Settlers from England

Settlers from England came to the new world for a variety of reasons. Some wanted religious freedom, which was the case for New England. Others came to obtain wealth on things such as land and non-existent gold like those of the Chesapeake. Although these settlers were mostly English the regions had developed into two distinct societies because of why and how they came to America!

Driven out of their own country for not conforming to the Church of English/ Anglican, many puritans moved to the New World for freedom of worship. Upon arrival and with making a successful settlement, finding a preacher and organizing a church was the highest priority (Doc D). Rather than focusing on wealth, they saw their family, and a way to serve God and their neighbors. God was more than just a religion to the people of New England God was a way of life. It was their belief that the sole purpose of a government was to enforce the laws of the church. They were very blessed for their good fortune in finding favor in God's eyes. They strived to be a "city upon a hill" (Doc A) a ray of hope and a witness to others in a world they saw to be evil.

To those New Englanders family was important and most families in New England were large. Healthy living conditions meant a higher survival rate, and an increased lifespan, both of which lead to larger families. Families farming for their own family, rather than make profit. were sub or subsistence farmers. These families were focused on strengthening the families of the community. Englanders bound for New England generally came as a whole family (Doc B). Every family also was allowed a house lot, and a piece of planting ground (Doc D).

Due to the fact that New England's society was centered on the bible. Education became increasingly important to New England settlers. This is because they could get to the children's faith through schools. Towns that had thirty or more families were required to have schools. Democracy can also be somewhat tracked back to Puritanism. New England's local government consisted of town meetings where everyone gave their own input. In addition to this, general courts set wages for laborers (Doc E) and rich and poor families lived together (Doc D). Both of which were a step away from aristocracy.

In contrast to new Englanders holy reasons for traveling to the new world, Chesapeake settlers came in the search for wealth in gold and land. The vast majority of these Englanders that came to the new world were men (Doc C) searching for gold (Doc F). The male to female ratio at one point was 6 to 1. This was important because it created less reproduction making a slow populating process in the Chesapeake region. The effect from looking for gold instead of food and also living in unhealthy environments led to a high mortality rate. This led to the problem of not having enough men to defend the region from Natives and other threats (Doc g), and