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Differences Between New England And Chesapeake Bay Colonies

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New England and Chesapeake Settlements

Some may think that both the New England and Chesapeake regions were alike, since they were settled by the English. However, they would be wrong as the two regions settled here with different motives. The Jamestown colony was led by John Smith, while the Mass Bay colony was led by John Cotton and John Winthrop. The Mass Bay colony was in the New England region while the Chesapeake area was in the Jamestown colony. These two regions developed into two unique societies because of their priorities, climate, growing seasons, and the interactions with the Natives in their region. They both differ because in New England they mostly settled for the freedom of their religion, while in Chesapeake they …show more content…

In the New England region they wanted their freedom to practice their religion. In Chesapeake they wanted the most profit they could get from gold, which then resulted in growing tobacco. In New England they wanted to be free to choose their religion, because in England they were puritans (separatists)but, they were forced to be Anglican against their will. In a writing to John Winthrop he wrote, “So if we do not honor God… will cause Him to abandon us.” (A Model of Christian Charity) This is what drove them to create such a religion based colony. If they would fail to meet their expectations to God, He would abandon them. In the Chesapeake region they were focused on profit. They planted large farms of the “Black Gold” which was tobacco. John Pory wrote, “One man… raise enough tobacco to earn 200 pounds…”. (Document E2) All they cared was about the money and profit because that was how they could be able to survive in a tough world. New England were more Christian than the Chesapeake region, because New England would try to keep God somehow in their everyday life, because He was the man who granted them the land and opportunity to settle upon this. From a letter written by William Hinton, he said, “We have church services every Sunday.” (Document 3) They would think that if they would disobey Him that He would have an impact on their society so they would try to avoid this by having Him being worship once a week(Sunday). They also wanted to be a set example and let everyone else follow their good behavior and religious purity. For this reason New England and Chesapeake are very different which lead both societies into two completely different

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