Development Of The Northern And Middle Colonies example essay topic
Greed was the motivation of the Middle Colonists when only the Primogeniture got land. In the Northern Colonies the Separatists, which were just extreme Puritans, left England to break away from the Church of England because they believed that only "visible saints" should be allowed, but the Church of England was open to all comers. Puritans believed in predestination in which during the conversion the elect would find out their status and expected to live a good exemplarily life and from that day forth called the "visible saints". In the Middle Colonies, primogeniture was taking place, which meant the eldest sons got the land of their wealthy parents and the Noblemen came to America to find individualism and land.
When John Rolfe discovered tobacco in Virginia, the colonists used it as their substitute for gold which they called Black Gold. The Corn Laws, where colonists were forced to grow corn or they would be put in jail, had to be enforced because the colonists would only grow tobacco plants instead of food crops needed for survival. Religion played a major role in the foundation of the Northern Colonies and led to human rights, religious tolerance, and rebellion against government. William Penn, the founder of Quakerism, believed human nature was good and everyone possessed a divine spark and in pacifism. Roger Williams believed in Religious Tolerance, which people had a right to choose whatever religion they want. He accepted the abused Quakers in the First Baptist Church he built.
Rhode Island later became known as "the traditional home of the otherwise minded" because the exiles went there where there were no laws. In the Halfway Covenant, it was believed that everyone was partially saved and the church would help them get fully saved. The Peter Zenger Trial was a trial in which was the first step towards freedom of speech. Peter was being tried for heresy, but was proven not guilty by John Adams because it was just freedom of speech. In the Great Awakening, there were the Old Lights and the New Lights. Old Lights believed salvation came from good works and were deist.
New Lights believed humans are evil, God saves us, and emotions help people get closer to him. All these many beliefs in religion led to the different developments between the Northern and Middle Colonies because of all the choices the colonists had to make. The Middle Colonies' Noblemen, while trying to gain wealth, developed a basis of labor of slavery and indentured servitude. The Noblemen that came to America were wealthy and were willing to pay for servants, which were mostly poor people and prisoners. Indentured servants had to work for seven years to be sent to America and have an opportunity to gain land. Therefore, the many Noblemen and Indentured servants were taking up the land left which left a scarcity of land left.
Bacon's Rebellion was led by Bacon and indentured servants rebelling for the fact that they had hope of gaining land when in reality they couldn't for the lack of land. Later, Europeans sailed in the triangular trade to Africa and took Africans to America and replaced the indentured servants. Slaves were cheaper for labor and harder working therefore they made more profit. Most of the slaves went to the West Indies and Brazil, were the most work was needed and the slaves in Americas grew through reproduction. Then the profit would go back to the Europeans. The Development of the Northern and Middle Colonies was different during the 1700's.
Religious beliefs played one of the roles in the development of the colonies. The horrific jobs of slaves and indentured servants resulted in rebellion of beliefs and religious tolerances. These differences helped the Colonies develop differently with different purposes. But the main reason was the colonies' motivation to do their different things which led to different things.