13 Colonies Economy

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In pre-revolutionary America, there were three developing regions known as the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. These regions were separate until the late 18th century. They are known as the thirteen colonies and they developed through many factors like religion, economics, and politics. Colonial America depended on their natural environment and labor forces to produce certain cash crops, and this will determine the economic ties between consumers and producers, and strengthen the economy of the New World in America. Although religion and politics had a great influence on the development of three separate and distinct colonial regions in the thirteen colonies, economics had the greatest influence because …show more content…

This form of labor was called slavery. Slavery is a system in which people are considered as property and can be bought or sold without a chance of being free from his/her owner. This tortuous, painful, and new method of labor to the slaves may have brought them misery, but it brought money, extensive free labor, and a successful economy in the Southern Colonies. Before slaves were brought into the colonies, Europeans came in from their mother country to serve as indentured servants (work under a contract for a specific amount of time for essential needs, no pay, and a free passageway to the New World) but few Englishmen and women chose to emigrate as servants after 1669 because England’s economy provided jobs at home also, Virginia’s white population tripled between 1650 and 1700 which increased the number of planters competing and fighting for laborers. So colonists took a different approach to satisfy labor needs and they turned to Slaves in Africa. Slaves were kidnapped from Africa and suffered through a six to eight-week-long ocean voyage known as the Middle Passage to the West Indies. Those who survived the trip were up for sale and forced to work and live in harsh conditions in the Southern Colonies. Slaves worked as …show more content…

Mercantilism is a system in the economy where trade among nations was a “zero-sum game” where one nation’s gain was another nation’s loss. It highly emphasized the strict regulations of trading, manufacturing, and producing goods. It defended the erection of power states in Western Europe and made a justification for building colonies in the New World The New England colonies adapted to this new form of economics in order to make money and gain for themselves. Because New England lived on rocky soil, the Puritans could not have an agricultural economy so they turned to a fishing industry and building ships which carried about one-third of all trade between England and their colonies. Manufactured goods were traded with Africa and the West Indies which established a famous triangle trade and quickly made Boston the largest single port within the Empire. Mercantilism in the New England Colonies was encompassed by the monarchies of Europe to unify and increase the wealth of the growing empires in which influenced the development of the colonial regions of the thirteen

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    Between 1491 and 1754, the New England, middle, Chesapeake, and southern colonies developed in a way such that they must be viewed as four distinct societies with interlacing interactions and beliefs.  These different societies were shaped by the different labor systems and economic characteristics, varying groups of religious founders, and response to salutary neglect and British taxation.

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  • 13 Colonies Dbq

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, there were the Southern colonies. These colonies tried to remain true to their roots, the King of England. They made their money by growing cash crops on large plantations: tobacco, rice, and indigo. Colonists came to settle in the Southern colonies mainly to make money. Their social life was based on family status and the ownership of land. Large plantation owners controlled the government, as well as society. The people that lived here were

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  • Social, Economic and Political Differences Between the New England and Chesapeake Colonies

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    During colonial times, European nations quickly colonized the New World years after Columbus’ so called discovery. England in particular sent out a number of groups to the east coast of the New World to two regions. These areas were the New England and the Chesapeake regions. Later in the late 1700s, these two regions would go though many conflicts to come together as one nation. Yet, way before that would occur; these two areas developed into two distinct societies. These differences affected the colonies socially, economically, and politically.

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  • Effect of Geography on English Colonies in America

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    The New England, Middle and Southern colonies were all English ruled, but yet very different. Among their distinctions, was the geography which played an important role in shaping these colonies. New England attracted Puritan farmers who wanted to separate from the Catholic Church. But because of the bone dry soil in the North, these colonists found they couldn't continue with their traditional ways of farming. However, with the immense amounts of water that surrounded them, they found that they could fish and trade. The Middle colonies on the other, hand had a moderate amount of everything. The fertile soil and the major seaports such as Philadelphia and New York, allowed these Middle colonists to make a living any way they saw fit. This led to the brisk development of the Middle Seaboard . Unlike the Middle and Northern colonies, the Southern colonies had large amounts of fertile land allowing for the development of large plantations. Because farming the plantations was the economic thrust for the South, towns and cities developed slowly. Thusly Geography greatly affected the lifestyles of these regions in the New World.

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  • Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox by Edmund Morgan

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    The use of labor came in two forms; indenture servitude and Slavery used on plantations in the south particularly in Virginia. The southern colonies such as Virginia were based on a plantation economy due to factors such as fertile soil and arable land that can be used to grow important crops, the plantations in the south demanded rigorous amounts of labor and required large amounts of time, the plantation owners had to employ laborers in order to grow crops and sell them to make a profit. Labor had become needed on the plantation system and in order to extract cheap labor slaves were brought to the south in order to work on the plantations. The shift from indentured servitude to slavery was an important time as well as the factors that contributed to that shift, this shift affected the future generations of African American descent. The history of colonial settlements involved altercations and many compromises, such as Bacons Rebellion, and slavery one of the most debated topics in the history of the United States of America. The different problems that occurred in the past has molded into what is the United States of America, the reflection in the past provides the vast amount of effort made by the settlers to make a place that was worth living on and worth exploring.

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  • Southern Colonies Economy

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    While under English control, each of the three regions of colonial America developed its own economic system- plantation agriculture was based in the Southern colonies, but other sectors of the economy flourished in the Northern and Middle colonies (along with some forms of agriculture). The natural resources that were available at the time provided the foundation for each region’s unique specialty. However, one could argue that these economies eventually led to the development of certain social issues within colonial society, such as the cruelty of slavery, the Salem Witch Trials, and even the lack of available labor in Maryland.

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  • Chesapeake And New England Colonies

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  • The Colonies by 1763

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    In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew their mercantile relationship with the mother country and developed an expanding capitalist system of their own. England's economic system was primarily based on mercantilism, which was directly related to the colonies. This concept of mercantilism said that wealth is power and however much power you have is how much gold and silver one country has in its treasury. For this concept to take place, England had to export more than import. Because the colonies had the raw materials needed England set up laws such as navigation laws to restrict what the colonies coul...

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  • Compare And Contrast The New England Middle And Southern Colonies

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  • Mercantilism and Salutary Neglect: Historical Impact

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    According to vocabulary.com , "mercantilism, is a system in which a country attempts to amass wealth through trade with other countries, exporting more than it imports and increasing stores of gold and precious metals." Basically, mercantilism is when the mother country, England in this case, uses the thirteen colonies and its natural resources as a way to profit/make

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  • Triangular trade

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    On the second leg of this trade slaves were transported to the West Indies, this leg was called the middle passage. This part was horrible for the slaves. About 50% of all the slaves on one ship would not make it to the West Indies because of disease or brutal mistreatment. Hundreds of men, woman and children were cramped together for most of the journey, occasionally able move an almost decent amount.

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  • The Chesapeake and New England Colonies: A Comparison

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    During the late 16th century and into the 17th century, European nations rapidly colonized the newly discovered Americas. England in particular sent out numerous groups to the eastern coast of North America to two regions. These two regions were known as the Chesapeake and the New England areas. Later, in the late 1700's, these two areas would bond to become one nation. Yet from the very beginnings, both had very separate and unique identities. These differences, though very numerous, spurred from one major factor: the very reason the settlers came to the New World. This affected the colonies in literally every way, including economically, socially, and politically.

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  • Middle Passage

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  • African Slave Trade Research Paper

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the 16th-19th century there was this thing called the African slave trade which was in the Atlantic world . African slave trade was were people could trade goods for slaves (african americans ) . These african americans slaves would be forced to work long hours for the people who bought them . If slaves were to refuse or disobey their owner ,they were most likely to be beaten . The reasons that people had wanted to have slaves at the homes or works is that there was plenty of slaves , they were very cheap ,strong , and easy to get . Also people wanted them for their labor so that they didn't have to work out in the fields all day , clean ,or watch their children 24/7 .Some people would even make them reproduce and sell off the children or slaves they no longer want for goods that they had given to get the slaves . Also slaves were taken to north and south america to work on coffee, cocoa, and cotton plantations, in gold and silver mines, in rice fields, construction, timber, and shipping or even in their

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  • Mercantilism

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    Mercantilism is an economic theory where a nation's strength comes from building up gold supplies and expanding its trade. Britain formed the American colonies so that they could increase their gold stores. They wanted raw supplies to make into products to sell and make money. They wanted America to pay taxes so that Britain could make money. America used the theory in that they thought they ought to, in order to be strong expand their trade beyond Britain. Countries like Belgium, and France wanted to also increase their trade, and expand it to trading with America. They also wanted to increase their gold stores by trading with America. Britain however did not want America to trade with France and Belgium and the Netherlands because they wanted to increase their gold stores, so they needed a monopoly over American trade. So there was tension between Britain and its American colonies. One of the first efforts made by Britain to control the American colonies was the Acts of Trade and Navigation. What these acts did was limited American trade to basically just Britain. These Acts were in place between 1650-1660 and they were there to ensure that the mercantile system that existed stayed. It was mainly to prevent the Frenchmen and Dutch from receiving American goods. The acts limited American shipping to be via Britain. The British had to receive all American goods and them their merchants would sell the goods to other countries, but America could not. Any goods that were to be imported to the colonies had to be passed through British middlemen, where a tax was added so that Britain would profit. America was also forbidden to produce goods or grow crops for profit. If they were to do that then they would be competing with British industries. The colonies were supposed to also buy more than they sold, so that their currency was drained, but all to Britain. Before 1663, when the Acts of Trade and Navigation were not enforced the colonists benefited from Britain. The colonists of the north smuggled goods and manufactured items for profit. They avoided the British laws. The southern colonists had a guaranteed market from the British because they had a monopoly. The colonies also benefited because they had the British army troops to guard them, and they have low taxes, and the British navy shielded them. The colonists were generally more prosperous than the English...

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