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New England,
Middle and
Southern
Colonies
New England Colonies
Geography
Economy
• Poor rocky soil, swift
rivers, waterfalls,
forests, natural harbors
• Subsistence farms,
fishing, lumbering,
shipbuilding, trade,
mills, immigrant labor
Government
• New England Town
Meeting- direct
democracy - anyone
could speak; made local
laws
Middle Colonies
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Geography
• Fertile coastal plain,
moderate climate
• 4 seasons
Economy
• Large & small farms,
wheat #1 cash crop,
“Bread colonies”,
factories, cattle and
pigs
Government
• County government made local laws
Geography
• Wide coastal plain,
fertile soil, warm
climate, long growing
season
Southern Colonies
Economy
• Huge farms-plantations
slave labor, #1 cash
crops - tobacco &
cotton
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Government
• County government made local laws; **House of Burgesses 1st colonial legislature
Life in the Colonies
subsistence farming = farming in
which only enough food to feed
one’s family is produced
cash crops = farm crops raised to
be sold for money
triangular trade = trade route that
exchanged goods between the West
Indies, the American colonies and
West Africa
Middle Passage = shipping enslaved
Africans to the West Indies
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