The People of New England and the Chesapeake Colonies

Topics: Thirteen Colonies, United States, Democracy Pages: 3 (1040 words) Published: December 7, 2010
Throughout history, many people from the same country have immigrated to different lands where their new lifestyles had very little in common. This was obvious in the settlement of the New England and Chesapeake colonies before 1700 which caused the development of dissimilar societies. The people of New England and the Chesapeake colonies formed different governments upon arrival to North America. They had different motives and incentives for immigrating to America. The composition of the colonists of New England and the Chesapeake area were nothing like one another during the settlement of the colonies.

The people of the northern New England colonies and the southern Chesapeake colonies formed separate and different governments upon arrival in the New World. In New England, a town hall style of direct democracy was created. This created fair rule by the people, and property owning men could vote. Towns were set up for the common welfare of the people and for the glory of God not upon socio-economic standing. (Doc. D). People were not to be greedy but were allowed to make a living for their families. The people of New England set out to take care of one another and not to take advantage of their fellow man in pursuit of wealth (Doc. E). In the southern colonies of the Chesapeake, representative democracies were set up. The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first legislative body in the New World. The representative democracy was really more like an aristocracy in which the wealthy citizens controlled the government. Southern society was based upon economic status. There was a distinct upper and lower class (Doc. G). These aristocracies took money from the lower class and used it for the personal gains of the upper class which caused dissatisfaction in the lower class (Doc. H). These acts included the repossession of farms and other medial assets of the poor in the South. The dissatisfaction of the poor lead to Bacon’s Rebellion and many...
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