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Compare And Contrast The Chesapeake And New England Colonies Dbq

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Through the 16th and 17th centuries European Nations colonized their way across the New World. through ruthless murders of Native Americans and endless colonization, they gained access to the valuable resources the New World had to offer. Consequently, colonies settled by different nations, in the early 18th century had created their own individual societies that operated a lot different from each other. These colonies were founded on different terms, and their labor systems, and the needs for labor, were completely different. Although they had their differences, their attitudes toward the Native Americans remained constant throughout the different colonies. The New England colonies were founded on a religious basis, while the Chesapeake colonies …show more content…

The laborers in the Chesapeake were mainly unfree African American slaves, who were allowed very little rights, as stated by the Statutes of Virginia, written by money hungry Virginian men who felt that slaves were inferior to them (Doc 5). Due to this the population of African Americans in the Chesapeake colonies was much higher than the New England colonies (Doc 7). While the majority of the labor were African Americans, indentured servants were also used as a form of labor, and were treated no worse. As it was described by one particular indentured servant, who states that conditions are much worse than they are said to be, and that he was happier in England than he was being an indentured servant (Doc 1). Now, this isn’t to say that there weren’t slaves present in the New England colonies but compared to the population of slaves in the Chesapeake, there weren’t nearly as many, and it simply wasn’t that important for their economy. While the main source of labor was now African Americans and Indentured servants, they had earlier tried to force Native Americans to work for …show more content…

They welcomed the natives, and willingly started trading with them. They wanted to turn these uncivilized people into civilized Christians. While some Native tribes embraced the English culture, some resisted the colonists’ attempts to change them. Their refusal to conform to European culture, made Europeans angry. Consequently, hostilities soon broke out between the two groups such as the Massacre at Pequot village (Doc 3). This violence of these confrontations with the Native Americans caused a shift in English attitudes towards different races. While, their failure to make the Native Americans part of their culture, caused them to associate all people of color with negative characteristics, some, such as Nathaniel Bacon, who led a rebellion against the Native Americans as he felt that they had to suppressed, felt a sense of .guilt, as they realized that many times they had held innocent Native Americans accountable for the deeds of another (Doc

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