of these wealthy men’s plantations, which created tremendous amounts of money to add to their fortunes. Of course almost every plantation had African slaves working on the land. These colossal estates came to depend on their slaves to run their farms and slavery became a common, yet feared, way of life for many Africans. Unfortunately for these Chesapeake colonies, due to swampy land in much of the area, towns were not part of the landscape or lifestyle as they were in the north. This area was a place of fierce competition with a very minute sense of community, as opposed to the thriving northern colonies surrounded with warm and inviting community towns. The strong focus on family, education or religion was not a main highlight in the lives of Chesapeake colonists, except in Maryland, where the Calvert family did indeed form a haven for Catholics.These two regions of the New England colonies and the Chesapeake colonies did in truth share the common fact that their settlers were all of English origin. Of course when they first set sail, even before they reached the New World, they began to separate into two distinctly different societies already. The clearly evident reason is because these “pilgrims” came to the New World each pursuing something different. The New England settlers were longing to find a more suitable land of opportunity where they could better their lives and gain religious freedom. They wanted very much to create a society where they could focus on their family, religion and education. Where as the Chesapeake settlers, they were clearly hoping to “strike gold” in the New World. Many hoped they could improve their social status even more by gaining large profits from growing and selling such items as tobacco. The New England colonists came and made a quite simple society and the Chesapeake colonists created a more aristocratic society. Their society seemed to care more about their wealth ...
