Apush Unit 1 Essay

Unit 1 Essay

By the 1700s, the New England and Chesapeake regions evolved into two distinct societies. When discussing the causes for the differences among these regions, the role of political and geographic factors is influential. Although geography was the primary cause, politics played a more significant role in deciphering both regions by the 1700s.

Political factors were the primary cause in the distinction of the New England and Chesapeake region. New England colonies were founded on the basis of religion, where the development of a theocracy took place as the church and the state were joined and were given the most political power. This led to a stable and non-violent type of society. Furthermore, the New England region created compact towns in order to hold town meetings so as to encourage self-government or in other words a direct democracy. The idea of direct democracy was evoked by the Mayflower Compact that created the foundation for the New England colonies. Moreover, another key document during this colonial era was the Articles of Agreement which revealed how the spread of the political power within the community was based primarily on equality, as it states how all settlers should be given an equal amount of property. Furthermore, the existence of small farms did not initiate the use of slave labor. Therefore, there was a less defined hierarchy, since no aristocracy dominated the assembly. On the other hand, the Chesapeake colonies had an aim for an aristocratic type of government owned by the legislative branch as well as the back country farmers. In addition, the creation of the House of Burgesses also initiated the idea of a representative democracy. This led to the plantation owners having too much political power, which created a gap between the settlers and the indentured servants. This sudden gap, led to the revolt known as Bacon’s Rebellion, where indentured servants complained about the lack of rights they had compared to the land-owning...