Karla Perez September 30, 2013 APUSH DBQ

When the English began to migrate to the New World, they did so for many
reasons. Whether it was to escape religious persecution or to make more money, they
all wanted to move forward. They wanted to persevere for a better life in the New World.
However, it was quite evident that the New England area and the Chesapeake colonies
had developed into two different societies by the 18
th
century. The difference lies in the
two different environments, the difference in religious and moral beliefs, and the goals
individuals held in each region.
At the time of the discovery of the New World, Europe was driven to find metals,
spices, and other luxuries. A great number of people who migrated to the Chesapeake
colonies also went there with the purpose of finding or making riches. The New World
was rich in soil, thick in forestry, and held precious metals beneath the ground. The
European men were eager to plant, excavate, and consume these new findings. A ship
en route to Virginia was loaded with men who were consumed with greed and were
desperate to find gold. These men even handed themselves over as slaves in hopes of
getting retribution (History of Virginia, Doc. F). Many other European men gave years of
their servitude in hopes of eventually becoming free men and possibly acquiring land of
their own in America. These men turned to becoming indentured servants because they
were the younger children, thus could not acquire land in England. The developing
plantation system was creating a need for a huge labor source, which created a large
demand for indentured servants. The majority of indentured servants were single males
in their late teens and early twenties (Ships List for VA, Doc. C). Because so many of
these men were young and single its safe to assume that they came to the
Chesapeake colonies to advance themselves economically. Indentured servants were
low on the social ladder, of course, but, they still had the possibility of being free men
eventually and acquiring land and even prospering economically. The indentured
servants were still higher on the ladder than slaves, however. African slaves suffered
possibly the most in the New World. They were taken by the shipload from Africa and
sailed the midway to North America. As planters continued to grow more and more
tobacco, the unit value of tobacco continued to decrease, forcing planters to plant even
more tobacco to make up for the loss. The growing tobacco industry increasingly
needed labor and slaves provided the greatest amount of labor. Slavery became a huge
part of the culture of the Southern Chesapeake colonies. Within the Africans
themselves, they created a whole new African-American culture. Slaves from different
tribes had intermarried and had children. They mixed their traditions and customs with
one another as well as with the distinct American culture. Slavery not only changed the
slaves, but they also changed the slaveholders as well. In Frederick Douglasss
autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he explains how having
power over the life of an individual can change even the kindest soul, and turn them into
a cruel person with egotistical values. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why so many
of the people in the Chesapeake colonies valued money over everything. Many of the
Karla Perez September 30, 2013 APUSH DBQ
single men had no family in the New World to hold with importance, so family wasnt
exactly a huge influence in the decisions these single men made. In fact, even Bacons
Rebellion was fueled by economic beliefs as well as desperation for single women.
Bacon, along with many other landless freemen, was enraged that they had been
disfranchised and so were forced to move into the backcountry where they faced Native
attacks. They did not think it was fair that they had to have conflict with the natives and
struggle for land while the property owners continued to grow in riches (Bacons
Manifesto, Doc. H). Overall, the Chesapeake colonies were dependent on owning land
and the plantation economy. The people of the Chesapeake colonies aimed for gaining
profit, acquiring land and slaves, and had little interest in religion. All of this, however,
differs drastically from the New England colonies.
Family and religion played a big role in the development of the New England
colonies. Massachusetts, for example, was set on become a godly example for the
rest of the world. They had fled from England, fearing persecution. In the beginning,
they were quite strict and conservative. They believed in the importance of church,
family, prayer, and proving yourself to be saved. If one did not prove themselves to be
a good Christian they were critically judged and were sometimes even cast away from
the community for disagreeing with the communitys beliefs. The leader of the
community was often a priest. This affected what Massachusetts laws would be. The
people of Massachusetts agreed, We intend by Gods grace, as soon as we can, with
all convenient speed, to procure some Godly and faithful minister with whom we
purpose to join in church covenant to walk in all the ways of Christ (Articles of
Agreement, Doc. D). In the documents that stated what the community would agree to
do, the people made sure to include that a minister would be appointed as soon as
possible. This shows how important having a religious leader was to this community.
Having a good family relationship was quite important to the New Englanders as well.
The majority of the people who immigrated to the New England colonies did so in
families or communities. For example, Joseph Hull of Somerset immigrated to
Weymouth with his family of eight and his servants. The other immigrants from that ship
also traveled in large family groups and were mostly from Somerset (Ships List for New
England, Doc B). Because the New Englanders held such an importance to religion and
family, they also held different goals in comparison to the people of the Chesapeake
colonies. They acted according to Christian morals for the most part. A great promoter
of these beliefs was John Winthrop. He was an important figure for the Protestant
community. He guided people to, delight in each other, make others conditions our
own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before
our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the
same body (A Model of Charity, Doc. A). Even if they did not abide by the bible or
agree with John Winthrop, religion did influence the decisions of many of the colonists.
For example, Roger Williams fled from Massachusetts to Rhode Island because he was
Karla Perez September 30, 2013 APUSH DBQ
persecuted for his beliefs. There in Rhode Island, Williams established complete
freedom of religion. Another extreme example of the influence of religion in New
England is the Salem Witch trials in Massachusetts. There, there was hysteria of young
girls accusing multitudes of women of witchcraft. These trials quickly got out of control
until the governors wife got accused and he put a halt on it all and the hysteria started
to die down. Another common belief these colonists had was that they believed slavery
to be wrong. This was a major reason why slavery did not grow in New England.
However, the biggest reason why slavery did not flourish in New England was because
of the climate. In New England, it was cold, stony, and the harvesting seasons were
quite short. Because planting in large quantities, like in the Chesapeake, was not
possible, there wasnt really a need for slaves. Since slavery and plantation were not
viable options for these colonies, their economy depended mostly on fishing, fur trade,
ship building, lumbering, and commercialism. This created a wider variety of opportunity
for the people of New England; they did not all just have to do the same thing like in the
Chesapeake.
People in New England were focused on their families and religion. People in the
Chesapeake were focused on the economy and land. These different goals made the
people in each region do different things concerning the development of their
communities. Where people in the Chesapeake would invest in slaves to further the
production of their tobacco plantations, the people in New England would invest in the
construction of new buildings of worship. The people in New England might make a
profit in fur trading, whereas the people of the Chesapeake would export tobacco and
rice. In New England, the people where mostly white; in the Chesapeake a large portion
of the population was black and the other part white. Yes, in the beginning the colonies
were created by people who were all white. However, all these people held different
goals which led them to make different decisions in the development of their societies.
These differences led to two completely different societies in the Chesapeake south and
the New England north.