Differences Between Chesapeake And Southern Colonies

Between 1491 and 1754, the New England, middle, Chesapeake, and southern colonies developed in a way such that they must be viewed as four distinct societies with interlacing interactions and beliefs.  These different societies were shaped by the different labor systems and economic characteristics, varying groups of religious founders, and response to salutary neglect and British taxation.

 The four groups of colonies were distinct from one another in the labor systems that they used.  In New England, there were small farms that allowed a much bigger manufacturing and merchant class to arise.  This was very different even from the middle colonies, where larger family farms and indentured servitude were prefered.  In the Chesapeake and southern colonies, plantations were the most profitable economic choices.  However, in the Chesapeake colonies these plantations were smaller and relied more on indentured servants than the slave heavy large

plantations in the south.  Since all of these societies were so distinct from one another in their economies and labor systems, they all developed different cultures and beliefs.  For example, much less people lived in the south as most of the land was split up into large plantation and slaves, rather than colonists, performed most of the labor.  This led to a very different society than the colonies to the north where small family farms led to tight knit communities.  The stark contrast in how these societies operated forces them to be evaluated separately from one another rather than as one single society.
 The different colony groups had very different religious groups and beliefs throughout them.

In the north, the Puritans created very strict societies completely based around the Church.  This led to the creation of a very different society in Pennsylvania where many religions were tolerated and people could worship freely.  These two different approaches to colonial religion simply cannot be grouped into one single society as they are almost complete opposites of one another.  This is even more evident in the southern colonies which were not founded on religious principles but rather on economic ones.  As these colonies were developed, there were no strict religious rules and society was not centered around the church.  Instead, the focus was on economic prosperity and plantation life.  By grouping all of these different societies into one, it is difficult to find a way to describe their religion without leaving a couple of colonies or beliefs out.  This is why the different colonies should be viewed as separate

societies.
 As different as they are, the British colonies in the Americas also shared some views and beliefs.  This means that while they should be viewed as distinct colonial societies, it must also be acknowledged that they all lend to a bigger identity.  For example, in response to salutary neglect, all of the colonies developed colonial assemblies and reached a level of self-governance.  Their governments were set up similarly though there were slight variations depending on what values were important to each colony.  This cohesive view of salutary neglect also played a role as British Parliament attempted to regain political and economic control over the colonies.  All of the colonies, whether they be in the north or south, were opposed to the taxes imposed by Britain as they felt that they had the right to more power in their own societies.  These consistencies throughout all four groups of colonies make it impossible to separate the colonies from one another without acknowledging at least a small common identity among them.