The American
Colonies
•Title a piece of paper: The American
Colonies Notes.
•You will copy the big ideas and take
notes on the rest.
•Make sure you have your name, date,
and period in the upper right hand
corner of the paper.
Big Idea #1
• There were
three very
different areas
of colonies.
• New England,
Middle, and
Southern
Big Idea #2
• New England
colonies got
their money
from the sea.
New England Colonies
•
New England had long winters and rocky soil.
• English settlers made up the largest group in the
region’s population.
•
New England’s soil made farming difficult. In
contrast, the Atlantic Ocean offered many
economic opportunities.
• New England settlers engaged in three types of
trade. First was the trade with other colonies.
Second was the direct exchange of goods with
Europe. The third type was the triangular trade.
Big Idea #3
• The Middle
colonies
had cash
crops and
cities.
Middle Colonies
• The Middle Colonies had shorter winters and
fertile soil made farming good. The region
attracted immigrants from all over Europe.
•
The Middle Colonies boasted a longer growing
season than New England and a soil rich
enough to grow cash crops. These were
surplus crops raised to be sold for money.
•
Surplus - having more than you need
•
The excellent harbors along the coasts of the
Middle Colonies were ideal sites for cities.
Big Idea #4
• The South
relied on slave
labor to work
their
plantations
(large farms)
Southern Colonies
•
The Southern Colonies had a warm climate and good
soil, which was ideal for growing crops. There, some
settlers used enslaved Africans to work their
plantations.
•
By 1750, there were over 235,000 enslaved Africans in
America. About 85 percent of slaves live in the
Southern Colonies. Enslaved Africans made up about
40 percent of the South’s population.
•
A very wealthy class of Southerners existed that own
the large plantations and most of the slaves.
•
Not all white people in the South owned slaves. Those
that did owned a few. Only the rich plantation owners
owned a lot of slaves.
Big Idea #5
• The more things
change, the more they
stay the same.
Map in 1861
Election map in 2000
Page 102
•
Make your map look like the map on page 102. The
more detail you provide, the higher your grade. The
map will be due on Friday.
•
The map should be colored or shaded to show the
three different areas of the colonies; New England,
Middle, and Southern.
•
Don’t forget to include a key of what the colors or
shading mean.