produce determined position in the Chesapeake area. A settler was much more likely to spend any extra money he had on a new slave rather than a more comfortable living environment. Families were a pieced together collage of widows, orphans, and stepchildren. This region was plagued with death and lack of permanence. Some historians argue that the south was also “lazy” and had not desire to build more permanent housing. It is also true that tobacco only thrived on fresh land so relocating was probably common among the tobacco growers of the Chesapeake area. New England’s puritan population was thriving. The accumulation of wealth and the stability of the family determined social status. The Puritans were after a Utopia in which the intact family played a large role. The goal of the Puritan settlements was a long and carefully thought out plan of purity and permanence. The puritans came with and intent of staying and thriving by any means possible. The Chesapeake Bay people came seeking immediate wealth and riches. The Puritans had many skilled artisans and a very productive work ethic. They believed that by working on their homes, families, town, etc., they were doing God’s work and they were closer to reaching their pure Utopia. The people of the Chesapeake had to economize any wealth toward the purchase of fieldhands. The Puritans were a self-sufficient society, which did not have slaves. The economy was not based on how many people were working the fields. As we analyze the housing in both these regions we see how large an effect the social values and principles of a people can affect the quality of life of those people. Both these groups of people were seeking entirely different things from the America’s. Success came later for the people in the Chesapeake region because they had to emerge from a long period in which men outnumbered women and disease was rampant. Once these factors we...
