Life in early America
England’s Thirteen Colonies
were located on the
Atlantic Coast in-between
French Canada and Spanish
Florida.
All three colonial regions developed with unique
characteristics. These characteristics included: people,
climate, and resources, and they led to each region’s
diverse economic development.
New England Colonies
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Middle Colonies
Delaware
Pennsylvania
New York
New Jersey
Southern Colonies
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
- Colonial officials sold large plots of land to
groups of people like Puritan church
congregations who settled a town and
divided the land among church members
- English settlers made up the largest group
in this region’s population
- People in New England towns lived,
worked, and worshiped closely together.
- The meetinghouse was the most important
building in the town.
Climate and Resources
- Long, cold winters and short growing seasons
-Farming was difficult on small farms with rocky soil
- Subsistence farming: producing just enough food for the
family with only a little left for trade.
- Atlantic Ocean provided many types of fish and whale oil.
- New England forests provided wood for ship building.
-Farming and fishing communities
-Fish, timber, whale oil were valuable trade
goods
-Boston was the major New England port.
-New England colonists traded with other
colonies and Europe
-Also part of Triangular trade routes: New
England’s cargo traded in Africa for slaves
which were traded in West Indies Islands
for sugar and molasses which was then
brought back to New England
New England Colonies made huge profits from trade. England
wanted its share - Navigation Acts (1651) :
1. All shipping had to be done in English ships or ships built in
English colonies
2. Tobacco, wood, sugar only sold to England and its colonies
3. European goods coming to colonies had to first go through English
ports
4. England taxed colonial goods being shipped to other locations
Delaware
Pennsylvania
New York
New Jersey
-Immigrants from all over Europe
Different places and backgrounds –
Cultural Diversity
-Dutch, Swedish, French, German,
English, and more! English and German
–largest groups to immigrate
Many Germans were indentured servants
also skilled farmers and craftsmen Germans built the Conestoga wagon,
long rifles, iron works, glass, furniture,
-Greater number of different groups - difficult for
one group to dominate so developed a climate of
tolerance
Different religious groups- Dutch in New York
and Quakers in Pennsylvania practiced religious
tolerance : acceptance of all religions
Quakers also believed:
Equality of men and women
Opposed slavery
Refused to swear loyalty to the king or queen
Refused to participate in war
Came to the Americas for refuge and worship
Climate and Resources
- Shorter winter with longer growing season
- Large farms with fertile soil grew cash crops : fruits,
vegetables, and grains grown to be sold for money.
- So much surplus of grains Middle Colonies called “The
Bread Basket” colonies
- Grains and corn were taken to a gristmill : location where
grains were crushed to produce flour or meal
- Other resources included cattle, fish, furs, iron, pigs,
sheep, and timber (wood)
- These Colonies were part agriculture, part
industrial Excellent harbors along the coast
Cities developed:
- New York City – Hudson River Huge port
for trade of flour, bread, furs, and whale oil
- Philadelphia – Delaware River
- Fastest growing city in the colonies with a
dozen large ship yards
- Merchants in cities exported cash crops and
imported manufactured goods
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
- Wealthy English land owners formed
an elite planter class
- Forced small landowners to give up
their land and move westward
- Produced all they needed on their
own plantations
- Depended upon the labor of enslaved
Africans to run their plantations
- Some followed traditions of nobility
- Year round growing seasons with
fertile soil
- Plantation crops included: rice,
tobacco, cotton, corn, and indigo
plant grown for its deep blue dye
- Rice and tobacco required much
labor to produce
- Planters transported their crops
along the many available waterways
in Southern Colonies
-As the plantation economy grew, more
laborers were needed
-Planters turned to enslaved Africans
-Africans made up 40% of the South’s
population
-Enslaved workers allowed plantation farming
to expand
-Slaves worked in groups of 20-25 under
supervision of an overseer : a man hired to
watch over and direct slaves
- Enslaved people were often abused or
beaten
-Some slaves rebelled – Stono Rebellion
see pg. 123 in the textbook
-Plantations were self sufficient, so large
cities were rare in Southern Colonies
- Port city Charles Town later called
Charleston in South Carolina was an
exception
The diversity of the 13 colonies’
people, climate, and resources
offered many economic
possibilities to the British Empire.
It also gave the 13 colonies the
wealth they needed to eventually
become a country.