The Colonies Grow

Chapter 4

I. Life in the Colonies

A. New England Colonies

1. Between 1607-1775 a million people immigrated to the colonies

2. Women marry early and have large families

3. Meetinghouse was in the center of town

a. Used for church and town meetings

b. Small farms in New England Colonies

c. Long Winters, rocky soil

d. Subsistence Farming—just enough to meet their own needs

4. Commerce in New England

a. Many small businesses

b. Used waterpower from streams to run mills

c. Skilled craftspeople

d. Shipbuilding was important industry

1. Lumber from the forests

e. Fishing—cod, halibut, crabs, lobster

5. Colonial Trade

a. New England Ships sailed south to West Indies and across the

Atlantic carrying fish, furs and fruit

6. Triangular Trade

a. First Leg of Trip—brought sugar and molasses from West Indies to the New England Colonies.

b. Second Leg---Molasses turned into rum and sent to West Africa and

trade for enslaved Africans

c. Final Leg---Enslaved Africans taken to West Indies where they are sold to planters

7. The Middle Passage

a. The inhumane part of the triangular trade shipping enslaved Africans to the West Indies

b. Length of the Trip

1. Some Trips took 40 to 150 DAYS!!!

c. About 18 Million Africans transported from Africa

d. Estimated 3 million died during the

Middle Passage

YouTube - Presentation Amistad clip

You are a SLAVE SHIP--Write 5 Sentences describing what you feel,

see, and hear during the Middle Passage.

B. The Middle Colonies

1. Industries of the Middle Colonies

a. Fertile Soil, milder climate

b. Great large quantities of wheat

1. Cash Crops---crops sold easily

c. Lumbering, mining, manufacturing

2. German Immigrants

a. 100,000 German Immigrants settle in Pennsylvania

b. Middle Colonies have much more Cultural Diversity

C. The Southern Colonies

1. Rich Soil—Warm Climate

2. Tobacco and Rice

a. Tobacco cash crop of Maryland and

Virginia

b. Southern Planters switch from

Indentured Servants to enslaved

Africans

c. Main Cash crop of South Carolina

and Georgia was rice

1. Relied of slave labor

3. Tidewater and Backcounrtya. Southern Plantations located in

the Tidewater section1. flat, low-lying plains along the sea coast

b. Plantations are self-contained communities

c. Backcountry was region of hills and forests climbing towards the

Appalachian Mts.1. Backcountry farmers outnumbered Plantation

owners but had little economic and political power

D. Slavery

1. Most lived on Plantations

2. Large Plantations hired Overseers to keep slaves working hard

3. Slave Codes

a. Strict rules governing behavior and punishment of enslaved Africans

1. Had to have a pass to leave plantation

2. Not allowed to read or write

3. Punishment for running around

4. African Traditions

a. Families Torn Apart

b. Plantation slaves found rich source of strength in their African roots

5. Criticism of Slavery

a. Some colonist did not believe in Slavery

b. Quakers and Mennonites condemned slavery

c. Debate would continue