Economies In the Colonies
• Southern Colonies
– Based on commercial agriculture (Tobacco – 1st cash crop)
• Rice, Indigo
– Plantations
– Tobacco
• High demand in Europe (1620-60)
• Intensive labor effort
• Virginia had perfect geography for growing tobacco
– Few roads, everything moved by water
– Indentured servants
– Rice and Indigo
• South Carolina
• Used slaves
• Rice and indigo could be grown in different seasons in different types of ground
• New England
– Diverse economy (Farming, Fishing, Shipbuilding, Sawmills, Etc.)
– Farming
• No large demand for their crops, No large plantations (Subsistence Farming)
• Main crop was corn
– Also barley, oats, rye, beans, peas, pumpkins, squash, apples, berries
– Raised livestock
• Fishing
– Grand Banks (Great spot for fishing)
– Brought most prosperity to New England
– Whaling (Cape Cod, Nantucket)
• Shipbuilding / Mills
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Lots of forests providing lumber
Fall Line (Waterfalls created powered mills)
Wood was important to every town
Ships easily built because forests and mills were close to the coast
• Middle Colonies
– Agricultural Base (Most fertile land on the
continent, “Bread Basket “ colonies)
• Farmers produced a surplus
• Used rivers that ran deeper into the country to farm
further inland
• Wheat Boom (Population explosion in Europe in early
1700’s)
– New wave of immigrants, high demand for food
– Made some farmers in the middle colonies rich
» Entrepreneurs
» Capitalists
– Limits in technology kept many from becoming rich
» Only those that could hire extra workers or could rent out
land got rich
Colonial Society
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Southern Colonies
– Plantation system created a distinct class system
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Wealthy elite controlled the area (politics, economics)
– Planter Elite (Enormous economic and political influence)
– Plantations were their own communities (Schools, chapels, blacksmiths, etc.)
– Size of plantations grew with the change from indentured servants to slave labor in the early
1700’s
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Building of mansions
Copying English upper class
Hired oversees to work the fields
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More leisure
– Backcountry Farmers (Yeomen)
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Owned most of the land in the South
Former indentured servants
Mostly subsistence farming
Bacon’s Rebellion
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Sir William Berkeley
Dispute over Native controlled land in the back country
Nataniel Bacon
Accelerated the use of slavery in Virginia
» Never would be free, so they couldn’t own land
» Fewer white settlers were willing to become indentured servants
• Slavery
– 10-12 million transported from Africa between 1450 and 1870,
2 million of which died at sea
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3.5 million – Brazil
1.5 million – Spanish colonies
4 million – Carribean
500, 000 – North America
Horrific conditions on the voyage over
Developed slowly in Middle Colonies
Some could gain freedom by converting to Christianity
As numbers increased status changed, soon all Africans were
considered of a lower status. Hereditary system based on race
– Slave Code (Virginia 1705)
– Becomes a vital part of the plantation economy
• New England
– Social life centered on the towns
– Desire to worship together encouraged the growth of
communities
– Town Meetings
• Anyone could attend, only men could vote
• Selectmen – Handled the towns affairs
• Could directly participate in government, unlike in England
– Puritan Society
• Lived near Church (Meetinghouse)
• Very strict
– Did, however, drink rum, wear bright colors, listen to music
– God made the world and the things in it are to be enjoyed
• Salem Witch Trials
• Middle Colonies
– Distinct class system
• Wealthy entrepreneurs at the top
• Next those that owned a few acres, and generated a
small surplus
• Landless workers (Rented land or worked for wages)
Trade and the Rise of Cities
• Triangular Trade
– To get English goods, New England’s merchants
had to trade their goods somewhere else, then
trade with England
• Bills of Exchange
• Triangular Trade with Caribbean and England; England
and West Africa
Growth of Urban Areas
• Growth of trade causes some ports to grow rapidly
– Philadelphia, Charles Town
• Distinct Class System
– Wealthy Merchants (Similar to Plantar Elite) at top
• Were in the minority
– Artisans and their families (Half the Population)
• Carpenters, masons, coopers, irons, silversmiths
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Innkeepers and Retailers (Equal to Artisans)
Unskilled laborers (30% of society)
Indentured servants and Slaves (10-20% of population)
Problems
• Overcrowding, crime, pollution, epidemics