Notes

New England was settled by middle-class family units. Many of the people who settled in the region were skilled tradesmen and self-sufficient farmers. They could not raise major cash crops for sale abroad due to the thinness of the New England soil and the early frosts. However, New England settlers developed a thriving lumber industry, and they were also able to create furniture and ships. Many settlers in this region turned to whaling, as the region is next to rich sources of North Atlantic baitfish. Whales could be used for whale oil and ambergris. Since these people had a lot of children, they had a ready supply of labor until these children grew old enough to want farms of their own.

The Chesapeake, mainly Virginia, was initially settled by adventurers looking to make a fortune in the New World and then go back to the Old World in order to spend it. When it became apparent that there would be no major gold strikes in Virginia, the settlers needed a cash crop. John Rolfe developed a cross between prolific New World tobacco and flavorful Old World tobacco in order to create a high-yielding hybrid that was desired worldwide. These gentleman settlers were not used to physical toil, and they needed large plantations in order to grow a large enough crop for wealth. They initially turned to Native Americans as their source of labor, but Native American laborers died of European diseases or left the plantations. Next they turned to indentured servants, but these English laborers died in the tropical conditions of the Virginia summer, and as conditions grew better in England, many did not want to sign up for this type of work when they could buy their own passage. In 1619, the English in the region turned to African slaves. They soon figured out that the slaves could be trained to grow the tobacco and that they would not die due to mosquito-borne diseases. This led to the proliferation of chattel slavery in the Chesapeake and South and the rise of concentrated wealth on large plantations. This created a small circle of wealthy plantation owners and a large class of slaves and poor whites. In New England, there was more social mobility than in the South.