In the 17th and 18th centuries, the English colonies in North America were rapidly growing in population and economic importance. There were many differences among the colonies of various regions. The Puritans established colonies in the north based on religion, the middle colonies were represented by many nationalities and religions, and the southern colonies were dependent on farming.
View the following video and take notes on the differences between the regional colonies. After you watch the video, complete the following worksheet on the differences in the colonial regions.
Even though the early American colonies were similar in the fact that they were established by English settlers looking for new ventures, they were also very different. Many of the colonies were established primarily for different reasons. Once established, they specialized in various economic ventures as well.
The founders of the New England colonies had a more religious purpose. Even though they sought economic prosperity, most left England because of the problems being created by the Church of England. Pilgrims and Puritans sought a new society based on religion. The Pilgrims were called the Separatists in England because of their desire to separate from the Anglican Church. The Puritans, so named for their desire to purify the Church of England, experienced the same degree of harassment. By the second and third decades of the 1600s, each group decided that England was no place for their beliefs. Many thought America was the place where they could establish society and practice religion freely.
Like the Virginia House of Burgesses established the previous year, Plymouth colony began to lay the foundation for democracy in the American colonies. The colony could not survive on religion alone. There were also many non-Puritans living within Massachusetts Bay. The Puritans allowed this for the sake of trade and finance. By the end of the 1630s, nearly 14,000 Puritan settlers came to Massachusetts. New England seemed to be booming with possibilities. Life expectancy grew and population was growing. Literacy was high as well. They had tax-supported schools, mostly to teach their children how to ready the Bible.
This middle colonies of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware were a very ethnically diverse group. Different ethnicities lived close to each other. Because of these differences, the middle colonies also harbored many different religious groups, unlike the Puritans in the north. The central location of the middle colonies made them an important center for trade among the colonies. Large cities, such as New York and Philadelphia, grew at a great rate and culture and revolutionary thinking thrived.
King Charles II of England owed a debt to the father of William Penn. To repay his debt, the king gave William a huge plot of land in the New World. Penn was a Quaker, a religious group who had suffered in England. They were targets of the Church of England. Penn established his land as a Quaker state with a very liberal government. They allowed religious freedom with no tax-supported church. Penn established good relationships with the Native Americans. Even women had greater freedoms.
Pennsylvania began to thrive. Europeans heard of the liberal government as artisans and farmers flocked to the new colony. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon became the center for trade and culture in the English colonies. Penn’s promotion of religious toleration brought people of many faiths to the colony. The city maintained a moral code, however, and it was illegal to tell lies and gamble.
Virginia was the first successful southern colony. While the Puritans were successful with religious government in the north, and the Quakers were successful in the middle colonies, the south turned to agriculture. Maryland, to Virginia’s north, would soon become a tobacco colony as well. Spain and France challenged the king to provide a buffer between the cash crops of the Carolinas so Georgia, which was established as a colony of people who owed debt, fulfilled that need.
English American Southerners were not as healthy as the rest of the country. Outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever kept life expectancies lower. Since the northern colonies attracted religious immigrants, they tended to migrate in families. Such family connections were less prevalent in the South.
The economy of growing cash crops would require a labor force that would be unknown north of Maryland. Slaves and indentured servants, although present in the North, were much more important to the South. They were of vital importance to the Southern economy.
Settlers in the Southern colonies came to America to seek economic prosperity they could not find in Old England. The English countryside provided a grand existence of stately manors and high living, but rural England was full, and by law those great estates could only be passed on to the eldest son. America provided more space to realize a lifestyle the new arrivals could never dream to achieve in their native land.
