Southern and New England Colonies

Southern and New England Colonies

When a comparison is made between the southern and northern colonies there is a lot that can be considered. There are differences and similarities that can be noted. The basis of the similarities and differences are reasons for founding, religion and patterns of settlement. When considering the southern colonies it is an important fact to note that they were founded for economic reasons. In those early days there was the perception that riches would be found in the form of Gold when Jamestown was founded in what was to be known as Virginia. The settlers unfortunately did not find any gold and there was a point in time where they were considering abandoning it but this did not happen since John Smith convinced the settles to build ramparts, grow food and store wood to be used for fire.

John Rolfe also played a part in maintaining the southern colonies as he crossed the West Indies tobacco with the wild growing tobacco that gave rise to a cash crop that was on very high demand in England. Maryland was founded for economic related reasons and at the same time for a refuge for Catholics. The last and south most of all colonies Georgia were founded so that it could act as a buffer between English and Spanish colonies. It was also founded to act as a refuge for English debtors.

New England colonies on the other hand were founded mainly on the basis of serving as refuge for religious prosecutions. Massachusetts was founded by two groups, the puritans at the Massachusetts Bay and pilgrims at Plymouth. These groups were sorting religious freedom from the Church of England. Former Massachusetts inhabitants colonized New Hampshire and Connecticut. The settlers from New Hampshire left because of economic, religious as well as political reasons while those in Connecticut simply left in a bid to find new farming lands. Rhode Island was formed for religions that were not welcome or accepted in Massachusetts (Sayar Udin, 2010).

On religious comparison, the predominant religion of the south colonies was Anglican. Maryland's initial founders were Catholics who were seeking refuge. This colony attracted many Protestants and Catholics that resulted to Maryland granting religious freedom to the Christians that had settled there. On the other hand in New England there were many more religions for instance in Plymouth the pilgrims were Protestants who wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Church of England. In Massachusetts the puritans were in a mission to purify the Church of England and were intolerant when it came to religion. Rhode Island viewed church and state as separate entities. The settlers here posed a challenge on the protestant beliefs and therefore granted religious freedom to everyone (Religion Shaping New England and Chesapeake Bay Colonies, 2011).

When comparing the settlement of these two colonies it is seen that settlement in the southern colonies took a longer as opposed to the settlement in New England. Jamestown, Virginia was the first to be settled in 1607, followed by Maryland in 1634, North and South Carolina in 1663 and the last original colony Georgia was settled in 1732.the settlement in New England took place in merely eighteen years. Plymouth was the first in 1620, Massachusetts followed in 1630, Rhode Island and Connecticut were settled in the same year 1636 and New Hampshire was the last (New England Colonies, 2006).