5.3 – New England’s Economy

New England Farming

Land was filled with trees and rocks, which made farming very difficult.

As families began growing more food and livestock, there was a surplus of goods, so trade became common.

Free Market Economy – people are free to choose which goods to make or buy and what to use

People competed for each other’s business, keeping prices low.

Logging and Shipbuilding

Industry – all businesses that make one kind of product Ex: Shipbuilding

industry is made of lumber jacks, black smiths, and carpenters

Dense forests provided plenty of material for shipbuilding Naval Stores –

products used in ship building (wood, tar, turpentine)

Logging and Shipbuilding

Building ships was cheap in the colonies due to the availability of raw materials.

By late 1700’s, 1/3 of all ships under English control were built in the colonies

Colonial Trades

Imports – goods brought into a country to buy

Exports – goods sent out of a country to sell

Main New England Exports: Ships, Wood, Fish, Whale Oil Whale oil is used to as

fuel for lamps New England could ONLY

trade with England, allowing England to control the price of goods in the colonies.

Triangular Trade Routes

Common route of trade between Africa, Europe, and the Americas

England sent finished goods to Africa

Africa sent slaves to the Americas

America sent raw materials to England

Middle Passage Trade route from Africa to Americas was the Middle Passage Millions of slaves were sent from Africa to the Americas to work

as cheap labor. Thousands died from the journey due to the cramped living

quarters, starvation, and disease aboard the ships.

Discussion Questions (Answer for Class): How did the surplus of food in the New England colonies create

a free market economy?

Why did the ships built in New England cost less than ships built in England?

How did England benefit from being the only country that could trade with the colonies? (2 Answers)

How did the free-market economy allow New England to grow faster than the other regions of the colonies?

Why do you think so many slaves were put aboard a ship at the risk that many of them would die before reaching America?