AP U.S. History
NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
POLITICAL:ECONOMIC:
-Deference to wealthy planters/ministers- Center of legal and illegal
-East-West Conflict colonial trade
-Popularly elected assemblies- Triangular trade (rum,
-Appointed governors and councilsmolasses, slaves
-TOWNSHIP governments- Short growing season -
-White, male adult suffrage (church)no exotic staples or cash crops
-Dominion of New England -- Good fishing grounds
-Edmund Andros- Lumber for shipbuilding
- Thriving merchant marine
- Small, self-sufficient farms
- Slavery legal, but not vital
SOCIAL:
-Small, orderly townships fit the rocky, confined environment
-Large coastal port cities (Boston)
-Protestant English settlers -- Puritans (later Anglicans & Congregationalists)
-Importance of "covenant" - nuclear family units/ father head
-Strict child discipline (children to emulate adults in dress & chores)
-High literacy rates / schooling stressed- MA, CT / First college: Harvard
-Large market for printed word
-Emphasis on hard work, not accumulation of wealth
-Halfway Covenant (religious intensity lessening)
-Population increase (natural) = land shortage which forced younger males to seek new land or work in cities
-Highly law-abiding; little crime
-Belief in direct accountability to God led believers to challenge authority
-Witchcraft hysteria (highlights anxiety toward women)
DEMOGRAPHY:
-good water, healthy environment, healthy diet
-strong families / grandparents common
-low infant mortality; high birth rate
-equal sex ratio (women married later, 20’s not teens)
-immigration in family units
-longer life expectancy than in England (by 10 yrs.)
MIDDLE COLONIES:
(Historical neglect of these colonies is due to lack of a distinctive institution like town meetings – NE, or slavery – S)
POLITICAL:
-No deference to wealthy planters by voters
-Popularly elected assemblies
- Appointed governors and councils
-White, male adult suffrage
-Conflicts:Jacob Leisler's Rebellion in NY
Zenger's trial - seditious libel - NY
Paxton Boys' uprising - PA (east/west conflict)
ECONOMIC:
-Grew crops to export and to keep (more bountiful than NE)
-Exported cash crops such as wheat, barley, oats
-River access to back country for trade
-Ironworks in Pittsburgh area
-Slavery legal, but not prominent (only 10% of pop.)
-Economy included opportunity for artisans, merchants, businessmen
SOCIAL / DEMOGRAPHIC:
-Heavy settlement of interior, not just coastal towns (river access)
-Most culturally and ethnically diverse of all regions
-English largest ethnic group followed by Germans & Scotch-Irish
Others: French, Irish, Welsh, Swiss, Jews, Danes, Portuguese, Spaniards,
Poles, Italians, Dutch
-Ethnic differences seldom caused conflict although some prejudice and discrimination did exist
-Great opportunity for prosperity in PA- esp. Philadelphia, and NY City
-PA had land-grants of 500+ acres
-Religious tolerance: Quakers in PA, Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc.
-Most successful colony - PA / treaties with Indians
-Philadelphia largest city by 1750
SOUTHERN COLONIES
POLITICAL:ECONOMIC:
-Deference to wealthy planters- Cash crop agriculture
-Controlled politics, militia- Staple crops: Tobacco (VA, MD)
-East-West ConflictRice & Indigo (SC)
- Bacon’s Rebellion (VA)- Plantation agriculture
-Popularly elected assemblies- Headright System (VA, MD)
-Appointed governors and councils- Slavery vital: More $ than ind.
-Local county governmentsservants, but serve for life
-White, male adult suffrage(400,000 brought to N.Am.) - No strong industry
SOCIAL:
-Rural with few large cities or towns (largest is Charleston, SC)
-Primary religious affiliation is Anglican Church but become independent of mother church due to isolation & lack of N.Am. bishops
-Highly illiterate / no formal schooling-too rural / BUT: William & Mary-1693
-Discipline for children not as strict as North
-Life for most is primitive, crude & uncomfortable
-Specific roles for white women (even servants) – NO work in fields; tend animals, cooking/preserving, spinning & sewing; also took in orphaned children
-New American “aristocracy” patterned itself after British gentlemen, but more active in commerce [William Byrd of VA]
-Wealthy maintained high lifestyles, often on credit – depend on outside capital
-Social events (births, marriages, funerals) are great occasions
-Slavery a permanent, inherited condition by 1660s
DEMOGRAPHY:
-3 regions:Chesapeake (VA, MD)[a/k/a “Tidewater” region]
Low Country (NC, SC, GA)
Back Country (behind Appalachian Mountains)
-very unhealthy environment; malaria rampant
-many single, male indentured servants (over half of S settlers)
-scarcity of women / married Indian women / bride ships later
-high infant mortality / low life expectancy (only 40-45 in Chesapeake colonies)
-unstable families / grandparents NOT common
-by 1730, roughly 1/3 of South is black (blacks outnumber whites in SC 2 to 1)
AP U.S. HistoryColonial Regions Discussion Questions
After you have reviewed the three regional charts, answer the following questions. Be sure to provide support for and be prepared to justify your response.
1.What do you consider to beTHE primary political difference that distinguished the New England and Southern colonies?
2.How did settlement of each of the three regions impact each region’s social development?
3.Which ONE region had the least variety of economic activity? Why?
4.Identify the similarities that existed among the three regions of colonial America.