Download 13 Colony Region Reading

-New England Colonies: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
Introduction:
​
The c
​ olonists​ who came to New England didn't have a clue about
farming. These guys were small-town people who worked with their hands. The
leaders of New England were selective in who they let into their community. People
with skills such as blacksmiths, shipwrights and carpenters were welcome. So too
were the intellectual set such as preachers, lawyers, and doctors. New England
was planned to be a family place.
Small towns where hard work meant building a comfortable life for you and your family. A community of like-minded
individuals who were free to ​persecute​ anyone who didn't think like they did. In other words, just one happy P
​ uritan
community.
Organization
​
: ​New Englanders tended to arrive in large groups. Most of them
having known one another back home. Your typical New England colony was
organized around a town center: The Meeting House, the village green, and the
tavern. The Meeting House was the center of Puritan life, doubling as a
courthouse, town council, church, and community center. This was where the
Puritans gathered to worship every ​Sabbath​, this is where criminals were
brought to justice, and where the town leaders made laws and dealt with boring
everyday issues like who’s cow destroyed whose field, or whose husband slept
with another man’s wife. In 1692 it was in the Meeting House where nineteen
witches were sentenced to death in Salem, Massachusetts.
Like back home, the town village was organized along a main dirt road that
widened once you got to the town center. Here lay the village green, where the militia trained (translation: the men of
the town now had an excuse to get together once a month, get drunk, fire their guns, and march around the town
playing soldier) and the people brought their sheep and cows to eat. All of these activity made the village green
anything but grassy. Most “greens” were little more than muddy fenced-in fields with a few patches of grass that had
gotten lucky. And of course, despite the Puritan’s reputation for being religious sticks-in-the-mud, every New
England town made sure to build a tavern: a sort of cafe, motel, bar-type of establishment.
Economy: 85% of colonials made their living by s
​ elf-sufficient​ farming. Even if
most colonists came over knowing next to nothing about farming or building
houses, they were forced to catch on fast. Depending on what part of Old
England you came from, New England farms were either worked by the entire
community or by individual families. Once you got out of town, which wasn’t more
than a short walk, you reached the fields. Here, using the fish-in-the-hole
techniques first introduced to the Pilgrims by Squanto, the New Englanders grew
corn, barley, peas, pumpkins, and bunch of other vegetables that were
overcooked and turned into a nutritionally-empty mush that every Englishman
liked to call supper. The English were carnivores at heart, preferring to their steak
and kidney (animal not bean) pies to a steaming plate of broccoli. This, along with
the
amount of sugar that the colonists ate (which is still far less than us 21st Century
folks)
explains the bad teeth that European visitors liked to write home about. Ever hear about George Washington’s
wooden teeth? Bingo. (author’s note: George Washington never had wooden teeth, because well that would be a
really stupid thing to make teeth out of. Instead, they extracted teeth from the dead or paid poor people and slaves to
make a donation.)
Religion: Puritan towns were tight knit and suspicious of strangers. They came seeking religious freedom but they
didn’t tolerate even an ounce of difference. Puritan or Non-Puritan, you were expected to live the Puritan lifestyle.
The New England community revolved around the church. Unlike those "heathen" Virginians who were mainly
Anglicans, the Puritans were rebels for Christ who had made their stand against the Anglican Church as soon as
their feet touched the deck of the Mayflower.
At first, the Puritans tried to purify the Anglican Church of its Catholic ways. But when they didn’t win that battle, they
simply started their own church, who came to be known as Congregationalists. To the Puritans, the congregation (a
group of people gathered for religious worship) of church members was where God could be found. God was where
the prayer was. But they wouldn’t let just anyone in their midst. You had to prove that you were worthy. Church
membership was a valued prize and applicants had to prove to the Congregation that “god dwelt in them”.
Made of rough logs and mud coating, the early colonial churches looked nothing like the white buildings with
beautiful steeples that we see today. Men and women sat separately on hard benches. Native Americans and
Africans sat up in the loft with no benches. Services on Sunday could last for five hours, sometimes more. If you
were caught talking you got hit on the head with a stick. Don't even think about sneaking out; the doors were closed
and guarded.
​
Law: Up until the Mid-1700's Church (religion) and State (government) were
definitely not separate. Puritan beliefs about how people should behave created a
lot of laws that we might find ridiculous today. For example: those who skipped
church services could be fined or spend a day in the stocks. Even though people
didn't have watches or clocks, sleeping in wasn't an excuse. Important events
were always announced by the ringing of the church bells.
In 1642, Massachusetts passed a law requiring parents to educate their children
in reading and in matters of religion. Education was very important to the people
of New England; all towns with more than 50 people had to hire a school teacher.
Puritans believed that everyone should be able to read the Bible for themselves.
The earliest colleges in America, like Harvard and Princeton, came from this time
and place.
Back in England, not being a member of the Anglican Church could get you tossed into jail, but in New England
being outside of the congregation meant you were not a true member of society. Everyone had to pay their taxes, but
being a Church member gave you the right to vote and participate in religious ceremonies (like weddings). The
Puritans were so suspicious of strangers that they refused to allow their members to sell their homes to anyone who
had not been approved by the community. The New England towns were dead serious about keeping out the
trouble-makers that seemed to be causing problems down in Virginia. But often, it didn’t work. The misfits simply
moved deeper into the woods where they could live their lives free from Puritan control. And for those who just
couldn’t get with the program, the Puritans wouldn’t think twice about kicking you out to some far-away corner of
New England. That’s how Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire got their start.
Except for attending church,
The Puritan leaders of New
England made it a crime to
celebrate Christmas.
The Middle Colonies - New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware
Economy: The governors of the Middle Colonies weren't interested in creating a
religious paradise like New England and they didn't have the favorable weather to
create a tobacco empire like the South. Instead, the Middle Colonies worked what
nature by advertising its two biggest features: water and land. The region had a lot of
rich soil and deep harbors. The economy of the Middle Colonies was built around
trade. Towns like New York City and Philadelphia grew up around ports deep enough
for large ships to dock. The area was also rich in timber and iron-- two jackpot
ingredients for starting an i​ ndustrial revolution​. The Puritans might have ruled New
England and the planters dominated the Southern colonies but here the merchants (people who sold things) became
top dog. The most successful merchants built their fortunes by keeping the other English colonies well-supplied.
Government: ​But one of the biggest strengths of the Middle Colonies lay in the ability of its governors to not be
narrow-minded. The intolerance of the New England Puritans drove many brilliant thinkers out of its colonies. Too
bad for them. To their credit the governors of the Middle Colonies had the ability to promote their colonies as a place
for ​religious tolerance​. This had the intended effect of attracting settlers from every corner of Western Europe.
Each of which came with their own unique perspectives and skills that when they came together created an industrial
powerhouse unseen anywhere else in the world.
Lifestyle: The Middle Colonies became a cultural mix that left its mark on colonial America. The Swedish colonists
introduced the log cabin, the Germans bred giant horses and created the prairie schooner-- a wagon so large that it
was named after a ship. The Continental Europeans had different ways to farm than the English did. The New
Englanders had their village green and the Virginians just let the hogs and cows run wild through the woods. The
Germans brought the concept of the barn to the Middle Colonies where they settled. ​You might even say that
colonial life was pretty much a community effort. When a house or barn needed to be built or a field planted, the
community would pitch in and make it a festival.
​
To the land starved Europeans, it was worth risking malaria, explosive diarrhea and bear attacks to get a piece of the
American Dream. After all land meant wealth, and back in Old England only 20% of the people owned land, while the
rest were tenant (rent-paying) farmers paying high rents to greedy landlords. In the New World, farming may be hard
work but at least it was your hard work. Farming, once a job fit for peasants, became a respectable career move
made by hardworking, honest people.
Trade: Being separate from the rest of the world changed the way colonists
bought and sold goods. Although English pounds and shillings were used
to buy their imports, the colonial economy was more about barter than cold,
hard cash. Eventually the colonies would print their own money but in the
early days the most common way of paying the doctor or buying a new
dress was to barter for it. Bartering worked like this: you had a surplus of
eggs (everyone loves eggs) so you agree to pay Doc Jones in eggs for
treating your kid's sniffles. Often farmers couldn't do all the work
themselves (even with 8 kids). Since the whole community came to pitch in
during big events like building a barn or harvest time. Of course, it was
expected that you would show up when a neighbor needed your help
(another example of the barter system in action).
Southern Colonies: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
​
Introduction: The southern colonies almost failed when settlement of Jamestown
turned to cannibalism to survive the winter of 1609. But with the discovery of tobacco,
the colonists were willing to forget the whole starvation and eating dead people and
get down to the business of establishing p
​ lantations​.
Weather: Climate and geography had a huge impact on how the culture of the
southern colonies. The hot and wet summers and mild (easy) winters combined with
rich fertile soil created agricultural magic. Just a few years before, the Virginia
colonists had been cannibalizing one another to stay alive. But once people back in
England realized that Virginia was flush with “brown gold” (tobacco) you couldn’t stop
the flood of colonists from coming.
Economy: In its golden years, the tobacco boom lured young men looking to own land. But tobacco is a demanding
cash crop​ and wears out the soil so quickly that farmers were forced to move on to the next spot every five to seven
years. (You could of course keep the soil healthy through fertilizers but tobacco that tasted like cow poop didn’t tend
to sell too well back in Europe). Tobacco farming caused the colonists of Virginia to keep moving and spreading out.
Religion: Thousands of armed young men constantly on the move
doesn’t make for much a community. In contrast to the New England
colonies which had more of a small town family vibe, the Virginia colonies
took on a loner way of life. The governors who ran 17th Century Virginia
complained about the lack of morals and breakdown of religion. Young
men who worked hard all day in their fields are more likely to spend
Sunday drinking and gambling rather than canoeing 10 miles to church
and back. The Southern colonies tried to pass laws to enforce church
attendance and create a sense of community, but most people tended to
ignore them and do their own thing. This isolation led to one of many ways
that the southern colonists became so different from their northern
counterparts. The agricultural economy of the South led to many small
isolated farms that pretty much what they darn-well felt like doing.
​
Economy 2.0: T
​ he poor moved inland and had to battle the Native Americans for their land.
These farmers had large families to help with the task of running a farm. Many farmers also
learned to do most of the odd jobs themselves such as making their own clothing, butter,
and tools. The ​self-sufficient f​ arms grew corn, wheat, raised cattle and pigs, and if they
had a little extra, planted tobacco to sell. The ultimate dream of these farmers was to own a
few slaves and maybe make it big and become a plantation owner. It was rare but not
unheard of.
Along the rivers wealthy plantation owners set up their big houses dedicated to providing
everything the plantation family needed. A plantation ranged from a small 100 acre
operation to thousands of acres. The main house would be about 2,500-3,000 square feet
(a middle class home by today's standards) with all of the finest furniture imported from
Europe. The plantation owners tried to re-create themselves as the aristocratic (noble) class
that existed back home. On the grounds would be a warehouse for drying tobacco, a
kitchen, slave quarters, a blacksmith, a chapel, and a winery.
Plantations: The lifestyle of the colonial planter class became the ideal
for the southern colonies. They owned most of the land, dominated the
government and lived in large mansions. Back in England they would
have been small fish in a big pond but in Virginia and Carolina they
became the new upper-class. And to the southern planter nothing
mattered more than showing off your social status. They dressed in the
latest European fashions, and imported fancy furniture from European
manufacturers. Their kids were educated in elite boarding schools in
Europe. These southern fat cats might have made up less than 5% of the
population but their way of life loomed larger than life.
But stop and consider what all of this means. Up until the American Civil War the southern colonies were actually
recreating the European feudal system (​feudalism​) right here in the good ol’ U.S of A. The vast majority of white
people were tenant (rent-paying) farmers or backwoodsmen whose lives were defined by miserable poverty. Nearly
all blacks were held against their will to be bought and sold like animals in order to enrich the lives of barely 2% of
the population. For the next two hundred and fifty years the planter upper-class will dominate the South and southern
culture so much that movies like ​Gone With the Wind turn their pampered lifestyle into the southern ideal.
Within a few decades the southern colonies had put all of their chips in the plantation basket. The economy of the
Southern states were built around supporting a few rich families who owned vast fields dedicated to a single cash
crop. Such an agricultural economy is very time consuming and backbreaking. Not the sort of work you’d catch an
English gentlemen doing. Each decade tens of thousands of new laborers were brought to the southern colonies,
either by choice or by force. At first the English used ​indentured servants​ to work the fields. Indentured servitude is
not much different from slavery except that those desperate enough to sign an indentured contract could be beaten
and abused but they still had rights as Englishmen and had to be given their freedom after seven years when their
contract expired.
Slavery: ​Slaves on the other hand made
an excellent source of cheap labor. The
most expensive part of owning a slave
was at the auction block but after that
minimal food and housing became the
rule. In 1619, a Dutch ship dropped off the
first cargo of slaves from West Africa. Now
the story is a bit fuzzy on the legal status
of these unlucky individuals. Some claim
that they were indentured servants others
say they were officially slaves. But soon
Virginia and the other colonies had begun
making slavery based on skin color a
colonial institution. Blacks lives’ were
controlled by ​slave codes​. Slavery was
not only legal in the southern colonies, it
was a way of life. Within 100 years, blacks
outnumbered whites in some counties.