Making a Living (economic activities)
NE: Fishing & Timber (exported) Shipbuilding & shipping (merchants) & jobs related to this industry like carpenters, coopers, sailmakers, rope & naval products. The Triangular Trade made Boston the largest city in the colonies.
Seeds of Democracy
Middle (Breadbasket): Farming & Agriculture
Business & Trade (supplied wheat & flour) to other colonies and overseas
Artisans! Taylors, Ironmakers, Brickmakers, Sawmills, Millers
NE: VERY IMPORTANT! MOst of the NE ws founded for religious freedom. Everyone had to read, understand the Bible and follow the laws which were based on scripture.
Southern: Plantation Farming--Cash Crops (tobacco, rice, and indigo) slave labor (slavery)
Plantations were like little towns with everything needed there on the property.
Most people were farmers (small farms,) hunters, trappers
- Early colonists were independent and self -reliant.
- Some were willing to work hard to create a better material life for themselves and their families.
- Many early colony charters allowed for self government.
- Participation in government soon became the norm.
- Individualism became the basis of society. Colonists thought and did for themselves.
- Free White Men make what they wanted of themselves---the right to own land was huge.
- Early laws guaranteed various civil rights like: trial by jury, freedom of religion, separation of church & state
- Britain did not rule the colonies with much consistency.
Remember: The colonies weren't democracies BUT there was a great emphasis placed on individualism, independence, self-government, and individual rights.
Middle: Many Religions: Protestants, Catholics, Lutherns, Amish, Quakers, Mennonites, Jews
Not one religion dominated like in NE ~ More tolerant of differences
Southern:
Christian - Followed the Anglican Church and English Traditions
Enslaved Africans brough tribal religions but converted to Christianity. As time go on, they will see a parallel between their situation and the Jews who were enslaved in Egypt in the Old Testament
SETTLERS & SETTLEMENTS
NE: From England
Pilgrims / Puritans (religious freedom)
Towns & Villages
Boston (biggest port city)
EDUCATIONAL BELIEFS/PRACTICES/GOV'T
Middle: NYC & Philadelphia are major port cities
Settlers came from varied backgrounds
FRONTIER: Young couples, Newly Arriving Immigrants, Former Indentured Servants, Former slaves, ex-convicts. They wanted:
1. cheap land
2. a new start
3. adventure
4. freedom from laws
Men & Women worked together
NE: Education a must! All needed to be able to read and write to understand the Bible and the laws.
1st public school (1647) hired teachers!
1st college: Harvard! ~ LAWYERS!
Meetinghouses--Find out what went on there on your own....
Southern: Mostly rural areas with few towns / 1 large city: Chares Town (Charleston, SC)
Hundred of thousands of enslaved Africans brought to the South to work plantations
poor living conditions - skin color now used as identifying status
many ran away / some bought their freedom (skilled workers) (not as restrictive as the 1800s)
Settlers were mostly English and friends of the King then later.... Irish, Scotch, French
Middle: No Public Schools-Children taught at: church or private schools
Others leanred a craft or skill--Apprentice then evenually a master craftsman
Representavtie Government
COMMUNITY LIFE / CLASS STRUCTURE
Southern: Wealthy received an education privately at home
Boys taught sciences, history, Latin, Greek, philosophy, mathematics
Girls taught manners, sewing, & how to entertain (some of the other too but not like the boys)
SLAVE CODES
HOUSE OF bURGESSES (VA) representative gov't
NE: Way of life based on Puritan work ethic & strict rules most settlers were from England and shared the same religious beliefs
Women played an important role -- worked side by side with their husbands
FAMILY WAS VERY IMPORTANT
RELIGION WAS VERY IMPORTANT
*What we consider typical American values (work hard, get an education, be a good person) comes from NE
The Great Awakening
Middle: Patroon System of Landownership (find out what this means)
Settlers come from many different places and brought many different:
languages, customs, culture, religions, farming methods/practices, food types, ideas
Most came for the chance at a better life!
NYC will be main immigration point (eventually Ellis Island) (evenually Statue of Liberty)
Southern: Plantations were center of Southern Life (mansion, small out buildings, slave quarters (self-sustaining)
Class Structure: Upper Class was rich planters
Middle Class: farmers w/ small farms or worked for planters
Slaves at the bottom -- NO rights
GEOGRAPHY
NE: harsh climate (rocky, hilly soil) only 1 harvest per year
Heavy forest; near the Atlantic (Boston)
Middle: rich soil, longer growing season, rivers used to ship goods to NYC & Philly - conestoga wagons overland - climate more mild than NE
Southern: Rich soil, long hot growing seasons (humid summers & wet winters) located along the coast Chesapeake Bay / Tidewater Area Rivers: Potomac, James, York (Charleston, SC and then Savannah, GA)
LIFE IN THE COLONIES