Big Ideas

Geography and History Geography shaped the development of distinct regions within the English colonies.

Content Vocabulary

• indentured servant

• town meeting

• triangular trade

• mercantilism

Academic Vocabulary

• distinct • reliable

People and Events to Identify

• Nathaniel Bacon

• English Bill of Rights

A. A

B. B

Do you feel that there are still distinct social classes that exist today?

A. Yes

B. No

A B

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Southern Society

Society in the Southern Colonies was sharply divided between the wealthy elite and the backcountry farmers.

• Wealthy planters in the south employed indentured servants to help grow tobacco.

• In South Carolina the settlers grew rice and imported enslaved Africans to cultivate it.

Southern Society (cont.)

– They also grew indigo.

The Economy of the Colonial South, c. 1750

• The plantation system tended to create a society with distinct social classes.

• The social classes are as follows:

Southern Society (cont.)

– wealthy plantation owners

– small farmers living inland

– landless tenant farmers

• Bacon’s Rebellion, led by Nathaniel Bacon, convinced many wealthy planters that land should be made available to backcountry farmers.

• From the 1680s onward, Virginia’s government generally supported expanding the colony westward, regardless of the impact on Native Americans.

Southern Society (cont.)

• After Bacon’s Rebellion, planters began to switch to enslaved Africans for labor for several reasons:

– They did not have to be freed or given land.

– They could be used as collateral to borrow money or expand their plantations.

– Fewer English settlers were willing to become indentured servants.

Southern Society (cont.)

– In 1672, King Charles II granted a charter to the Royal African Company to engage in slave trade.

Southern Society (cont.)

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D A B C D

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Bacon’s Rebellion was a result of which of the following policies enacted by Sir William Berkeley?

A. Refusing to support military action to defend the backcountry land

B. Requiring backcountry farmers to pay twice the tax

C. Restricting landless tenant farmers from renting land

D. Allowing Native Americans to vote

New England Society

New England’s economy was based on fishing, family farms, and lumber mills.

• New England colonists practiced subsistence farming.

• The main crop was wheat.

• Fishing and whaling brought the most prosperity to New England.

• Lumber and shipbuilding also became important industries.

New England Society (cont.)

New England and the Middle Colonies, c. 1750

• New England’s social life centered around towns.

• Townspeople began discussing local problems and issues at town meetings.

• These meetings helped set the stage for the American Revolution and a democratic government.

New England Society (cont.)

• The Puritans valued religious devotion, hard work, education, and obedience to strict rules regulating daily life.

New England Society (cont.)

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D A B C D

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The Puritans participated in the following activities EXCEPT

A. Listening to music

B. Drinking rum

C. Wearing brightly colored clothing

D. Theater

Trade and the Rise of Cities

Cities prospered and grew through trade with England, Africa, and other colonies.

• Instead of trading directly with England, colonial merchants developed systems of triangular trade involving a three-way exchange of goods.

• The rise of trade caused several Northern ports to grow into cities.

• A new society with distinct social classes developed.

Trade and the Rise of Cities (cont.)

Triangular Trade and Rise of Cities

• The social classes included:

– wealthy merchants who controlled the city’s trade

– skilled artisans and their families

– people without skills or property

– indentured servants and enslaved Africans

Trade and the Rise of Cities (cont.)

• The Middle Colonies—Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware—combined aspects of New England’s economy with those of the South.

• As in New England, trade led to the rise of large cities along the coast.

• As in the South, colonists benefited from fertile soil and long growing seasons.

• Wheat was in important cash crop.

Trade and the Rise of Cities (cont.)

• Benefits to colonies of mercantilism—

– a reliable market for some of their raw materials

– an eager supplier of manufactured goods

Trade and the Rise of Cities (cont.)

• Drawbacks to colonies of mercantilism included:

– Colonies prevented from selling goods to other nations, even it they could get a better price.

– If a colony produced nothing the home country needed, it could not acquire gold or silver to buy manufactured goods.

Trade and the Rise of Cities (cont.)

• Charles II wanted to generate wealth for England in America and established policies based on mercantilism.

• The Navigation Acts imposed restrictions on colonial trade, which were met with resistance by the colonists.

Trade and the Rise of Cities (cont.)

• To end the smuggling, King James II merged several colonies into the Dominion of New England, to be governed by Sir Edmund Andros.

• James eventually fled the throne in what became known as the Glorious Revolution; the colonists ousted Andros.

Trade and the Rise of Cities (cont.)

• William and Mary had to swear their acceptance of the English Bill of Rights before assuming the throne. They established the new colony of Massachusetts.

• The ideas in the English Bill of Rights later helped shape the American Bill of Rights.

Trade and the Rise of Cities (cont.)

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D A B C D

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Which social class was the largest in New England?

A. Wealthy merchants

B. Skilled artisans and their families

C. People without skills or property

D. Indentured servants and enslaved Africans

indentured servant 

an individual who contracts to work for a colonist for a specified number of years in exchange for transportation to the colonies, food, clothing, and shelter

town meeting 

a gathering of free men in a New England town to elect leaders, which developed into the local town government

triangular trade 

a three-way trade route for exchanging goods between the American colonies and two other trading partners

mercantilism 

the theory that a state’s power depends on its wealth

distinct 

separate, apart, or different from others

reliable 

dependable; giving the same results on successive trials