The Growing Colonies

The Growing Colonies

Reasons to Live in the Colonies • Religious freedom • Healthy living conditions • Land to farm • Room to raise a large family

Colonial Farming • Farming was the main economic resource in the colonies • Small farms in the north because of long winters and thin rocky soil • Large farms in the south

Subsistence Farming • Farming in which only enough food to feed one’s family is produced • Leaves little to sell or trade

Family Farms • Entire family worked the farm including children • Spinning yarn, preserving fruit, milking cows, fencing in fields and sowing and harvesting grain

New England Industries • Women sold extra garments, candles and soap that they made • Mills that ran off of stream water to grind grain • Large towns had skilled workers such as blacksmiths, shoemakers, gunsmiths, metal smiths and printers • Shipbuilding and fishing

Colonial Trade Goods • Fish • Fur • Fruit • Manufactured goods

Triangular Trade • A trade route that exchanged goods between the West Indies, the American colonies, and West Africa

Triangular Traded Goods and Destinations • West Indies to American Colonies: sugar, molasses, slaves • American Colonies to Britain: sugar, tobacco, cotton, rice, furs, indigo • Britain to West Africa: iron, cloth, weapons • West Africa to West Indies: slaves, gold and pepper

African Slaves • West African kingdoms enslaved the people they defeated in war • Some were sold to Arab (Middle East) slave traders • Some were forced to work in gold mines or work on farms • Some were shipped to America in exchange for goods

Middle Passage • Theinhumane part of the triangular trade route in which slaves from West Africa journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean from the West Coast of Africa to the Caribbean

Cash Crops • Farm crop raised to be sold for money because it is easy to sell in markets in the colonies and overseas

Middle Colonies Industries • Carpentry • Flour making • Lumbering • Mining

Diversity • Variety or difference

Southern Industries • Relied mostly on farming and trade and did not develop industry

Tobacco • Main cash crop of Maryland and Virginia • Originally farmed by indentured servants • Indentured servants became scarce and expensive • Began to use enslaved Africans • Most tobacco was sold in Europe where the demand was very high • Large amounts of tobacco grown eventually caused the price and profits to lower

Rice • Main cash crop in South Carolina and Georgia • Relied on slave labor • Price of rice continually grew, making Georgia and South Carolina the fastest growing economies in the colonies

Tidewater • A region of flat, low lying plains along the seacoast • Most large Southern plantations were located in these areas

Southern Plantations • Controlled the political and economic life of the region • Self contained communities • Included slave cabins, barns, stables and buildings for carpenters and blacksmiths • Planters wife supervised the main house and its servants • Overseer supervised the working slaves

Overseer • Person who supervises a large operation or its workers, such as slaves on a plantation

Backcountry • A region of hills and forests west of the Tidewater • Contained small farms of corn and tobacco • Worked mainly by families • Occasionally with one or two slaves • Outnumbered plantation owners, but had less say in regional economy and politics

Slave Codes • Strict rules governing the behavior and punishment of enslaved Africans • Examples: • Illegal to educate slaves • Illegal for slave to leave their plantation • Slaves could be whipped for minor offenses • Slaves could be hanged or burned to death for major offenses • Slaves that ran away were often caught and severely punished

New England Colonies • Began with the Plymouth Colony • People came to have a better way of life • Most settlers were from England • Rocky soil and short growing season • Each colony had a governor and assembly • Economy based on fishing, whaling, trading and various industries • Many towns had schools • Puritan religion was very important

Middle Colonies • Began with Dutch settlements • People came to have a better way of life • People from many different countries • Good soil for cash crops • Each colony had a governor and assembly • Economy based on farming especially grain • Many different religions were important • Schools were run by churches

Southern Colonies • Began with the Jamestown settlement • People came to have a better way of life • Area became dependent on slave labor • Long growing season and rich soil • Each colony had a governor and assembly • Economy based on large plantations of mainly tobacco, rice and indigo • Few towns and few schools • Religion did not play a big role

Glorious Revolution • When Parliament replaced the king with his daughter Mary and her husband William • Known as the Glorious Revolution because it was done without bloodshed • Led to an English Bill of Rights

English Bill of Rights • Guaranteed basic rights to citizens • Inspired the American Bill of Rights

Mercantilism • Theory that a country should sell more goods to other countries than it buys • The greater the wealth the greater the power

Export • To sell goods to foreign markets

Import • To buy goods from foreign markets

Smuggling • Trading illegally with other nations

Charter Colony • A colony established by a group of settlers who had been given a formal document allowing them to settle

Proprietary Colony • A colony in which the owner owned all the land and controlled the government

Royal Colony • A colony run by a governor or council appointed by the king or queen

Great Awakening • Religious revival that swept through the colonies from the 1720’s through the 1740’s

The Growing Colonies