Compare And Contrast New England And Chesapeake Region

Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, the English nation began colonizing a large part of the American East Coast. Even though the New England and Chesapeake regions were both settled by the English, the two regions developed differently due to the contrasting reasons for settlement. The settlers in the New England region sought out religious freedom opposed to pursuit for economic liberty in the Chesapeake region. The different reasons for settlement caused the two regions to have many unique variances and similarities in their religious beliefs, financial goals, and toleration.

During the 1630s, the Great Migration, a period of English colonist migrating to Massachusetts Bay Colony and the islands of the West Indies, many Puritans and Separatist

The Chesapeake region, originally established for economic gain and later for trade, was thought to be a place for new beginnings. Mostly men pursuing wealth and land settled in the region, and few women embarked on the journey to the Chesapeake region during the beginning of the region’s development (doc. 3). Men were drawn to the area because of the primogeniture laws in England. The law stated that the eldest son inherited all real estate after the father passed. Men who were not the first-born saw an opportunity to gain wealth in the Chesapeake region. This caused many men wanting to leave England to find wealth in other lands. In 1609, Jamestown became a settlement; the men spent most of their time digging for gold instead of creating a suitable area for living, only to later realize that the promised gold did not exist. Many died from lack of food, disease, and cold winters in Jamestown (doc 6). The poor development and bad conditions continued until tobacco was introduced to the region. Jamestown began to thrive as the demand for tobacco in Europe increased. As tobacco became more popular, the need for a workforce increased rapidly. Indentured servitude was a system where a person could pay for passage to the New World through work for an employer for a certain amount of years. This system helped solve the need for a workforce, however, the indentured

The pilgrims in the New England region were kept in line by “social covenant”, which was an agreement between the pilgrims and the community. This agreement had no tolerance for disorder or deviance, to make sure everything was orderly, and mutual watchfulness of the pilgrims was required (doc. 4). The strict Puritan colonies had no toleration for other religions, with the only exception being Rhode Island’s freedom of worship policy. As for the Chesapeake region, even though the area was not founded on a religious basis, the region did have some forms of religion in the colonies. The Act of Toleration was put into place in 1649, in Maryland. The Act of Toleration supported all Christians but ordered the death of to those who denied the divinity of Jesus. Anyone who was not accepted under the Act of Tolerance was given a ridiculously high fee, if the person could not pay, they were to be publicly whipped and imprisoned without