Chapter 2 Teacher Notes
Chapter 2
“The Colonies Grow”
1607-1770
Section 1-“Life in the Colonies”
Objectives1) SWBAT define the triangular trade and how it affected American society.
2) SWBAT understand how the regions in the colonies differed from one another.
3) SWBAT understand why the use of slaves increased in the colonies
Use this chart to assist you in taking notes as you proceed through the section. Think about how the region influenced
what people did for a living.
Characteristics of the Colonies
New England Colonies
Middle Colonies
Southern Colonies
1. Subsistence farming
1. Cultural diversity
1. plantations
2. Small businesses
2. Cash crop farming
2. cash crops
3. Shipbuilding
3. Large seaports
3. indentured servants
4. trade
4. small businesses
4. enslaved Africans
5. cities and towns
5.
5. little commerce or industry
larger businesses
(lumbering, mining,
Manufacturing)
1. New England Colonies
Most New Englanders lived in towns. Each town had a meetinghouse that was used for
town meetings and church services.
A. Commerce in New England
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B. Colonial Trade
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Shipbuilding and fishing were the important industries. Trade with the Middle Colonies,
the Southern Colonies and the West Indies centered in New England.
Chapter 2 Teacher Notes
The Triangular Trade Route developed. Ships brought sugar and molasses from the West
Indies to New England where the molasses was made into rum. From New England, rum
and other finished goods were shipped to Africa in exchange for slaves. The Africans
were then taken to the West Indies where they were sold to planters.
C. The Middle Passage
One of the worst parts of the triangular trade route was called the Middle Passage.
Enslaved Africans endured inhumane treatment and conditions during the voyage across
the Atlantic.
2. The Middle Colonies
Farms in these colonies were generally larger than in New England. As a result, they
produced greater quantities of cash crops.
A. Industries in the Middle Colonies
The port cities of New York and Philadelphia became busy with wheat and livestock that
was shipped from them. Lumbering, mining, small-scale manufacturing, and home-based
crafts were major industries in the region.
B. German Immigrants
Immigrants from Germany (nearly 100,000 settlers arrived from Germany and settled in
Pennsylvania), Holland, Sweden, and other countries provided a cultural diversity not
found in New England.
3. The Southern Colonies
There was very little commerce or industry in the South because most settlers made their
living from farming.
A. Tobacco and Rice
The economy of the Southern Colonies was dependent on tobacco in Maryland, North
Carolina, and Virginia and rice in South Carolina and Georgia. Rice proved to be even
more profitable than tobacco, by the 1750s the economies of South Carolina and Georgia
were the fastest growing in the colonies.
B. Tidewater and Backcountry
Most of the large plantations were located in the Tidewater region, they were located on
rivers so that their crops could easily be shipped to market. The backcountry settlers
grew corn and tobacco on small farms, the small backcountry farmers greatly
outnumbered the large plantation owners.
A. African Traditions
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4. Slavery
Chapter 2 Teacher Notes
B. Criticism of Slavery
In 1705 Virginia consolidated its various laws into one “slave code.” The slave codes
were meant to prevent escape and to discourage revolt.
Section 2-“Government, Religion, and Culture”
Objectives1) Understand why the Navigation Acts angered the colonies.
2) Identify the people who had the right to vote in colonial
legislatures.
1. English Colonial Rule
The colonies were vital to England as a source of raw materials and as a ready market for
goods produced in the homeland.
B. Navigation Acts
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The acts required European goods destined for the colonies to be routed through England.
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Chapter 2 Teacher Notes
Chapter 4, Section 2
The Navigation Acts- A series of laws passed by the British Parliament
between 1653 and 1673 that directed the flow of goods between England
and the colonies.
The Navigation Acts
Benefited
Hurt
New England
shipbuilders and
merchants
southern colonists
Reason
Reason
American shipbuilders could
build ships cheaper than
English shipbuilders, so they
won additional business.
Southerners produced the
goods covered under the act.
In 1650 Parliament began passing a series of mercantilist laws called the Navigation Acts.
These acts were meant to promote the “wealth, safety, and the strength of this
kingdom.”
1. The acts required European goods destined for the colonies to be routed through
England.
a. All colonial products had to be carried on ships built and owned by British subjects in
England, Ireland, and the colonies.
b. The acts also established a list of colonial products that could only be exported to
England or other destinations within the empire.
c. The list was expanded over the years and included cotton, naval stores, sugar, and
tobacco.
2. The New England colonists did not always obey these acts.
2. Colonial Government
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C. James II and the Glorious Revolution
In 1688 the Protestant opposition staged a bloodless revolution by asking the king’s
daughter, a Protestant married to the Dutch Prince William of Orange, to take the throne.
When William and Mary’s forces landed in England, James fled to France.
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3. The southern colonists produced most of the goods covered by the Navigation Acts.
a. Although these acts cut into profits, they also protected the colonies’ monopoly on
tobacco by prohibiting its cultivation in England.
b. The acts also did not hurt the northern shipbuilders and merchants. As English
subjects they could build and sail their own ships.
c. Colonial shipbuilders thrived because timber and naval stores were much cheaper in
America than in Europe. By 1760 the colonies had built about one third of all merchant
ships flying the British flag.
Chapter 2 Teacher Notes
The Magna Carta, signed in 1215 by King John established the principle of limited
government, in which the power of the king or government was limited.
A. Charter Colonies
Charter Colonies were established by settlers who had been given a charter, or a grant of
rights and privileges.
B. Proprietary Colonies
These were individuals or groups to who England granted the land. Proprietors were
generally free to rule as they wished and appointed the governor and the members of the
upper house of the legislature.
C. Royal Colonies
England directly ruled all royal colonies. In each, the king appointed a governor and
council, known as the upper house. The colonists elected an assembly called the lower
house.
D. Voting Rights
Generally, white men who owned property had the right to vote. Women, indentured
servants, landless poor, and African Americans could not vote.
Types of Colonies
Connecticut and Rhode Island
These colonies were established by
settlers who had been given a charter,
or a grant of rights and privileges.
1. These colonists elected their own
governors and members of the
legislature.
2. England had the right to
approve the governor, but the
governor could not veto the
acts of the legislature.
Proprietary Colonies
Delaware, Maryland,
and Pennsylvania
Proprietors were generally free to rule
as they wished and appointed the
governor and the members of the
upper house of the legislature. The
colonists elected the members of the
lower house.
Georgia, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia,
New York, North Carolina, and
South Carolina
England directly ruled all royal
colonies. In each, the king appointed
a governor and council, known as
the upper house. The colonists
elected an assembly called the lower
house.
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Royal Colonies
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Charter Colonies
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Chapter 2 Teacher Notes
3. Emerging Culture
From the 1720s through the 1740s, a religious revival called the Great Awakening swept
through the colonies. The English preacher George Whitefield, helped spread the
religious revival.
A. Family Roles
The vast majority of colonists in the Southern colonies lived on widely scattered farms
and plantations.
B. Education
The slow growth of towns in the South also hindered the development of schools. Many
areas did not have enough children to make up a school. Education was left to individual
families.
Section 3 France and Britain Clash
Objectives1) Explain how wars in Europe spread to the colonies.
2) Understand the purpose of the Albany Plan of Union
1. British and French Rivalries
France had claimed a huge portion of what is now the US and Canada (the land west of
the Appalachian Mountains out to New Mexico.)
A. The Fur Trade
Tribes that were far apart started coming into contact with one another because of
depopulation of fur bearing animals in one area caused the tribes to move around more.
B. Conflicts Over Land
The Europeans believed that any land that was not registered by deed, title, or built upon
was unowned.
Between 1689 and 1748 the English colonists were dragged into three wars.
1. King William’s War (1689-1697)
2. Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713)
3. King George’s War (1744-1748)
C. Albany Plan of Union
2. American Colonists Take Action
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In 1754 representatives from New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland met
in Albany, New York. To plan for defense and to recruit the Iroquois as allies.
Chapter 2 Teacher Notes
The French and Indian War (1754-1763) started in the colonies and spilled over into
Europe in 1756 where it was known as the Seven Years War.
Section 4 The French and Indian War
Objectives1) Explain how British fortunes improved after William Pitt took over
the direction of the war.
2) Describe how Chief Pontiac united his people.
1. The British Take Action
During the French and Indian War, some Native Americans fought on the side of the
British. Many more Native Americans joined the French in their fight against the British.
A. Braddock Marches to Duquesne
In 1755, the British sent General Edward Braddock, Washington, and a force of 1,800
British and colonial soldiers to take the Fort Duquesne. On July 9, 1755 a combined
force of Native American warriors and French regulars ambushed and defeated the
British . Braddock's defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela was a major setback for
the British
B. Britain Declares War on France
After arranging an alliance with Prussia, Britain declared war on France in 1756.
C. Pitt Takes Charge
Britain’s fortunes improved when cabinet minister William Pitt assumed full control of
the war effort first as Secretary of State and then as Prime Minister. Pitt poured money
and troops into the North American conflict.
2. The Fall of New France
The British defeated the French in India, captured several of their Caribbean islands, they
also captured Havana, Cuba, and defeated a French fleet that had been sent to reinforce
Canada.
A. The Battle of Quebec
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B. The Treaty of Paris
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After these British victories, the Iroquois League joined the British and the French lost
their Native American allies and had to return to Canada.
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Chapter 2 Teacher Notes
The War essentially ended in 1761 and the official treaty was signed in 1763 (The Treaty
of Paris.) The victors got all of Canada, and all French holdings east of the Mississippi
(except for New Orleans), and Spanish Florida.
3. Trouble on The Frontier
The Treaty of Paris of 1763 forced France to give up its North American Empire. Spain
also lost some of its territory.
A. Pontiac’s War
In 1762 Chief Pontiac, an Ottawa, called on the Delaware, Ojibwa, Seneca, Shawnee,
Wyandot, and other Native American tribes together to “exterminate the British from our
lands this nation which seeks to destroy us.”
B. Proclamation of 1763
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The British issued the Proclamation Act of 1763, barring settlement west of the
Appalachian Mountains.
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