Life in the Colonies

1
Life in the Colonies

• Chapter 4, Section 1

2
The Colonies

• Between 1700 and 1770 the English colonies in
  America experienced a huge increase!
• 1700------? 250,000
• 1770------? 2.5 million
• The slave population also grew during this time.
  In 1700 you had approximately 28,000 slaves but
  by 1770 there were around 500,000!

3
New England Colonies

• Why do you think growth occurred so quickly in
  the colonies?

4
The Colonies

• Growth occurred for several reasons
• Immigration
• Increase in African slaves
• Women in the colonies tended to marry early,
  sometimes as young as fifteen. People in the
  colonies also tended to have very large families.

5
New England Colonies

• New Hampshire
• Massachusetts
• Rhode Island
• Connecticut

6
New England Colonies

• Surprisingly the New England colonies were
  actually a very healthy place to live.
• New England consisted of well organized towns.
• Most farmers tended to their farms which were
  located on the outskirts of town.

7
New England Colonies

• Farming was the main activity in all the
  colonies, however, farms were much smaller in New
  England than those in the south.

8
Subsistence farming

• New England practiced subsistence farming which
  means that they grew just enough to support their
  family.
• New England colonies relied on children for much
  of the labor.

9
Commerce in New England

• New England also had a variety of small
  businesses.
• People living near streams would create grinding
  mills or saw mills.

10
New England Commerce

• Many women made candles, soap and garments that
  could be sold or traded.
• Large towns had shoemakers, furniture makers,
  printers, gunsmiths and blacksmiths.

11
New England Commerce

• Port cities became involved in shipbuilding.
• Fishing was also important commerce.

12
Middle Colonies

• New York
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• Delaware

13
Life in the Middle Colonies

• The Middle colonies enjoyed better soil than did
  New England. Farms were larger and produced
  better harvests.

14
The Bread Basket

• The large quantities of wheat and grain produced
  in places such as New York and Pennsylvania were
  known as cash crops because they were sold
  easily in markets and overseas.

15
Life in the Middle Colonies

• The middle colonies also had industry such as
  carpentry, flour making, mining and iron mills.

16
Diversity in the Middle Colonies

• Immigrants from Germany, Sweden and other
  European countries came to these places because
  of their tolerance for religious differences.
• Types of Religious Peoples
• Quakers, Baptists, Anglicans, Presbyterians,
  Lutherans, Mennonite, Dutch Reformed, German
  Reformed, Jews

17
Southern Colonies

• Maryland
• Virginia
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Georgia

18
The Southern Colonies

• With their fertile soil and large harvest many
  people in the south were either small or large
  scale farmers.

19
Plantation System

• Plantation system type of farming with large
  pieces of land mostly run by slave labor.
• This system is the main reason for the growth of
  slavery in the south.

20
The Southern Colonies

• Tobacco was the main cash crop in both Maryland
  and Virginia. Preparing tobacco for sale required
  much labor so indentured servants or African
  slaves were used.

21
Life in the Southern Colonies

• The main cash crop in South Carolina and Georgia
  was rice. Rice fields have to be flooded and
  drained. When harvested you would have to often
  work in knee deep mud, in the blazing sun with no
  protection from things such as mosquitoes. Thus,
  Georgia and South Carolina relied heavily on
  slave labor.

22
Slavery

• Slaves could have various jobs. Some would work
  in the plantation home, however, the majority
  would work as field hands.
• Many slaves suffered great cruelty. Large
  plantation owners would hire overseers, or
  bosses, to keep slaves working hard.

23
Slavery

• In the early 1700s, colonies created slave codes
  which governed how slaves could be punished.
• Slaves could not leave plantations without
  written permission from the master. The codes
  also stated that slaves could be whipped for
  minor offenses and hanged or burned to death for
  serious crimes. Those who tried to run away
  would be punished severely.

24
Social Levels of Colonial Society