University of Algiers 2
Department of English
Teacher: Dr. N. Djouimai
COLONIAL LIFE IN AMERICA
By the year 1733, the English owned thirteen (13) separate colonies along the Atlantic
Coast of North America that stretched from New Hampshire in the North to Georgia in
the South. They were divided in three main groups and each group had its own way of
life and character.
In the far North was the New England group, centered on Massachusetts. In fact, since
the time of the Pilgrims, the people of New England had spread inland and along the
coast. They ware small farmers or craftsmen as most Americans; but other New
Englanders depended on the sea for a living, and traded with England and the West
Indies.
The second group of colonies was known as the t Middles Colonies of which New York
and Pennsylvania were the most important cities owing to trade and manufacturing.
Philadelphia, the capital of Pennsylvania, was the largest city with 28,000 inhabitants in
1760. The next biggest cities were New York and Boston with about 25,000 people each.
All three cities owed much of their prosperity to the profits of the transatlantic trade
they carried on with Britain. Their ships exported furs, timber, tobacco and cotton; and
brought back fashionable clothes, fine furniture, and other manufactured goods.
There was also an inter-American trade which helped in the formation of a strong feeling
between the cities that they all belonged to the same American nation. This fact played a
decisive role in the shaping of the American Identity later on, and was an incentive for
them to fight for their independence. What is worth noting is that the people of the
Middle Colonies were usually more tolerant of religious and other differences than the
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New Englanders. In fact, many of them had German, Dutch or Swedish ancestors rather
than English ones.
The Southern colonies of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia formed the third group. In
their hot and fertile river valleys, wealthy landowners farmed large plantations and owed
their prosperity to the slaves imported from Africa. Slavery was rare in other colonies,
but in the South it became a real social, political and economic issue. This peculiar
American institution brought misery to millions of Africans who were considered as a
mere commodity.
In the late 1700s, fresh waves of settlers pushed the frontier steadily westward in their
search for fertile soil. Life was difficult and people of frontier communities had to rely
upon themselves for almost everything they needed. A special spirit or attitude grew out
of this frontier way of life. People were though, independent and self-reliant; the y
needed to work together and help each other in clearing lands and building houses.
The combination of these two concepts- a strong belief that individuals had to help
themselves and a need for them to cooperate with one another- strengthened the
feeling that people were equal and that nobody should enjoy special rights or privileges.
The frontier way of life helped democratic ideas to flourish in America. Today, American
like to think that many of these values and attitudes of the modern USA can be traced
back to the frontier experiences of their pioneer ancestors.
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