THE MIDDLE COLONIES
DAILY FOCUS: FEB. 18
1. What is the name of the winter storm
we experienced last week?
2. What is an indentured servant?
3. What was Bacon’s Rebellion?
4. Why is America sometimes called a
“Melting Pot”?
TODAY
1. Go over economic, social, and
political aspects of life in the Middle
Colonies.
2. Learn about Triangle Trade.
3. Listen to a first person account and
look at images from the Middle
Passage.
THE MIDDLE COLONIES
• New York
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• Delaware
• Focused on
TRADE.
• DIVERSE.
SOCIAL LIFE: DIVERSITY
• Colonies were settled by
the Dutch, Swedes,
English, and even
Germans and Scots-Irish
settlers.
• Served as the middle
ground between North
and South, especially
because of trade.
• This is where we get our
“Melting Pot” tradition.
SOCIAL ROLES
• There were social roles like the South, though
not as rigid.
• Merchants propelled the economy due to
their role in trade.
• Farmers helped produce a lot of the food
for all colonies (breadbasket).
• Craftsmen, Artisans, and Skilled Laborers did
special jobs like carpentry, blacksmithing,
glass blowing, tailoring, shipbuilding,
lumbering, etc.
SOCIAL LIFE: RELIGION
• Very religiously diverse
area.
• Quakers, Mennonites,
Presbyterians, Calvinists,
etc. made dominance of
1 faith difficult.
• William Penn and the
Quakers in Pennsylvania
were important to spread
of religious freedom.
ECONOMY
• Farmers, fishermen, tailors, glass blowers,
brickmakers, etc.
• Food export was important (WHEAT and livestock).
• Cities began to grow because of trade.
• Middle colonies’ cities served as the main ports and
trade centers for the Triangular Trade Route.
• Triangle Trade was the three-way exchange of
good between Great Britain, Africa, and the
Colonies.
• What does this look like?
YOUR TURN!
• Diagram the Triangular Trade route on your
map and label what goods were exchanged.
• Page 39 in American Vision has a GREAT
diagram.
• Use colored pencils and BE PRECISE. You might see this
map again...
• Answer the following questions on the index card:
1. What commodities were shipped from the
colonies to West Africa?
2. What types of goods did the American colonies
export?
LET’S CHECK.
• Answer the following questions on the
index card:
1. What commodities were shipped from
the colonies to West Africa?
2. What types of goods did the American
colonies export?
THE MIDDLE PASSAGE
• The Middle Passage was
the part of Triangular
Trade which brought
enslaved Africans to the
English colonies.
• Dehumanizing
conditions
• “Brookes Slave Ship”:
depiction of the tight
conditions on board a
slaver (ship that
transported slaves).
FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT
• Accounts like this are
rare, but historians have a
few. This is from a slave
named Equiano.
• Follow along.
• According to Equiano,
what was the Middle
Passage like?
THE HOLD OF “THE BLOOD-STAINED GLORIA”
INSIDE THE SLAVE SHIP: CRAMPED, DIRTY.
SLAVE DECK OF
“WILDFIRE”
No personal
space for
anywhere from 4
weeks to a year.
SICK MEN THROWN OVERBOARD
No chance of survival.
SHACKLES: UNCOMFORTABLY BOUND TO OTHER HUMANS.
FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT
Write your own account of the Middle Passage. Talk
about conditions on the ship, your journey thus far,
and your emotions. Take your time on this.
Your narrative should be at least 130 words. It will be
due on Friday, 2/21.