1993+Sample+Answer

1993 DBQ Sample Answer



 * Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by people of English origin, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. Why did this difference in development occur?**

In the early 1600s, there was much excitement about various things in England. At the time in England, religious persecution and the relatively new discovery of the Americas sparked much interest and conflict. A trip for a religious holy land was put forward, and a trip for wealth was put forward towards another direction. For the reasons of motives, environment, everyday life, and economy, New England and the Chesapeake region became vastly different types of societies, even though their colonists all were of the same region.

Motives are what started the path towards these two very different societies. The colonists who emigrated to New England, did so for religious freedom for themselves. Due to the Church of England having no religious toleration, the Puritans, who moved to New England, and many other religious groups, had to find refuge in order to continue practicing their religion. The reason for the emigration to New England, by the Puritans, is made very clear in document A, in which Winthrop states, “we shall be as a city upon a hill” (A). The Puritans wanted a religious Holy Land, in which they could practice their religion, and set in template for others to do the same.

The people who emigrated to Virginia, or more specifically, the Chesapeake region, had very different motives for doing so. As document F bluntly states, “dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold,” the main reason for the people who went to Virginia, was for gold. Gold and other economic land mines, were seen as things that could be had easily, and the audacious men who went towards that goal went only for that goal.

Just like the motives for their emigration, the type of people who emigrated to New England and the Chesapeake region had just as much of an impact on the differentiation of the two societies. As document B shows, everyone who moved to New England was either a part of a family, or worked for the family. This contrasts greatly to document C, which shows that the peole who emigrated to Virginia, were mostly young, single men in their early 20s. This would cause many problems for the men in Virginia throughout its colonial history.

The basic foundations of two colonies are different in almost every way, and if that was not enough, everything else past the original colonization differed very greatly, which would lead to the distinct societies in 1700. The overall economy of the two colonies, caused by geographical and climate differences, also played a major part in the differentiation of the two societies. In New England, colonists quickly learned that the winters are freezing, and that the summers are blazing. The lack of arable land to grow crops on also took away from New England’s ability to have an economy based on agriculture. This led to the colonists cutting trees down for farming, which coincidentally led to wood being a major product for the New English. The colonists of the Chesapeake, however, were on the other side of the spectrum. They found that arable land was plentiful, and grew tobacco which soon became Virginia’s main product. Due to tobacco being so productive and profitable, the tobacco growth in Virginia rose exponentially, creating a need for more workers.

Virginia’s need for more workers caused many more indentured servants and slaves to be brought in, which led to an even more different society than New England, which had a relatively small number of slaves. The need for slaves eventually became so large, that as document G states, “leave at our backs as many servants (besides Negroes), as there are freemen to defend the shores,” it led to there being a 50/50 split of whites, to slaves.

Everyday life in the two colonies also led to the two distinct societies. While the people of New England and families and better living conditions, which led to longer life expectancies, the men of Virginia were in great frustration due to their inability to start a family. This came about because of the lack of women in Virginia, and the fact that women died to fast to start a family.

From the beginning to the end, the two regions were very different. One wanted religious freedom, the other wealth. This branched out into other differences such as economy, the people who lived there, and everyday life. Unchangeable things such as the environment also played a large role in the differentiation, but overall, everything was different. Although the people of New England and the Chesapeake region were all originally from England, they could not have been more different from one another. Two very different groups of people and areas, led to the two distinct societies, but from the beginning, there were no similarities.