Essay about Colonies

     In contrast to the well-defined and hereditary classes of England, the colonies developed a fluid class structure that enabled industrious individuals to rise on the social ladder. America was truly the land of opportunity for the hardworking. While the English social ladder was set in stone, with land-owning lords in control, America had no such nobility. Most white Americans were farmers, but land-owning farmers. The larger

To cultivate these tobacco crops the Chesapeake Bay colonist utilized slave labor, and the use of indentured servants. The use of indentured servants soon died out when Virginia, forbid the whipping of white servants. In the Chesapeake colonies, religion was not as strict as in New England. In these colonies there were a number of small optional religions, this was very different than the ways of the New England colonies.

Our economy is based on cash crops such as tobacco, cotton, indigo, corn, and rice. The social standing in our colonies is based on family status and land ownership. Our society is mostly made up of small-scale subsistence farmers, hunters, and traders. The life down here is mainly people living and working on plantations, simple, not expensive, and we also get along with each other. Our geographic features are fertile soil, hilly coastal plains, forests, lots of rivers, bays, and wetlands. The climate down here is warm which makes it easier to spread disease, but it’s worth it because it helps with the growth of crops. Our government in the Southern Colonies is democratic, we elect our own legislature. We have a governor, a governor’s court,and a court system. We are not dominated by any religion which gives you religious freedom. Come down to the South now and make a huge profit from the cash crops.

During the colonial era, England founded the Thirteen colonies. The New england colonial region was established for religious freedom. The Southern colonial region settled to find gold and earn profits. There were many differences and similarities in New England and the Southern geography, economy, and culture.

To start it off they were located on opposite sides so they had different climates, the New England Colony was located in the North so there was stronger and longer winters while in the Southern Colonies, which was located in the south, so it was hotter and it was practically warm all year round. That led to different agricultural needs, the southern colony was huge on agriculture because they had fertile soil so they produced a lot of cash crops and were know for the tobacco, produced and exported by John Rolfe. Since the New England Colonies didn’t have much use for agriculture because they lacked good soil so there wasn’t many crops, they mostly fished, build ships, and traded mostly with fur. That leads to slavery, since the southern plantations required a lot of work there was a lot more slaves in the south then the north. Southern Colonies had the largest slave population who worked on the Slave Plantations, which grew cotton, tobacco, indigo (a purple dye), and other crops. Also religion was very different, the New England Colonies were strictly Puritans and didn’t tolerate other religions; while the Southern colonies were not dominated by a single religion they were mostly predominantly Anglicans and

Overall, the most defining factor of the Middle colonies was its ethnic diversity. The backgrounds of its inhabitants included (but was not limited to) German, Dutch, Scotch-Irish, English, French, Welsh, Swedish, Polish, and Finnish. New England could not compete, for its population was almost entirely English, save for the scattered Dutch remnants of New Amsterdam and the Native Americans, of course. The South was biracial, which meant that one was black, white, or an exceedingly rare mixture of the two. The Middle colonies had slaves, though its percentage of slaves in the population was between those of

The New England colonies didn’t rely on land to make money because they had a diverse economy and also tobacco and other cash crops needed a specific climate to be grown in. Although no one became as wealthy as those in the south, they had a very constant economy. They didn’t have to rely on one crop instead they were able to rely on rum, fur trade, fishing, trade, logging and shipbuilding. The next difference is religion. The south had religion but it wasn’t as big of a deal as the New England colonies. This was because the south spent most of the time farming that although they did have church agriculture was more significant. The New England colonies, especially Massachusetts, had a very strict religious system. Failure to follow this system could result in death or banishment. The last difference between them is the labor. In the south they needed a lot of slaves because crops like tobacco required constant attention like making sure it was healthy and also doing a lot of watching over those plants to make sure they were being grown properly. The south was also a slave society in that in order for it to be successful they would need a lot of slaves. On the other hand the New England colonies didn’t need slaves because the crops that they used didn’t need the attention that cash crops needed. Another reason is because they

Although the Chesapeake and New England colonies were the earliest English colonies to flourish in the New World, they were both extremely different in the ways that they developed. Similarities between the colonies can be found, but the colonies were mostly different. The colonies differed most in religion, society, culture, economy, and their relationships with the American Indians of the region. The reasons for such differences can be understood by realizing that the colonies were settled by incredibly different people who possessed different cultures, religious beliefs, and motivations for settling in their respective colonies in the first place. The Chesapeake and New England colonies had similarities and differences in their development, including how each colony affected nearby American Indians. Their differences and similarities can be understood by analyzing each colony’s geography, economy, religions, and cultures.

The three colonies all wanted to make money but they had to go about it in different ways. This was mainly due to what they had available. The New England Colonies were mainly agricultural farmers. With all the water reservoirs like Cape Cod there were plenty of fish so lots of people became fishermen. There were a lot of lumberjacks to cut down trees and export them to England. The Middle Colonies were extremely different because they set up extensive cosmopolitan cities reminiscent of New York. They had many specialists like doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. They traded a lot with in North America and occasionally overseas. The Southern Colonies primarily depended on cotton and tobacco plantations. As the plantations grew they had to employ black slaves. The plantations were fully self contained with their own blacksmith, teachers and professionals. So there were no big cities or towns. The main plantations traded directly with Europe via the Mississippi. The three colonies all made money differently with their diverse professions and traders.

As these colonies began to grow there became a need for a government and the two regions approached this in different ways. The Southern colonies prohibited taxes unless they were enforced by the grand assembly while New Englanders kept the right to tax locally whenever the need came. Also, the New England colonies placed much of their emphasis on town meetings. These meeting were attended by white males and they demonstrated the democracy that is seen in today's United States. In the Southern colonies the people were less enthusiastic about democracy and many of them were ruled by colonial

By the 1700’s, The northern and souther colonies had evolved into two distinct societies. This is so because the northern and southern colonies had different environments and also different reasons of settlement. The North was established for mainly religious freedom, while on the other hand, the south had been established for economic freedom. The climate also affected the different turnout of the north and the south. The north was much colder and so their soil was not beneficial for farming, so the people of the north found other jobs, while on the other side, the south had rich soil and the colonists there used that idea to set up huge plantations and farms.

Slavery was probably the most influential factor in the developing differences between the two cultures. Southern cultures developed a farm economy that could not survive without slave labor. Slave owners often became leaders in there communities. They were members in their local governments. Laws were made that prevented slaves from marrying, own property, or earn their freedom. These laws also did not allow slaves to be educated. Because all the hard work was done by the slaves, the slave owners had time and the education to greatly influence political life in southern colonies. Slavery did not become a force in the northern colonies because of different economical reasons. The cold weather and poor soil did not support the farm economy that the south had. This resulted in the northern colonies to depend on an economy that included manufacturing and trade.

1. There were several main differences among the British colonial regions. The New England colonies being colonized mainly for religion while the Middle colonies found wealth through industry, whereas the Southern colonies sought more trade and wealth opportunities through colonization. Economically, the New England colonies did not have trade as their primary focused, but still were involved in the processes of fishing, lumbering, and trapping, the Middle colonies found their wealth in lumbering and shipbuilding; the Southern colonies sought to grow and trade cash crops for wealth. The Northern colonies composed of [Separatist] Pilgrims, Puritans, and Quakers had more religious reasons for being founded, but not limited to refuge from religious persecution, and a holy society or “city upon a hill.” The Northern colonies were also religiously self-governing; one example being the Mayflower Compact, while the South had regular laws instituted. Demographically, the colonies started with an overwhelming white population over the blacks, but as the tobacco industry grew and slavery became an increasing practice, blacks began to outnumber the white population.

For the people of Europe the Americas was a place to prosper, worship in there own way, and expand there kingdoms. The only problem is that they attempted to settle in their own way and all failed dismally. The New England, Mid-Atlantic and Southern Colonies grew differently in various ways, but each with the same state of mind, “do it our way”. Examining the three sets of colonies will prove that they were all different in religion, government, and ways of expansion.

By the 1700’s, New England, the Chesapeake region and the Southern Colonies developed into three distinct societies, despite coming from the same mother country, England. The regions of Colonial America each had a distinctive culture and economy entirely different from the other regions. Religion and religious tolerance was completely different in each region, running from being free to complete persecution. Ethnicity and racial composition ranged from almost complete British descent to a wide range of composition. Each region was politically and economically structured different and had its own identity. Each developed differently based on immigration trends, geography and other features. Throughout the colonization of Colonial America,