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Differences between Virginia and Massachusetts

 

            There were many differences between Virginia and Massachusetts but the main ones lay between their economy and their society. Each of these colonies was founded upon different ways of living. People from different areas with different customs and religious beliefs both settled them each. They both were dependant upon their different ways of trade, agriculture, labor, religion and settlement. .
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             The Virginian colony was dependant upon plantations and mass crop growing. In Virginia they grew things such as tobacco, indigo and rice. From the forests they conceived tar, pitch and turpentine. The settlers who planted tobacco and beans among other things, quickly learned that tobacco needed to be rotated, so they would change fields every growing season or two. With the large amount of crops that the Virginians would grow they constantly needed to expand their portions of land. So, they would constantly move westward into new, unsettled land where they could produce more crops. With the constant movement they would rarely mess with the deeds to the land. They also still followed the Head right system after becoming a royal colony. Because Virginia had a better climate than Massachusetts they could grow more exotic crops. Massachusetts grew few crops but most of which were not staple crops in which they could trade with other areas. They grew crops like wheat, barley and oats. They also had farming they would have cattle, swine and sheep farms. They mostly used the crops produced from personal use and did not sell most of them. With growing few crops and mostly investing in trade, Massachusetts did not have to invest in much expansion. Massachusetts mostly consisted of families with small farms used for personal use, and that was passed down through generations. .
             Virginia would use the crops that they had grown by selling them to other colonies and for personal use. Massachusetts was mostly a trade colony that would legally trade with British Isles and British West Indies, but they illegally sold to Spain, France, Portugal, Holland, other American colonies, and Africa.


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