Colonial Ways of Life
(Southern, NE, and
Middle Colonies)
Ch. 3 sect. 1&2 notes
1) From the earliest days of
settlement, the Southern Colonies
developed an economy based on
agriculture. The first cash crop of
the South was tobacco.
2) The agricultural economy of the
South led to the rise of
plantations, which were large
commercial estates where many
laborers lived on the land and
cultivated the crops for the
landowner.
3) Tobacco was in high demand in
Europe during the early to mid
1600s. This ensured a high price for
all the Southern farmers who raised
tobacco.
4) The geography of the
Chesapeake Bay region was
perfectly suited to tobacco farming.
Numerous inlets and navigable
rivers connected to the bay.
Farmers who located their farms
near the bay had an easy shipping
outlet.
5) Many immigrants to the South
hoped to become wealthy. However,
the nature of the plantation system
created a society with distinct social
classes. Only a few were able to
become wealthy landowners, who
were often called the Southern
gentry.
6) Most landowners in the colonial
South were small backcountry
farmers. They were sometimes
referred to as yeomen to
distinguish them from the gentry.
7) By the latter part of the 1600s
the colonial South was a sharply
divided society, with a small group
of wealthy plantation owners at the
top and many poor backcountry
farmers, tenant farmers, and
enslaved African Americans at the
bottom.
8) The governor of Virginia in 1660
was Sir William Berkeley. He was
a wealthy plantation owner.
Berkeley assembled a majority of
supporters in the House of
Burgesses and then exempted
himself and his councilors from
taxation.
9) Governor Berkeley arranged for
the House of Burgesses to restrict
voting to landowners. These policies
angered backcountry tenant
farmers who lost their right to vote.
10) The backcountry farmers of
Virginia wanted to extend VA’s land
into the Piedmont, the region of
rolling hills b/w the coastal plains
and Appalachian Mtns. These lands
were claimed by Native Americans.
The plantation owners opposed
extending lands into the Piedmont.
11) A plantation owner named
Nathaniel Bacon, who owned a
large tract of land on the frontier
near the Piedmont, took up the
cause of VA’s backcountry farmers.
He organized a militia and attacked
the Native Am’s in order to take
their lands in the Piedmont.
12) Bacon eventually went to
Jamestown with several hundred
armed men and seized power,
charging Governor Berkeley with
corruption. This event became
known as Bacon’s Rebellion, and
convinced VA’s wealthy landowners
to make land available to
backcountry farmers.
13) The Royal African Company
was granted a charter by King
Charles II to engage in the slave
trade. Slaves were obtained from
Africa and brought to America to
work on the South’s large
plantations.
14) The slave code was a set of
laws that regulated slavery and
defined the relationship between
enslaved Africans and free people.
15) The most important issue for
the majority of colonists in the
1600s was their ability to acquire
land. In the southern colonies this
was difficult due to the dominance
of large plantations.
16) Backcountry farmers in the
colonies grew only enough crops to
feed their families, which is called
subsistence farming. Backcountry
farmers made up a very large
percentage of the population.
17) People from England who were
willing to sell their labor for a certain
number of years for a chance to
come to America and acquire land
agreed to become indentured
servants.
18) The Grand Banks are a shallow
region in the Atlantic Ocean with an
environment favorable to plankton.
They are located off the coast of
New England and became the main
source of New England’s fishing
industry.
19) During the colonial era of
American history selectmen were
men selected annually to manage a
town’s affairs.
20) A town meeting was where
residents met to discuss local
problems and issues. They became
an important part of government
during the colonial era. Town
meetings became most prevalent in
the New England colonies.
21) The three way trade New
England merchants established with
the Caribbean in order to acquire
British goods was an example of
triangular trade.
22) Colonists who became wealthy
by risking their money buying land,
equipment, and supplies and then
selling them to new immigrants for
a profit were entrepreneurs.