Unit 2 DBQ Essay

Submitted By hallie891
Words: 908
Pages: 4

During the 17th Century, the New England and Chesapeake regions of the New World were established, both settled by those of English origin, yet settled into very different social, economic, and political norms. These major differences stem from a single major factor that triggered a trickle-down effect; while New England region was settled purely for profit for charters and the settlers, the northern Chesapeake region was settled to escape the religious persecution in England.
The New England settlement, mainly comprised of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island was settled to escape the English Anglican church’s religious persecution. This is exemplified in Document A which is Massachusetts Bay Colony mission statement. Document A is John Winthrop’s speech/giving of information to the people on the boat with him to escape persecution, he explains to the people that “we must be as a city upon a hill” and be willing to come together and set the example for others who will travel to the New World. This was a basis for their social actions and conduct. The escape from religious persecution also created a religiously intolerant society, which often persecuted those who did not have the same religious views. Their reasons for settlement showed their devotion to their religion and their desire for a religious based society so deviance from the religion used for social control was not tolerated. This is illustrated in Documents D and E in which the desires of leaders are justified through the use of religion. In Document D the town of Springfield, Massachusetts is being established, this city as according to the documents will be a religious city where all families are given an equal tract of land, share a planting ground, and where all will be treated equally. This city was established by Quakers to share the land equally, this established an equal society. This egalitarian society resulted in as crime free, uniform society with a lifespan of nearly 80 years. Economically speaking, no one was viewed as richer or poorer they were all considered equal due to the influence of the Quakers. In addition, document E was addressed to craftsman in Connecticut to use their Godly conscious to only charge people what they can afford and not gouge prices that would allow them to serve god and be craftsman.They urged traders and workmen follow a moral ethical code that would allow them to serve God and their neighbors In addition to the religious bases of economics and politics in the New England Settlement religion affected the settlement pattern. Unlike that of the Chesapeake Region, New England had large waves of family migrate their as exemplified in Document B, which records part of the major migration during the 17th Century. As New England was settled it was influenced by the religious persecution of England to create a generally religiously intolerant society that created morals, politics, economics, and social status.
Contrastingly, the Chesapeake Bay Colony, which consisted of Virginia and Maryland developed very differently from New England. Virginia and Maryland were established chiefly for profit. The most famous example is the first city of Jamestown, Virginia who were left to fend for themselves and initiated the starving times and similar to New England there was price gouging on food, clothes and mining supplies. However, unlike New England, price gouging and greed could not be controlled with religion and morals since most people were less concerned with religion and more concerned with personal profit. This greed was alluded to in Document F of Captain John Smiths Memoir written to describe the desperate situation of Jamestown. This greed was