The Chesapeake and New England Colonies

In pursuit of glory, gold and religious freedom, England started to explore and conquer North America. During the late 16th century and into the 17th century two colonies appeared from England. The two colonies were called the Chesapeake and the New England colonies. Although the two areas were governed by the English, the colonies had similar qualities as well as differences. The Chesapeake and developing England colonies grew into clearly different establishments. The difference was colonial motivation, religion, political structure, socio-economic, and race relation, these are what were responsible for molding these territories.

In the Chesapeake, the motivation for colonization was largely due to the economic issue. The colony was owned by royalty and exclusive people who were looking to find fame or possible fortune.Thinking they would find gold or silver to bring back to England, instead they discovered a different treasure. Tobacco, it was the cash crop that brought them wealth.

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Although, up north in the New England colonies, the motivation for colonization was to escape religious persecution and set up a haven for people. Pilgrims and the Puritans were the main people that resided the land. The New England colonies also wanted to be financially stable although, the main reason was to be free from the Church of England.

However, the political structure in the Chesapeake resembled much of their mother country. They had a governor, a council, and a parliament which seemed to be more of an aristocracy. For New England colonies, America was able to form its first democracy. They appointed people to govern the colonies by electing them. Another thing that had differed from each other was the socio-economic in the Chesapeake consisted of plantations which farmed easy cash crops, making the Chesapeake quite wealthy. Not only did they have plantations but indentured servants that would, later on, lead to slavery. On the other hand, New England colonies characteristics included agriculture, a diversified economy, and a unique social structure that set it clearly apart from the Chesapeake.