HIST 405 Week 1 Discussion; The Cost of Expansion - Chesapeake vs. New England Colonies

History Discussion Week 1 In preparation for the initial post, consider two (2) of the following settlements: • Southern colonies • Chesapeake colonies • Middle colonies • New England colonies Then, in one (1) to two (2) paragraphs, address one (1) of the following options: • Compare and contrast the settlement patterns. • What forces and ideas shaped their origin? • Examine the influence of religion on those settlements (e.g., Puritanism, Quakers, and the Anglican Church). Chesapeake and New England Colonies: Colonizers sought out the Virginia and Maryland colonies of Chesapeake Bay in hopes of making a profit off of natural or imported goods but specifically were hoping to find gold and silver. Shortly after their arrival, they discovered that growing and selling tobacco would be the only way they would be able to be profitable. This led to “thousands of unmarried, unemployed, and impatient young English men” (OpenStax, 2014) and some women to migrate to these colonies in hopes of a better life. In the early stages, the settlers faced struggles with the native people of the land, poor health, and lack of food. Theses struggles were so bad that by 1610 the last few remaining settlers were ready to leave the area until a ship of new settlers arrived (OpenStax, 2014). With the arrival of these new settlers, they were able to stabilize politically and grow the economy through the tobacco business. Another group of English men traveled across the Atlantic Ocean along with their wives, families, and children New England. These colonizers were following the words of their ministers to “migrate beyond the seas” in hopes of spreading Protestantism (OpenStax, 2014). The settler’s goal was to reform and grow Protestantism in order to serve as a model for the rest of the world. In the towns they build that were focused on the church, each congregation made decisions for themselves. English men continued to travel across the ocean to New England in order to have religious freedom without persecution. Overall the Chesapeake and New England colonies migrated for two very different reasons. The Chesapeake colonizers traveled in hopes of making money and having a better life while the New England colonizers wanted religious freedom. OpenStax. (2014). English Settlements in America - U.S. History - OpenStax. Openstax.org. https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/3-3-english-settlements-in- america