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House Divided A House Divided The seventeenth century proved to be a century of change as men and women crossed the Atlantic for various reasons. Some moved to escape bad marriages, some moved from poverty, and others moved from troubling royal policies. Whatever their reasons were, the colonists had one common goal--- to strive for a better life. Sharing this common bond, Americans banded together and fought for independence during the Revolution. As the Revolution ended, Americans felt overjoyed and united. They managed to overlook some of the differences between them that would eventually lead to an intense conflict in the years to come. Social, economical, and political differences between the two regions would eventually become so intense that they would cause one of the bloodiest battles of all time--- the Civil War. Differences began as early as the years of the colonial period. To begin, the Northern and Southern colonies developed vastly different economies. The Chesapeake colonies’ most important staple crop became tobacco. Tobacco affected nearly every aspect of their lives. The colonies were able to collect many duties on tobacco. Harvesting tobacco called for a great deal of work. However, the colonists were unprepared for this work. They were lazy and greedy. Whenever possible, planters in Virginia and the Southern colonies purchased able-bodied workers who were capable of getting the job done. In all of the Southern colonies, white planters forced African slaves to produce staple crops for the world market. In Virginia and Georgia, colonists were granted land for each additional servant they transported to their colony. Along with tobacco, wood, naval stores, and rice were also strong factors in the economic success of Southern colonies such as Georgia and the Carolinas. In contrast to the Southern colonies, the Northern colonies relied heavily upon different exports. Their major export was grain. They emphasized the growth of wheat and other agricultural products. Trade also became important for them. Fur trading became popular in New York. The forms of agriculture used in the Northern regions, such as cereal and dairy farming, made the employment of a large number of laborers unreasonable. The Southern colonies, however, had to rely on indentured servants to do the job. Also, during the colonial period, strikingly different social structures were developing between the two regions. The men and women who emigrated to Virginia and Maryland did not travel in whole families. Instead, they traveled as young, unmarried servants. The majority of these laborers were males between the ages of 18 and 22. This led to an unevenly balanced sex ratio. The ratio of males to females was 6 to 1 in the Southern colonies during the year of 1640. These travelers were often only interested in themselves. Many of them desired personal, instant wealth and did not look out for the common good. Indentured servants were treated harshly and their masters used them however they pleased. This brought about an elaborate social hierarchy: gentry on top, freemen in the middle, and indentured servants on the bottom. Men and women in the Southern colonies did not work together at all. On the contrary, social life in the Northern colonies proved to be much different. Unlike Virginia and Maryland colonists, New Englanders moved across the Atlantic in whole families. This led to a more evenly balanced sex ratio. Life expectancy was also about 10-20 years greater than men and women born in Chesapeake society. The Northern colonies possessed strength and stability because they were banded together by a common sense of purpose. In most cases, such as in Massachusetts Bay, this common sense of purpose was God. People in the Northern colonies did not look only on their own concerns but also on the concerns of others. John Winthrop believed that the colonists needed to work together as one. Northern colonists believed that everyone should be treated equally and no one should be excluded. Even though there still were indentured servants in the northern colonies, they were less oppressed than those in the southern colonies. In addition, there were also quite a heterogeneous population in the Northern colonies, and contact between blacks and whites occurred more frequently there than in the Southern colonies. These different mixtures of people and their ways of life would lead to hidden controversies in the years to come. As a result of their opposing values, the political structures of the Northern and Southern colonies developed differently. The Southern colonists were very self-seeking. They had no common ideology to keep them together, so their society was often fragmented. The higher on the social scale they were, the more power they had in political affairs. For example, in North Carolina and South Carolina, the very poor were excluded from political life altogether. On the other hand, in the Northern colonies, all men were viewed as equal. For example, William Penn argued that no government could be stable unless it reflects all of society. Both the rich and the poor had to have a voice in political affairs. Neither group of people were able to overrule the interests of the other class. Religious toleration was also granted to some Northern colonies. For example, in New York, the Duke’s Laws guaranteed religious freedom and created local governments.
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