Class Notes #5: The Thirteen Colonies, c. 1600-1750
REGION/
CATEGORY
Colonies
NEW ENGLAND
MIDDLE COLONIES
SOUTHERN COLONIES
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
New York
New Jersey
Delaware
Virginia
Maryland
South Carolina
North Carolina
Georgia
Type &
Founding
Primarily charter
and royal (founded 1620-1691)
Primarily proprietary
and royal (founded 1664-1702)
Primarily royal
and proprietary (founded 1607-1732)
Dominion of New England (168691) temporarily united all New
England colonies with New York
and New Jersey
Political Traits
Class Notes #5: The Thirteen Colonies, c. 1600-1750
REGION/
CATEGORY
Economic
Traits
Social Traits
Cultural Traits
NEW ENGLAND
MIDDLE COLONIES
SOUTHERN COLONIES
Class Notes #5: The Thirteen Colonies, c. 1600-1750
REGION/
CATEGORY
Colonies
NEW ENGLAND
MIDDLE COLONIES
SOUTHERN COLONIES
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
New York
New Jersey
Delaware
Virginia
Maryland
South Carolina
North Carolina
Georgia
Type &
Founding
Primarily charter
and royal (1620-1691)
Primarily proprietary
and royal (1664-1702)
Primarily royal
and proprietary (1607-1732)
*Pennsylvania’s “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 wealthy
planters)
*Maryland’s Act for Religious
Toleration passed in 1649 – paves the
way for religious freedom
Dominion of New England (168691) temporarily united all NE
colonies with New York and New
Jersey
Political Traits
*heavily influenced by direct
democracy – Boston known as the
“Athens” of America
*Mayflower Compact (1620) – first
declaration of self-government in
American history
*Fundamental Orders of
Connecticut (1639) – first
constitution in America
*Massachusetts Bay exiles Roger
Williams and Anne Hutchinson
found Rhode Island as a safe haven
for dissent
Class Notes #5: The Thirteen Colonies, c. 1600-1750
REGION/
CATEGORY
Economic
Traits
NEW ENGLAND
MIDDLE COLONIES
SOUTHERN COLONIES
*small farms; rocky soil
* increasingly commercial by the
early 1700s
*major activities: trade,
shipbuilding, fishing, light
manufacturing (limited by
mercantilist policies)
*breadbasket of the colonies –
large-medium farms produced
corn, rye, and wheat for internal
consumption and export
*two major trading ports – New
York and Philadelphia
*dominated by plantation cash crop
agriculture – tobacco, rice, and indigo
Social Traits
*Puritan emphasis on equality for all
(egalitarianism)
*Community tended to dominate
over individualism (communalism)
*women had more of a say than in
some other regions but could not
vote and limited property ownership
*merchant interests dominated more
by the 1700s as Puritanism declined
*diverse populations, including the
Dutch of New York (patroons) and
the Germans (deutsche) of
Pennsylvania
*emphasis on tolerance and
diversity gives rise to American
pluralism
*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)
Cultural Traits
*Puritan religious beliefs dominated
(the “New England Way”)
*emphasis on the value of education
– Harvard College founded in 1636
*Athens of America – emphasis on
education and democracy
*much more cosmopolitan
(worldly) than other colonial
regions due to trade and a diverse
population
*transplant of the English countryside
to America
*dominated by the Episcopalian
Church (Church of England)
*Rome of America – wealthy
patricians dominate