New England and the Chesapeake Region: Different Colonies of English Origin

Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both of English Origin, they evolved into two different colonies. Major points such as different motives for settling, religion, and the different geography led to contrasting views. As they continued to evolve, the colonies adapted to their own unique economic, geography, and social structures. The settlements in the Chesapeake region, such as Virginia were only settled to increase wealth. The colonists wanted to gain riches. After the settlement of Jamestown, they didn’t attempt to gather or grow food for the winter to come. They were too engulfed by their desire for gold. The Virginia Company of London, which was a joint-stock company, sent a colony to dig for gold, and half of the colonists perished. Captain John Smith took control of the colony before it was completely destroyed. Through John Smith’s dictatorship, the colonists work for their food. One of the labors was harvesting. Since the Chesapeake area had warm climates and fertile soil. These circumstances made the cash crop of choice tobacco, which was later introduced by John Rolfe. The colonists set up large plantations and profited from them. In contrast, New England was founded to escape religious persecution. The “Separatists,” who were later known as the Puritans come only to practice their religion freely. The Puritans had no interest in profit, but only to work together to make their colony triumph. As John Winthrop stated in A Model of Christian Charity, “We must be knit together in this work as one man.” He explains that by working and understanding one another, they may prevail. By working together they’ll become “a city upon a hill” for everyone to look and admire them. They tried to set an example for others to follow. Clearly these two provides a pivotal point of view on the outlook of life. As shown in documents B and C, they provide lists of the passengers that were heading towards the colonies. Those