Difference Between Chesapeake and New England Regions

New England and Chesapeake

In Colonial America there was a large divide between colonies, each being subjected to one group, these groups, though close geographically, shared vast differences in their economic, religious, and political practices, a prime example of this being New England and Chesapeake. Although their motives for founding varied and their economic basis differed, the New England and Chesapeake colonies similarly embraced their newfound independence through the practice of free religion and oppression of the native peoples.

Some of the fundamental differences between the regions were their economies. New England was characterized by small towns and independent farms while Chesapeake included primarily large plantations as their source of income. This alone made slavery far more prevalent in the Chesapeake colonies than in New England on the basis of necessity. As displayed by Thomas Jefferson and many other Virginians, the tobacco industry was prevailing, creating the economic lifestyle shared among them. In New England, slavery was introduced by the Dutch in 1625. The first slaves appeared in New Amsterdam and eventually began to spread throughout the New England colonies. Slavery in the Chesapeake region began in 1619, when the Dutch brought African men into Jamestown. In the years that followed, the slave trade had expanded. As a result, the New England and Chesapeake colonies similarly utilized native slave labor and trade.

New England was primarily small towns creating independent governing systems. These were typically theocratic as New England was extremely religious. The lack of centralized control led to government unorganization creating such tragedies as The Salem Witch Trials. Chesapeake, however, had an unusually democratic government for the time which was the first representative government at the time. This was known as The Virginia House of Burgesses. A centralized governing system was easier to accomplish in The Chesapeake Region as it consisted of fewer small towns with independent governments. This allowed for more control over the Chesapeake people as a whole and an overall more organized governing system.

Religion was a major aspect of