A Comparison between New England Colony and Chesapeake Bay Colony

In 1607 the first British colony was founded in North America and settled in Maryland and Virginia. This colony, known as the Chesapeake Bay colony, was colonized and settled by the English men of Anglican Church beliefs. Later in 1630 a wave of English men, women and children settled in the areas of Main, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island , Connecticut and Vermont who were all believers of Puritanism. This colony was named the New England colony. In spite of both colonies being settled by men, women and children of English ancestry by the 1700’s both regions evolved into two very distinct societies. The Chesapeake Bay Region was a far cry from the New England Colony. Chesapeake Bay was founded on the idea of making a profit while New England was established on the idea of religious refuge. Additionally Chesapeake Bay was settled by individual men while New England was settled by families which aided in growth of this colony. Thus the development of two separate societies occurred by reason of political, economic, religious and social deviations. A major reason as to why Chesapeake Bay and New England evolved into two very distinctive societies was political differences. The settlers of Chesapeake Bay modeled their government, the house of Burgesses, on the house of Parliament in England. The major political development of the Chesapeake Bay colony was the Maryland Act of Religious Synopsis. This allowed the practice of any sect of Christianity. On the other hand New England developed a more structured government system. New England had elected officials to represent the people. This formed the council who had regularly scheduled town meetings to voice the concerns of the people. In comparison because New England was densely populated by those of Puritan beliefs religious tolerance was non existent. This major difference on both colonies political ideologies encouraged the development of two completely different societies. The economies of these