Name______Date______
8C- ______
Early Colonial Regions
NEW ENGLAND: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
Geography: Northeast – Next to Atlantic
Long, COLD winters ------ Short growing season
Thin, rocky soil ---- Mountainous
Rivers – Highways/Harbors
Dense Forests
Work:
Merchants – Shipping
Farmers (Livestock, Feed, Crops)
Whalers – Blubber (Oil), Bones (Jewels, Combs)
Fishermen
Lumberjacks
Shipbuilders
Products: Oil, jewelry, livestock --- NO REAL PRODUCTS – instead they manufacture
goods
Social Divisions:
Middle/lower class (No real rich/poor)
Wealthy merchants/shipowners
Leadership/Government:
Just and equal laws
Community-based Village meetings, Church, Militia (citizen soldiers)
Religion:
Puritans -- Christianity
Protestants
Catholics
Family:
Husband rules the family (authority unquestioned)
Women care for children, cook, wash, make clothes, garden
No rights (no control over property, no public office)
Education:
Towns required to establish schools (elementary)
Grammar schools for boys – trained for college
Girls could read/write, but could not attend grammar school/college
–they stayed home and learned to sew, cook and housekeep
MIDDLE COLONIES: New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Geography:
Very fertile lands (better N. England, not as good as South)
Flat land
Moderate Climate
Long-growing season
Close to water – Hudson/Delaware > Shipping centers and ports
Farms – larger scale
Work:
Large farms – Commercial farming for profit
More food than needed to survive – sell rest
Port cities – Trade along with fur/timber
Big estates – Like south and also small farms/villages
Products:
Wheat, Barley, Rye, Oats and Corn
Timber, Fur, Minerals/Ore like Iron, pottery, glass, bricks
Social Divisions:
Germans, English, Scots, Irish, French, Swedish, Dutch
Highest = large property owners, merchants, descendants of original
settlers
Middle = Small farmers, shopkeepers, small business owners
Lower = Workers and Servants
Religion:
No one dominant group: (Quaker, Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman
Catholic, Luthern, Jewish)
Church and government = separate
Tolerance
Family:
Often large to farm the land
Education:
Private schools led by religious groups
Tutors for rich, church-run for poor
More than South, fewer than N. England
SOUTHERN: Virginia, Maryland, Carolinas, Georgia
Geography:
Tidewater – VERY fertile land (wet)
Warm Hot climate
Sprawling plantations
Rich soil
Seaports – exports, slaves, goods
Work:
Large-scale farming – dependent on slave labor
Slavery (W. Africans, some Native Americans)
Indentured servants
Products:
Tobacco, rice, indigo, cotton, slaves, fur, lumber
Social Divisions:
Huge divisions based on $
5% of the population = wealthy landowners tried to live like titled
English nobility
Middle = ran shops, small farmers
Rest of population in lowest class – workers, slaves
Leadership/government:
Justices of peace, colonial council, assemblies = 5% rich
Religion:
Local churches – “English gentry” -
Most belong to Church of England
Most went to church, but did not influence lives
Families: LARGE!
Education:
Wealthy – educated in homes by private tutors
No public schools – land to spread out
Slaves/indentured servants little to no education
(1770 laws forbid teaching slaves to read/write)
No college for women