English Colonies: New England,

Middle Atlantic, Southern

Level 2

Vocabulary• Region: human creations used to manage and interpret the complexity of

Earth’s surface• Patroons: a person who held an estate of land with certain privileges like land

ownership, the right to establish civil and criminal courts, and the right to appoint local officers

• Proprietors: Investors that support and are supported by the King or Queen, were in charge of colonies to make a profit

• Royal Colony: a colony ruled directly by the King or Queen• Subsistence Farming: growing enough food to survive until the next growing

season• Theocracy: a government that gets it’s right to rule directly from God• Plantations: large farms that usually grow cash crops like tobacco, rice, or

cotton• Legislature: a governing body that creates laws• Self Government: a government by the people for the people• Magna Carta: a constitution that guaranteed rights and laws to the common

people of England• Mayflower Compact: an agreement for governing Plymouth colony

Essential Questions

• What are the political, economic, and social roots of colonial settlements in the Americas?

• What role did geography play in the settlement pattern?

Criteria to Define Formal Regions:• The presence of people who share a

language, religion, nationality, political identity, culture or the presence of a type of climate, landform, or vegetation

Types of Regions in the 13 Colonies:

• New England: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire. New England had a cold climate and rocky soil which made farming hard.

• Middle: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware. The Middle Colonies had a mild climate with warm summers and mild winters that were suited to farming and agriculture.

• Southern: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. The Southern colonies had a warm moist climate with a long growing season perfect for cash crops.

Settlement Patterns of

the Colonies

Religious Patterns in

the Colonies

Economic Patterns Emerge to Meet Diverse Needs: Agricultural and Urban Settlements

• From the SeaShipbuilding, fishing, whaling, fur trapping, lumber, shopkeepers and tradesmen in towns, shipping, slave trading, trade in general • (Subsistence farming)corn, pumpkins, beans, squash, apples, tobacco, cattle and dairy

• Fur trapping, lumber, shipping, slave trade, merchants tradesmen: cobblers, silversmiths, blacksmiths in towns

• Agriculture: corn, flax, wheat, vegetables, tobacco, iron mining, cattle and dairy farming (North-Subsistence Farming, South – Cash Crops)

• Lumber shipping, fishing, cattle, iron mining, slave trade, shoe making, brick makers, tailors, blacksmiths, silversmiths, pottery makers

• Agriculture: flax, grains, corn, wheat, vegetables, tobacco, fruit trees, plantation farming, cotton, indigo, rice

• Small farms to Large Plantations (Cash Crops)

New England Middle Atlantic Southern

Southern Plantation New England Cottage

Tobacco Plants

Political Systems in the Colonies

• Main Idea: Most colonies had some sort of self representation which kept with the tradition of England due to the Magna Carta.

New England Political Systems• Rhode Island:

– Ruled by Governor and Deputy Governor, 10 assistants to the Governor and a General Assembly elected by the colonists in each town

– Assembly could make laws, create local militia to defend against the natives as well as monitor trade

• Massachusetts:

– Mayflower Compact

– Theocracy ruled by ministers who got their power from God

– White men in good standing with the church could vote to elect ministers

– Laws based on church dogma, religious and moral beliefs

– Later, colonists voted for colonial representatives at annual town meetings

• Connecticut:

– First written constitution called the Fundamental Orders

– 1 representative from each town, six magistrates and one Governor were all elected by the free white men

• New Hampshire:

– Constitution

– Governor and lieutenant governor with an assembly

Middle Atlantic Political Systems

• Pennsylvania:

– Self government

– Free men elected 200 representatives to the General Assembly each year

– General Assembly voted on laws proposed by the Provincial Council, 72 men elected annually

– Governor oversaw legislature

• New York:

– Governor appointed by King of England who made all laws

• New Jersey:

– Governor, council, and an assembly of twelve elected by the people

– Assembly had power to tax

• Delaware:

– Legislature but was ruled by the Penn’s

Southern Political Systems• Virginia:

– Free, white, male landowners elected representatives to the House of Burgesses which had 22 members.

– Virginia Company appointed 6 members to the Governor’s Council

– Governor was appointed in England and represented the King or Queen

• Maryland:

– Self government but the Lord Proprietor had more power than colonial leaders

– Free men elected representatives who owed loyalty to the Lord Proprietor not the King or Queen

– Lord Proprietor printed money, and had the power to create an army and declare war

• North and South Carolina:

– 1st ruled by proprietors

– Then ruled directly by the King as a royal colony

– Had a governor

– Had a legislature

• Georgia:

– Free, white men elected representatives to the Common House of Assembly

– Upper House of General Assembly appointed by the Trustees

– Governor had final word and was appointed by Trustees and the King of England

Social Order

Gentry

Middle Class

Hired Farm Hands

Indentured Servants

Slaves

worked in the fields usually on plantations

contracted to work 4-7 years without pay in return for free voyage to America; when their contracts were up, they received “freedom dues” (clothes, tools, 50 acres of land)

Some Native, but mostly African, slaves who worked inside the home, in businesses and in the fields

farmers who worked their own land, skilled crafts workers, and trades people, about ¾ of all white colonists

wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, lawyers, and royal officials

Review Questions

• What was the social structure in the Colonies

• What role did geography play in the settlement pattern?

• Copy and complete the chart below using information from the power point.

Colonies Political System Economic

Systems

Major

Religions

Ethnic Groups

New England

Colonies

Middle Atlantic

Colonies

Southern

Colonies