British Colonies in North America Despite their staggering differences economically, politically, and culturally, the British colonies of North America managed to pull together to resist the British policies that were threatening their ways of life. Each of the colonies struggled to inhabit and thrive in a new land; disease, Native American raids, and lack of knowledge about growing crops were a few things that stood in their way. After powering through years of hardship and labor, losing loved ones, colonies failing, and struggling to survive, the colonies finally got on their feet and began to grow from the foundations they had established. Economically, the colonies were not similar; in fact, they had all built upon completely different resources depending on the fertility of the land. The English government made moving to the “New World” sound like an adventure and a second chance at life and this attracted many English colonists. The Chesapeake area was one of most popular places to emigrate because its thriving tobacco production was constantly in need of cheap labor. Indentured servants helped to sustain the colonies’ economic growth by keeping land and labor cheap. The New England colonists, however, realized that subsistence farming was good for their land. They also began to trade goods from England, such as fur, to the Native Americans and in return they received food. As these colonies grew, they began to incorporate new ways of providing for themselves, such as, fishing, lumbering, and selling slaves to the Chesapeake and Southern colonies. The Middle Colonies had fertile land and used it to grow cash crops, such as, corn and wheat. Much of their economic success was due to trading and selling these crops. ... ... middle of paper ... ...he king appointed officials to every colony to keep them in check. So, even though the colonies had their own governments, the appointed officials could always veto the decisions made by those governments. Also, the colonies were used to relying on each other for goods, so when they were pressured by the British policies, they bought goods from each other or other countries. Depending on each other for goods helped the colonies’ economies. Lastly, the colonies had been through everything together. They had all struggled through colonizing and trying to be successful, attacks from unfriendly Native Americans, and when England put them in the middle of the French and Indian War. These hardships brought them closer together. Despite the differences of the colonies, they were able to come together to defend what they had worked incredibly hard to establish.
The four groups of colonies were distinct from one another in the labor systems that they used. In New England, there were small farms that allowed a much bigger manufacturing and merchant class to arise. This was very different even from the middle colonies, where larger family farms and indentured servitude were prefered. In the Chesapeake and southern colonies, plantations were the most profitable economic choices. However, in the Chesapeake colonies these plantations were smaller and relied more on indentured servants than the slave heavy large
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.
The relations between England and the British North American colonies could always be considered precarious. Prior to 1750 British essentially followed a policy of benign neglect and political autonomy in the American colonies. (Davidson p.97) The colonies were for the most part content with benign neglect policy, relishing in a “greater equality and representative government”(Davidson p.95) within the colonies. Competition among European Imperial nations began to effect British policy toward North America colonies causing rapid shifts from 1750 to 1776. During this period, the British Empire made a series of policy decision that sealed the fate of the British North American colonies and lead to the American Revolution.
There were blacksmiths, ship builders and all other trades were taken advantage of by those seeking work. The main difference between these two areas (north and south) was the labor fields. In New England, the labor was paid for and in the south it was based off of free labor and indentured servants. The economic system grew in the south because of cash crops such as tobacco. The economic system grew in the north because of people’s want and desire to work hard and better the colony. Another main difference between the two were those who populated the area. In the north, the population was based on family units and 90% of them were decedents from people from before 1642. The families were stable. In the south, the population was mainly single white men in their twenties. The cause of this was the fact that Jamestown was set by the Virginia Company and sought a profit. Families seeking religious freedom founded
In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew their mercantile relationship with the mother country and developed an expanding capitalist system of their own. With Britain's reliance on the mercantile system it rubbed off on most of the colonies. They wanted to be self sufficient so that they would not have to resort on help from other countries. The Southern colonies for example relied heavily on trade with England. This was caused by the geography in the south, because it was mostly a tidewater region. This allowed ships to sail deep within the south. Therefore cotton from Georgia was sent across to England, then it was made into thread or such. It was then sent back to the colonies were it was to be made into various items. Due to the geographic location of the northern ...
The socio-economic in the Chesapeake consist of the plantation which farmed the cash crop of the Chesapeake. Tobacco, wheat, and rice was the cash crop that made the Chesapeake very wealthy. Along with the plantation that also had indentured servitude and later on they would have slavery to take place of indentured servants. The New England colonies socio-economic characteristics included agriculture, a diversified economy, and a social structure that set it apart from the Chesapeake.
When all things are considered, one can see the colonies didn't always agree with the way England handled things, in the area of religion, economics, politics, and social structure. Through their determination to obtain a better life for themselves, they ventured away from England and created their own nation over time.
In the years leading up to the American Revolution, important economic changes took place within the colonies as their economies transitioned from the previous subsistence farming and subsistence living type of economies into true consumer economies. (Devore, Lecture #3.) This shift toward a true consumerism society in the colonies, also known as Anglicizing the colonies, began to make the colonies more uniform and began to bring the colonies together into more of a cohesive unit. (Devore, ...
In 1585 the English followed in the footsteps of the Spanish and traveled west to the new world for riches and fame, however the first successful colony in 1607. Once there they found a severe lack of gold and many hardships which threatened the colonies and as a result they were helped by the Native Americans to help, and they taught them how to survive. At first the colonies were very patriotic and proud to be British, but as time passed so did their patriotism and reliance on Britain. As their independence grew they started to disagree with the British ultimately many different variables induced the American Revolution, but they fall into three main categories social, political, and economic.
What major problems did the young republic face after its victory over Great Britain? How did these problems motivate members of the elite to call for a federal constitution?
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.
England created the colonies to generate additional economic value via access to new resources as well as products. However, England did not intend for these dependent colonies to develop an independent mindset. Through exposure to new religious philosophies, the colonies were able to further detach themselves from the Anglican Church. The composition of the colonies was altered by a great influx of culturally diverse people, creating yet another difference from English society. Additionally, the colonies developed a distinct material culture that encouraged them to function as their own economic entity. Tension between the colonies and England, created by religious, cultural, and economic differences, led to the colonies’ development of an American identity.
Agriculture was tremendously valuable to the lives of early Americans and the development of the country. It was among one of the top two most important aspects of American life, but was not quite as primary as the social and economic life. Some of the main crops grown by the earlier settlers included wheat, peas, corn, and tobacco. Farms were developed first in the Chesapeake region. Due to the abundant land and numerous streams in this region, the farm soil was richer and more ideal for farming. Farms in the northern colonies, especially New England, tended to be smaller due to smaller amounts of fields and land. Southern colonies were able to have much larger plantations and areas to plant crops. White indentured servants were sometimes hired in the earlier part of the 17th century, but black slaves became a common use of labor in the later decades of the 1600s. The New England and middle colonies in opposition, rarely hired slaves. The most abundant and common crop in every region was corn. “Every...
The British Empire has had a long lasting and strong influence on the American colonies for over three centuries. From the 16th century all the way to the 18th century, the British empire has held power within the colonies in terms of legislature, economy, and social stature. The British’s rule has been both a positive and negative driving force
The American colonies new England ,middle and southern colonies were very similar but different.The New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies grew differently over the period on 1619-1760. The three sets of colonies will prove that they were all different. There is hugely different between each other and style to lived. Such as, economics and agriculture.In this essay,