New England and Cheasapeake

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Free Response Essay #1 (question #2)

The New England and the Chesapeake development of colonial society were greatly shaped by the social and economical ways prior to 1740.

The New England society was shaped socially by the Half-way covenant, Roger Williams, and by the Salem witch trials. The Half-way covenant permitted the children of all baptized members including non-saints to receive baptism. This shaped New England since it signaled the end of the “New England Way” because the elect was unable to bring up a generation of saints whose religious fervor equaled their own. Roger Williams on the other hand, questioned the legal basis of congregationalism and once he began to say that the church and state were entirely separate, the government silenced him. This instant stirred up controversy, since he challenged the “New England Way” which quickly made him one of the most respected and popular figures. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings by local magistrates and county court trials to prosecute people alleged to have committed acts of witchcraft in Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex Counties of the British colony of Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. The trials shaped New England since it caused family divisions, hangings, and accusations like never before; also it reflected profound social change over anxieties.

The Chesapeake, which is Maryland and Virginia, was shaped socially by the Act of toleration, slavery, and the State & Church. The Act of toleration was passed in 1649 by the colonial assembly of the Province of Maryland mandating to attract settlers to make the colonial venture profitable. In order to protect the Catholics from the immigrating Puritans and Protestants, the Calverts supported the freedom of worship for all Christians in Maryland. This allowed more social development to Maryland than ever before, because it allowed more settlers coming in to worship a particular religion which means they will all be more alike. The slavery tension between the underclass of slaves and servants and the rich became acute because the numbers of indentured servants greatly outnumbered the rich, however they were all poor and even after being free had not much to do but, work for small pay on rented land. This shaped the Chesapeake socially since it caused the slave monopoly- uprising of slaves from all over; this raised wages and the amount slaves which caused the initial social tension. The State and church goes about the 1st elected assembly in 1619 when James I took over, he didn’t like the government officials, and appointed his own governor who would control the counsel. This is an example of a social occurrence which developed the society since the king made a big social change.

The New England was shaped economically by the British economy, the wealthy, and by the End of the Indian independence. The British economy wages between 1550 and 1650 fell by Ѕ due to bad harvests and depressions, and a 30% rise in population from 1590 to 1640 created massive unemployment to them and us at the same time. This shaped us greatly since our mother country wasn’t doing very well, so it affected our economy and costs us jobs etc. The wealthy in New England owned 62% of all wealth in the richest 10-th, people also