Life in the Colonies

1. Life in the Colonies New England Colonies Middle Colonies Southern Colonies

2. New England Colonies • Lived in organized towns • Had a meetinghouse – building for both church services and town meetings • Farming – main economic activity but small farms. • Subsistence farming – produced just enough to meet the needs of their families, with little left over to sell or exchange. • Relied on child labor – everyone worked

3. New England Colonies - Economics • Small businesses: mills for grinding grain or sawing lumber; women made cloth, garments, candles, or soap; skilled craftspeople set themselves up as blacksmiths, shoemakers, furniture makers, gunsmiths, and printers. • Shipbuilding – lumber came from forests of New England and was transported down rivers to the shipyards in costal towns. • Fishing – cod, halibut, crabs, oysters, and lobsters. Some went out for whales for oil and whalebone.

4. New England - Trade • Center of shipping trade in America – linked the north to the south and to other parts of the world. • Traded with the islands in the West Indies. • Carried fish, furs, and fruit across the Atlantic to trade for manufactured goods in England and Europe.

5. New England - Trade Triangular Trade (pg. 103): - Ships brought sugar and molasses from the West Indies to the New England colonies. - In New England, the molasses would be made into rum. - Rum and other goods were shipped to West Africa and traded for enslaved Africans. - The enslaved Africans were taken to the West Indies where they were sold to planters. - Profit was used to buy more molasses and the process started over.

6. New England – Middle Passage • Middle Passage – the inhumane part of the triangular trade, shipping enslaved Africans to the West Indies. • With the middle passage, shipbuilding, and fishing, New England’s economy flourished. • Population grew and towns and cities developed.

7. Middle Colonies • Fertile soil and milder climate. • Farmers cultivated larger areas of land. • NY and Pennsylvania, farmers grew large quantities of cash crops – crops that could easily be sold in markets in the colonies and overseas. • By the 1760’s New York, with 18,000 people, and Philadelphia, with 24,000 people, were the largest cities in the American colonies.

8. Middle Colonies - Industries • Home-based crafts such as carpentry and flour making. • Larger businesses included lumbering, mining, and small-scale manufacturing. • Iron mills in northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania. • Wheat was the colonies main cash crop – this earned them the nickname of “Breadbasket Colonies”

9. Middle Colonies - Immigrants • German Immigrants – most of the 100,000 who came settled in Pennsylvania. • Became successful farmers. • With the Dutch, Swedish, and other non-English immigrants, they gave the middle colonies a cultural diversity (variety). This brought tolerance for religious and cultural differences.

10. The Southern Colonies • Rich soil and warm climate. • Produced cash crops. • No commerce or industry due to the large amount of farming.

11. Southern Colonies - Economics • Tobacco was the principal cash crop of Maryland and Virginia. • Most tobacco was sold in Europe. • First planters used indentured servants to work. • Indentured servants became scarce and expensive. • Planters turned to enslaved Africans. • Large property owners became rich. • Some planters grew other cash crops when there was too much tobacco.

12. Southern Colonies - Economics • Main cash crop of South Carolina and Georgia was rice. • Grew in low-lying areas along the coast. • Planters built dams to create rice fields, called paddies. • Fields were flooded when the rice was young and drained when it was ready to harvest. • Relied on slave labor because it required so much strenuous work. • Was even more profitable than tobacco. • By the 1750’s, South Carolina and Georgia had the fastest-growing economies in the colonies.

13. Southern Colonies – Tidewater and Backcountry • Most Southern plantations were located in the Tidewater – a region of flat, low lying plains along the seacoast. • Plantations were located on rivers so crops could be shipped to market by boat. • Each plantation was self-contained with a cluster of buildings (main house, slave cabins, barns, stables, kitchens, and some had chapels and schools).

14. Southern Colonies – Tidewater and Backcountry • West of the Tidewater was a region of hills and forests climbing up the Appalachian Mountains called the backcountry. • Grew corn and tobacco on small farms. • Usually worked alone or with their families. • Few slaves helped. • More small farmers of the backcountry than large plantation owners. • Plantation owners controlled the economic and political life of the region and therefore had greater wealth.

15. Slavery • Most lived on plantations. • Some did housework, but most worked in the fields. • Slave codes – strict rules governing the behavior and punishment of enslaved Africans. Examples: • Could not leave plantation w/out written permission. • Illegal to teach them to read or write. • Whipped for minor offenses and hanged or burned to death for serous crimes. • Those who ran away were often caught and punished severely.

16. Slavery • Families were torn apart • Slaves found strength in their African roots by developing a culture that drew on the languages and customs of their homelands. • Some slaves learned trades such as carpentry, blacksmithing, or weaving and shared their profits with the slaveholders. • Some earned enough money to buy their freedom. • Slavery played a large role in the success of the Southern Colonies. • Many puritans refused to have slaves. • Quakers and Mennonites in Pennsylvania condemned slavery. • Slavery would eventually divide the North and South into a bloody war.