Differences between the Chesapeake Bay and New England Colonies
Differences between the Chesapeake Bay and New England ColoniesThere are many key differences that distinguish the inhabitants of the New England colonies from those of the Chesapeake Bay colonies. These dissimilarities include but are not limited to the differences between the social structure, family life, forms of government, religion, and the lives of indentured servants and children in the two colonies.
The social structure and family life of the two colonies varied greatly. The inhabitants of the Chesapeake Bay colonies were never able to establish a successful social structure or sense of family life due primarily to the nature of its inhabitants. According to the essay Looking Out for Number One: Conflicting Cultural Values in Early Seventeenth-Century Virginia, Virginia drew a disproportionately large number of street toughs, roughnecks fresh from wars in Ireland, old soldiers looking for new glory, naïve adventurers, mean-spirited sea captains, marginal persons attempting to recoup their losses. (The Way We Lived 23). These settlers who colonized the Chesapeake Bay region, primarily being composed of males, came for only one reason and that was in order to make a profit. According to the essay Looking Out for Number One, the pursuit of private gain outranked the creation of corporate communities. (The Way We Lived 25). As a result of this idea, on March 22nd, the Indians of the region launched a coordinated attack on the scattered, poorly defended white settlements, and before the colonists could react, 347 of them had been killed. (The Way We Lived 28). Due to the minute number of women who made the journey to the Chesapeake Bay, there was very little sense of family life in the Chesapeake Bay colonies. Contrary to the exploitive competitive individualism present in Virginia, as well as the rest of the Chesapeake Bay, a deep sense of cooperative commitment to building a new Zion characterized the society established in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The social structure and family life of the two colonies varied greatly. The inhabitants of the Chesapeake Bay colonies were never able to establish a successful social structure or sense of family life due primarily to the nature of its inhabitants. According to the essay Looking Out for Number One: Conflicting Cultural Values in Early Seventeenth-Century Virginia, Virginia drew a disproportionately large number of street toughs, roughnecks fresh from wars in Ireland, old soldiers looking for new glory, naïve adventurers, mean-spirited sea captains, marginal persons attempting to recoup their losses. (The Way We Lived 23). These settlers who colonized the Chesapeake Bay region, primarily being composed of males, came for only one reason and that was in order to make a profit. According to the essay Looking Out for Number One, the pursuit of private gain outranked the creation of corporate communities. (The Way We Lived 25). As a result of this idea, on March 22nd, the Indians of the region launched a coordinated attack on the scattered, poorly defended white settlements, and before the colonists could react, 347 of them had been killed. (The Way We Lived 28). Due to the minute number of women who made the journey to the Chesapeake Bay, there was very little sense of family life in the Chesapeake Bay colonies. Contrary to the exploitive competitive individualism present in Virginia, as well as the rest of the Chesapeake Bay, a deep sense of cooperative commitment to building a new Zion characterized the society established in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Bibliography: inder, Frederick, and David Reimers. The Way We Lived. 5th. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Breen, T.H.. "Looking Out for Number One: Conflicting Cultural Values in Early Seventeent-Century Virginia."Butler, Nathaniel. "Virginia, A Troubled Colony, 1622."Frethorne, Richard. "The Experiences of an Indentured Servant,1623." April 2 & 3, 1623. Mintz, Steven, and Susan Kellog. "The Godly Family of Colonial Massachusettes." (1988): 4-17. Anne Bradstreet. Poems of Mrs. Anne Bradstreet. (Boston, 1758)The Charter and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (Boston: T.B. Waite and Co., 1814), 73-74. Records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, 1628-1686 (Boston: 1853-1854), 5: 60-61. Moody, Eleazer. Good Manners for Colonial Children. (Boston: Fleets, 1772), 17-19.