Life in the Middle &

Southern Colonies
Mercantilism, Social Structure, Expansion of Slavery

New York
Region first explored by Henry Hudson

brought to the attention of the Dutch West

India Company
Settled by the Dutch 1613
Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island New
Amsterdam
Peter Stuyvesant first
governor
slavery prominent

Pennsylvania
William Penn Quaker
Liberal government

Established as a religious refuge

Quakers Society of Friends
Pacifists
Total equality

Philadelphia capital city of

brotherly love

Ben Franklin
Born in colonial Boston 1706
Philanthropic and educational pursuits
Established the College of Philadelphia

(would become the University of Pennsylvania)

Invented wood burning stove, bifocals, glass
harmonica; experimented with electricity

Maryland

Lord Baltimore 1632 granted land between

Potomac River and

Chesapeake Bay
Religious freedom for
Catholics (also profit)
Soil great for tobacco
Problems with malaria and
Typhoid
Maryland Act of Toleration 1649 religious

freedom to all Christians

Indentured Servants
Tobacco, rice, indigo labor intensive
Headright system
40% lived to complete contract
Indentured servitude preferred prior to 1680s
Incentive for master and servant

The Carolinas
Political disruption in England distraction

from colonizing
Restoration colonies colonies created under
Charles II assumed the throne
South Carolina supported the British West
Indies
Slave economy

Charleston major port city and

merchant hub
In 1712, the Carolinas split causing
North and South

Georgia
Last of the 13 colonies

James Oglethorpe enlightened thinke

asked King George for permission to
create utopian society from people in
debtors prison

Charity to help relieve poverty and unemployment in Britai

Economics to increase Britains trade & wealth
Defense to provide South Carolina with a buffer against Ind
attacks

olonist bought manufactured goods from the mother country

ncomes rose
ore consumer goods purchased more respectable
onsumer Revolution

Navigation Acts were designed to tighten the government's

control over trade between England, its colonies, and the rest of the
world.
Acts of Parliament intended to promote the self-sufficiency of the
British Empire by restricting colonial trade to England and decreasing
dependence on foreign imported goods.

Expansion of Slavery
Slave populations increased through forced

immigration and natural increase

Charleston, SC and Newport, RI important
points of entry
Majority of slaves lived in the southern
colonies

Colonial Trade

riangular Trade pattern of commerce between England, Afri

nd the West Indies

olonies only trade with England!!!

Colonial Social Structure

Slaves and indentured servants at the

bottom
Big planters and wealthy merchants at the top
Urban poor unskilled laborers, dock workers,

crews of fishing and whaling fleets

Women traditional roles home and children
Small farms worked fields, cared for livestock
Small shops assist in shop
Midwifery only professional role for women