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Similarities And Differences Between The Chesapeake And New England Colonies

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Some of the most populous colonies were the ones situated in the Chesapeake and New England areas. Although these colonies were both settled by the English and had other key similarities, there were also many differences between them. The New England and Chesapeake colonies both had an aristocracy that governed over them, and had frequent issues concerning the Native Americans that previously inhabited the lands. However, their political and economic systems were considerably different. Chesapeake had an oligarchy whose main export was tobacco, while New England had a theocracy whose exports included timber, fur, and fish. Therefore, although the colonies had similarities their differences outweighed the resemblances. The Northern and Southern colonies both had a gentry class that ruled them, this consisted of white Anglo-Saxon men. The colonies also had to deal with the Native Americans that had inhabited the land long before they arrived. In the southern colonies, the upper class citizens that ruled the oligarchy were dubbed the First Families of Virginia. These were descendants of the first settlers that founded Jamestown in 1607. Because of the primogeniture laws that had begun in England, many second and third sons came to the New World to become a predominant part of society there. Many notable people in these times were descendants of these families including many early presidents and governors. There was also an upper class in New England that ruled there, this class

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