Post on 22-Dec-2015
Reasons for leaving their home(England):
• More opportunities • Religious freedom • Wanted to start a new
life (better life)
New England Colonies • Massachusetts • New Hampshire • Connecticut • Rhode Island
Climate: long, harsh, cold winters
Soil: Poor, rocky soil
Economy: Ship building, lumber industry because they had forests
Religion: Puritans – very strict about everything . Example: Girls can’t go to school, only boys.
Mid Atlantic(Middle) Colonies
• Delaware • Pennsylvania • New Jersey • New York
• Climate: mild climate
• Soil: normal soil
• Economy: bread basket colonies
• Religion: Quakers – friendly to everyone
Southern colonies
• Georgia • North Carolina • South Carolina • Maryland • Virginia
• Climate: long, hot summers
Economy: • Plantations – large farm • Cash crops – food they grew for cash (cotton,
tobacco, rice, indigo) • Indentured slaves – slaves with a contract for
7 years, then they were free. Usually people who wanted a free trip to the New World
• Slaves – no contract, no pay, slaves for life
People of the 13 colonies
• Landowners – owned plantations, rich people • Artisans – middle class, did the jobs (shoe
maker, blacksmith) • Women – educated children, kept house clean • Blacks – slaves • Children – worked with their mothers, boys
went to school
Did you know?
• James Oglethorpe – founder of Georgia, brought prisoners to Georgia to start a new life
• Eli Whitney – created the cotton gin which made it easier to pick cotton. It made slavery last longer.