Differences Between New England Colonies

As the colonies of America were being settled and beginning to grow, each colony began to develop its own differences and identity in the New World. Many people immigrated to the colonies be it puritans, slaves, farmers, quakers and various other groups, all came to escape persecution, start a new life, or make money in the New World; giving the colonies their own mix of personalities. From the rocky coasts of New England to the large fields and plantations of the southern colonies, the different attributes of these colonies as well as the similarities became for visible and began to show the beginnings of the United States of today. The New England colonies included Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and connecticut and the Southern …show more content…
The puritan faith ruled most of New England, as the separatist pilgrims and the Massachusetts Bay puritans were the main groups the started the New England colonies, after immigrating to the New World after escaping persecution in england. The puritans had a strict faith and only certain people who were “free and elect” could be apart of the church. Although puritanism wasn’t the main religion of the New England colonies, it had a major influence on it from church to state, and the puritans were not tolerant of many other religions. The fire and brimstone teachings, and the rules of the puritan New England differed from the loose anglican southern colonies. Most of the southern colonist were anglican, church of England, but they were not as strict or serious in their faith as their northern counterparts. Most of the south was more concerned in the tobacco and plantations and many southern colonist did not proudly or strongly all themselves anglican. The strength of religion can be justified, since most of the New England colonist immigrated to America to escape religious persecution from england, and most of the southern colonist came to America for money and land. The religious practices of the New England and Southern colonies varied extremely and shaped the colonies to be what they …show more content…
In the New England Colonies most of the politics were led by the Congregational Church, which was made up of puritan adult males. The Congregation Church met in town meeting, in which issues,laws, and other things were brought up and each man was able to have a vote on the matter. These meetings allowed New England colonist to elect officials and have a say on the politics of their colony. These meeting were considered the basics of democracy and the start of it in America. Thomas Jefferson even said the town meetings were, “ the best school of political liberty the world ever saw.” In the southern colonies, most of the power and politics were handled by rich families that owned many slaves and a large amount of land. These families were known as the “first families of virginia”. These families monopolized the economy with large plantations and held much of the political say and power in the House of Burgesses. The House of Burgesses was the government of the south that was made up of a representative body of member from the southern colonies. The House was the earliest form of democracy in the New World and is a model on how or House of Representatives is run today. Though there were some differences in the New England and Southern politics, the colonies of the north and south both had beginnings of democracy and were examples of the modern United