The Middle Colonies

Coach MedfordBuilding American History Champions

Objectives

• Identify the society, culture, and economy of the Middle colonies

• Explain why the colonies grew

Thoughts

• What would life have been like in the Middle Colonies

• How many middle colonies can I name

On the sheet of construction paper, draw the Middle colonies. The middle colonies Make sure to leave room for the other colonies.

Questions

• Why did the middle colonies grow? • Who were the leaders of these three groups

of dissenters and what did these leaders all have in common?

• Why did the colonists continue to move down the coastline instead of moving inland?

New York and New Jersey

• 1660 – England has two sets of colonies in North America – New England and Virginia (Maryland)

• Land in between was under Dutch control• Area called the New Netherlands • Main settlement was New Amsterdam on

Manhattan Island

New Amsterdam

Manhattan Island:

Center of Trade for the the Americas

Dutch West India Company

• Controls New Netherland• Attempts to increase colony’s population by

offering land grants to anyone who would bring 50 people or more to work land

• Patroons – people who received grant ruled like kings

Do you believe that it is a good idea to have someone rule like a monarch? What are the benefits and risks?

New Netherlands no more

• 1664 – England sends a fleet to attack New Amsterdam

• Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders without a fight

• King Charles gives the colony his brother, James, the Duke of York

• 1691 – first elections held in New York• NY made up of Dutch, Germans, Swedish, Native

Americans, African slaves, and Jewish peopleWhy do you think the King of England was so interested in New Netherlands?

New Jersey

• Duke of York decides to divide the colony into 2 colonies

• Land between the Hudson and Delaware rivers to Lord John Berkley and Sir George Carteret

• The two proprietors name the colony New Jersey

• Offered large land grants, freedom of religion, trial by jury, and a representative assembly

• Jersey lacked any natural harbors; therefore, no major cities developed.

Would you be happy if the Duke gave you New Jersey?

Would you rather have New York or New Jersey? Why?

Pennsylvania • 1680 – William Penn a wealthy

Quaker, received a land payment for debt owed to his father from King Charles

• Quakers believe everyone is equal• Quakers are pacifists • Penn believes land belongs to Native

Americans and creates treaties accordingly

• 1862 – Penn designs Philadelphia

Delaware

• Swedish settle in southern Pennsylvania

• Penn allows southern counties to form their own legislature

• Counties functioned as a separate colony known as Delaware

• Remained under authority of Pennsylvania's governor

Review Questions

• How was the colony of New York governed?

• Why were there no major cities in New Jersey?

• Which policies reflected Quaker beliefs in Pennsylvania?

• What are some differences between the development of Pennsylvania and other colonies?

• Notebook AssignmentThink about what you read

about New Amsterdam: It was a bustling seaport with many different types of people. Write a paragraph that descries what it might have been like to walk down one of its busy streets. What might you have seen? Hear? Felt?