The English Colonies 1600-1753
Dec 28, 2015
The English Colonies 1600-1753
The New England Colonies
• Founders were English religious groups who disagreed with many of the practices of the Church of England
The Pilgrims Establish Plymouth
• Pilgrims- Group called Separatists
• Separate from Church of England
• Sailed on Mayflower• Landed in Plymouth,
Massachusetts • Squanto showed how to
hunt, fish and plant crops
The Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Puritan- Purify the Church, start a commonwealth
• Commonwealth- A community in which people worked together for the good of the whole
Puritan Town Organization
• Puritan law required everyone to attend church
• “New England Way”- Duty, godliness, hard work and honesty
• The puritan work ethic and abundant natural resources of the region led to rapid growth
Northern Agriculture and Resources
• New England soil was very rocky and winters long and cold
• Subsistence farming• Fishing, lumber for
ship building, fur hunting and iron deposits
New England Grows
• Other colonies founded by religious leaders who oppose Puritan beliefs
• In early 1700’s Puritanism declined because of drive to make a profit.
Triangular Trade
• Triangular Trade- Exchange of goods between America’s, Europe, and Africa
• New England send rum and iron to Africa• Trade cargo for slaves• Send slaves to West Indies for sugar &
Molasses• Take sugar & molasses to New England to make
rum
Triangular Trade
Africans in New England
• Few enslaved people • No need for slaves on
small farms• Slaves work as house
servants, cooks, gardeners, stable- hands, in shops, warehouse and docks
• Sometimes kept a portion of wage
The Middle Colonies
• New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware
• Protestants, Catholics, Quakers, and Jews settled
Agriculture & Resources
• The Hudson and Delaware Rivers supported shipping and commerce
• Broad valleys, rich soil and mild winters allowed farmers to grow crops & raise livestock
• Cash Crops- Raised and sold for money
Cities Built on Trade
• New York City on mouth of Hudson River
• Philadelphia founded on Delaware River
• Thriving wheat trade• Shipyards and
shipbuilding important business
Diversity and Tolerance
• William Penn founded Pennsylvania for Quakers
• Treated people equally
• One of the Wealthiest because people could pursue business freely
William Penn
Africans in the Middle Colonies
• 7% of Middle Colonies enslaved
• Most lived in New York
• Manual laborers, servants, drivers and assistants
• Free Africans worked as laborers, servants or sailors
The Southern Colonies
• Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia
Maryland and the Carolina’s
• Maryland founded by Lord Baltimore
• Place for Catholics• Carolina’s established
in 1663• Built Charles Town
became refuge for French Protestants
• Split in to North and South Carolina 1712
Southern Agriculture
• Coastal Plain, streams, & long growing season made Southern Colonies ideal for cash crops
• Grew tobacco, rice, and indigo
• South Carolina rice planters some of wealthiest in world
A Plantation Economy
• Plantation Economy- Way of life based on large, self sufficient farms
• Indentured servants bought their freedom, Native Americans died from disease & ran away
• Landowners bought African slaves
Africans in the Southern Colonies
• By 1750 more than 250,000 enslaved people lived in American colonies
• 85% lived in Southern colonies
• Made up 40% of South’s population
A Planter Class Emerges
• Upper class took control of the political and economic power of the South
• Landowners with one or more slaves could not compete with wealthy upper class
• Many moved to Backcountry
The Importance of Land Ownership
• In England fewer than 5% of the people owned land
• Colonist believed land meant land to be cultivated/owned
• Landownership granted political rights
• Large landowners highest social rank
Colonial Women
• Played an important role in Colonial America
• Common way to achieve status
• Cooked, churned butter, traded goods, tended animals, help raise crops, seamstress
Other roles of Women
• First to establish schools and orphanages
• Provide medical care• Women could not
own property and money earned
Colonial Children
• Apprentice- Worked without pay to learn a trade
• Girls rarely became apprentices, learned sewing & cooking
Colonial Education
• Taught to read or write so they could understand Bible
• Dame School – Learned alphabet and basic reading and writing
Higher Education
• Harvard, Yale, & Princeton trained political leaders, ministers and landowners
• Did not admit women• Teaching slaves was
illegal • Free Africans kept out
of school
The Great Awakening
• Great Awakening- Focused on internal religious expression, not external
• Individualistic thinking• Splitting up church
congregations• Educated Native
Americans & slaves• Contributed to American
Revolution movement
The Enlightenment
• Enlightenment- Relied on Science, not religion for knowledge
• John Locke- Wrote if government fails to protect rights people have right to change government
• Locke inspired writers of Declaration of Independence