Conceived in Liberty 5th Grade Social Studies Textbook
Chapter 6 The British Colonies Take Shape
Chapter 6 The British Colonies Take Shape A NEW ENGLAND SHIPBUILDING TOWN New England Life There were considerable differences between the New England, Middle and Southern regions in North America. Colonial life was greatly influenced by the geography and climate in which you lived. While New England was covered with forests and rivers which provided for excellent hunting and fishing, the soil was rocky, and therefore farming was more difficult than in the middle and southern colonies. However, the most successful crops to grow there were corn, pumpkins, rye, squash and beans. In the New England towns along the coast, the colonists made their living fishing, whaling, and shipbuilding. Fishing included cod, mackerel, herring, halibut, and bass. Whale hunting became popular because whale oil was a valuable resource 2
as it could be used to make candles, soap, and in lamps providing light and heat. Shipbuilding, manufacturing, and trade were major industries in New England. Colonists exported such things as fish, whale products, ships, timber products, furs, maple syrup, copper, livestock and rum. What they could not grow or make themselves they imported from England or other colonies. As trade grew the city of Boston became the major port in New England. Most New England towns had a meetinghouse at its center. The meetinghouse was used for worship and for town meetings. At the town meetings male landowners voted on laws and took part in government. Since the climate was coldest in New England the colonists experienced mild and short summers and long, cold winters. The Puritans were the main religious group early on in New England, and while they came to the new world in search of religious freedom, they did not tolerate any other religions. The Puritans were very strict in their New England in the 1700s religion, lifestyle and conduct. They believed the best way to worship God was to fill each day with hard work and hours of prayer and church services, while keeping the pursuit of pleasure to a minimum. Eventually the Puritans began to lose their power as large groups of people with different backgrounds and different religious beliefs began settling in New England and mixing together. 3
Life in t he Middle Colonies The Middle Colonies were part agriculture, part industrial. Since they had fertile soil and land that was suited to farming enormous amounts of wheat and other grains grew on farms in Pennsylvania and New York. The Middle Colonies are often called the breadbasket colonies because they grew so many crops, including livestock such as beef and pork, and helped to feed the other colonies as well as export food to England. A typical farm was 50 to 150 acres consisting of a house, barn, yard and fields. Market towns developed in the Middle Colonies where farmers could travel to in an effort to trade their farm produce. In most market towns there was a general store that sold goods that were brought into the colonies from other countries. Here you would also find a cobbler s shop belonging to the person who made or repaired shoes. There was often a blacksmith s shop, where iron was made into horseshoes, tools, and nails. Many market towns also had a sawmill, where logs were made into lumber. The Middle Colonies had a mild climate with warm summers and mild winters. Factories in Maryland and Pennsylvania produced iron products such as plows, tools, kettles, nails and large blocks of iron which they exported to England. Other products produced included lumber, paper, textiles, and furs. In addition to farmers, the main jobs people did in the Middle Colonies consisted of tailors, glass blowers, silversmiths and brick makers. 4
The Middle Colonies were not dominated by a single religion which gave way to religious freedom for Quakers, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and others, and its early settlement was dominated by non- English Europeans, mostly Dutch and German. Life in the South The geography of the Southern Colonies featured fertile soil, hilly coastal plains, forests, long rivers and swamps. The South produced an abundance of natural resources such as fish, forests and good agricultural land for farming. Since this was the warmest of the three regions, winters were not difficult to survive, but the hot and humid summers gave rise to the spread of disease. The Southern Colonies were almost entirely agricultural and the warm climate made it possible to grow crops throughout the year. This was ideally suited for plantations, which were large plots of land that contained a great many acres of farmland and buildings in which lived the people who owned the land and the people who worked the land. A large part of the workforce was African slaves, who first arrived in 1619. Some of the Southern plantations were massive and consisted of the main house, slave quarters, a dairy, blacksmith's shop, laundry, smokehouse and barns which made the plantations to large degree, self-sufficient. Typical plantations ranged from 500 to 1,000 acres and each acre produced about 5,000 plants. The Southern Colonies concentrated on agriculture and developed the plantations exporting tobacco, cotton, corn, vegetables, rice, indigo, grain, fruit and livestock which they sold to buyers in England and elsewhere in America. Crops were also traded for items that could not be produced on the plantations. Since there were few towns in the southern colonies plantation families would make several trips a year to the county seat. This was the main town for each 5
county, or large part of the colony. It was here that southerners attended church, held social functions, and traded crops. It was here that slaves could be bought and sold. White men who owned land also came to the county seat to make laws and participate in government. Like the middle colonies the southern colonies were not dominated by a single religion. This gave way for religious freedom, mostly for Anglicans and Baptists. The Southern Colonies had the largest slave population who worked on the slave plantations. Cheap labor was necessary for the slave plantations to become profitable. Slaves, both men and women, worked all year round undertaking back breaking work for up to eighteen hours per day. Since slavery was for life it kept the costs down on the plantations. With each new generation of slaves born on the slave plantations their masters gained new employees at no cost. The plantation slaves lived in the slave quarters in basic, crude wooden cabins consisting of one or two rooms, often with a dirt floor. Plantations were run based on a three level system; the plantation owner, the overseer and the slaves. The owners of the plantations were usually rich, refined gentlemen from England. The owners of the plantations relied heavily on overseers to run their plantations. Overseers were men hired by the owners to manage and direct the work of slaves. The owners lived in colonial mansions, the overseers in small 6
houses and the slaves lived in very basic wooden cabins in the slave quarters. Slavery was common throughout the thirteen colonies during the 1700s. Most slaves were people of African descent. After the American Revolution, slavery was abolished in the Northern states, but continued in the Southern states until after the American Civil War. The roots of slavery in America began with indentured servants. These were people brought over from Britain as laborers. Many of these people agreed to work for seven years in return for their passage to the Americas. Others were in debt or were criminals and were forced to work as indentured servants to pay for their debts or crimes. As the need for manual labor grew in the colonies, indentured servants became harder to get and more expensive. The first slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619. By the late 1600s, slavery of Africans became common in the colonies. New laws called "slave codes" were passed in the early 1700s that formalized the legal rights of slave owners and the status of slaves. Slaves worked all sorts of jobs. Many slaves were field hands who worked the tobacco fields in the southern colonies. These slaves worked extremely hard and were often treated poorly. Other slaves were house servants. These slaves did chores around the house or helped out in the master's trade shop. Slaves who worked on farms and plantations lived in small houses near the fields. Although these houses were small and cramped, they had some level of privacy from the master. Small families and communities were able to develop around these quarters. House slaves had less privacy, sometimes living by themselves in a loft above the kitchen or the stables. Field slaves were generally given one set of clothes that had to last them a year. These clothes were similar in style to what any colonial farmer would wear when working. Women slaves wore long dresses and men 7
slaves wore pants and loose shirts. Slaves working in the house usually dressed nicer, often wearing their master's old clothing. Slaves were treated differently depending on their masters. In general, field slaves were treated worse than house slaves. Field slaves were sometimes beaten and whipped. They were forced to work long hours with little rest. Even for slaves who were treated nicely by their master, being a slave was an awful life. Slaves had no rights and were under the orders of their masters 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They could be bought or sold at any time and were seldom able to live together for long as a family. Children were often sold as soon as they could work, never to see their parents again. Triangular Trade Slaves were part of a system known as Triangular Trade. Triangular Trade is a term used to describe the three-sided trade occurring between England, Africa, and the Americas. The trade fell into the following three categories: Manufactured products from England and Europe such as guns, cloth, iron products and rum were shipped to Africa Slaves from West Africa were shipped to the Americas Raw materials and natural resources such as sugar, tobacco, rice and cotton were shipped from the Americas back to England Slaves working on a farm 8
Triangular Trade Route Map 9
T he Slave Trade starting in Africa Triangular Trade was made possible by the establishment of the 13 Colonies in Colonial America and their surplus of raw materials. Eventually several towns along the Atlantic coast grew into cities. Among these were New York City, Philadelphia, and Charleston. They all had good harbors and they grew because of trade. Ships constantly arrived carrying new settlers and imported goods. Later they would sail away loaded with goods to be sold in other countries. The British government wanted her colonies to send their exports only to England. They also expected the colonies to import manufactured goods only from them as well. The following chart indicates the natural resources and raw materials, together with goods that were manufactured in the colonies that were used for trading purposes with England. These goods included timber, sugar fur, cotton, flour, iron ore products, tobacco, rice, indigo dye, fish, guns, ammunition, wool and rum. 10
For more information on daily life in colonial America visit the following links: Clothing - Men's Clothing - Women's Daily Life in the City Daily Life on the Farm Food and Cooking Homes and Dwellings Jobs and Occupations Places in a Colonial Town Women's Roles 11
T he T hir teen Colonies The thirteen colonies with the year they were founded in and a note on how they were founded. Virginia (1607) - John Smith and the London Company. New York (1626) - Originally founded by the Dutch. Became a British colony in 1664. New Hampshire (1623) - John Mason was the first land holder. Later John Wheelwright. Massachusetts Bay (1630) - Puritans looking for religious freedom. Maryland (1633) - George and Cecil Calvert as a safe haven for Catholics. Connecticut (1636) - Thomas Hooker after he was told to leave Massachusetts. Rhode Island (1636) - Roger Williams to have a place of religious freedom for all. Delaware (1638) - Peter Minuit and the New Sweden Company. British took over in 1664. North Carolina (1663) - Originally part of the Province of Carolina. Split off from South Carolina in 1712. South Carolina (1663) - Originally part of the Province of Carolina. Split off from North Carolina in 1712. New Jersey (1664) - First settled by the Dutch, the English took over in 1664. Pennsylvania (1681) - William Penn and the Quakers. Georgia (1732) - James Oglethorpe as a settlement for debtors. 12