MIDDLE COLONIES
The middle colonies were made up of:
1. New York
2. Pennsylvania
3. Delaware
4. New Jersey
NEW YORK
• Between the areas controlled by England were lands
owned by the Dutch.
• The main settlement of the Dutch was called New
Amsterdam which was located on Manhattan Island.
• Manhattan Island was bought (from Native Americans)
by the Dutch for beads, cloth and other goods. The
price was about $24.00 in today’s world.
• Because it had a good seaport, New Amsterdam
became a center for shipping to and from the
Americas.
ENGLAND TAKES CONTROL
• England did not like the fact that the Dutch had
settlements between their northern and southern
colonies….They also envied the good harbors that the
Dutch controlled.
• In 1664 the English sent a fleet of ships to attack New
Amsterdam (Manhattan Island). Because New
Amsterdam was unprepared for battle, they quickly
surrendered to the English forces.
ENGLAND TAKES CONTROL
King Charles gave the acquired colony to his brother the
Duke of York (also called the Duke of Yorkshire)…..to
celebrate himself he renamed the colony New York.
PENNSYLVANIA
• In 1680 a wealthy English gentleman by the name of
William Penn set up a new colony called Pennsylvania
(which was appropriately named after himself.)
• Little known fact: Pennsylvania
is almost the size of the
entire country of England!
PENNSYLVANIA
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How was William Penn able to acquire
Pennsylvania?
King Charles II of England had borrowed lots of
$$$$$$ from William Penn’s family. As
repayment he gave William, Pennsylvania.
Penn belonged to a Protestant group known as
the Quakers.
Penn saw Pennsylvania as a “holy experiment”
where Quakers practiced toleration and equality.
PENNSYLVANIA
• In 1682 Penn sailed to America to personally
supervise the building of Philadelphia. Even today
Philadelphia is known as the “city of brotherly love”.
• Many people came from Europe to live in
Pennsylvania. By 1683 people from England, Ireland,
Germany and Sweden all resided in Pennsylvania.
PENNSYLVANIA
• In 1701, Penn created the Charters of Liberties which
granted colonists the right to elect government
representatives.
• In 1704, the southern part of Pennsylvania broke
away, and functioned separately. Delaware.
SOUTHERN COLONIES
1. Maryland
2. Virginia
3. North Carolina
4. South Carolina
5. Georgia
CLIMATE: WARM AND HUMID
SOUTHERN COLONIES:
• In the Southern Colonies large plantations flourished.
Plantations grew tobacco, wheat, fruit, vegetables and
corn.
• As colonies and plantations grew, so did the need so
did the need for capable workers.
• Not all people came to work in the colonies of their
own free will. Many who came to work in the colonies
were English criminals as well as Scottish and Irish
prisoners. Others were African slaves brought to
America by European slave traders.
MARYLAND
• Maryland was founded by a man named Sir George
Calvert also called Lord Baltimore. Calvert
established Maryland as a safe place for Catholics
being persecuted in England.
MARYLAND
• Maryland colonists used tobacco as their main crop.
• Lord Baltimore was a clever fellow. He declared that
all tobacco planters had to grow or raise an additional
crop or farm item. This included various vegetables,
fruit and livestock.
THE MASON-DIXON LINE
• For years there was a land dispute between the
Calvert’s (Maryland) and the Penn’s (Pennsylvania).
• To stop the argument, the two families hired two
surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, to lay
out boundary stones dividing the land…..this was
known as the Mason-Dixon Line.
VIRGINIA EXPANSION
• While other colonies were
just starting out Virginia was
expanding.
• As Virginia began to expand,
many settlements became
established on Native
American land. Many
settlers became angry that
the government (military)
was not protecting them
from Native American raids.
BACON’S REBELLION
• In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led angry settlers in attacks
on Native American villages. Bacon was not finished!
He actually took his raiders all the way to Jamestown.
If not for his sudden death due to illness, he may have
taken charge of Virginia!
THE CAROLINAS
• In 1663 King Charles II of England created a
colony called Carolina which means
“Charles’s Land”.
• By 1680, however, the people of Carolina
would go their separate way creating North
and South Carolina.
NORTH CAROLINA
• The northern part of Carolina was settled
mostly by farmers from Virginia’s
backcountry.
• They grew tobacco and sold forest products
such as timber and tar.
SOUTH CAROLINA
• The southern part of Carolina was more
prosperous than the north due to fertile
farmland and good harbors.
• South Carolinas main crops were tobacco and
rice but also traded in lumber and beef.
CAROLINAS
• Many enslaved Africans who arrived in
the Carolinas worked in the rice fields.
Growing rice and tobacco required a
great deal of labor from African Slaves.
• By 1708 more than half the population
in the Carolinas were enslaved Africans.
GEORGIA
Georgia was the last of the British colonies to be
established. Georgia was founded with two
things in mind.
1. English debtors (people in debt) or English
poor could come to Georgia and get a fresh
start
2. Georgia would be used to protect the
northern colonies (military barrier). Spain
had colonies in Florida at the time.
GEORGIA
• Originally, the farms in Georgia were to
remain small and no slavery was permitted.
• OH NO…..WHAT HAPPENED! It came to be
that Georgia ended up with more non-British
settlers than any other British colony in the
Americas.
• Soon Georgia had to increase land holdings,
allow slavery so the farms could grow.
13 ORIGINAL COLONIES
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
New York
Delaware
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Virginia
Maryland
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
FRANCE AND SPAIN
The British were not the only Europeans who
were colonizing North America.
France: Founded Quebec (in Canada) in 1608.
They were mainly concerned with fishing and
fur trapping. They soon built forts and trading
posts.
In the Southern part of North America France
founded New Orleans.
Important point: As French colonies grew slowly
they did not always push Native Americans off
their land.
FRANCE AND SPAIN
During this time Spain had a foothold in Florida. They
still controlled what is today Mexico, Central and
South America.
Spain began to settle New Mexico, current day Arizona,
Texas and California.