
New England had whole families moved from England where families were to work and populate the area. “New England colonists could pay their own way and emigrated as family groups...They also enjoyed a more even balance between the sexes… This healthier, longer lived, and more sex-balanced population sustained a rapid growth through natural increase, whereas in the Chesapeake and West Indies, only a continued human imports sustained growth” (Taylor 169,170). This shows how different populations were in each region. In conclusion, New England had a more sex-balanced population which allowed for substantial growth of the population instead of having indentured servants imported every year in the Chesapeake