Lesa Alofipo
American Civilizations (3B)
September 28, 2014
Essay Exam #1: New England & Southern Colonies Economy
“Unity is not just being together, its being together for the same purposes.” Within both
the New England and the middle and Southern colonies, there existed their own kind of unity.
However, unity and common ground of similar lifestyles among the two colonies between New
England and the colonial South as the two being of one nation, unity was a characteristic and
quality they lacked. Even though they both were similar in trying to create and develop a
system to better their lifestyles, it was the way they each had gone about doing so that made
them and their lifestyles different from each other. Between the two colonies there were many
differences, but one major difference- which happened to play a huge part in the beginning of
the civil war- was that New England didn’t develop a slave-based plantation economy similar to
those in the colonial South. Differences between the New England and the middle and
Southern colonies were what mainly separated them, their lifestyles, and the way in which they
ran their economy. Reasons why New England didn’t develop a slave-based plantation economy
similar to those in the colonial South was because of their reasons for settlement, the climate
and topography, and their sources of economic gain or how they made their living compared to
how those from the Southern colonies made their own living.
The four original New England colonies were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, and Connecticut. One of the main reasons for settling in the North was that New
England settlers often came seeking religious asylum. Whereas compared to the Southern
settlers they were often financed by merchant compromises to help further the profits of
mercantilism by producing what we call “cash crops”. However, it wasn’t that the South wasn’t
religious or that the North didn’t make money, or even owned their individual slaves. It was
that the North was the only puritan place where they were able to seek their own religious
freedom. It was also because the North was mainly based on puritanism that helped make their
way of living and their lifestyles different. The main function of New England towns was to
support the religion of the Puritans. Religious freedom in Puritan colonies did not exist. The
Puritan’s world view did not tolerate other religions. Correspondingly, while those who settled
Lesa Alofipo
American Civilizations (3B)
September 28, 2014
colonies in New England created economically self-sufficient communities politically guided by
their religious ideology, the Middle-Atlantic, Chesapeake and Southern colonial regions were
shaped mainly by economic factors. While of course there are outliers in any generalization,
this argument holds true for the vast majority of the British colonists.
Another reason why the Southern colonies developed a slave-based plantation and New
England did not was based on the difference in climate and topography. The climate of the New
England Colonies was much colder than the other two colonial regions because they were the
farthest north. It was also a positive factor for the colonists in the New England Colonies
because it prevented the spread of life-threatening diseases. However, the climate was a
negative factor for the colonist in the New England Colonies due to when the severe winters
killed many people. The geography of New England was mostly hills with rocky soil. Now
compared to the South, the climate of the Southern Colonies was the warmest climate of the
three colonial regions. The warmer climate was a positive factor for the colonists in the
Southern Colonies because they didn’t worry as much about surviving cold winters. Yet, the
warmer climate was a negative factor for the colonists because the warm, moist climate carried
diseases that killed the colonists. Back then, the geography of the Southern Colonies which had
a broad, coastal plain that was hilly and covered with forests. Another main reason for
differences of developing slave-based plantations is the contrasts between the Northern and
the Southern agricultural differences. The environment impacted the economy and agriculture
in the New England Colonies. The difference between the Northern and the Southern colonies
in agriculture was that Southern colonists exported agricultural products whereas the New
England colonists imported agricultural products. Also the soil in New England tended to be
rockier and less suitable for plantations whereas, in the South they had better soils which lead
them to be more agricultural and plantation-based so there were more of demands for slaves,
which also called for a major growth of African-American slave populations.
Lesa Alofipo
American Civilizations (3B)
September 28, 2014
One more main key point of why New England did not develop a slave-based plantation
similar to those in the Southern colonies, was the difference in their sources of economic gain
and their way of living. Natural resources of the New England Colonies included fish, whales,
trees and furs. Other natural resources were more important than agricultural crops to
colonists in New England because of poor, rocky soil and the short growing seasons. The natural
resources of the Southern Colonies included rich farm land, forests and fish. An additional
reason is because of agriculture influences of trade and manufacturing differences. The New
England Colonies looked to their natural resources as a way to make a living. The environment
forced them to look for other ways to make a living other than farming. The Southern Colonies
didn’t develop all their natural resources as a way to make a living, but there was excellent soil
for farming income, so there was no need to develop natural resources for manufacturing.
However, the differences in manufacturing occurred between the Southern Colonies and the
New England Colonies were that the Southern Colonies developed their main natural resource,
their farmland, and not much manufacturing; the opposite occurred in New England. Also,
given the economic and social divisions, different classes of people tended to settle in – giving
way to actual sociopolitical differences. Northern colonists tended to settle more densely as
family units and urbanized more quickly. Southerners that came over were often simply men
seeking their fortunes (often times second sons who would inherit little) and tended to be
scattered and isolated. New England quickly developed democratic roots, whereas the south
slightly became aristocratic. It wasn’t really until Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and made
cotton vastly more profitable and more efficient to be made that slavery became hugely
invested into the South. When developing their colonies the Southern colonies were more
agricultural and plantation-based which caused the need and expansion for slaves. However, in
the New England colonies they were more trade-based and had developed factories where they
would often at times work alongside with African-Americans rather than having them as slaves.
Now, although there were some who still owned slaves in the North, it was because they
worked with some of the immigrants that they began to develop different perspectives of
slaves. They began to see colored people less like animals and more like people, where they
Lesa Alofipo
American Civilizations (3B)
September 28, 2014
start to realize their attitudes towards colored people and slaves were wrong, which then
caused a separation of opinions.
To summarize why New England did not develop as slave-based plantation economy
similar to those in the colonial South is for three main reasons: their differences of reasons for
settling, the differences in their climate and topography, and their differences of resources for
economic gain and their developments of their lifestyles. A main reason for settling in New
England was for a religious asylum, and in the South was for individual and economic profit and
growth. The New England climate was a more difficult one that forced Northern colonists to
develop into a manufacturing culture with trade and factories, whereas, in the Southern
colonies they were more agricultural-base with natural resources of farming and plantations
causing a high-demand and need for slaves. From this point in history, we start to recognize the
segregation between “whites” and “colored” people and the defiant differences between the
two. However, some start to acknowledge, while most others ignored, the lack of reasoning
behind slavery and saw it as a wrong-doing. With different perspectives of slavery and the
beginning of separation in opinions among the non-colored people, we start to get to the point
where some begin to fight for equal rights between the “colored” and “whites”; the ‘elites’ and
‘help’. Due to this, we then later come to the beginning of the civil war in America between the
Northern and Southern Colonies.