When settlers of English origin began arriving in America in the 17th century, they mostly settled in two regions, in New England and in the Chesapeake. Even though both groups of people were English by birth, they had become two very different societies. Each group had it's own beliefs and sets of rules. They also came with ideas of what they will find in this new world, and the results of their arrivals were very different also. .
When the ship headed for Virginia left England in 1635, it was filled mostly with men in the twenties and thirties. The name of this ship was "Merchant's Hope", which does explain the whole reason for these people coming to the New World. They came here in order to find gold, silver and other riches there. Almost all of them had left their families in England to go to the New World in search of immense wealth and prosperity. These people did not think about staying in the New World permanently, and very few of them had prepared for this trip as a long-lasting one. Over half of the people had died during the trip. Captain John Smith had exemplified what had been going on in Virginia at the time the settlers came. He said "There was no talk but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold for the year following." (Document F). His comments basically tell us what was happening in Virginia after the ship had arrived. Even though there was no gold found, many people had started many industries. These industries included tobacco and indigo growing. People who had kept up searching for gold, ended up with no money property and most were not able to survive, and many of them died during the harsh winters. Very quickly after the settlement of Virginia, there emerged social classes. Some plantation owners became very rich. They produced huge amounts of tobacco, and had a lot of indentured servants and soon they acquired slaves. The reason they needed so many slaves was because they had to grow as many cash crops as possible.