Life in the Thirteen Colonies – Organizer (Handout)
There were significant differences between the Thirteen American Colonies which, conveniently, may be divided
into three major regions: New England/Northern, Middle and Southern. Complete the following organizer in
preparation for the group presentations using your handouts and the textbook on the following assigned pages:
Page 51 (New Amsterdam), Pages 56-61 (Southern Colonies), Pages 62-68 (New England Colonies),
Pages 69-72 (Middle Colonies) and Pages 73-79 (People of the Colonies)
Criteria
Names of
Colonies
Geographic
Details
(climate,
landforms,
natural
resources)
New England/Northern
Colonies
Middle Colonies
Southern Colonies
Economic
Details (type
of economy,
agriculture,
crops, scale of
farms, labour
force)
Social
Details
(ethnic & racial
heritage, class
structure)
Political
Details (type
of colony, local
government)
Religious
Details
(denominations,
influence in
colony)
Life in the 13 Colonies – Organizer Supplement
Motivations
By and large, the people who settled in the New England Colonies wanted to keep their family unit together and practice their own religion. They were used to doing many
things themselves and not depending on other people for much. Some of these people came to New England to make money, but they were not the majority.
The people who founded the Middle Colonies were looking to practice their own religion (Pennsylvania mainly) or to make money. Many of these people didn't bring their
families with them from England and were the perfect workers for the hard work required in ironworks and shipyards.
The founders of the Southern Colonies were, for the most part, out to make money. They brought their families, as did the New England colonists, and they kept their
families together on the plantations. But their main motivation was to make the good money that was available in the new American market.
Economy
The New England Colonies were largely farming and fishing communities. The people made their own clothes and shoes. They grew much of their own food. Crops like corn
and wheat grew in large numbers, and much was shipped to England. Foods that didn't grow in America were shipped from England. Boston was the major New England
port.
The Middle Colonies were part agriculture, part industrial. Wheat and other grains grew on farms in Pennsylvania and New York. Factories in Maryland produced iron, and
factories in Pennsylvania produced paper and textiles. Trade with England was plentiful in these colonies as well.
The Southern Colonies were almost entirely agricultural. The main feature was the plantation, a large plot of land that contained a great many acres of farmland and
buildings in which lived the people who owned the land and the people who worked the land. (A large part of the workforce was African slaves, who first arrived in 1619.)
Farming
Farming in colonial differed in many ways from farming today. The most significant difference was in what crops were grown where.
Southern plantations grew tobacco, rice, and indigo, which they sold to buyers in England and elsewhere in America.
Farmers in the New England Colonies had a rough time of it. Much of the soil wasn't good for growing crops, especially near the ocean. Also, the early and long-lasting
winters killed many crops quickly. Still, New England farmers often grew enough food to feed their families and maybe even help feed other families. The main kind of food
New Englanders contributed to the economy was fish.
Farmers in the Middle Colonies were the most prosperous of all. They grew wheat, barley, oats, rye, and corn. The Middle Colonies were often called the "breadbasket"
because they grew so much food. Wheat could be ground to make flour, and both wheat and flour could be sold in other colonies or in Europe.
Farmers in the Southern Colonies grew several things. The most popular crop was tobacco. The Jamestown colonists had grown tobacco originally, and tobacco farms sprung
up all over Virginia and North Carolina. The two southernmost states (South Carolina and Georgia) also grew indigo and rice.
Farm equipment was also different. Colonial farmers didn't have the large machines that today's farmers have and so had to rely on manpower and animal power.
Religion and the Church
The American colonies had houses of worship, but what the people learned in those church services depended on where they lived.
Most New Englanders went for church services to the meetinghouse, where they often for other things as well. The meetinghouse was a large building in the center of a
town area and was used for town meetings as well as religious services.
Inside the meetinghouse were hard wooden benches. People sat on these benches for most of the day because that's how long the church services usually lasted.
People who lived in the Middle and Southern colonies went to more familiar-looking churches. They, too, would sit in church for most of the day. Back then, going to church
was a very important affair, and people believed that it should be an all-day event.
What people believed depended on where they lived:
•
•
•
The New England colonists were largely Puritans, who led very strict lives.
The Middle colonists were a mixture of religions, including Quakers (led by William Penn), Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, and others.
The Southern colonists had a mixture of religions as well, including Baptists and Anglicans.
In the 18th Century, the Great Awakening swept the colonies. This was a movement to refocus people's thoughts and minds on the church and religion. Famous preachers
like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards brought many people into church.
Food
The American colonists got their food from several places. The modern supermarket that we know today, where you can get all kinds of food, was not an option back then.
People who lived on the Atlantic coast often caught fish and whales. They sold fish and whale blubber at fish markets, which were usually down by the docks.
Farmers who grew wheat, barley, corn, tobacco, or rice hauled their crops to a town market, where the crops were sold to people in that town or to traders who would ship
the goods to other colonies. (These traders would send the goods by boat, on rivers or along the ocean coast, or on wagons.)
A great many American colonists also took care of their own food needs. It was not uncommon for a farm family to have crops growing near the ocean while chickens, pigs,
and cows were grazing nearby and for that same family to fish for clams and other fish down at the oceanside. This way, the family wouldn't have to buy food from anyone
else. They might have apple trees and rows of corn and wheat. They might turn that corn into cornbread or cornmeal mush. They might turn that wheat into flour
themselves and use it to bake bread. They might also hunt wild animals, like deer, rabbits, and turkeys. The farms of the 13 Colonies took up a much larger amount of the
total land available than do farms today. Still, farming is very much a way of life for many people today, just as it was for the American colonists.
Life in the 13 Colonies - Key Terms/Personalities/Events/Places to know:
Criteria
Key Terms,
Personalities,
Events, Places
New England/Northern
Colonies
Middle Colonies
Southern Colonies
The Pilgrims, Protestants, The
Mayflower, Plymouth Rock,
Thanksgiving, The Puritans, Anne
Hutchinson, Massachusetts Bay
Colony, Boston, “the Elect”, Roger
Williams, Harvard University, “Work
Ethic”, Materialism, “Puritanism”,
Blue Laws, John Winthrop, Town
Meetings, Triangle Trade, King
Phillip’s War, Salem Witch Trials,
Samuel Sewall
New York, Philadelphia “City of
Brotherly Love”, Quakers, William
Penn, Pennsylvania Dutch, Duke of
York, New Amsterdam, Manhattan,
Peter Stuyvesant, Patroons, “Penn’s
Woods”, Mason-Dixon Line, The
Zenger Case, John Peter Zenger
Piedmont Region, Tidewater
Region, The Regulators, Planters,
Cash Crops, Plantation, Eliza Lucas
Pinckney, Indigo, Indentured
Servants, “Freedom Dues”,
Nathaniel Bacon, Bacon’s Rebellion,
Slavery, Royal African Company,
The “Middle Passage”, Slave Code