HIST 405 Week 1 Discussion; The Cost of Expansion - Southern Colonies and the Chesapeake Colonies

Answer: For this week’s discussion, I will discuss and compare the settlements of the Southern Colonies and the Chesapeake Colonies. The Southern Colonies included Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. “The Southern Colonies were known for growing indigo, cotton, tobacco, fishing, printers. They were also known for their large plantations, or farms, and the slaves used to work those plantations. Every colony had slaves, from the southern rice plantations in Charles Town, South Carolina, to the northern wharves of Boston. Slavery was more than a labor system; it also influenced every aspect of colonial thought and culture” (OpenStax, 2019). The Southern Colonies were mostly made up of Englishmen. Like the Chesapeake Colonies, tobacco was their most important crop. The settlers were mostly Anglicans, Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians. The Chesapeake Colonies, known as Maryland and Virginia, were known for growing tobacco. The tobacco depleted nutrients in the soil, and new land was continually needed for its growth and development. Most of the settlers were young, white males that came over as indentured servants. Diseases were common in the warm climates of the Chesapeake and the Southern Colonies. As a result, the death rates were higher and extended families were less common. Religion in the Chesapeake region was not at all common, except in a few areas. The colony of Maryland was intended as a sanctuary for Catholics after being mistreated when the Catholic Church separated from the Church of England. Some Virginians who were still religious remained Anglican. In comparison, “both the Chesapeake and Southern colonies were made up of a majority of single, young, white men who worked as indentured servants. After Bacon’s Rebellion, the Chesapeake and Southern colonies moved towards using enslaved laborers brought from West Africa” (Khanacademy, n.d). Both colonies had rich soil and temperate climates which made large-scale plantation farming possible. Both regions had an agriculture-based economy in which cash crops like tobacco, indigo, and cotton were developed for trade. References: OpenStax. (2019). U.S. history. OpenStax CNX. Retrieved from https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/4-3-an-empire-of-slavery-and-the- consumer-revolution Khanacademy.org (n.d), Lesson summary: Chesapeake and Southern colonies, Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/colonial-america/ early-chesapeake-and-southern-colonies/a/chesapeake-and-southern-colonies-lesson- summary