Essay About People Of English Origin And New England

New England and the Chesapeake Region Before 1700
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Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled
largely by the people of English origin, by 1700 the regions had
evolved into two distinct societies. The reasons for this distinct
development were mostly based on the type on people from England who
chose to settle in the two areas, and on the manner in which the areas
were settled.
New England was a refuge for religious separatists leaving England,
while people who immigrated to the Chesapeake region had no religious
motives. As a result, New England formed a much more religious society
then the Chesapeake region. John Winthrop states that their goal was to
form “a city upon a hill”, which represented a “pure” community, where
Christianity would be pursued in the most correct manner. Both the
Pilgrims and the Puritans were very religious people. In both cases,
the local government was controlled by the same people who controlled
the church, and the bible was the basis for all laws and regulations.
From the Article of Agreement, Springfield, Massachusetts it is clear
that religion was the basis for general laws. It uses the phrase “being
by Gods providence engaged together to make a plantation”, showing that
everything was done in Gods name. The Wage and Price Regulations in
Connecticut is an example of common laws being justified by the bible.
Also in this document the word “community ” is emphasized, just as
Winthrop emphasizes it saying: “we must be knit together in this work as
one man”. The immigrants to New England formed very family and
religiously oriented communities. Looking at the emigrant lists of
people bound for New England it is easy to observe that most people came
in large families, and large families support the community atmosphere.
There were many children among the emigrants, and those children were
taught religion from their early childhood, and therefore grew up loyal
to the church, and easily controllable by the same. Any deviants from
the regime were silenced or persecuted before they could start any
movements that would be a threat to the authority of the church. Even
people like Ann Hutchinson and Roger Williams, who only slightly
deviated from the teaching of the Puritan church were expelled and
forced to move to Rode Island. As a result of this tight religious
control the society became very conservative in New England, and life
evolved to be simple and not elaborate as in Virginia.
In the Chesapeake region almost everything was exactly opposite of New
England. The immigrants were not idealists, but materialists, most of
whom