The Thirteen Colonies, c. 1600-1750
REGION/
CATEGORY
Colonies
Type &
Founding
Political Traits
NEW ENGLAND
MIDDLE COLONIES
SOUTHERN COLONIES
The Thirteen Colonies, c. 1600-1750
REGION/
CATEGORY
Economic
Traits
Social Traits
Cultural Traits
NEW ENGLAND
MIDDLE COLONIES
SOUTHERN COLONIES
The Thirteen Colonies, c. 1600-1750
REGION/
CATEGORY
Colonies
NEW ENGLAND
MIDDLE COLONIES
SOUTHERN COLONIES
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
Type &
Founding
Primarily charter
and royal (1620-1691)
Pennsylvania
New York
New Jersey
Delaware
Maryland
Primarily proprietary
and royal (1664-1702)
Virginia
Maryland
South Carolina
North Carolina
Georgia
Primarily royal
and proprietary (1607-1732)
Massachusetts – Charter/Royal
Connecticut - Charter
Rhode Island - Charter
New Hampshire - Royal
Pennsylvania - Proprietary
New York – Proprietary/Royal
New Jersey – Proprietary/Royal
Delaware - Royal
Virginia - Royal
Maryland - Proprietary
South Carolina - Proprietary
North Carolina - Proprietary
Georgia - Royal
*Pennsylvania “Quaker
experiment” based on values of
equality, pacifism, and tolerance of
other peoples/faiths
(not very successful in the long
run)
*government by elected assembly
– pragmatists like Ben Franklin
dominate by the mid-1700s
*Virginia House of Burgesses (est.
1619) – oldest elected assembly in
the U.S. (dominated by patrician
planters)
*Maryland’s Act for Religious
Toleration passed in 1649 – paves
the way for religious freedom
Political
Traits
Dominion of New England (168691) temporarily united all NE
colonies with New York and New
Jersey
*heavily influenced by direct
democracy – Boston known as the
“Athens” of America
*Mayflower Compact (1620) –
first instrument of self-government
*Fundamental Orders of
Connecticut (1639) – first
constitution in America
*Rhode Island created through
dissenters (Roger Williams and
Anne Hutchinson)
The Thirteen Colonies, c. 1600-1750
REGION/
CATEGORY
Economic
Traits
NEW ENGLAND
MIDDLE COLONIES
SOUTHERN COLONIES
*small-plot agriculture
*by the 1700s – increasingly
commercial
*major activities: trade,
shipbuilding, fishing, light
manufacturing (limited by
mercantilist policies)
*major port city - Boston
*breadbasket of the colonies –
large-medium farms produced
corn, rye, and wheat for internal
consumption and export
*major trade centers – New York
and Philadelphia
*dominated by plantation
agriculture – tobacco, rice, and
indigo
Social Traits
*Puritan emphasis on equality
(egalitarianism)
*Community tended to dominate
over individualism (communalism)
*women had more of a say than in
some other regions but could not
vote
*merchant interest dominated by
the 1700s as Puritanism declined
*Puritan mindset dominated (the
“New England Way”)
*emphasis on the value of
education
*Athens of America
*Idea of hard work and thrift
important
*diverse populations, including the
Dutch of New York (patrons) and
the Germans (deutsche) of
Pennsylvania
*cosmopolitan cities emerged –
New York and Philadelphia
*emphasis on tolerance and
diversity gives rise to American
pluralism
*much more “worldly” than most
other colonial regions
*Gentry (landowning) class
dominated, much as in England’s
rural areas at the time
*widespread use of indentured
servants and (increasingly by
1700) slaves
*hierarchy promotes friction and
open rebellion (ex: Bacon’s
Rebellion of 1676)
*transplant of the English
countryside to America
*dominated by Episcopalian
Church (Church of England)
*Rome of America – patricians
dominate
*Maryland founded for Catholics
Cultural
Traits