Standard 4-2 Notes
The colonies of New Spain, New France and the English colonies in New
England, the Middle colonies and the Southern colonies developed their
economics, religious emphasis, government and life styles as a result of the
people who migrated to these lands and the geographic region that they settled.
Colonists from England, France and Spain all had very different cultures that
they brought to America from their motherland.
English Colonies
The English colonists settled along the Atlantic coast of North America for both
Religious freedom and Economic Opportunity.
Trade in the English
Colonies
Southern colonies
exported cash crops.
Religion in the English
Colonies
Mostly Protestant
Government in the
English Colonies
Established colonial
assemblies and
governed themselves.
Middle colonies exported
food to the Caribbean.
New England exported
lumber and built ships.
The English colonies were divided into three regions: New England, Middle
Colonies and Southern Colonies. Label them with the names of each colony
and with region they belong to.
French Colonies
French colonists settled Quebec on the Saint Lawrence River and along the
Mississippi River to set up a fur trade with the Native Americans so they could
sell to Europe for profit. The French government didn't allow religious dissenters
to settle in their colonies.
Trade in New France
Developed fur trade with
the local Native
American Tribes
Religion in New France
Converted Native
Americans to
Catholicism
Government in New
France
Absolute Monarch, little
self-government
Many wars were fought between colonists and Native Americans who were
resistant to losing their land. When the French took over the Ohio River Valley,
the colonists and British went to war to protect their claims. Many Native
Americans fought on the side of the French. Native Americans were not as
threatened with the French because they didn't require as much land for crops
as the English had. Native Americans hoped helping the French would protect
more of their land. Later when the French lost control of their colony to the
British, the Native Americans lost the land they had found to protect.
Spanish Colonies
Spanish Colonists explored the Southern and South Western parts of North
America in their search for gold. Saint Augustine (in today's Florida) and Santa
Fe (in today's New Mexico) were established as indentured servants where
Native Americans worked to a profit for the Spanish.
Trade in New Spain
Religion in New Spain
Government in New
Spain
Large Plantations that
Missionaries converted
Absolute Monarch, little
produced cash crops
the Native People and
self-government
established Roman
Catholic missions
In the colonies, plantation owners needed more help to work the fields to
produce enough from their crops to have enough to provide for their family and
have extra to sell, so at first they used Native Americans. They turned later to
indentured servants because the Native Americans were able to escape since
they knew the land and often died from the diseases Europeans had brought
from England.
Indentured servants were English immigrants that signed contracts in which
they agreed to work for the land owners for a set number of years in exchange
for food, clothing and passage to the New World. They hoped someday to own
land someday.
Because of less indentured servants were available to plantation owners and
cash crops required a large number of workers, colonists turned to slavery.
When the slaves were brought from Africa to the colonies they brought several
things with them including knowledge about raising livestock, farming technique
needed to plant cash crops, and culture, food animals and vegetables. They
came from all over Africa, so they spoke different languages which required
them to develop a new one.