New England attracted primarily middle-class settlers who could pay their own way and preserve their freedom. They practiced a stricter form of Protestantism than in the Chesapeake and emphasized family farms over plantations. Puritan communities were highly autonomous and diverse in their beliefs. Local majorities influenced minority factions to relocate. New England developed a healthy, populous, and egalitarian society based on small family farms and fishing. It was the most successful English colony in North America. Carolina attracted both former indentured servants and modest farmers and artisans. It pursued a policy of using Native Americans and Africans to check each other's populations. The introduction of guns, rum, and slave raiding had catastrophic effects on