Souther vs. New England Colonies

In the early 17th century religion was the main part of culture in New England and the southern colonies. In the southern colonies economy consisted of plantations versus in the north where it was mainly based on some trading goods and farms producing just enough goods to feed their own family.
In New England colonies were founded in order to give people complete religious freedom or to create Christian, Catholic, or Puritan Havens. The religious aspect was the reason these colonies attracted people to cross the Atlantic and start over new, in most of these colonies it was unlikely for people to come for economic reasons, since the climate in the north was not as ideal as the one in the south for planting cash crops. Maryland was an exception. It started out as a plantation colony, but was also a Catholic Haven. The State was founded in 1934, by Lord Baltimore, who “embarked upon the venture partly to reap financial profits and partly to create a refugee for his fellow Catholics. Protestant England was still persecuting Roman Catholics”(pg.32).
The Southern colonies did not attract people to come, because of their cultural diversity, in fact the Anglican Church was the only religion accepted in most of the colonies. They came in order to plant tobacco and export it along with other commercial agricultural products. All of these plantation colonies used slave labor to improve their economy. The farms scattered along the rivers “retarded the growth of cities and made the establishment of churches and schools both difficult and expensive”(pg.40). This shows the contrast in culture between southern and New England colonies, where the religious believes were taught to many children along with reading and writing. In New England colonies it was much easier to support religious believes and teach, because people lived closer together, many in cities.