Main Characteristics Of The Colonies

This paper is about the different characteristics of the Southern colonies for use in the plausible war. Based upon the areas of geography and climate, resources, and political and social life, the southern colonies will prove to be an asset to England in a possible war with France.

The colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut made up the New England colonies. Most of the Europeans in the New England colonies were there to escape the religious persecution they faced in England. They practiced a lot of different things in these colonies compared to the middle and southern and colonies of colonial america.

Middle Colonies had very fertile land. Because of this many different crops and food could be grown. Many of the people lived on farms so they could produce their own food. Some things they would grow was wheat,

Both the northern and southern colonies had a lot in common (Kennedy, 72). They were agriculture societies, English in language and customs, Protestant in religion; there was social mobility, and the colonies possessed some form of self-government (Kennedy, 72). Also, both southern and northern colonies use some form of slavery either Africans captured as slaves or indentured people. The most important factor explaining the different ways of life between the southern and northern colonies was the climate.

Creating a New World has to start somewhere, even if it means it began separated between three different colonies. The New England colonies included Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, it was established in the early 1620’s by a religious group, the Puritans.The southern colonies included Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, Virginia was the first successful Southern colony and was established in the early 16th century. These colonies shared their similarities but also had a lot of differences.

The New England colonies didn’t rely on land to make money because they had a diverse economy and also tobacco and other cash crops needed a specific climate to be grown in. Although no one became as wealthy as those in the south, they had a very constant economy. They didn’t have to rely on one crop instead they were able to rely on rum, fur trade, fishing, trade, logging and shipbuilding. The next difference is religion. The south had religion but it wasn’t as big of a deal as the New England colonies. This was because the south spent most of the time farming that although they did have church agriculture was more significant. The New England colonies, especially Massachusetts, had a very strict religious system. Failure to follow this system could result in death or banishment. The last difference between them is the labor. In the south they needed a lot of slaves because crops like tobacco required constant attention like making sure it was healthy and also doing a lot of watching over those plants to make sure they were being grown properly. The south was also a slave society in that in order for it to be successful they would need a lot of slaves. On the other hand the New England colonies didn’t need slaves because the crops that they used didn’t need the attention that cash crops needed. Another reason is because they

Although both the New England Colonies (Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire), and the Chesapeake Colonies (Virginia and Maryland) were both settled by people of English origin, by 1700 they were both very distinct for a multitude of reasons; Three of which being, their economics, African Slave population, and their life expectancies.

During the 17th and 18th century, English residents felt that England was over-crowded and intolerable. They wanted to lessen these problems that rose up because of the large population increase and to establish more religious freedom (Horn). The English believed that the best way to go about this was to colonize the New World. Subsequently, many colonies began to develop, and of these colonies, Massachusetts Bay and Virginia were the most well-known. The early settlements of Massachusetts and Virginia were both established by similar groups of people at the same time; furthermore, their contrasting beginnings as a colony, views on religion, and method of economic stability all contributed to our American heritage today.

The three colonies all wanted to make money but they had to go about it in different ways. This was mainly due to what they had available. The New England Colonies were mainly agricultural farmers. With all the water reservoirs like Cape Cod there were plenty of fish so lots of people became fishermen. There were a lot of lumberjacks to cut down trees and export them to England. The Middle Colonies were extremely different because they set up extensive cosmopolitan cities reminiscent of New York. They had many specialists like doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. They traded a lot with in North America and occasionally overseas. The Southern Colonies primarily depended on cotton and tobacco plantations. As the plantations grew they had to employ black slaves. The plantations were fully self contained with their own blacksmith, teachers and professionals. So there were no big cities or towns. The main plantations traded directly with Europe via the Mississippi. The three colonies all made money differently with their diverse professions and traders.

Geographically the New England colonies were the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire; the Southern colonies were Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. These two regions were on opposite sides of America so naturally, they had

When we think of our country now, we think about how it is separated into states, but back then the states were part of colonies. Some of the main colonies were the Chesapeake colonies which consisted of Virginia and Maryland, the middle colonies were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, and lastly, the New England colonies which were Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In the colonial regions of New England, Chesapeake and the middle colonies they all share similarities and differences, most predominantly shown in family life, rank and status.

Because of the differences in geography and climate in each region, each colony had a set of jobs that worked best with their conditions. The New England Colonies relied mainly on fishing, whaling, ship making and selling lumber. This is because the soil in the New England Colonies was poor and rocky, which made it difficult to farm. However, the New England Colonies were right by the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, so they whaled and fished easily. Once they discovered how much money could be made off of slave-trading, and it soon became one of the largest slave-trading centers in the world. They also had many dense forests, so they builts ships out of the lumber and also sold it to England and the other colonies. The area still has many forests, but there are way less dense than they were back in the colonial days.

Agriculture was a prominent feature in colonial economy. In all of the colonies, it was a way for colonists to obtain food and income. In New England, subsistence farming was common. In the Middle Colonies, there was rich soil that produced the perfect environment for crops such as wheat and corn, which was exported as to Europe and the West Indies, creating a source of income from agriculture. In the Southern Colonies, there were subsistence farms and plantations. Plantations grew their own food, as well as cash crops that created a source of income.

The reason for the diverse economic development were the different climates and natural resources. New England as a region with many trees, rivers, natural harbors and a long coast. All these natural resources provided for an economy based on fishing, shipbuilding, and lumbering. The Middle Colonies had good soil, and thus specialized in farming and growing crops such as wheat. The middle colonies also served as a trade center for all the regions due to the abundance of of rivers . There were many cash crops present in the south such as tobacco and rice. This was taken advantage of, and the Southern colonies specialized in farming these crops, along with cotton in large plantations. The New England and Middle Colonies also had farms, but they were small. This specialization allowed for a multitude of goods to be exported in exchange for other goods through triangular trade. Even though there was some trading between the colonies and regions, most people relied on small farms in their area, giving a sense of 3 separate regions and not a unified

Economies quickly emerged as a result of human and environmental interaction. Each settlement had its own economy which were based on different aspects. The English colonies were arguably the most diverse with economic activities including farming, fishing, and trading. Their settlements were mostly mercantile, meaning it “promoted governmental regulation of a nation's economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers,” and was famous for their exports, which largely consisted of tobacco, rice, timber, and fish. Tobacco and rice became the major cash crops of the southern colonies. These cash crops were grown on large plantations of land that needed large numbers of workers. Most colonists grew their own food. The soil was too thin and rocky and the climate too harsh for the colonists to grow cash crops. They turned to fishing, lumbering, fur trading, and metal working to nourish their economy. The French economy was mainly based on fur trade because it was more profitable, but still had its part in farming. An abundance of rivers allowed for transportation of goods between the colonies. Mills to grind grains developed and supported local economies. Much like the others, the Spanish were famous for their trading, while also having farming in their western colonies. It was strictly regulated by the Spanish Board of Trade and laws were enforced by the Spanish military. The Northern colonies developed cottage industries that traded on a simple barter system. For example, one household might mill grain while the neighbor spun