Societies in The New England and Chesapeake Regions

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After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the powerful Old World scrambled to colonize it. The three major nations involved in this were Spain, France, and England. Spain took more to the south in the Central American and Mexico areas while France went north in the Canada region. The English came to America and settled in both the New England and Chesapeake area. Although the people in these regions originated from the same area, the regions as a whole evolved into different societies because of the settlers’ purpose for coming to America and the obstacles faced in both nature and with the natives.

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...

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The settler’s purpose for coming to America and the obstacles faced in both nature and with the natives caused the New England and Chesapeake regions to develop different societies. The problems that the regions faced were both similar and devastating, yet they had different effects on the regions. They way in which the problems were handled as well as the extremity played a large role in this and helped in the regions obtaining different societies. Despite the fact that the settlers originated from the same area in Europe, they created different societies in their New World homes.

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