Reflection Essay #1 / Week 2
Thread: American Ideals

The governing structures of the New England area was primarily Theocratic in nature while the Chesapeake area had royal governing heads appointed by the mother country. This can perhaps give us insight into the development of these areas as well as the challenges they faced. The New Englanders, being more religiously oriented than its Southern neighbors, would therefore have challenges more religious in nature; issues developed between the sects or denominations that separated from each other with various little spouts of disagreements. The Chesapeake area, being more economically centered, faced their challenges accordingly; they had issues with morality, disease, weak family ties, and eventually with their overbearing mother.

The development of New England and the Chesapeake areas differed grately in economy, political structure, social identities, and overarching ideals due to the very nature of why the colonists ventured to the New World. The Chesapeake area was settled primarily for economic gain, which affected their economy as well as their morals. They settled in the area to find precious metals, cures for diseases, cultivation of cash crops, and other valuables they could make a profit off of in Europe. They primarily grew tobacco on large plantations, which funded and perpetuated the slave trade. Because of this, the population was primarily composed of black slaves.

New England’s colonists were tremendously different from Virginia’s. Their motives for moving to