New England Essay

Submitted By suckyomama
Words: 841
Pages: 4

The first settlement of the Chesapeake Bay was Jamestown in 1607 and Plymouth was the first settlement in the New England region. Plymouth was founded in 1620 and was meant to be founded near Jamestown in the Chesapeake Bay region but they went off course and ended up in the rocky soiled Massachusetts Bay region of New England, becoming squatters outside of permitted land. These two regions were settled around the same time and given rights and funds to settle by the same joint-stock company, but were founded for completely different reasons and developed drastically different economies and religions. The Chesapeake Bay region was settled for economic reasons while the New England was settled for freedom from religious persecution. Economically, the Chesapeake had large plantations growing assortments of food, but mainly grew tobacco while New England was fishing, trading, and lumbering for a profit. Religion was an important ideal in New England while it took the back seat in the Chesapeake. The first reason the Chesapeake Bay and New England regions developed so differently is because of the reason they were founded. Both were funded by the Virginia Joint-Stock Company but the Pilgrims, Englishmen that were Separatists wanting to completely separate from the Church of England, were going to America permanently for religious freedom and the Settlers heading for the Chesapeake were sent there to find gold, make a profit and come home. These reasons for settling affect the type of settlers that were sent. Mainly single men were sent to the Chesapeake with very few women or families as they were planned to come home after a few years. (Doc C) Few families immigrated to the Chesapeake because the conditions there were hostile and not fit for any children. Differing from the Chesapeake settlers, many families immigrated to the New World across the Atlantic because the conditions were much safer and they had planned to start new lives there as Englishmen while keeping their religious preferences. (Doc B) The Pilgrims also wrote the Mayflower Compact before they left stating that they did not intend to separate from the country of England but they had to govern themselves because England was too far away. These reasons for settling caused many differences in the economy of the two regions. The Chesapeake Bay and New England regions developed different economies. Both regions had to make a profit to be able to buy resources they needed from England. New England established a very diverse economy including fishing, trading, lumber, and small farming. With the abundance of lumber, the colonists were able to build boats that they could then use to go fishing in the ocean and eventually hunt whale and provide ships for the British merchants and Navy. New England also had many great seaports that allowed access for boats to a city to trade with merchants. The soil in New England was rocky and unfertile, preventing the development of large plantations as the Chesapeake had. The Chesapeake Bay region’s economy relied on one single cash crop and never developed an economy similar to New England’s. The settlers of the Chesapeake were always looking for the quick profit. In 1612, John Rolfe discovered a sweeter kind of tobacco that quickly became a popular product craved by the Europeans. Once the colonists discovered the demand for this tobacco they started to