Daniel Valcarcel
Brother Herb
Period 3
September 1, 2014
DBQ
Both the New England and Chesapeake colonies were formed by British settlers. England began their race to colonize the New World against Spain and France with these two regions. Each settlement had different views or ideas as to why they wanted to settle in the New World. The New England and Chesapeake colonies definitely had different political, religious, and financial differences. When the Puritans and Pilgrims arrived at the New England coast in the early 17th century, they came there for one reason – religious freedom. The English church during their time was corrupt and only wanted Protestant people in their country; The English kicked out anyone who wasn’t Protestant out of their country. John Winthrop quotes while on board the Arbella over the Atlantic, "God Almighty in his most holy and wise providence hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, other mean and in subjection. . .. " [Doc. A] This document states at how much these people worked together and wanted their freedom to believe in their religion, which lead the New England government to consist of religion. However down south in the Chesapeake colonies, people were looking for gold and money to make them-selves wealthy. The men were looking for the gold rather than settling a new life like the New England colonies. Not many women came along to the Chesapeake colonies, as it states in Document C – the list of people who went to the New World. “The worst [among us were the gold seekers who] with their golden promises made all men their slaves in hope of recompenses. There was no talk . . . but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold. . . . Smith perceiving [we lived] from hand to mouth, caused the pinnace [small ship] to be provided with things fitting to get provision for the year following.”[Doc. F] As for the financial reason; People who arrived at the Chesapeake region thirsted for gold. As said in the first paragraph, not many women went to the Chesapeake colonies because most of the emigrants were men looking for wealth. Most of these men were poor and when they heard about the recruitment of people to settle a colony, most of the poor men signed up. Hoping that pushing the restart button can give them a second chance at wealth. However once the Chesapeake colony of Jamestown was settled John Smith also states “Our ordinary [food] was but meal and water so that this...little relieved our wants, whereby with the extremely of the bitter cold frost . . . more than half of us died.” [Doc. F] No one paid attention to survival, the men only paid attention to money and greed; which soon lead to more than half of the Jamestown colony to perish. The New England Colonies did not care for money; they just wanted to be free people governing themselves. The more religious New England colonies didn’t like the political status in England during that time.
