New England versus Southern Colonies

In the South, colonies were dominated by a tobacco driven economy, whereas in the North, society was most often defined by its religious views. All of the southern colonies were either buffer colonies (South Carolina, Georgia) or moneymaking colonies whose main asset was tobacco. This is completely different from the New England colonies where every facet of life, including economy centralized around religion. In most colonies, like Connecticut and Massachusetts, it was one religion that was the base of society. However, in Roger Williams' Rhode Island, religious freedom was the most important concept in the colony. These differences in economic basis were important factors in the resulting cultural differences. In the south, the desire for tobacco led to a need for a workforce. This led to importation of slaves at a very high rate in comparison to the rest of the colonies. In New England; with the exception of Rhode Island; governments led to everyone being of the same religion. As a result, people often held similar views to one another.