Life in the 13 Colonies

1
Life in the 13 Colonies
2
Three Groups of Colonies
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New England

• Long, cold winters
• Rocky soil difficult to grow food
• Used trees to build ships
• Fishing, hunting whale, trading
• Religion was center of life

4
Puritans/ Seperatists

• Believe God rewarded hard work
• In most towns built meeting houses
• Male church members who owned property could vote
• Beginning of American Democracy

5
Middle Colonies

• Milder climate and better soil
• Settlers were from Germany, Sweden, France, and
  Scotland. (Toleration Act)
• Most were farmers
• Considered bread basket of the colonies
• Grew large amounts of grain for trading
• Quakers were the predominent religion found in
  Pennsylvania.

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Dutch to English

• England takes over Dutch New Amsterdam and
  renames it New York in 1664
• Named after and given to King Charles IIs
  brother Duke of York
• Proprietary Colony
• By 1683 colony grew to 12,000
• Allowed an elected assembly in 1691

7
New Jersey

• Given to Lord John Berkeley and George Carteret
  by Duke of York
• Southern portion of his colony between Hudson and
  Delaware Rivers.
• Land given to attract settlers.
• Freedom of religion and trial by jury guaranteed.
• Ethnic and religiously diverse.
• Passed back to King in 1702

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Pennsylvania

• Given to William Penn by King Charles
• Paid a debt owed to Penns father
• Means Penns Woods
• Quaker Holy Experiment
• Believed all equal in Gods eyes
• Would not fight in wars
• Philadelphia City of Brotherly Love
• Settlers paid Native Americans for land

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Southern Colonies

• Warmer than the other two colonies
• Could grow crops throughout the year, either cash
  crops or subsistence crops.
• Large area of flat ground with good soil
• Tobacco and Rice grown on large plantations
• Mostly traded with New England

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Maryland

• Established by Catholic Sir George Calvert Lord
  Baltimore
• Started as a safe haven for Catholics
• Granted as proprietary colony by King Charles I
• Named After English Queen Henrietta Maria
• Brothers of Calvert ran colony

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Maryland

• Large estates given to rich relatives
• Promised 100 acres to new settlers
• 100 for each servant and 50 acres for each child
• Imported indentured servants and slaves

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North and South

• Mason-Dixon Line
• Created to settle boundary dispute between
  Pennsylvania and Maryland
• PA Protestants harrassed MD Catholics

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Act of Toleration

• Granted Protestants and Catholics right to
  worship freely
• Protestant controlled English government made
  Anglican Church official church of Maryland.
• Imposed restrictions on Catholics as was done in
  England

14
Bacons Rebellion

• Nathaniel Bacon,welathy young planter
• Opposed colonial government dominated by
  easterners
• Disagreed with pledge to stay out of Native
  American territory to the west
• Bacon led angry mob to attack Native American
  villages
• Set fire to Jamestown
• Showed that restricting settlers desire for land
  would not be tolerated well.

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Carolina

• 1663, King Charles II created as proprietary
  colony south of VA
• Carolina means Charles Land
• Ran by 8 members of his court who helped him
  regain his throne
• Charles Town later renamed Charleston after King
  Charles II
• John Locke wrote Carolina Constitution

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North Carolina

• Settled by farmers from VA backcountry
• Grew tobacco and sold timber and tar
• Relied on VAs ports
• Began to plant rice as cash crop
• Coastal wet lowlands
• Eliza Lucas developed Indigo (blue dye)

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South Carolina

• Settled by English from Barbados in Caribbean
• Brought African slaves
• Grew many acres of rice
• 1719, settlers siezed control from its owners and
  created royal colonies of North and South Carolina

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Georgia is for debtors!

• Founded by General James Oglethorpe
• Created for debtors and criminals
• Buffer against Spanish Florida
• Banned Catholics, Slaves and Rum
• Poor people from English and religious refugees
  from Europe settle GA
• Became Royal colony in 1751

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Plantation Life

• Almost everything a planter needed could be made
  on the plantation
• Lived in large house
• Owners wife ran the house and managed slaves
• Slaves were imported from Africa
• Slave codes were passed to control slaves

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Religion in the Colonies

• Religion was important in the 13 colonies
• Jonathan Edwards important leader of Great
  Awakening
• All people were equal before God
• Taught people to read the bible for themselves

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Education

• New England was the first to develop public
  schools
• Puritans believed everyone should be able to read
  the bible
• In 1647 first school law passed
• More than fifty families to a town must hire a
  teacher
• More than 100 must start grammar school

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Types of Colonies

• Charter Colonies
• King gave settlers grants or rights to settle an
  area (CT and RI)
• Elected their governors and legislators
• Governor could not overturn legislative decisions

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Types of Colonies (contd)

• Proprietary Colonies
• Ruled by proprietors who had been granted land in
  America by the King of England
• Free to rule as they wished within reason
• Appointed governor and upper house
• Colonists elected members of lower house

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Types of Colonies (contd)

• Royal Colonies
• Ruled directly by King and Parliament
• King chose governor and upper house
• Colonists chose lower house (often conflicted
  with upper house who did as King told them to do)
• By 1760 included GA, MA,NH,NY,NC,SC,and VA

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Voting Rights in the Colonies

• White men who owned property were only colonists
  allowed to vote
• Women, indentured servants, slaves, landless
  poor, and free African-Americans were not allowed
  to vote.
• Even with limited voting rights, colonies had
  largest participation of citizens in government
  compared with Europe.

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Freedom of the Press

• 1735-John Peter Zenger sued by Crown for libel
• Alexander Hamilton defended Zenger stating free
  speech was a basic right of all English people.
• Zenger found not guilty and the beginning of a
  free press in America was born

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Colonial Trade

• Most colonies traded with each other and New
  England
• Mercantilism (the theory that a nation could only
  become rich by gaining wealth from rival nations)
  I.e. MONEYPOWER.
• Navigation Act
• Forced the colonies to trade mainly with England.
  The effect of this was smuggling.

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Triangular Trade

• Boston sends a ship with fur to France
• In France the ship trades fur for fruit and wine
  not available in England
• Ship goes to England and trades fruit and wine
  for furniture to take to Boston