New England and Chesapeake Comparison

Settlement in the new world occurred for different reasons, which led to the development of two different societies. New Englanders attempted to create a religious Utopia while the members of the Chesapeake created their society based off of economic goals. People of English origin were the main settlers in the two regions even though they were two very distinct societies. They had major differences in ideas, values and settlement strategies, which were led, by stark difference in the economical, political and social dynamics of each civilization. These three aspects were part of the major differential in development that occurred. From prior knowledge as well as use of the documents, one could see the large differences in the two societies politically. Politics is a major importance in any type of community; it could easily make or break it entirely. New England’s politics came mostly from religion and the ways of God, as seen in Document D. Political voice in communities was determined by religion, as in the leaders were picked by people with high ability in religion. Leaders were also ruled by divine right, meaning that the rulers gained all their power from God himself. Also, as long as there were churchgoers, the poor man was equally powerful as the rich man politically, changing society, as they knew it. As you can see, New Englanders believed very strongly in religion causing major differences politically compared to the Chesapeake region. From Document G you could see that in the Chesapeake region, the people looked at everything very differently. The rich were much more powerful than the poor because the poor didn’t own the land to make political change and land equaled power in this region. Also, rebellion of the government could’ve occurred easily because of the large amounts of slaves and indentured servants. Due to these negative aspects, Chesapeake created their political society differently than New England due to precautions and the idea of the rich instead of religion. Economically, the two societies differed because of how the people did their work. New England was more of a tight knot community in this way. Land was divided equally allowing equal opportunities to acquire profit. Not only this, but in document D, it says that families worked cooperatively among each other creating a more stable economy. All this led to no economic jealousy, which allowed the society to differ greatly during the development. In the Chesapeake region, there were large plantations owned by each family. Many slaves and servants were working on these plantations allowing a huge gap between the rich and the poor to be created. This caused land to be divided unequally meaning less opportunity for the poor. This type of economic structure developed the Chesapeake area into more of an industrial, non-home like state, unlike New England where everyone was close together. Finally, the social aspects of the two regions created the final difference to develop. In document C, you could see that people were sent to New England with their entire family. Many people of both genders and all ages were appearing in the area allowing for a better opportunity for population growth and continuation. Also, since society was based off of religion, their social life was built around the church causing education to be a necessity. Education allowed the people of the community to be stronger mentally and emotionally then other places. New England was basically one big family; there were no groups of uncooperative individuals. This type of social background allowed New England to become a strong and well-put together place. This was the mere opposite of Chesapeake. In document C, you see that people are showing up individually with fewer women and less families. Prosperity in population was made difficult and with the large amounts of slaves and servants everyone was on a different level. The rich were basically the top and everyone else was on their own. This made the society un-home like. People didn’t know each other too well and there was no good way to build the society up. Overall, the settlement in the New World was very different in the societies of New England and Chesapeake. As stated before, New England wanted a society with a religious utopia while Chesapeake just wanted to create their society all based off of economics. The two societies were structurally built like opposites because of their major differences. It is uncertain which society was the better type; the home-like feeling with a lot of families or the industrial land with individuals trying to be the best. Even though their intentions were different they both prospered in certain ways because of their difference in development.