Dbq on Colonies free essay sample

To understand the reasons why New England and Chesapeake evolved into two distinct societies, one must take into account the dynamics of each region. Pre-1700, the Chesapeake region was rampant with diseases including malaria, dysentery, and typhoid that took a cruel toll on its settlers. Many people born in early Virginia and Maryland did not live to see their twentieth birthday. Also, the settlement of Chesapeake grew very slowly in the seventeenth century because families were few and far between throughout the region.Most of the inhabitants of Chesapeake were single men in their late teens or early twenties because raising a family in the Chesapeake region was almost unfeasible. The Chesapeake region was also hospitable to the cultivation of tobacco. On the other hand, the New England region was mostly made up of families who migrated together from England. Puritanism influenced the families to form a tightly-knit society based on equality and togetherness. Also, the New England region required towns of more than fifty families to provide elementary school education. In fact, in 1636 the Massachusetts puritans established Harvard University which still stands today as one of the most prestigious schools in the nation. As one can see, the New England and Chesapeake regions had some stark differences in the seventeenth century. The major differences in the environment of the New England and Chesapeake regions caused them to evolve into two distinct regions. Firstly, the Chesapeake region was ravaged with disease which deterred families from migrating there. Therefore, the New England region was made up of mostly families who were willing to work together to build a strong colony while the Chesapeake region was made up of many young, single men. Documents A and D provide testimonials from John Winthrop and the Articles of Agreement. Winthrop, in his book A Model of Christian Charity states, that we must treat each other like brothers and be a close-knit community (Document A).The Articles of Agreement provide four orders for themselves and their successors which includes that their town should be composed of forty families and every inhabitant should have a convenient proportion for a house lot (Document D). These examples highlight the difference between the family life environments in the two regions which forced many couples to migrate to New England. Secondly, teen pregnancy was extremely rampant in the Chesapeake region as a result of the weak family ties. Would one want to raise their teenage daughter in a region where almost a third of all brides were already pregnant when they got married? In Documents B and C, which show the list of emigrants bound for New England and Chesapeake, one can clearly see the difference in the type of people who migrated to each region. These documents reinforce the fact that the Chesapeake and New England regions developed differently because of the stark differences in the environments of the two regions.Bacon’s Rebellion against Governor William Berkeley caused the Chesapeake region to develop much differently than the New England region. The rebellion was started because many single men in the Chesapeake region were frustrated by their lack of ability to acquire land, and the lack of women in the region to marry. According to Document G, Governor Berkeley did not believe he and his council could defend Virginia against an attack which is shown in his speech (Document G).According to Document H , Bacon’s justification for his rebellion was that the people in power, including Berkeley, were taking all the wealth and using it for themselves instead of sharing it with the rest of the region (Document H). This rebellion caused slavery to become prevalent in the Chesapeake region which changed the way it developed. The native-born African-Americans contributed to a distinctive slave culture which brought the region a unique language, Gullah. Some of the slaves even became skilled artisans, carpenters, bricklayers, and tanners.In fact, the slaves in the Chesapeake proved to be a more manageable labor force than the white indentured servants that had first migrated to the Chesapeake. Finally, Bacon’s rebellion caused slavery to become more prevalent in the south which developed the region into a very diverse place to live, with a defined hierarchy of wealth and status. New England, on the other hand, had no slaves, and developed much less ethnically than the Chesapeake did as a result of Bacon’s Rebellion. The difference in the economies of Chesapeake and New England caused the two regions to evolve very differently.The Chesapeake was very hospitable to the cultivation of tobacco which affected the type of people who migrated there. Many profit-hungry farmers in the Chesapeake sold the tobacco they planted. With an inordinate amount of tobacco being grown in the region, more labor was needed. Therefore, many displaced farmers came to the region as â€Å"indentured servants† and spent several years in the Chesapeake. Conversely, the New England economy was based on trading, fishing, and manufacturing which impacted the type of people who migrated to the region.Also, because New England was not hospitable to the cultivation of tobacco, many indentured servants and displaced farmers did not migrate to the region. This difference caused both regions to have entirely different economies. In the Chesapeake, the masters parlayed their investments in servants into huge fortunes in real estate. However, in the New England region, General Courts where developed to hamper the ability of tradesmen and laborers to make an inordinate amount of money.According to Document E, laborers and tradesmen should make a moderate profit to enable them to serve God and their neighbors (Document E). Finally, very different types of people migrated to the Chesapeake and the New England regions because of their differing economies which caused the two regions to evolve into two distinct societies. Although the New England and Chesapeake regions did evolve differently because of the differences in their economies, environments, and Bacon’s Rebellion, there are other reasons why they developed differently.The expansion of settlements in the two regions was very different. In the Chesapeake region, the expansion of settlements was somewhat random and usually undertaken by lone-wolf planters. Conversely, the expansion of settlements in the New England region was done in an orderly fashion and towns were legally chartered by local authorities. Also, the setup of each region was very different. In New England, the town usually consisted of a meeting house and a village green which were both not present in the Chesapeake region.Overall, the differences in the expansion of settlements and the setup of each region caused each region to develop into two distinct societies. Although the expansion of settlements and the setup of each region where major factors, the differences in the economy and environment of each region, and Bacon’s Rebellion where the main reasons why the regions evolved differently. The difference in the economies of each region was a huge factor because it caused different types of people to migrate to each region which obviously created a difference in the evolution of both regions.The environment in each region was another enormous factor because it caused very weak family ties in the Chesapeake compared to very strong family ties in New England. Thirdly, Bacon’s rebellion was a vital factor because it evoked slavery in the Chesapeake region which made it much more diverse and ethnic than New England. These three reasons were the main reasons that the New England and Chesapeake regions developed into two very different societies.