THE THIRTEEN COLONIES NEW ENGLAND COLONIES WHAT DO

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THE THIRTEEN COLONIES

THE THIRTEEN COLONIES

NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

WHAT DO YOU THE LAND WAS LIKE IN NEW ENGLAND? THE WEATHER? New England

WHAT DO YOU THE LAND WAS LIKE IN NEW ENGLAND? THE WEATHER? New England was a land of abundant forests, streams, and natural harbors. The topsoil was thin, and rocks dropped by ice age glaciers studded the landscape. Inland, the dense forests had to be painstakingly cleared before the land could be farmed, while along the coast lay long stretches of barren sand dunes and salt marshes. One settler wrote to relatives back in England that Massachusetts was “builded upon rock, sand salt marshes. ” The weather was harsh in New England. Winters were long and cold, with howling winds, violent storms, and heavy snowfalls.

WHAT TYPE OF FARMS TO YOU THINK DEVELOPED IN NEW ENGLAND? Despite the generally

WHAT TYPE OF FARMS TO YOU THINK DEVELOPED IN NEW ENGLAND? Despite the generally poor soil in the region, many New Englanders earned a living as farmers. Most farmed at a subsistence level, producing just enough to feed their families but little more. Some worked the land with the help of slaves, but few farms were large enough to make slave labor profitable. Most farmers depended on the help of their families to plant, cultivate, and harvest their crops. Each farm family was more or less selfsufficient. In other words, a farm family had the resources to get along without much help. In spite of this self-sufficiency, families did not live in isolation. Farmers settled in clusters around towns.

IN WHAT OTHER WAYS COULD NEW ENGLANDERS MAKE A LIVING FROM THE LAND? While

IN WHAT OTHER WAYS COULD NEW ENGLANDERS MAKE A LIVING FROM THE LAND? While many farm families in New England produced most of their own necessities, a large number of residents were less self-sufficient. City dwellers, in particular, depended on other ways to make a living from the land. The forests abounded with raccoons, beavers, and otters, whose pelts were in great demand. The fur trappers proved to be too skilled for their own good, however, and soon depleted the local fur supply. The New England forest also provided timber that colonists could ship to England or to other colonies. Gradually the timber industry developed into a major source of

HOW DID NEW ENGLANDERS WHO LIVED IN COASTAL CITIES USE THE OCEAN TO THEIR

HOW DID NEW ENGLANDERS WHO LIVED IN COASTAL CITIES USE THE OCEAN TO THEIR ADVANTAGE? In addition to exporting timber, New Englanders used it to build ships. Shipbuilding grew rapidly as fishing became the area’s most important commercial activity. Over 5, 000 fisherman worked the coastal waters, and New England ports boasted of more than 900 oceangoing vessels. The city of Boston alone had 12 shipyards. New England also took the lead in trade between the colonies, England, and the West Indies. Shipping could be very profitable, but it was a risky business. Communication was slow, so by the time a cargo arrived at its destination, the product might no longer be needed. The success of New England merchants in this competitive business earned them their reputation as

THE MIDDLE COLONIES

THE MIDDLE COLONIES

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE LAND WAS LIKE IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES? THE WEATHER?

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE LAND WAS LIKE IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES? THE WEATHER? The Middle Colonies contained some of the richest farmland on the Atlantic coast of North America. Thus, agriculture became the foundation of the region’s economic life. Regular rainfall and winters that were less harsh than New England’s made farming an easier and more profitable business than in the north.

WHAT TYPES OF FARMING METHODS DO YOU SUPPOSE THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC COLONISTS USED? As

WHAT TYPES OF FARMING METHODS DO YOU SUPPOSE THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC COLONISTS USED? As in the other colonies, farmers either adapted European plants such as wheat and barley to the American environment or used European farming methods to cultivate native American crops such as corn, squash, and tomatoes. Although the soil was fertile and capable of yielding abundant harvests, farming was back-breaking work. Farmers used crude wooden plows drawn by oxen to till the soil or did it by hand with hoes. Harvesting was a grueling task performed by hand with sickle or scythe.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY DID WITH EXCESS CROPS AND HOW DID THIS AFFECT

WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY DID WITH EXCESS CROPS AND HOW DID THIS AFFECT THEIR WAY OF LIFE? Pennsylvania farms were the pride of the Middle Colonies. On the rich farmlands of the Delaware River Valley, German farmers turned agriculture into a thriving commercial enterprise. These farms produced such large surpluses of wheat, rye, and corn that they were able to feed not only their own people but many people in New England the Southern Colonies as well. They even shipped some of their products to Europe. This meant that farming a variety of crops on small –to mediumsized farms became the primary economic activity in Pennsylvania and throughout the colonies, a series of roads were constructed between colonies. The colonists also used the region’s abundant rivers to move crops to

WHAT WOULD LIFE BE LIKE IN THAT FRONTIER AREA? HOW WOULD FARMING BE DIFFERENT

WHAT WOULD LIFE BE LIKE IN THAT FRONTIER AREA? HOW WOULD FARMING BE DIFFERENT IN THE REGIONS THAT WERE MORE HILLY AND FORESTED? The population of the Middle Colonies grew rapidly and soon expanded westward beyond the established areas of settlement into the backcountry frontier. In the backcountry nearly all farming was on a subsistence level. Farmers planted crops in small patches between the stumps of newly felled trees rather than on broad, well-plowed fields. When the fertility of one patch was exhausted, the farmers simply cleared another. They supplemented the meager harvests with wild game and gathered plants from surrounding forests.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE LAND WAS LIKE IN THE SOUTHERN COLONIES? CLIMATE? Perhaps

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE LAND WAS LIKE IN THE SOUTHERN COLONIES? CLIMATE? Perhaps more than THE any other region, the Southern Colonies had sharp geographical differences. This picture of Savannah, Georgia represents the vast tidewater region---flat coastal plain with land so low in places that the rivers crossing it flowed backwards with the incoming tides. The climate here was mild in the winter with summers of stifling heat and humidity. The rolling hills behind the coastal plains were called the piedmont region. This was an area of dense forests and rich soil. Behind the piedmont region were the mountainous highlands, which were very similar to the backcountry of the Middle Colonies.

WHAT TYPE OF SETTLEMENT DO YOU THINK THIS WAS? WHY WAS THIS SETTLEMENT FOUNDED

WHAT TYPE OF SETTLEMENT DO YOU THINK THIS WAS? WHY WAS THIS SETTLEMENT FOUNDED ON A RIVER? In 1732 James Oglethorpe and several of his friends founded the colony of Georgia. They had hoped to make the colony a haven for the debtors and the poor who filled English jails in the 1700 s. So they laid out the town as a system of squares, planning to give each debtor a “new life” by giving him a bit of land in America. But Georgia was a failure. Few English poor ever came to America. Many of the small squares of land became parks, and the rest were soon combined into large tracts of land by a group of ambitious colonists who began arriving in Georgia in the 1750 s. Savannah was founded on the mouth of the Savannah River. Like many settlements in the Southern Colonies, Savannah grew into a major port exporting agricultural goods and importing

WHY DID YOU CLEAR THE FOREST? WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE LAND? The

WHY DID YOU CLEAR THE FOREST? WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE LAND? The settlers who came to Georgia and the other Southern Colonies looked to the early success of tobacco farms in Virginia as a promising way of cultivating the land. These settlers discovered that tobacco cultivation was most profitable if done on a large scale, and they soon were planting huge tracts of land with tobacco. To tend the crop, planters employed work crews of up to 30 people each. As the market for tobacco grew, the plantations multiplied. Eventually, planters experimented with other cash crops, of crops grown to be sold at a profit. Along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, for example, rice and indigo were cultivated. These cash crops produced the largest profit.

WHERE DID THE LARGE PLANTATION OWNERS FIND ENOUGH LABOR TO WORK THEIR VAST PLANTATION?

WHERE DID THE LARGE PLANTATION OWNERS FIND ENOUGH LABOR TO WORK THEIR VAST PLANTATION? HOW DID LABOR DECISIONS AFFECT LAND USE IN THE SOUTHERN COLONIES? DID ALL COLONISTS LIVE ON HUGE PLANTATIONS? Because cash crops such as tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton had to be cultivated on a large scale to be profitable, a plantation’s prosperity depended on a large supply of labor. At first, such labor was supplied by men, women, and children who came to the colonies as indentured servants. Indentured servants agreed to work for a period of time to return for the cost of the passage to America.

Planters found it increasingly difficult to attract enough indentured servants to America to meet

Planters found it increasingly difficult to attract enough indentured servants to America to meet the needs of their growing plantations. The demand for slave labor grew. The first Africans arrived in Jamestown in 1619. The first Africans were indentured servants, but temporary servitude became permanent bondage for blacks because the planters wanted more control over their labor force. Unlike white servants, blacks could not easily run away and blend into the free population. The English government responded to the planters’ demands for slaves by establishing the Royal African Company to carry on the slave trade. Soon, slave trading developed into a profitable colonial business. Colonists continued to import black Africans as slaves throughout the

With the importation of slaves, the plantations of the tidewater region grew into vast

With the importation of slaves, the plantations of the tidewater region grew into vast farms of hundreds of thousands of acres each. A relatively few rich planters owned vast sections of land. In the backcountry, however, the farms tended to be small, and families usually lived at a subsistence level. Farmers produced what they needed to live on, with just enough left to trade at the local market for tools and other necessities. Many of these farmers, forever in debt, bitterly resented for wealthy landowners along the coast.